I know...I know...I've heard the "Bowles used X number of CB's XX% last year", but does anyone else have the strong feeling of regret with respect to signing Buster Skrine and/or Cro? When we signed Skrine - I was pumped, 25 years old, looked to be a good system fit. When Revis signed, again, ultimately pumped, we had two good (one great, one good and growing) corners back on our roster. I felt completely fine putting Milliner, Williams out there at 3rd CBs. The Cro signing, while I like him and think he's a good player, just seemed to be a "loyalty" signing of such, and with his age being 31 and his reason for being a good CB his pure athleticism (not so much a technique guy) - it gives me concern about his future production. While I know we had the cap room - and we needed to get better in the defensive backfield - I would've rather used the money we're using on Cro to go towards Wilkerson/Sheldon in the coming years so we could address needs with the money we're going to ultimately scrape together to re-sign them. Am I alone in this boat? All of our contracts seems to be 2 year deals, but I for one hope Skrine comes in and beats the crap out of Cro in TC and becomes our 2nd corner, so that he's 25 and reaching his peak instead of 31 and we're just hanging on for dear life.
No. We need all 3. Milliner is coming off an injury that destroys skill position players. This allows him to rest and learn mentally and physically for the next 1-2 years. He will still play but won't be thrown into the fire. Skrine is best in the slot but can play both in and out. Marcus Williams played good last year but having him and McDougle as 5/6 playing special teams is what's best for the team.
You are def alone in that boat ....Millner and Mcdougle are question marks .The depth chart should look like this.Its the perfect depth at corner if everyones healthy 1.Revis 2.Cromartie 3.Skrine(Could be Millner if he shows up healthy and does something in training camp/pre season) 4.Millner(Could be Skrine) 5.Mcdougle
Depending on the amount of money left I tend to agree with you on Cromartie. He most likely will get cut after a year but he's getting what $8 million a year? Is he really the same caliber player as Vontae Davis and Brandon Flowers were last year? It's tough to complain about money spent when we've had so much of it but you almost have to wonder if we would've been better off overpaying Iupati or Franklin than Cro.
We dont have a plethora of CB's..we have 3 with 1 often injured and 1 unproven. Why do fans (not the OP specifically) kill Idzik's drafts but are quick to think we might have a stud in McDougale? Would it shock anyone if him and Milliner both arent fit to play Week 1? Wouldnt shock me. Williams is a nice wildcard to have though. I love how he looked last season but there's no reason we shouldn't have signed any of those 3 guys in hopes he can develop into an NFL starter.
I thought Millner was a reach in round 1 and McDougle was a huge reach in round 3--Most teams didn't even have McDougle on their board but Rex and Idzik didn't read the memo. That being said, the jets foolishly drafted them and could probably get squat for either of them now. My bigger concern is OLB--Bowles isn't stupid enough to continue to play Coples at OLB, is he? The man IS a DE/DL and the sooner the jets get him back there, the better. He's a liability in coverage and not very fast off the edge.
Wouldn't shock me either. Mac&TB either is my guess. Even if Milliner and McDougle are fit for the active roster, considering their respective injuries I'm not expecting to see their particular top form 'til half way into the season at best. I'm hopeful Skrine is gonna be a huge upgrade over Wilson. Wilson was okay with the play in front of him and could tackle, but had zero instincts and ball skills. That's where Skrine will make the difference.
You guys do understand we are spending ~30 M this year on Revis, Cro, Skrine, and pushing 34 M when counting Milliners rookie contract. That's close to 25% (23%) of our cap on one position not entitled QB. Even more than that...50% of all of our new CB contracts are guaranteed. I just think we should've put more emphasis on developing a Milliner/McDougle/Williams under the tutorage of Revis rather than dump 8 on Cro that could help us with young, in-house talent this year or next. http://overthecap.com/position/cornerback/ Again, I'm happy that we will have a great D and great secondary - but in looking longer-term, this may come back to bite us.
Yeah Skrine is built to play the slot. He was forced to play the outside a lot in Cleveland so in all likelyhood wouldnt have to do that here. At the very least we went from bad to average in slot coverage so its an upgrade either way.
