Le'Veon Bell, Eric Berry head top 25 free agents of 2017

He's been cut by 4 teams in 4 years. The Ravens cut him coming out of camp and then re-signed him due to injuries in October. There's no talent there just a large body in a world filled with much smaller ones.

 

why would we sign an expensive FA LB when the upcoming draft is supposed to be deep at the position??

IMO, the jets should focus their efforts on secondary and OL in free agency. they are going to have to pay up but securing an offensive lineman and a secondary player will help dramatically as we head into the draft.

playing to the strength of the upcoming draft is obviously important - i am sure we can find starter material at LB, safety, and possibly WR in rounds 1 and 2.

 

i will say something about the guard position - there have been some expensive FA signings over the years and everyone's initial reaction was well they surely overpaid.........Seattle (hutchinson), jets (faneca), etc etc......the positive influence that these all pro level veterans bring to a unit like the OL is, IMO, vastly underrated. players like these bring a unit together and significantly rub off on the younger, recent draft choices.

"the draft is for tackles and centers, FA is for guards"........i think accorsi said that but i can't specifically recall.

our guard play was average this year (some good, some not so good) and can be improved with the right player.

 

You just need good guards not great ones. Faneca was a great run-blocking guard but a poor pass-protecting one who needed help on both sides at times. He worked out for the Jets despite being late career because he had a very strong center on his right and a very agile LT on his left.

I think Accorsi's comment could be extended to just tackles being strong value early in the draft. The teams that have drafted great centers in the 1st round and seen them work out have included teams like the Browns, Raiders and Jets - all of whom saw a guy become a star there and still sucked many seasons.

The real answer is that overpaying for anybody in free agency hurts your team. The question is whether it hurts less than trying to play a less-talented draftee, UDFA or journeyman nearing the end of their career.

The best team in football will not use free agent offensive linemen unless they have no other choice. 2 guys in 16 years for a total of 4 starting seasons during that time and one of them was at the beginning of the Belichik era signed after a year the Pats went 5-11 and the other was a one season solution in 2011 when Sebastian Vollmer got hurt in camp.

 

I watched a lot of Packers games this year and I really didn't notice Perry standing out all that much. I guess that's what I'm basing my opinion of Ingram vs him as Ingram seems like a sparkplug all over the place. However with 11 sacks and a lot of tackles Perry definitely looks legit. Yes the Jets could go with him as he is a few years younger, not sure how much cheaper he'd be if at all.

Sounds like a good college OLB class so maybe that's the better long-term, economic alternative in rounds 2-3 of the draft.

 

While I understand people not wanting to sign fa lb's due to the draft being strong in that regards. If we pickup JPP or Ingram to play on the opposite side of what might be one of our best picks from last year in Jenkins we would be in good shape. Personally watching Dion Simon play this year in the middle of the D line I was fairly impressed with him. I might be willing to see what Pryor wants and potentially cut Marshall if he doesn't take a pay cut. This would give us freedom in the draft to look at Cook, Fournette, Mike Williams, and the one that I would take in Watson.

 

Signing JPP would be totally stupid imo. To begin with, he's never played in a 3-4 D. Second, he's older (28). Third, he's gonna want a ton of money. Fourth, the Jets aren't going anywhere next year, so it would be a pointless signing and a waste of cap space. Fifth, he's not gonna want to sign with the Jets.

 

Not forfeit exactly, just make our Jets luck worse than usual and get the #1 pick in 2018.

This team can't draft a QB for our life.

If we'd taken one of the 2014 QB's we'd have had Bridgewater (limited ceiling and injured), Manziel (headcase) or Carr (the winner of the 4 QB derby in 2014 and the 4th one picked - which is one of the things I thought was quite possible to happen that year and posted about the exact problem of figuring out who to take. I didn't know it would be Carr of course but I was pretty sure any of those guys could have been the one or busted out.)

We need the #1 pick in the right draft to get this done. Joe Willie was #1 in 1965 and then we paid through the nose to keep him from going to the NFL. He's the only QB in Jets history to get the job done. We need somebody like him to be the next guy and those guys all go on the #1 pick if they're there at all.

 

You don't even know if JPP can play standing up. Bringing in older vets is dumb. For what he would cost, we could probably bring in 3-4 younger players who could help the team for 5 years or more instead of him for 1-2 years. We should be building for the future, not to try to win 1-2 more games next season. That's the epitome of stupid and waste of cap space. You obviously learned nothing from the last 5-10 years. It's all moot anyway, as JPP would never sign with the Jets.

 

You can make the same argument for corners that you did for outside linebackers in that the draft is incredibly rich in corners.

I think we can wait one more year before investing highly in a receiver. We should see what Anderson/Enunwa/Peake/J. Marshall can contribute as starters because I think with Decker still around they form a formbidable quad. We absolutely need to toss some money at Enunwa this offseason IMO before he puts up a thousand yard year as the #2 and begins licking his chops as he looks towards free agency.

 

I'm hoping they go all in on Leonard Fournette. I'd highly enjoy him running face-first into Winters' butt 20 times a game.

