They didn't see the field because Cotch and Braylon were healthy for pretty much the entire season. That's not going to happen every season. It certainly didn't happen in 2008, and we were even thinner at wideout than we are now. But Clowney is supposedly still in the developmental stage (although I'm not sure he makes it through the entire offseason as a Jet) and Brad Smith fills multiple roles, even if he is getting close to being a lost cause as a slot man. We need to find as many options at QUALITY depth for the WR corps, because the approach they took last season did not work. Plus, you need to take into account the priority that Rex puts on the cornerback position, and defense in general (which, you know, is the bread and butter of this team now). There were times when we had to dress 6-8 corners last season for Rex's gameplan. And that meant that we had to suit up only 4 D-linemen. If We had a corner filling the gunner role that Wright performed, we would have been able to suit 5 DLs, instead of manning a weak approach for the run defense. Having quality depth at wideout means we suit less wideouts. So far, our depth is shoddy at best, so they need to get as many prospects in there as they can. As much as we like Wright on STs, he's not a prospect at WR.
I'm not sure I disagree with you there, but Clowney is still under contract and I think he will probably end up released at some point this offseason - he'll get one more chance to improve his routes and LOS handfights during the offseason. He has excellent hands and speed, but cannot deal with a LOS bump and he can't run a route to save his life. If Clowney doesn't improve in those aspects, he is gone before the season starts.
I hope not signing all these little role players is leading to something big, or at least something that helps us. Tanny must have some major scheme plotted and his brain his two steps ahead of everyone else.
We'll have to make another move at that point, if our season comes down to our #5 WR we are in trouble no matter who it is.
All well and good, but like I said, the Jets probably told him he could test the waters. He did, and received an offer he liked, knowing the Jets wouldn't give him significantly more, and decided that it made more sense to play closer to home. If they didn't tender him at $1M, he wasn't going to get much more than whatever he got. Like I said, this was more than likely a situation where he just did what was right for him. I don't think either side is wrong here. I'd love to get to see what he got. That would probably put this whole thing to bed.