...and what if one or more of them gets hurt? You need quality depth at one of the most important positions on the team (especially in Bowles' D)
This is a question for every single team. We probably have the best CB depth in the league at this point. We'll be fine. If one gets hurt, the next steps up, who isn't a disaster of a player like last year.
I can understand this mindset. I think Cro got a little too much as well. But the problem with Milliner and McDougale isnt that they cant be developed. Its that they cant stay healthy. Before free agency started Mac said that they needed to go into it with the mindset of having zero CB's on the roster. And he did just that. Was it expensive? Hell yeah it was. But when you dont have that franchise QB you need to spend that $ somewhere. To me it would've been risky for them to have an open competition for the number 2 CB job in training camp. Maybe Milliner surprises and stays healthy for a whole year and lives up to that number 1 pick status. I need to see it first though Maybe if he proves health this year he can take over for Cro next season But remember we all were counting on Milliner last season too after his strong finish in 2013. Only to see him get hurt in training camp , come back 3 games into the season and go down 2 games later. Its a vicious cycle with him.
Why? Milliner is in his third year and way past the "give the young 1st rounder the job" stage. He's coming off a horrible injury and needs to sit, McDougle may have been undrafted last year if not for Idzik and then for the 3rd time in 4 years suffered a season ending injury, Williams is a UDFA who has given us a very little sample size. So I ask why, why for the 3rd straight year go through a season of horrible CB play if you don't have to? If Milliner lives up to his draft status which I think he eventually will then we can let Cro go because it won't be for another 1-2 years. If Williams becomes the next great UDFA then cool we'll make a trade of him or Skrine next off season and get some value back, if McDougle ever plays a game consider it a career success.
I have my questions about the Cro signing as well. I don't know if Idzik could have signed Davis last season if he hadn't been so cheap and had ponied up more money and tried harder to woo him, but if he could have, then that was definitely a mistake, even though many Jets fans would have been bitching/whining about Davis having been way overpaid. As far as overpaying Iupati and Franklin, it's my understanding that Mac tried to do just that, but was told that both players wanted to stay on the West Coast. At the time, I would rather have seen Cro's money go to sign Pernell McPhee, or perhaps Rahim Moore and Jabal Sheard. Bowles knows Cro however, and I don't think he'd be the type to do a "loyalty" signing. Cro knows his D and that's a big plus. He also played at a high level last year under Bowles. Bowles likes a lot of DBs and evidently likes to mix and match them depending upon the team he is facing that week. I'm willing to trust Bowles and Mac. I think having all those DBs will help cover for not upgrading the OLB position and could lead to creating more TOs. Hopefully, the Jets can add a stud pass rushing OLB in the draft and he will be able to contribute immediately.
It may, but I can understand Bowles' and Mac's approach. Bowles' system depends upon great CB play. He likes to use lots of DBs. They didn't want to repeat Idzik's mistake of last year. Hopefully, Milliner, McDougle and Williams all develop under Bowles and Revis' tutelage and the Jets can afford to cut Cro after this season and maybe trade Skrine. In the meantime, their butts are covered. There's no immediate pressure on Milliner, McDougle and Williams. They can get healthy and learn Bowles' system, which doesn't sound that easy. If I were Bowles I wouldn't want to count on a rookie, first or second year player to have to play, especially since they're coming off of major injuries, and with the first year player (McDougle) having played very little. It IS a lot of money invested in the CB position, which I don't like. It hearkens back to the days of Tanny. I had hoped that those days were gone forever. We just have to hope that Bowles works out, that the three youngsters learn and develop and are ready and able to take over when it comes time for Revis and Cro to retire/leave. If so, since they weren't starting, their 2nd contracts won't be very big and the percentage of the cap used on the CB position will drop significantly after two or three years.
I doubt they'll have Milliner competing at the slot, more likely he'll be backing up Revis and Cro outside while McDougal backs up Skrine in the slot
I have to believe that Milner will not be ready to start the season and will probably miss first 6 weeks on PUP. In that case we needed a 1, 2 and slot CB. We filled those with 3 best available, while still filling the majority of other needs. What exactly is the problem here?
Milliner was graded to go top 10 the whole time before the draft it wasn't a reach. Mcdoulge was a reach
