With the draft over and safety still left without help, I was wondering what anyone thought of Tanard Jackson. The Bucs dropped this kid because of off field issues but he is a ball hawk that Rex could use. He has good upside and fills a position of need and probably would come relatively cheap, but is he worth the risk? People are also forgetting about Dwight Lowery and his ability to play safety...I believe he has what it takes to be a ball hawk. Thoughts?
The team dropped him because he can't keep his hands off the drugs. He got the killer suspension and can't play until late September now. He's beyond tainted goods. EDIT: Actually, just looked it up. Late September is when he MAY be back. He's suspended indefinitely with no guaranteed return.
That Tampa secondary is not the most well-behaved group. And everyone thought Legarrette Blount would be a problem.
I think we should go after Joe Lefeged but I'm biased. Jackson would be solid if he could stay out of trouble but we know that's impossible.
I'm not against this in the slightest. DeAndre McDaniel is also floating around in UDFA territory as well so I think we'll have a few options. They're UDFAs so there is no reason to restrict our signings to just one guy.
UDFA signings can begin when a new CBA begins. I'm assuming that happens as much as I'm assuming a 2011 season.
I know we don't have a pro-bowler at safety but people seem to be acting like we have absolute shit back there. I thought we saw a lot of improvement from Pool, Smith and the rest of the cast after the initial onslaught of losing Leonhard last year. I think we'll be fine for now, especially if we get better in the trenches allowing our pass rushers some lanes.
I agree on the short-term that we'll probably be fine and the need for a safety isn't as immediate as some posters made it seem to be. However, for the long term, we're going to want to add some young talent if only for depth. Pool played a lot better down the stretch than I think most people would have expected but he's got some injury issues and is basically the same player as Smith. I really don't see him as a long-term solution. Smith has been more of a third-down linebacker than a regular safety this season, at least he was before the Leonhard injury. He does a good job of playing the run and he can lay a hit on anyone but I'm still not enamored with his one-on-one coverage and we already have Leonhard playing down in the box on most of his plays and in blitz packages, plus I think Leonhard is a better man-to-man coverage safety than Smith. Smith also has a history of penalty issues which seem to come at rather inopportune times. Looking at them one-by-one they seem like flukes but in the big picture it's hard to ignore the fact that he just keeps getting them. I like having a safety who can put a big hit on people but he has to learn to be more aware when he's doing it. For a guy who was accepted to Harvard you would expect him to be able to improve situational awareness to the point where he has some ability to avoid those calls. Leonhard has played well for the Jets and serves as the secondary's captain but he's had a couple of injuries since he's been here. Between him and Drew Coleman, Rex has managed to generate some scary secondary blitzes but what that really leaves us open to is a need for someone to play single-high. Lowery could be that guy as he transitions from CB to safety but at the same time he's really the only one on the roster who fits that role. Bringing in someone to fill in for Lowery, switch out with him or push him in competition could have helped his development.
I agree it's an area that needs to be addressed soon. Luckily we have 7 picks in next years draft (so far). I have no idea what the defensive prospects for next year are, but it's possible we address safety long-term early in the 2012 draft. My point was only that we're not in that bad shape at safety for now.
If Leonhard comes back all the way and we get another stop-gap or sign Pool back we'll be ok. Any way you slice it this year's safety class was just fucking bad. I'd much rather duct tape it for a year and get a guy like Rashard Hall next year if he comes out. [YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kgfv7Ee44ok[/YOUTUBE] [YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOZ0nPlR8QA[/YOUTUBE] Now THAT'S a fucking safety.
I agree with your for the short-term. Plus, a couple of fairly talented safeties in DeAndre McDaniel, Nate Williams and Jerrard Tarrant should be available as UDFAs when that process starts up so it's not like we're completely out of options for depth prospects. Someone I'd like to see the Jets look at more and more is Boise State's Jeron Johnson. He shares a few characteristics with Leonhard, namely his ability to lead on the field and his role at Boise for setting up the defense. Long-shot to make the team but an interesting guy to bring into camp.
I also think Dwight Lowery could very well be our safety- he is already better than all of our safeties besides maybe jimmy. He could cover TE's and has the instincts of a ball hawk. A full off season at the safety position could be great for him and the D. This would also allow us to worry more about keeping our own guys instead of trying to sign others that could want 4-5 million.
Here's the free agent list for what it's worth: Gerald Alexander (UFA) - Carolina Jordan Babineaux (UFA) - Seattle Josh Barrett (RFA) - New England Atari Bigby (UFA) - Green Bay C.C. Brown (UFA) - Detroit Courtney Brown (UFA) - NY Giants Josh Bullocks (UFA) - Chicago Tyrone Carter (UFA) - San Diego Sean Considine (UFA) - Jacksonville Reed Doughty (UFA) - Washington Abram Elam (UFA) - Cleveland Hiram Eugene (UFA) - Oakland Eric Frampton (UFA) - Minnesota Aaron Francisco (UFA) - Indianapolis Matt Giordano (UFA) - New Orleans Dashon Goldson (RFA) - San Francisco Deon Grant (UFA) - NY Giants Ken Hamlin (UFA) - Indianapolis Roman Harper (UFA) - New Orleans Michael Huff (UFA) - Oakland Michael Johnson (UFA) - NY Giants Dawan Landry (UFA) - Baltimore Michael Lewis (UFA) - St. Louis Bret Lockett (RFA) - New England Corey Lynch (RFA) - Tampa Bay Danieal Manning (UFA) - Chicago Brandon McGowan (UFA) - New England Jon McGraw (UFA) - Kansas City Quintin Mikell (UFA) - Philadelphia Lawyer Milloy (UFA) - Seattle Ryan Mundy (RFA) - Pittsburgh Chinedum Ndukwe (UFA) - Cincinnati Donnie Nickey (UFA) - Tennessee Paul Oliver (UFA) - San Diego Jarrad Page (UFA) - New England Charlie Peprah (UFA) - Green Bay Sabby Piscitelli (UFA) - Cleveland Bernard Pollard (UFA) - Houston Brodney Pool (UFA) - NY Jets Pierson Prioleau (UFA) - New Orleans Chris Reis (UFA) - New Orleans Gerald Sensabaugh (UFA) - Dallas Darren Sharper (UFA) - New Orleans Eric Smith (UFA) - NY Jets Matt Ware (UFA) - Arizona Pat Watkins (UFA) - San Diego Eric Weddle (UFA) - San Diego John Wendling (UFA) - Detroit Donte Whitner (UFA) - Buffalo Roy Williams (UFA) - Cincinnati George Wilson (UFA) - Buffalo Gibril Wilson (UFA) - Cincinnati Usama Young (UFA) - New Orleans
