I was thinking about this more... Odunze is a big body X receiver. We already have Williams. If we have both of them on the outside are we playing Wilson in the slot? He lined up there 30% of the time last season. We also still have Mitchell and Warren. Any faith in them when they're not thrown into the fire immediately? Remember our OL will look better playing in front of Rodgers than ZW regardless of who's out there. I still think the smart way to go is OT or trade down a couple spots and see who falls. There are still some decent WR FA available that I'm sure would love to play with AR if we need to go that route: https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/free-agents/all/wide-receiver/available/
I’m in the OL camp right now. While Bowers sounds amazing, I’m not sold on the ability of our OC to figure out how to exploit his unique abilities.
While they may not be "perfectly ready to step in and provide starting caliber play", is that the criteria you use to measure a backup or a rookie? Of course not. But he sure would be able to come in and play decently, meaning he's be good most of the time and make some amount of mistakes as he learned. But the bigger reason to draft him which you and others who are clamoring for Bowers neglect to acknowledge is that he provides a solid foundation for the future. THAT is the main reason to draft him at #10, while the ability to be a back up this year is good secondary reason. As good as Bowers might be - in a vacuum - he's almost certainly not going to be that good on this team with this HC and OC. Sure it would be great if the Jets already had their OL solidified and a QB who could sustain some hits without being lost for the season, but that's not the reality. Sorry, it just isn't. Bowers is the Bullitt Mustang we'd all love to have that in end winds up sitting in the garage while we drive around in our SUVs and pickups because tye're way more useful.
No, we're talking about taking a stud T at #10 who could be an emergency starter if one of the two older, Tackles with injury histories goes down while becoming a building block for the future. It's not just about this year, it's about the next 10 years (or more). And it's about acknowledging that you can receive enough production from the current TE group to get by, and the reality that finding a good Tackle is like finding a good parking space in Manhattan. And I'm not even going to get into addressing the fact that Bowers might not work out, especially playing for THIS team and HC/OC.
Not to mention the bit about our offensive staff not using Bowers well. Meanwhile we have the most universally despised OL coach in the league.
Instead of OT for the future, why aren't we sayin draft a QB for the future. Can watch AR for a couple of years. Seemed to work for Jordan Love and if things go according to plan we might not be in a position this good to draft a QB for a while
Remember the last "stud" tackle JD picked... yeah, Mechi Becton. Load up on linemen in the mid rounds and develop them. This is the real issue, lack of talent development on the offensive side of the ball.
Are we now using the universal narrative that our OC would not know what to do with a TE of that caliber and style but they know exactly how to maximize our WR capabilities and our line coach would know exactly how to finally develop a rookie OL. I’m not buying. OL COACH AND OC are on thin ice AR or not. If they can figure out such basics they need to be shit canned. NH role has already being reduced, and he better show he can figure out how to maximize our offensive selection, whomever it might be.
I mean the universal narrative here seems to be that we all agree Brock Bowers has the potential to be a good-great player at the NFL. One side just seems to be a lot more focused on wanting to apply the supporting logic to the actual team in question here - the New York Jets. I'll again point out that absolutely none of the people in his thread making a claim that Bowers is the best 2024 GFIN piece for us to draft are seemingly confident enough to back that opinion up with an on-record ballpark projection on what his "special" GFIN year 1 production actually looks like in Hackett offense. If he is going to be a difference maker what do you believe that will look like? An opinion that won't cross that bridge for fear of looking stupid latter for ignoring the obvious isn't doing itself any favors if it really wants to try and sell the draft OT side here.
With regards to the bold, don't you know that that's what some of these guys do? In their minds they're never wrong, or they pretend that they're never wrong, and never admit when they are. It keeps things nice and easy for them. They don't have to think or look at each comment or situation individually and decide based on the merits of those comments, they can just dismiss those media personalities or posters out of hand, then they can remain internet tough guys who think they're smarter than everyone else. Trying to have a rational, civil discussion with those guys is impossible because they are disingenuous and shallow minded.
I get that. A couple decades on this board and I've steered clear of going all-in on ANY draft pick. First, because, although I do watch ton of college football, I'm no draftnik. Second, because the rate of unrealized expectations for any draft pick in any round is pretty high. Knowing that, I'm fully willing take all the I-told-you-sos square on the chin a year from now. More than anything else in this draft, I want a game-changing offensive player. If Joe Alt is available at #10, I'll shrug and resign myself to that pick. Otherwise, I only see three only three game-changing offensive players in this draft - Marvin Harrison, Malik Nabers and Brock Bowers. I'm tired of watching that level of offensive player on other teams. If someone wants to argue for Rome Odunze, fine. I just don't agree he's a better offensive threat than Bowers, although he did show up when it counted. Of the three I named, only MHJr was more important to the success of his college team. But Bowers is probably the only one likely to be available at #10. If we pass on him for a serviceable OL and then watch Brock Bowers bring everything he showed in college to some other NFL team, I'll be intolerable.
OL Coach Carter and WR Coach Shawn Jefferson have a proven track record and are respected in the league. Hackett hasn't proven anything other than his incompetence. He couldn't even figure out that Breece was a good receiver, scheme receivers open last season or do much of anything to try to make the offense more effective last season. Why should we think that he would know how to use Bowers or Nabers or Odunze in a creative fashion? They'd either have to figure out a way to thrive on their own in his scheme or they wouldn't be very good. Hackett is one of those coaches who have a scheme and players have to fit his scheme. He has been incapable of adjusting or adapting his scheme to fit the talents of his players. He's yet another NFL coach who tries to shove square pegs into round holes.
There's a rumor that the Titans are very interested in Bowers. I hope so. The Giants need a WR more than they do an OL. If the Titans take Bowers and the Giants take Nabers, then the Bears would choose between Odunze and Alt. Hopefully, they would take Odunze to give Williams a great WR, and that would leave Alt for the Jets, unless some other team earlier surprised and took him or traded out to someone else coveting Alt.
The thing is, just because Bowers (or any other offensive player for that matter) is super effective and a star on another team doesn't meant that he would be with the Jets. We do have a doofus for an OC and a conservative former DC as HC.
I keep reading posts like that and I'll never understand the logic. We should avoid drafting talented players because our current coaching staff won't use them effectively. Even worse when you flip that on its head.
Why not? It makes total sense. If our current CS can't utilize them properly, they'll never achieve in the NFL what they could have and most likely should have if we had quality offensive coaching and an offensive-minded HC. Even if the Jets drafted Bowers and he had a mediocre year, if players stayed healthy and they had some luck, the Jets could still make the playoffs and then everyone will be back, thus no changes would be made in how Bowers would be used. What's the point of drafting a player who will have the first 2-3 years of his career pretty much wasted, and we know how that can set players back and prevent them from ever becoming what they could have become? What the point in drafting him to be an explosive weapon who can be used in a variety of ways if he's just gonna be used similarly to the way that all the other TEs on the Jets are used and not be put into a position in which he can succeed? Very few players become stars in spite of their coaching and schemes. On this board we talk all the time about players on the Jets not being put in a position to succeed, and how all of our OCs over the last 5-10 years have been pretty rigid and try to force square pegs into round holes, and are unwilling or unable to adapt their scheme to fit their best players' talents, or better yet, devise a scheme which makes the best use of those best players?
