With the off season acquisitions, as others have mentioned, the Jets have made a push for a "win now" attitude. This leads me to believe that project players or players who play at a position which requires acclimation (granted all positions require acclimation to speed...) to the NFL will be eliminated from consideration. Thoughts?
Yea definitely- Thats why I dont think a big question mark like McFadden at 6 is even a consideration, especially considering he doesnt filll a need position. I believe that McKelvin is the most polished, versatile player we can take at 6. He fills a need position and would transform our defense into elite status and transform our special teams into legendary status. Think of our special teams: Punt returns- McKelvin (Described the top college return man in country) Kickoff Returns- Justin Miller (06' Pro Bowler) and Washington (arguably best return man in game)
Nobody projects McKelvin or any of the other CBs in this year's first round as highly as they did Revis last year. We will not be drafting him at #6..somebody might take him above where he belongs but it won't be us.
I am in favor of anything that improves the defense too. I just think it would be a problem with Revis at some point if we draft McKelvin so high and pay him #6 money. We got Revis at #14 last year. It shouldn't matter but those things always do.
not exactly true. There are varying degrees of "win now". Use the 1994 Rangers as an example. That was an ultimate win right now team. Window of opportunity was 1994 only, one year, one chance to get it done. Same with the 1997 Marlins and 2001 Diamondbacks. This Jets team is younger, it's got a young core of players (Washington, Harris, Revis, Rhodes, Clemens, Cotchery, Mangold) It's also got some veterans who can perform at a high level for several more years (Ellis, Coles, Baker etc. The window of opportunity for this Jets team is about 3 years. They have to win a Super Bowl within that period.
I think "win now" is being referred to as just getting back to the playoffs, not necessarily anything more that that for this year. But I do think it is being built to do that much now. We probably had as good a team as we had in '06 (maybe better) before we went out and got all these FAs. This year we have a similiarly easy schedule as we did in '06 unlike last years horrible one. I think if we don't make the playoffs with everything that has been done already (forget the draft even) then there will be trouble for everybody involved.
I agree. This team is put together to win MORE games than last season, but can I honestly say this is the team that will get us to a Super Bowl and WIN a championship? I wouldn't get ahead of myself. I think we're still a few pieces and years removed from becoming a consistent Playoff team.
I think they will be omitted from consideration as starters if they are already on the team. They will start the guys with the most experience, and hopefully draft 2 or 3 players who will start right away (we have to expect that the guy we take at 6 will start).
Yeah, I too disagree with the basic premise of the thread. I don't necessarily see these moves as "win now" moves. We haven't really spent very much in the way of draft picks with these moves, although some of the moves could very easily have commanded same. And I know it's difficult to imagine acquiring the talent we did and not having it motivated by "win now," but I see the moves as just moves we needed to make to make us more competitive than 4-12. The way I see it, maybe we're closing in on the PATS and just getting closer to "even." Now we need to pull more rabbits out of the hat by drafting wisely, so we can be truly competitive. "Win Now" has always been about bringing in older, experienced players who give you the best chance this year but by next year or the year after, you're totally spent. But some of the acquisitions are not that old and have some tread on them. As for the rest of the team, as someone else said, they're fairly young. And we're going into the draft with the #6 slot all the way through all the rounds, so those are early picks and will generate even more youth, and talented youth at that. We're not set for "win now," we're getting set for wins, period!
The other option is lose now, so I'll take win now for $500, Alex. We just went 4-12, when would you guys like to win if not now?
Well, any coach will say, you play to win...the quest to winning more games is evident. Ultimately though, if you have an agenda to make the Bowl in X amount of years you assemble your team accordingly. Yes, key issues have been addressed, but the Jets didn't go out and get talent that merely improved what they currently held on the roster, they substantially improved it, not to just plug the holes in the leak. The holes have been plugged and hopefully will be further reinforced come the draft.
It's all in the semantics, I guess. How that phrase rubs you. I see both sides of it. Win now to me is not as negative as it is to you. Like I said above, we won in '06 and probably had a better team than that before we acquired these guys. We lost Kendall and an injured Martin. We got Revis, Jones and Harris. Those are the only changes that come to mind. The playoffs are this years target and I fully expect that is how the draft will be conducted.
Exactly. Going 4-12 was all the motivation Mangini and Tanny needed. I'll give them a pass for last year's relatively inactive offseason and they paid the price for it, big time. I honestly believe they have as much pride as we all do and want the same things we want. So I think they went to Woody Johnson and put the plans on the table and asked him if he could anty up and he basically gave them the check book, and Tangini is basically making up for what they failed to do last year. But be that as is may, we're in very good shape now for the April draft, so I don't think I would have done anything differently, whether or not anyone said we were "overspending" or doing all this to "win now." Call it whatever you'd like, but I like where we are now.
Part of having young guys in charge is that there is a learning curve. Just like Mangini and Schottenheimer appeared to have been outfoxed at halftime of a lot of games last year, I think the front office is in the same boat. That's the kind of thing you can live with early in their careers if they learn from it and fix it, which they appear to be at least trying to do. Nobody steps into a job like that and has all the saavy of an older guy unless you are an older guy. Let's see how this entire off-season goes and then how it translates to the season before people start judging it on one or two moves.
Yeah, but see, I see things differently. I don't know if it's ever possible to have an agenda to make the SB any time or any year. This is not something you can plan. Injuries, bad bounces, weird calls, missed field goals, etc. all make the thing so damned unpredictable. I think you build a team (and keep it built) every year. You build it the best way you know how to win every year, regardless if that's the year you "planned on" to win the SB. You do this because it's always going to be the most unpredictable thing you'll ever imagine. Look at the '07 NY Giants... ready to fire their coach and burn their QB at the stake in mid-season. So no, the whole thing is not something you plan or can count on. The season starts in September and it's a whole new slate, so the best you do is prepare a "win now" every year you put the team on the field. Hey, maybe my philosophy on this is all wrong, but that's just the way I see it andthe way I'd approach it. So yeah, if I were Tangini this year, I wouldn't change a thing about what I did this year to build a winning team.
And probably the most important thing that you left out. You CAN'T count on keeping your players from year to year. I had this argument with people here last year. You can't plan for the future when you can't control your own FAs. The Jets, of all teams, should know that better than anyone. We probably have an entire pro bowl team out there that were once Jets. (I know that's not the case but you get the point)
Well, the real issue is what is it going to actually take to win a majority of our games this year...? It's not another RB. Until we have the trenches debacle completely reversed, we need to keep the NYJ's noses to the grindstone and make the OL and the DL dominating, fear-inducing units. We have wonderful skill players already, if the OL can regularly clear the way for 10 or 12 yards per carry, or give the QB 4 to 6 seconds of Brady Time to find a complete his passes. You have a lot of Fantasy Football mavens around here trying to grab the tail and wag the dog, but the tail's cut off down to a nub and the dog weighs 80 lbs. Not very effective. Let's see how the Draft works out. Maybe we'll get a great LB and some good CB, and even another OL or two..!
