I agree on the old and injured comment 100%…JD does not get a pass this year for injuries…when you build an OL like he’s done, using older and injury prone guys, you can’t use injuries as an excuse for poor performance, which is why he hedged his bets and did the smart thing in drafting an OT at 11. But enough already…he’s had 5 years to build an OL…no more damn excuses
I generally like this draft for the jets. Before the draft, I argued with some folks on here about taking a lineman over Bowers. However, I was thinking more along the lines of a lineman like Fautanu, Fuaga or Latham because they have the position flexibility to play guard or RT this year and start right away. Fashanu does not have that flexibility and so now he’ll only play whenever Smith doesn’t (which is likely btw at some point), but it does take the sting out of being all in this year. In that respect, I may lean Bowers especially because I’m not a huge fan of Fashanu to begin with. He is really good in pass pro but his run blocking is poor (which is important when you have breece hall) and I’m not sure he has the nasty attitude I’d like in an o-lineman. In any event, it was still responsible to take a linemen so I can’t crush it too much. I love the Corley pick. Hell not only play right away but slot was a need for both now and the future. Love the Travis pick, that’s what the jets should’ve done last year. I’m not in love with Allen like most, but I understand that’s personal preference. Drafting 2 rbs though is questionable as Izzy was supposed to be good. It will be odd to keep 4. Love the stiggers pick too and I don’t know much about the safety, but at least that was a position of need.
https://x.com/JoshNorris/status/1785473059006394393 Do other teams release footage like this? Maybe they do. I wouldn’t even if it seems pretty harmless. I’d never let anyone into my draft room.
I disagree regarding Fashanu. He was the 2nd or 3rd best OT in the draft. IMO it doesn't make sense to draft a lesser OT just becaues he may have more positional flexibility. Especially in an "all-in" year, protecting Rodgers is or should be the #1 priority. We saw what happened last season when Rodgers went down in the 1st game. That might not be an issue if Smith weren't injury prone and 33, or if Rodgers wasn't 41 and coming off of an achilles tear, but it is. It's not a matter of "if" but rather "when" Smith goes down. When that happens, Fashanu will be vitally important. His run blocking is inconsistent, not poor. He's only 21 and has only been playing football since some point in high school, so what 4 to maybe 6 years, if that? He is a hard worker and wants to be the best he can. I have no doubts that he will improve as a run blocker, and he will learn a lot from Smith and Moses. Also, the Jets needed a starting LT going forward. Neither Max Mitchell nor Carter Warren were the answer. Fautanu is very raw technically. He may be a brawler, but it takes more than that in the NFL. He also has a Lisfranc injury a knee that's going to need a second surgery on it at some point, is already 24 years old, and is shorter than ideal. Latham was a holding penalty machine at Alabama, and that's the last thing the Jets need, as it will take him a while, if ever, to clean that up. There's also the weight concern with him. We saw what happened with Becton and how his weight ballooned. Fuaga could start at either RG or RT, but it's debatable whether or not he could make the transition to LT. It wouldn't have done much good this year or next year if Fuaga couldn't play LT, they couldn't get a quality LT in the the draft next year (which wouldn't be ideal anyway), and the Jets were stuck with Carter Warren playing LT. The Jets have 11 starters and 6 backups that will be FAs next year; Reed, MC II. Sauce, G. Wilson, JJ, and Breece need to be extended. They're not going to have the cap space to sign OTs in FA even if anyone good is available at LT. I love how Jets fans who wanted a WR or Bowers just automatically assume that he would light up the NFL his rookie season and make a big impact. At best, either would have been the 3rd option behind G Wilson and M. Williams, and both Breece and Conklin are going to get their share of passes as well. At best, that WR or Bowers probably would have only gotten 30-40 opportunities. More importantly, they're forgetting who our OC is. To be ultimately effective, Hackett would have had to change the Jets' offense so that it revolved around or heavily involved Bowers. One, I don't think Hackett could have done that, as he isn't very creative, and he did nothing to scheme WRs open last year, or adjust the offense for Zach, nor do I think he would have done that. Even though Bowers isn't a traditional in-line TE, neither GB nor Hackett have used the TE very much except to catch opponents off guard and in the Red Zone. Conversely, the slot position has been used a lot by GB, Hackett, and Rodgers. The offense won't have to be changed, Hackett doesn't have to get any more creative. The plays are already there, and Rodgers knows how to use the slot WR and loves to use quick throws to the slot. Also, if the Jets had taken a WR or Bowers in the 1st round, they wouldn't have been able to get an OT that could help them at all this year, and possibly not even as a starter going forward.IMO Kiran Amegadjie was the only potential starting OT taken in the 3rd round, and he is a bit of a project, so probably wouldn't have been able to play effectively this year as a backup for T. Smith. The Jets simply had to get a starting-quality LT in the draft not only for this season, but going forward. Taking Fashanu was absolutely the right and best pick, and trading up for Odunze or even taking Odunze at #10, should have never been a serious consideration.
