Realistic FA Targets for Jets

Discussion in 'New York Jets' started by Brook!, Jan 9, 2021.

  1. NCJetsfan

    NCJetsfan Well-Known Member

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    I'd rather we switch to a man to man blocking scheme and have 5 maulers. I don't care for the light, athletic, zone blocking style. I love it when an OL can impose their will on the D and wear them down.
     
  2. Jonathan_Vilma

    Jonathan_Vilma Well-Known Member

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    That's not the scheme LaFleur will run. It will be a zone scheme. I'm sure it will be more of a blend of both though at times because Becton is such a mauler.

    Both work and both can wear down defenses. It's just a matter of getting the right guys.
     
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  3. Get me the Damn Ball

    Get me the Damn Ball Well-Known Member

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    What about Clowney in a 4-3? He might be a decent fit depending on his price tag
     
  4. ColoradoContrails

    ColoradoContrails Well-Known Member

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    This is the kind of info I really like about TGG! Thx!
     
  5. Jonathan_Vilma

    Jonathan_Vilma Well-Known Member

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    Nah. Clowney is going to be nothing more than a team to team veteran at this point. He tried to power play his way into a big pay day, failed, took a lesser contract and didn't produce.
     
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  6. NCJetsfan

    NCJetsfan Well-Known Member

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    https://jetsxfactor.com/2021/01/18/...-5-de-that-perfectly-fit-robert-saleh-scheme/

    New York Jets free agency: 5 DEs that perfectly fit Robert Saleh’s scheme
    By
    Michael Nania
    -
    01/18/2021

    Robert Saleh is a flexible guy. As Oscar Aparicio explained on the Cool Your Jets podcast, he is extremely open to new ideas and suggestions from those around him, and he does a fantastic job of molding his defensive approach around the strengths and weaknesses of his roster.

    San Francisco’s defensive scheme evolved over Saleh’s time in the Bay Area. The brand of football you saw from the 49ers defense in 2020 was much different than what you saw from the unit when Saleh first arrived in 2017. Brought in with a background in the Pete Carroll tree (coaching under Carroll in Seattle and then under Gus Bradley, a fellow Carroll protege, in Jacksonville), Saleh was expected to run the Seahawks’ signature Cover 3 defense, and that’s exactly what he did to start out.

    Saleh began his 49ers career running a very Seahawks-esque scheme in 2017. However, as time went on, he adjusted the scheme to fit San Francisco’s roster, gradually adding more blitz packages and more man coverage looks year-over-year.

    Fast forward to 2020, and the 49ers had one of the most diverse defenses in the NFL, deploying numerous different looks on a consistent basis.

    The point here is that Saleh is a very adaptable coach, so we have no idea what type of Jets defense he will attempt to build until we see the moves he makes. Perhaps he looks to replicate exactly what he did in San Francisco. Maybe he employs a healthy blend of his 49ers philosophies with the current makeup of the Jets roster. It’s even plausible that he scraps everything and reworks the entire defensive approach around the Jets’ strengths and weaknesses. We have no way of knowing these things at the moment.

    If Saleh does look to build a defense in New York that is schematically similar to what we saw in San Francisco over the past two years (a span in which the 49ers allowed 4.9 yards per play, second-best in football), perhaps the primary hole that the Jets will need to fill is the defensive end position.

    In San Francisco, Saleh relied on his 5-technique defensive ends (lined up over the offensive tackle’s outside shoulder) as the primary sources of pressure. These guys – players like Nick Bosa and Arik Armstead – typically lined up with their hands in the dirt, using a 3-point or 4-point stance. The Jets do not currently have any players on their roster who truly fit that position. John Franklin-Myers played it solidly in Los Angeles as a rookie in 2018, but he exploded to an elite level as an interior defender in 2020, so he is probably best suited to staying where he is. Outside of him, there isn’t much to like at that spot.

    Saleh ran a 4-3 base in San Francisco, contrary to the Jets’ 3-4 base under Gregg Williams. The Jets typically relied on two stand-up outside linebackers to handle the primary pass-rushing roles on the edge (Tarell Basham and Jordan Jenkins).

    Of course, in the modern NFL, every team runs variations of both the 3-4 defense (3 DL and 4 LBs) and the 4-3 defense (4 DL and 3 LBs). Even more importantly, teams are lining up in nickel (5 defensive backs) or dime (6 defensive backs) over half the time. Nickel and dime looks take either a defensive lineman or a linebacker off the field, so teams are not using a 3-4 nor a 4-3 look for the majority of the game.

    In a league where defenses are going lighter and faster to match the offense’s spread looks while also rotating players in-and-out of the game at a rapid rate to match personnel changes by the offense, the labels of “3-4 defense” and “4-3 defense” are very outdated. Every defense throws countless alignments and personnel packages on the field throughout the course of a game.

    With that said, every defense has its core philosophies and requirements, and for Saleh’s San Francisco defense, 5-tech defensive ends are essential. Aiming to have more chess pieces at his disposal in the back end, Saleh relied heavily on his four-man rush to create pressure without the help of blitzes, so it is very important for him to have two defensive ends who excel at winning in the passing game.

