Some scattershot thoughts about the DL Between Kenrick Ellis, Muhammad Wilkerson and Quinton Coples, the Jets have three planet players on their defensive line. Hard to expect all three to live up to their upside, but if they do, this has the potential to be the Jets' most devastating defensive line since the sack exchange. Everyone talks about Wilkerson and Coples for good reason. Obviously, I'm looking forward to them, too. Wilkerson showed flashes getting into the backfield and being disruptive last year. He is still just 22 years old and didn't have full camp in his rookie season either. We've talked plenty about Coples. He's a freakish athlete, too, and he'll make some plays this year. Hard to count on him to make a huge impact in year one, but if he puts together a year like Wilkerson had last year, I think we'll all be happy. Ellis showed flashes in preseason, and he was always considered a project coming out of college. Spending part of summer in jail isn't a good start, but at least he'll have a full training camp and a year under his belt. Pouha said he's been impressive. This kid has immense upside if he ever puts it together, I'm curious to see him on the field. The Jets have the potential to have three planet players on the line. Wilkerson, Coples and Ellis are all immense human beings that, if all goes well, will be near impossible to stop with a single blocker. Rex says these guys will cause production, well that's how. Whoever gets single teamed will be counted on to push the pocket and make plays, and hopefully the Jets are able to get some more free rushers in on the QB in Rex's scheme. We've blitzed less and less the last 2 years. I don't think we're going to turn into 2009 again where we blitzed all the time. Rather, Rex/Pettine will count on the DL to push the pocket on passing downs to get in quarterbacks like Brady's faces. In the Tom Brady era, the Jets have only seemed to beat the Patriots when the defensive line outplays the Pats' offensive line. This year, I think we can do that. I didn't even mention Sione Pouha or Mike DeVito, two of the top run stuffers in the NFL. DeVito will play a little less this year, but hopefully less is more, as he seemed to wear down a little toward the end of the season. Marcus Dixon can also be an effective rotational end in this mix. Pouha's presence gives the Jets possibly the best run plugger in the NFL in the middle, which lessens the need for Ellis to play as much. It also gives the Jets a huge advantage on first and second down, where Pouha is dominant. Then on 3rd, Wilk and Coples can shift inside with Pace/Thomas/Maybin/Sapp on the edge. Bottom line, so many possibilities for this offensive line. The veteran run stuffers. The high upside youngsters. And a brand new coach in Karl Dunbar to run the show and teach these kids how to play. I'm really excited to see this group develop. If they develop quicker than expected, the Jets' defense could return to the best in the NFL with the secondary being as good as it is.
Ill say this I don't think too many would be happy if Coples rookie year is too much like Wilks. Coples got drafted way earlier (and should of gone much earlier than that) and is landing in a better situation, with a full camp/offseason. Plus Coples was touted as the best pass rusher in the draft, so we all should expect him to chase down the qb a lot more than Wilk did
3-4 DE's just do not accrue sacks unless they are simply amazing. Richard Seymour and Sean Ellis were the best in the business during the 2005-2010 in terms of 3-4 DE's getting to the QB. People were never happy with Ellis' sack numbers, so why would they be happy with what MoWilk put together a year ago? Wilkerson was the 2nd best rookie 3-4DL behind J.J. Watt a year ago, which is pretty impressive considering the sheer number of guys drafted ahead of him at the position. Since we will be playing more 4-3 on passing downs, Coples and Wilkerson should both have higher sack numbers this year. However, everybody can just rest easy the minute Coples gets his first sack, and the VG comparisons can die right then and there.
It looks a lot like the Jets will be in a flexible front with 4 lineman a lot of the time. The talent to do this well is probably there and it will be refreshing to see a Jets front that can get some pressure on the passer for a change. People are forgetting how good the 4 man front was in 2004. Shaun Ellis - Jason Ferguson - Dewayne Robertson - John Abraham. That was some real talent up front with D Rob the weakest link and still a pretty good player in the role the Jets envisioned for him. Then Abraham got hurt (again) and shipped out of town. The Jets moved to a 3-4 with no spot for Robertson. The line became mediocre, a situation that has continued to this day with Kris Jenkins shaking things up for a bit until his knees took him down (again.) It sure does look like the Jets have the stuff up front again after a 7 year gap. Will be nice to see the other team having to make adjustments for a change.
I cant wait to see Harris and Davis making some plays with that bulk in front of them. Next year will be the key for our LBS. I suspect we will see a injection of speed...could be real scary for other teams in 2014!
I know, but we drafted Wilk to be a straight up 3-4 DE as a rookie, Coples is gonna be much more versatile, and used far more often in a 4-3. So if he's getting many snaps in a 4-3 you shouldn't expect nor want his #s to look like our 3-4 de did as a rookie
I'm very excited about this front 4 also, but its a little tempered by my concern with the OLBs. Scott looked finished last year, Pace has been overrated for a while now, Thomas is old and coming off an injury. We are really heavily banking on Maybin to continue his resurgence and on Demario Davis to make a quick impact on 3rd downs. Bad OLBs turn into big running plays down the sideline, which turns into safeties cheating towards the sidelines, which opens the seam, which gives them easy TE routes, which makes a pass rush impossible. Sound familiar? Hate to be the pessimist, but I'm just identifying our one weakness on the defensive side of the ball. I do think it should be a pretty solid unit though.
This D-line has the potential to be the most dominant unit on the team.They could be very scary for offenses.
If Thomas comes back from injury and we have Pace on the other side I dont see us getting gashed for big runs. I do see teams dinking and duniking on them as neither OLB spot in a 4-3 would not be good cover LB's
I really hope Thomas is back healthy for 1st and 2nd down. He completely eliminates that side of the field for the RB. Thats a big IF though.
Definitly looking foward to see what we've got. With that said, Im expecting Coples to have a better season than Wilk had last year. We shall see...
If Jets do run 4-men front, then I would like to think that... Bryan Thomas's playing time will take massive hit. What Cactus was doing, Wilkerson will be doing. Coples will likely come from the edge on the other side - so it stands to reason that, Jets defense, from schematics alone, have two alternatives to get after the QB (Maybin behind Mo Wilk, or overloading the other side with Coples and Maybin) If Maybin shows enough of a progress toward complete LB (which remains to be seen) the 4 men front will become that much more effective.
In terms of potential Coples - Ellis - Pouha - Wilkerson means QBs should be on their toes... especially with our versatility of sending smaller guys like Maybin and Pace (who's in a sort of contract year so he'll do well). There's no doubt in my mind we'll put pressure on the QB this year.
Since it remains to be seen whether the safeties can hold up their end in the secondary, you could very well be right. I am not sure we can expect to see this out of the box, however. But as the year goes on, if Coples can contribute to the pass rush... One of the things I love about the DL right now is it is deep. Deepest unit on the team.
