If Jenkins does come back, even as a role player with reduced snaps, the DL can be put on hold for another year. Because then we have Jenkins, Pouha, DeVito for sure.. Ellis and Gholston probably 50/50 to be back, Pitoitua returning, Kroul, Dixon, Gilbert. So we have plenty of options on the DL. Hell, Rex may even bring Pryce back for another go. I wouldn't mind taking a shot at a huge project guy to develop in the middle rounds, like when we took Pouha a couple years back. Pass rushing OLB is definitely the biggest need on this team imo.
The d-line has been great this year. The problem is and will continue to be the lack of an edge pass rusher.
not disagreeing... I just wanted to point out that the options you laid out include jenkins, who will have missed two full seasons in a row, and gholston, who you guys should really be hoping does not come back next year.
This makes me crazy! Even people who are supposed to be following the Jets, like Don La Greca on ESPN, say this over and over again. Sheeesh.
Shaun Ellis is one of the better 3-4 DE's in the game. And we haven't drafted a 3-4 DE since we changed back to the 3-4.
There is a reason people say this. What do you think the roster looks like next year? (Hint: we're not resigning Cro, Harris, Edwards and Holmes, and half the bench is gone).
Ellis WAS one of the better 3-4DEs... my guess is some kind of injury is slowing him down this year. I know he has some chronic problems to a knee... hopefully he gets it fixed for next season and has another year like 2009. I agree one between Cro, Harris and Holmes MIGHT be left out but that guy will probably get franchised and then traded. Why will half of our bench be gone? I'm not so pessimistic... guys like to play for the Jets and not many of our bench players will be in a position to earn big $$$ in the open market.
Because the Jets are going to be cash strapped so ok guys like Brad Smith and Eric Smith and Brodney Pool are Drew Coleman are going to get much bigger offers from some crappy team, and as much as we like to say players are going to stay because they like the Jets, 95% of the time the players go for the biggest offer.
The only guy which might get a big offer (just because it's unclear in how many things he contributes) is Brad Smith... and he's a KR/wildcat QB/4th WR so the only way he sees BIG money is if some team thinks he can do something other than that (more O snaps). You are giving waaay to much credit to Eric Smith (which btw wouldn't be THAT big of a loss) and Brodney Pool. Coleman won't get anything more than a mill and we can afford that.
We're going to agree to disagree. Successful teams can't keep everyone, and the Jets have a huge number of free agents this year, and some more guys (Jenkins, Woody, B. Thomas, even B. Scott) who have big cap numbers and you aren't going to be able to keep all those guys either. If you stretch to keep, for example, Holmes, you end up having to let guys who are in the system like Hunter and Brad Smith and Coleman go.
I think some of our big numbers are replaceable. If Tanny could find a deal with a team who wanted to pick up any of our linebackers bar Harris I really wouldn't have a problem with it, and I include Bart Scott in that. If his talent was as big as his mouth he'd be the next coming of LT.
Thomas and Pace are a lot better than they get credit for on this board. (Scott's pretty good but he gets the credit he deserves). There's a reason nobody's consistently running on the Jets and the linebackers are the reason. I don't think the backups are going to be up to the challenge of filling in full time so if you trade/cut a starter you've got to find a very good linebacker in the draft or through free agency.
You have no idea what the cap situation will be next year or if there will even be a season. Speculating who we will or will not be able to keep is silly without knowing what the rules will be. I am quite confident we won't be bringing Jenkins back at the same salary though. He may have his contract reworked, but we won't be paying him what he's currently scheduled to receive.
Speculating might be silly but it's fun. It's also kind of the point of an interweb discussion board. And you read it here first. There will be a season, there will be slightly expanded roster, there will be a rookie cap, and there will be a slightly higher cap (135-140) but the cap will only rise very limited amounts in the foreseeable future, tbd under an incredibly complex and non-public formula.
Why so? We have been a win now team for the last three years counting. We'll be a win now team next yr as well.