    Here are some of the absolute best potential free agents who fit the bill:

    Carl Lawson, Bengals
    • Height: 6-foot-2
    • Weight: 265
    • Draft year: 2017
    • Current age: 25.5
    • Free agency type: Unrestricted
    • Total pressures in 2020: 64 (4th among EDGE)
    • 2020 overall PFF grade: 76.3 (15th / 104 among EDGE)
    • 2020 pass rush PFF grade: 84.9 (10th)
    • 2020 run defense PFF grade: 61.1 (50th)
    • Percentage of defensive snaps lined up at outside DE: 75.8%
    Lawson has always been a fantastic pass rusher. He just has not been able to stay on the field. His pressure rate of 14.6% in 2020 was tremendous (5th-best out of 91 qualified edge rushers), but that’s nothing new for him. His career pressure rate entering the 2020 season was a similarly strong 14.1%. The overall average pressure rate for edge rushers in 2020 was 9.7%. Lawson had only failed to break out prior to 2020 because of a lack of opportunities. Lawson missed 13 games from 2017-19, and in the games he did play, Cincinnati only gave him 33.1 snaps per game.

    Lawson did almost all of his damage lined up on the defense’s right side. He rushed from the right side on 395 of his 412 pass rush snaps, leading the NFL with 63 pressures from the right side, 15 more than any other player.

    Romeo Okwara, Lions
    • Height: 6-foot-4
    • Weight: 274
    • Draft year: 2016
    • Current age: 25.5
    • Free agency type: Unrestricted
    • Total pressures in 2020: 61 (5th)
    • 2020 overall PFF grade: 69.5 (35th / 104)
    • 2020 pass rush PFF grade: 85.4 (9th)
    • 2020 run defense PFF grade: 45.0 (96th)
    • Percentage of defensive snaps lined up at outside DE: 73.3%
    Okwara’s pressure rate of 14.4% ranked seventh-best among edge rushers. He was remarkably consistent, too, picking up at least three pressures in 12 games.

    Okwara hopped between both sides of the line, rushing from the left on 235 pass rush snaps (58.9%) and from the right on 164 snaps (41.1%). He was dominant on the left side, posting a 17.8% pressure rate from that side, which ranked second-best among edge rushers behind only Joey Bosa (18.0%).

    Kerry Hyder, 49ers
    • Height: 6-foot-2
    • Weight: 270
    • Draft year: 2014
    • Current age: 29.6
    • Free agency type: Unrestricted
    • Total pressures in 2020: 55 (13th)
    • 2020 overall PFF grade: 68.6 (41st / 104)
    • 2020 pass rush PFF grade: 58.8 (79th)
    • 2020 run defense PFF grade: 69.9 (23rd)
    • Percentage of defensive snaps lined up at outside DE: 93.5%
    As someone who played this exact position under Saleh a year ago, it goes without saying that Hyder fits the mold perfectly. He played nearly all of his snaps in the exact 5-technique defensive end position the Jets could be looking at.

    Hyder’s measly PFF pass rush grade is a concern, which could suggest his pass rush wins were hardly impressive, but the production is strong. His 12.6% pressure rate ranked 18th-best out of 91 qualifiers. He rushed from the left side 231 times (55.5%) compared to 186 times from the right side (45.5%), thriving on the left side with a 15.6% pressure rate compared to 10.3% on the right. In addition, while run defense is not the Jets’ primary concern here, Hyder is a strong run defender, tying for sixth among edge defenders with 22 run stops.
     
  7. NCJetsfan

    NCJetsfan Well-Known Member

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    Everson Griffen, Lions
    • Height: 6-foot-3
    • Weight: 273
    • Draft year: 2010
    • Current age: 33.1
    • Free agency type: Unrestricted
    • Total pressures in 2020: 33 (46th)
    • 2020 overall PFF grade: 63.2 (58th / 104)
    • 2020 pass rush PFF grade: 73.6 (25th)
    • 2020 run defense PFF grade: 54.5 (74th)
    • Percentage of defensive snaps lined up at outside DE: 55.9%
    Griffen ranked 46th in pressures despite ranking 55th in pass rush snaps (319) as he played a relatively limited role in Dallas (7 games) and then Detroit (7 games) at 32 years old. His pressure rate of 10.3% eclipsed the positional average of 9.7%. Over his seven games with the Lions, Griffen posted an outstanding PFF pass rush grade of 80.1.

    Just one season earlier in 2019, Griffen ranked 13th among edge rushers with 66 pressures for the Vikings.

    Trey Hendrickson, Saints
    • Height: 6-foot-4
    • Weight: 270
    • Draft year: 2017
    • Current age: 26.0
    • Free agency type: Unrestricted
    • Total pressures in 2020: 49 (21st)
    • 2020 overall PFF grade: 72.1 (25th / 104)
    • 2020 pass rush PFF grade: 78.0 (16th)
    • 2020 run defense PFF grade: 54.8 (72nd)
    • Percentage of defensive snaps lined up at outside DE: 82.6%
    Overall, Hendrickson’s 13.2% pressure rate ranked 13th out of 91 qualifiers at the position. He did all of his damage from the right side, where he lined up for 325 of his 341 pass rush snaps (95.3%). He ranked second behind Lawson with 48 pressures from that side and led the NFL with 14 sacks from the right side. Injuries are a concern for him, as he has played only 45 of 64 possible career regular season games (70.3%).
     