 

My issue is with the way our O line is I think that if we are going to take a qb this year it has to be someone like Watson. He has the ability to cover up some of the O line issues. Using his legs to escape pressure. I wonder if Bowles is going to start playing Mauldin. If not then I would definitely look at Ingram to play opposite of Jenkins....

 

I like Ingram. Sucks that Ingram, chandler jones were available, but we drafted coples who is out of the league now.

 

Warford should have been drafted by the Jets. Gross incompetence from Idzik. Now it's going to cost big bucks to bring him here. Dumb dumb dumb.

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First of all, no one said that we had to agree. We see things very differently on this issue, that's obvious. On others we agree. I wasn't looking to start a pissing contest with you. Maybe we both misunderstood each other and are talking past each other. It doesn't matter. I'm going to make one last attempt to clarify what I was saying.

IMO it's one thing to have some older veterans when you're a playoff team. It's quite another when your team has had a history of bringing in older, more expensive vets on the downside of their careers, and most have not produced commensurate with their level of compensation. It's also quite another when you're practically having to rebuild your roster from the ground up because your two previous GMs traded away draft picks like they caused the plague, missed badly on picks and his successor sucked even worse and left the cupboard bare, and your team's not going anywhere in the next season, particularly with a lame duck HC.

IMO signing a number (4-5 or more) of expensive 28 year old will not help this team for more than 1-2 years. By the time the team is ready to compete then those players have to be replaced. I think the team needs to focus on developing its younger players and not bring in a slew of older vets to start just to try to win a few more games next season. That will not help build anything towards the future.

In the case of the LT position, we'll HAVE to sign someone 28 or older as a short term stop gap because to my knowledge, there aren't any younger LTs who will be available in FA who could be quality starters, and it's a lousy draft for OTs. We may have to sign an older TE as well to get the level of player we want/need and let him mentor ASJ, one of the young TEs we already have on the roster or one we draft. I can understand perhaps wanting to sign a couple of older veterans who can still play to serve as mentors and leaders to help shape the character and attitude of younger players. I'm not saying that we shouldn't sign ANY expensive FAs, that we shouldn't sign any FAs 28 years old, or that we could only sign younger, cheaper FAs. I'm also not saying that we have to spend all the available FA $s and/or use all the cap space this year. We may bring Mangold back or Harris, or both. If we bring any older vets back that are presently on the roster, hopefully it's limited to those two.

Just because a player is younger doesn't mean he can't play or can't be developed into a good player. The team is going nowhere next season. In the long run, it doesn't matter whether they win 2 games or 7. Unless younger players are developed and the team shows progress in showing up for games prepared, plays well and doesn't beat itself, in all likelihood Bowles won't be here in 2018 anyway. The Jets need to find out what they have in the younger players on the roster, and see if they can find some other that will function as quality depth and STers.

I also did not say that we couldn't upgrade any younger, cheaper FAs we might sign this offseason, so your comment about our facing teams with superior talent 5 years down the road with the younger FAs and scrubs we sign this off season is silly. You're better than that. Of course, we'll continue to upgrade the roster via the draft and FA. Just because we sign some FAs this season doesn't mean we stand pat and don't try to upgrade from them if they don't produce and/or show real potential. We could conceivably sign 4-5 FAs this offseason, with one being an older, expensive LT, with one being a moderately expensive 26 year old, and 2-3 24-25 year olds. Within two years, maybe only the moderately expensive FA is still here. The older, more expensive one has retired or been released, and the younger ones proved to not be that effective. They would be replaced by draft picks or other younger FAs. It's a matter of focus and priority. Parcells, Tanny, and Mac (and maybe Bradway, I don't remember) all signed a number of older more expensive FAs trying to "win now" and few of them gave us value for what they were paid. If the team hopes to win, this has to stop. I thought you were against the "competitive rebuild" nonsense.

 

What are the biggest team "needs" going into the 2017 FA?

Secondary, and it's not even close. Followed by O-line and some form of pass rush.

To everyone that exclaimed how highly sought after the top corners will be and the amount of money they should command I believe are spot on. That's why I would go to the next tier down.

CB: Morris Claiborne

Claiborne won't be exactly cheap I would say but a great deal less than the top 3 (Bouye, Gilmore, Johnson). Next up I would like to stay with the secondary and move to safety, while I would like to get a FS and hold out a shred of hope Pryor can return to 2015 form FS isn't worth a look outside of Berry who will get a huge contract. I do think Johnathan Cyprien is worth a look if he could be had at good price. He's basically what we hoped Pryor was going to be this season.

Just to echo everyone else I completely agree at RT. We go after him and we go really strong. Also Winters should be re-signed, not sexy but it only makes sense.

RT: Riley Reiff

I say pass on pass rushers in FA. In order to get Jones, Ingram, or JPP the cost would be far too great for what I think would be the resulting production.

 

I'd make a run at Melvin Ingram, Gilmore, Reilly Reiff would instantly provide much needed pass rush as well as sure up a weak secondary. This draft is also loaded with CB's so I'm hoping we add a few. Also, we need a starting LT and given the weak Oline class, best get that position sured up in free agency.