Lol at $5M for the draft. You only actually lose money on the rookies you sign significantly above the league minimum. That is pretty well relegated to the first 3-4 picks with most of the cost purely to rounds 1 and 2. When we draft a 5th rounder and sign him to a minimum contract he'll replace whichever scrub we decide to cut from the 53 man roster (or better yet a scrub who costs more than the minimum thereby actually SAVING us money with the pick.) In practical terms this year the draft should only negatively affect our cap about $1.8-$2M from the present moment from everything I've read and my research on recent draft pick salaries of picks 16/48/80/etc. We have plenty of room to make moves for this year and we still have ways to potentially cut even MORE money by dumping a guy or two, potentially making a beneficial trade, or even a contract restructure if absolutely necessary. The issue is that we don't want to spend too much money if it's not an absolute slam dunk move at this point to try to save up cap space for when it's really needed next year. Still if I'm Tanny, I'm looking to put together the best roster I can for this year even if it means pushing near the brink on the cap. We've got a lot of dead money that we can cut or trade next year including Cro (especially after Wilson plays as good or better than him this year), and all the deadweight salaries at LB/Wayne Hunter/ Brandon Moore. People love to bitch "cap/cap/cap." Tanny has it covered. He wouldn't have put himself in an untenable position for next year when he originally made the contracts over the past years. He surely hasn't done anything this offseason to make us think he has made next year's situation worse in any way (aside from reducing cap carryover for next year.) He'll dance his way out of any sticky situations next year and we'll have a fresh and revitalized New York Jets team to boot. Finally.
I have been trying to drive this point home for two weeks but nobody listens. They choose to forget that you have to cut somebody for each rookie that you sign.
huh? Leonhard is a FS. We have two SS's on the roster right now in Smith and Landry. We need a FS and Leonhard is probably the guy we sign for that position after the draft.
If we bring Leonhard back, he will be the starter. I want to go in a new direction entirely. If we bring in Leonhard, and draft a safety, no way is Rex going to let his teacher's pet back up a rookie. I'd rather it be Eric Smith on his way out but either way, both safeties need to be replaced.
I thought SS are generally bigger than FS. If a guy is too small to play FS, why would you make him a backup SS?
You are too optimistic. Im not a darksider either, but I've looked in to our 2013 cap situation and with like 30 players under contract, we are ALREADY over the cap. Several cap casualties will be made next year. Here are 4 starters that will be released even if we don't have their backups ready to start: Scott, Pace, Hunter, Eric. And I also believe one of the QBs and one of the starting CBs will be traded away (not released but traded away). We need at least 6 starters from this year and next years drafts in order for us to have a chance at a decent team. As for Holmes, teams with WR need will line up for him as long as he puts up 900+ yards. Now if he puts up 500 yards, sure no one will trade for him. It all depends how he performs.
Hunter, Smith and Scott won't be big losses and should be easily replaceable. We should be looking to replace Pace in the next 2 drafts anyway. Trading Revis could be a huge plus for this team if we could get big package of high picks and players (ala Herschel Walker). Call me a glass half full guy.
When you have holes, and there are players of all kind of talent at those holes in the FA and you don't sign them, it means you have cap issues. When was the last time around Jets shied away from signing a big name FA? Jets have several needs on offense and defense, but with the situation we are in, we are not making any moves. You'll come up with the line "Tanny has it covered". Bullshit. Tanny knows he can't cover those needs. He has to though cuz the NFL won't allow him to work at $140mil cap (duh). He'll be forced to push rookies in to starting spots and forced to take a flier on injury prone FA coming in at cheap with Chaz, Landry (most of the money is per game bonus), and possibly Edwards. You are in a denial if you think our cap situation is fine. Tanny isn't. He's an excellent GM and Im not blaming him for the cap situation we are in. He's tried to put the best team out there by using pretty much all of his cap every year. Ever wonder why he didn't spend that $8mil in cap space from last year? Cuz he knew he'd need it this year. Yes, he's smart obviously, but you can't deny the situation. I'll be the first one to remind you next year when we have cap casualties, AND contract restructures (both refer to cap issues).
As of now, we have no one to replace Hunter, Smith, Scott or Pace. And thats why I mentioned we need at least 6 starters from the next two drafts in order for us to have a decent team next year. 4 of the starters will take up those players mentioned, one should be a replacement for BT/Mayhem (if Mayhem is not resigned) and then theres RG, RB, TE, to say the least. As much as I love Revis, he may give us the most value in a trade (get a starter, couple of high draft picks). Maybe not a Herschel Walker type trade, but more like the Cutler type of trade.
We don't necessarily have to draft all the replacements either. It's not like Hunter, Smith or Scott are top level NFL players. We'd just need to replace them with serviceable starters at a lower cost.
True, but now you would be compromising on talent level, and Tanny would not be able to field a great team out there.
Every team compromises on talent in the salary cap era. If you have a lot of talent in key positions and good coaching you have a better chance than most teams.
Exactly. Every team has holes you just got to hope that the talent you have in other areas help mask those holes. A good QB especially can make everyone on Offense better.
I'm ALL-IN For Barron and have been for a while... About a month ago everyone said NO WAYYYYY OVERVALUED... Now all of a sudden he's getting linked to Dallas before our pick - I get that he's healthy but, this guy is ready to play coming from that system.... A few more notes: 1) Laron Landry is the Safety equivalent of Kris Jenkins last year - Nice if he's in there but, the chances he lasts a whole season are slim 2) Laron landry Signed a 1 year "Try-Out" deal - If he kicks-ass he will look for top Money and probably go elsewhere - If he stinks he stinks 3) Regardless of what happens, the Jets will STILL NEED A SAFETY NEXT YEAR ANYWAY!! 4) People like to say Barron lacks range and is a better FS - well, Mark Barron is Worlds better at FS than anything the NY Jets can get their hands on for 2012.. He has played FS and IMO can do both 5) I think it's the pefect transition to have a Mark Barron fill in at SS and FS for the injury prone starters we have at both spots and he would get some great instruction from Leonard and Landry I think people are greatly underestimating the NY Jets DESPERATION at Safety.... Oh.. And I think Upshaw and Ingram are both JAGS and nothing special... Both are short armed, average speed, decent football players but NOT the MONSTER PASS RUSHER people here really want.
If we get Barron I would only be happy if we traded down for him. He's a reach at 16. He's not really the type of safety we need but with Landry being here for 1 year he could step in next season ready to start. Honestly though we don't need Ingram or Upshaw to be monster pass rushers they just need to be good all around LBs who can rush the passer well enough.
I know there are other needs on this team. Very much so. But I can't get past how much they need a pass rusher at ROLB. If they don't go OLB in the first day draft, I will be apoplectic.