I was curious about that also. Talented guy, team captain, 3-year starter. I assume he was typecast as really good center but questionable whether he's versatile for anything else. Tough to know. Center was all he ever did. Might also be a shade light by NFL standards. I saw his predraft weight was 298lbs. That caught my eye. Not a huge surprise that his roster weight was complete horseshit. His HS weight (305) also. But after 3-years of workouts and diet training (which is huge at UGA) there's no way he lost weight. Kinda suggests that a fit 298 is probably his max, unless he gets tubby.
To me, the interesting thing is Latham rising up the boards late in the process…when the college season ended and people started looking at draft boards, Latham was more of a late first round projection and not in the top ten in any of the early mocks or write ups I saw. That worries me. A lot. That usually happens when teams look at the combine, and the measurable, and get into the “potential”. All well and good, and valid to a point, but it always concerns me. I like going with the feelings that were there fresh at season end. And through all those early mocks and such, I always saw Fashanu listed as pretty much the 2nd tackle after Alt. Maybe 3rd but Latham was no where near the top ten at that time. So I get size and physical attributes, but two things scared me with him…first, Alabama OL have been pretty hit or miss recently, and more miss than hit. When we took Sauce, there was plenty of rationale to take Evan Neal at that spot…and man that decision to take Sauce was absolutely the right call (despite all the revisionist talk track I hear every now and then how that draft was a “layup” for JD…it wasn’t). But I’m already wary of Alabama OL. And then to hear that he has a bad habit of holding a lot…well shit, that will only get worse in the NFL, not better, as he will now be facing tougher competition. Maybe the Titans can coach him up, maybe not. We’ll see. But I was VERY happy to see Tennessee go Latham at 7 and then Atlanta go QB…would’ve been an interesting decision had Chicago passed on Odunze, though personally I still would have gone OT, firstly because I think going WR at 10 would have relegated us to an OT in the 3rd round that probably won’t be much of a step up from Warren or Mitchell…in other words, taking the better OT first and then taking a WR in the third I thought was better than taking those two positions the other way around….I like the 3rd round WR better than the 3rd round OT. Also, I can’t point to anything specific with Odunze, and he may be a good kid and prospect, but for some reason I feel he has been overhyped and I don’t think he will be as explosive or dominant in the NFL as he was in school. Time will tell of course, but I was all in on the OT pick before the draft and I’m happy how that all worked out.
I’m not advocating taking a lesser prospect, I like Fautanu and Fuaga more than Fashanu. You could’ve started Fautanu at guard or RT this year and moved him to left next year. He was considered the best offensive lineman in the country all season long, but was “downgraded” because people assumed he had short arms and may have to move into guard. For that, he was penalized. Then he goes to the combine and has longer arms than Joe Alt and most of the top tackles in the draft, and no one decides to un-penalize him for whatever reason. It’s kind of a shame he went to Pittsburgh, because we may never see him at LT there since they’ve already called Broderick Jones the heir apparent.
I think it was a bad decision for them to pick him that high, and an even worse decision to play him at left. Really desperate move imo, but then again, that ownership/front office is one of the most dysfunctional in the league so it’s not surprising.
Yeah... the whole thing about that Homer Simpson quote is that his optimism was based on the flimsiest of foundations. Because, you know... he's Homer Simpson.
I'm, with you on the Olu gripes. I wanted Fuaga. I hope Olu pans out but I don't see him pancaking defensive linemen. I see the Jets thought process. They are about protecting Rodgers in the pocket. This current line won't be making any holes for Breece.
Great post. I agree about Bowers because the Jets had good options at TE. Not that I'm against the Fashanu pick, however, I have to believe a great and experienced QB like Rodgers is going to throw to whichever WR is open, not what their ranking is. It's a good bet that defenses will concentrate on stopping Wilson which will probably leave Williams and option 3 in single coverage on most passing plays. Nothing succeeds like success, so if Rodgers has success throwing to the 3rd option, I have to believe he's going to keep doing it.
I don't have any confidence. Whatever confidence/optimism I had was beaten out of me over the last two seasons and the absolute joke of all the injuries. I could only believe in this team if they demonstrated it for an entire season.
There's truth to what you say, but that doesn't mean that he would stop trying to throw the ball to his best WR G. Wilson. Rodgers also will spread the ball around to keep opposing Ds off balance.
