The Jets have terrible long-term depth on the roster at the moment. Drew Coleman plays regularly for them in the defensive backfield, and was the dime back even before Revis went out. There are 2 players on the roster worth anything at the NFL's most injury-prone position and one of them is 31 and 30 is the usual shelf life for his position. Having a defensive end get hurt would close to cripple the front 3. Having any defensive lineman go down would stretch things pretty badly at this point. Having an interior linebacker go down would be very bad. The current roster looks absolutely fabulous as long as very few things go wrong. After the season a lot of the fabulosity is going to go away because it's really hard to reconcile the number of players who are going to be looking for $40-50 million dollar contracts with the likely cap that will be in play. The Jets who will be looking for topflight contracts at the end of the season: David Harris, Antonio Cromartie, Shaun Ellis, Santonio Holmes, Braylon Edwards. Veterans who will be looking to get paid although not topflight: Bryan Thomas, Sione Pouha. There's a lot of talent floating in that pool and there isn't going to be a lot of space in the cap for it unless I miss my guess about where the NFL owners are going with the labor negotiations in general.
I agree with the long term depth, there are no "groomed" guys minus slauson. Everyone else has benefited from a better defensive coach. The only way this formula continues to work is if the top round players they draft continue to be top NFL players at the positions they would be replacing. OLB/DL is the next area to replenish. The depth players, from what his formula tells me, will always be UDFAs and FAs that will want to play here because its Rex Ryan and they are hopefully winning. This formula has great potential to either be a success or a failure beyond 2 years from now. I think he's found his franchise QB and franchise coach, which can make up for depth problems by those two making everyone better around them, so I'll go with success in the future.
1) It's debatable but it would take too long to do it. I do however feel we have some good/serviceable&young depth in many positions (not all but who does?) 2) Coleman plays a lot because we use a million DBs. He's our 5th DB. Having 4 solid CBs is an achievement in this league. 3) There are three and 2 FBs... so we have 5 backs... more than many other teams. 4) Of course it would... because two of them have already gone down (Jenkins and Pitoitua). In any team when 3 starters go down at one position you're going to have problems... 5) I agree we are not well covered at ILB. Guess we are keeping Laury just for ST play. Wouldn't mind drafting a guy as a project... 6) That's because many things have already gone wrong! 2 DLs on IR, starting OLB with a broken foot, #1 WR out the first 4 games, #1 CB missing the whole pre-season... Plus it's obvious when things go wrong you can't look fabulous anymore... but we'd downgrade to "good" and not to "awful". 7) We'll have to make decisions... but Ellis will be 34 and not looking for top flight money + Thomas and Pouha will have another year or two on their contract (so not as much leverage). Harris + Cromartie + Edwards + Holmes will be a challange and I expect (sadly) to see one of the 2 WRs go...
Originally Posted by Br4dw4y5ux View Post Veterans who will be looking to get paid although not topflight: Bryan Thomas, Sione Pouha. Are you serious???? Thomas is definitely topflight. Listen to Rex's comments.
Are YOU serious? thomas is just starting to come into his own after robbing years of salary fromt the Jets. Plus he has a contract for 2011 (3.7 mill) and after that he'll be 33 so there are no doubts where he'll play next year.
We're pretty spoiled at cornerback. I'm starting to feel bad for Drew Coleman for all the flack he takes here as the 5th CB. If the Pats have guys like Butler going against Braylon Edwards and we have a talent in Kyle Wilson as our third CB/nickel corner. Wilson would be a starting 1 or 2 corner on most teams, instead he's the understudy of Revis and Cromartie - the latter displaying pro bowl form circa 2007. With the front 7 playing lights out and the DBs playing up to potential we should be in the running for best defense again. Problem is our sore thumb continues to be a legitimate force at pass-rushing the QB. JT had a good sack but his performance throughout the season will be marginal at best IMO. Pace is our best pass rusher so having him back will be nice - the amount of damage he does against Jake Long may negate his talent though. Imagine having a guy like Freeney on the corner.. Ok I'm rambling but: We should have beat the Ravens and Mikey T has been the catalyst of the Jets success. Pool and Cromartie have combined for 3 picks and lockdown coverage of Randy Moss. Brady is a HOF QB throwing to a HOF WR.. that's pretty scary. The 'questionable' cromartie pick up worked out well considering Brady - Moss led to 2 INT and no catches in the second half. His only big gain was that freak one-handed grab on blown coverage. Add to that the hammy injury on the route (which may or may not have affected Revis ability to cover) shows how dominant our secondary was after the first 25 min of gametime. Sanchez looked like Eli did last night when we played the Ravens. Terrified of the pass rush and lacking confidence in routes further than 10 yards. If he plays with the swagger and decision making he exuded yesterday, this team will be unbeatable. Just think, the running game hasn't even showed how dominant it can be yet. Once it gets colder out we can release the beast - say hello to Shonn Greene.
He does need one more draft like 06, where the Jets get 4 or 5 long term contributors. That kind of draft will add another core to this team, and it will cement the jets as contenders for Sanchez and Ryan's era.
Yes! Here is what Rex said about Thomas! On what he’s seen from Bryan Thomas… I think he looks better in 58 than he did at 99. I’m not saying that’s the reason, but he’s playing great. He really is. The fact that he got walked down by an offensive lineman, we’re willing to forgive him. He really is doing a great job, tremendous on the run. We’ve moved him all over. He’s playing outside linebacker, defensive end, nose tackle, we’ve got him all over the place. He’s smart, but he’s a playmaker also. He’s doing a great job for us.
I agree with that and Rex alluded to that with his remark about his number change. However, let's give the guy credit, he's playing fantastic right now. I believe it has a lot to do with the coaching he's receiving. Remember the lack of coaching he received prior to last year. He always had the talent it took Rex and his staff to bring it out.
Right, but the point of discussion is what his price will be when his contract is up. He isn't a blue chip player.