  8. NCJetsfan

    NCJetsfan Well-Known Member

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    https://www.northjersey.com/story/s...ts-too/4179292001/?utm_campaign=snd-autopilot

    NY Jets' Robert Saleh filling out coaching staff; What free agents could join him?
    Andy Vasquez
    NFL writer

    WR Allen Robinson
    He'll be the best receiver available if he reaches free agency and while they worked on different sides of the ball, Robinson and Saleh were together in Jacksonville from 2014-16, when Saleh was coaching the Jags' linebackers. Both Allen and Saleh are also from the Detroit area, which can't hurt. Robinson had 102 catches for 1,260 yards and six touchdowns this season. The Jets haven't had a 1,000-yard receiver since 2015.

    CB Richard Sherman
    He turns 33 in March and after playing only five games in 2020, and only 43 of 64 potential regular season games in the past four years, injuries are a major concern. But Sherman is still one of the best in the business when he's on the field and would be a valuable leader in the Jets locker room. If he's interested in playing for an up-and-coming team, he'd be a good pickup on a short-term deal.

    OLB Yannick Ngakoue
    Saleh was Ngakoue's position coach in 2016 with the Jaguars, so there's some familiarity there. The Jets badly need some sort of production from an edge rusher, and Ngakoue has never had fewer than eight sacks in his five NFL seasons. He wouldn't come cheap but the history with Saleh should provide some peace of mind.

    CB Jason Verrett
    He enjoyed a resurgence in 2020 under Saleh, becoming a starter for the first time since 2015. The 29-year-old had seven passes defended and two interceptions in 13 games and was reliable. The Jets need all the cornerback depth they can get and Verrett would be a solid piece to add to the mix.

    Andy Vasquez is the Jets beat writer for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to all Jets analysis, news, trades and more, please subscribe today and download our app.
     
  9. NCJetsfan

    NCJetsfan Well-Known Member

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  10. Footballgod214

    Footballgod214 Well-Known Member

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    I think JD has said in the past one of his primary goals of FA is to give him as much flexibility as possible in the draft.

    Not sure what that means. Maybe he uses FA to plug as many holes as possible with cheap, 1 yr deals. Then depending on how the board falls, draft the best players he can.

    For example, he brought Perriman in, but I don't think he sees Perriman as the final answer. But having Perriman on the roster allowed JD to trade down in the 2nd, and still get his WR (Mims). Had JD NOT brought Perriman in, he probably couldn't have gambled the way he did.

    It's like he prefers to plug holes with cheap 1 yr guys, hoping to replace them with drafted rookies, if it works out. I just don't know if JD will look to FA for high priced, long term solutions. Kind of goes against his 'build through the draft' mantra.
     
  11. ColoradoContrails

    ColoradoContrails Well-Known Member

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    I do think that's JD's strategy, and I think it makes sense.
     
  12. Footballgod214

    Footballgod214 Well-Known Member

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    I do too. Now, maybe if a Deshawn Watson comes along, he makes an exeption!
     
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  13. boozer32

    boozer32 Well-Known Member

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    Allan Robinson
     
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  14. boozer32

    boozer32 Well-Known Member

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    Good thing we got a fortune. The Jets have neglected the offense forever. Its time to catch up. They could have had all these guys Ju Ju, Robinson were all available but noooooooooooooooooooo we had to keep taking defensive turds.
     
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  15. NYGANGGREEN

    NYGANGGREEN Well-Known Member

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    Allen Robinson would be a good pickup, might cost too much and is older than Chris Godwin who looked very good on Sun and could produce at Robinsons rate if we have a decent QB
     
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  16. NYJFOREVER

    NYJFOREVER Well-Known Member

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    The Jets should really go after Curtis Samuel. It would be a fantastic move. Solid player for the offense the Jets are going to run and they'll get a good price tag.
     
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  17. JetsNation06

    JetsNation06 Well-Known Member

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    Samuel would be a solid add. He's continually improved since coming into the league. The 49ers offense is that quick hitting offense. Samuel's speed and shiftiness would be a good fit. They can even hand him the ball behind the line at times. Versatile.
     
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  18. boozer32

    boozer32 Well-Known Member

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    I would get him for the stability. Our next QB will need someone he can rely on. A guy that makes that catch when it's needed. Robinson, I'm pretty sure could be that guy. Mims and our tight ends are not. I hope Douglas can get that guy.
     
  19. Sack exchange

    Sack exchange Well-Known Member

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    If we get Samuel do we keep crowder?


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
  20. Sack exchange

    Sack exchange Well-Known Member

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    I would like to see in this order:

    Robinson
    Godwin
    Galloway
    Ju Ju


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