This is a list of moves the Jets have made this year or that have happened without their actions and how it effects the Jets chances to improve or decline next year. I'm not going to add no-effect moves to the list I'm just going to ignore them completely. 12/31/07 - Mike Westhoff retires as Jets Special Teams Coach. Impact: Negative, Westhoff was the dean of special teams coaches and the Jets cannot replace him with similar value. 1/19/08 - Bill Callahan hired as Assistant Head Coach/Offense. Impact: Positive, Callahan built a very strong Eagles offensive line and then helped power up the most potent AFC offensive attack with the Raiders. He has the knowledge and experience to fix the Jets offensive line if he's given the talent to work with. He's also a feasible interim head coach if Mangini takes a nose dive next year again. 2/26/08 - Justin McCareins released. Impact: Positive, there has to be a better receiver than McCareins out there somewhere. Probably working at the McDonalds down the street from Hofstra. 2/29/08 - Kris Jenkins acquired for 3rd and 5th round picks in the 2008 draft. Impact: Positive - with a big hedge, the Jets have a relatively thin and untalented roster at the moment, adding a proven talent in the interior of the defensive line is a huge positive and has to be acknowledged as such, however losing two draft picks in the process accentuates exactly how far the Jets have to go before they have a quality 53 man roster. As an example, the 3rd round pick the Jets gave up is earlier in the draft than the picks they used to select Leon Washington, Kerry Rhodes, Jerrico Cotchery, Chris Baker, Kareem McKenzie and Laveranues Coles. That's a quality player a season the Jets have gotten in the 3rd or 4th round and they will not have had a 3rd round pick for two years running. 3/1/08 - Alan Faneca signed to a 4 year deal to play LG. Impact: Positive - no hedge here. The Jets gave up cash to add real talent to the roster at probably their single neediest position. The move not only fills a gaping hole at LG but it also makes D'Brick and Mangold more valuable as they won't have to cover for the failings of a gap next to them. The Jets are now clearly better at one offensive line position than they were when the new regime took power after the 2005 season. 3/3/08 - Calvin Pace signed to a 6 year deal to play OLB. Impact: Positive - with a hedge again, I like Pace's potential to help the Jet's 3-4 next season however I don't like the price he came at and what that might mean down the road. I'm also hoping, as all of us are, that Pace repeats or improves on his career season in a contract year. We're better on the field at a need position and we didn't give up any depth to do it so it's a positive. 4/10/08 - Kerry Rhodes signed to a 5 year extension that likely will keep him with the Jets through his prime. Impact: Positive. Rhodes is the Jets best defensive player and he plays a position that some see as less key to having an effective defense. The last regime would have wound up haggling with him over value and somebody else probably would have swooped in and stolen him. It's a hugely positive thing that this regime managed to get him locked up and did it without breaking the bank. Those are all the moves that will have an impact through 4/10/08. I'll update this post everytime a positive or negative move is made or event occurs to the Jets this offseason.
I would add hiring Kevin O?Dea as Special Teams Coordinator to that list. I know he is not Westhoff, no coach the Jets hired could be. However, he did an excellent job with the Bears and Arizona as an assistant.. I would add that as a positive.
I'm only adding clear positives and negatives to the list. O'Dea may work out and be good and he may not. He has no track record of being a strong special teams coordinator. I added Westhoff and Callahan because they clearly represented losses and gains that could be quantified based on their track record.
I think you should add any significant moves made by the team to this thread, and let posters discuss whether it is positive or negative. Overall, I'd put the new ST coach as a mild positive, since it is an improvement over anyone on the current staff who may not have been ready or groomed to replace Coach Westhoff.
I know these aren't moves, but I personally think the fact that Sutton and Schottenheimer are still here is a positive in it's own right. Mangini is still too young and inexperienced to be dealing with changeovers in his OC and DC, two guys he has gotten to know and work with. For the sake of continuity for now (until he gets more experience), I count those two remaining as positives for the CS. The last thing Mangini needed this year was a turnstile of assistant coaches to add to his woes.
Here's the question: how do you make having Schotty and Sutton still here into a net positive over what happened last season? I'm only adding things that change the balance sheet significantly one way or the other.
The D really improved in the 2nd half of 2007 and they did it against good competition unlike the improvement in '06. On O nothing went right but I don't think that was Schottenheimer's fault. I still love what he was able to do in '06, hopefully w/ better OL play we'll get better production out of our running game and that will help translate to more efficient play out of the QB.
Let me put it to you slightly differently: Last season at this time would you have seen Schotty and Sutton staying with the Jets as positive factors over what the situation was in 2006? What then happened in 2007? I'm not adding anything as a positive unless it is a new good thing happening. I'm not adding anything as a negative unless it's a new bad thing happening. We know where we are right now: 4-12. Making many positive changes will improve that situation next season. Making many negative changes will keep it the same or see it decline some. What this thread is for is my impressions of where the Jets are in terms of making positive and negative changes for 2008. It's so that I mark those down as they happen and I don't have the same situation happen as last year where I let the Jets slide all through free agency and suddenly hated where they were at after the draft. I want to go step by step this season.
Bradway, I think you're hanging your hat on 4-12 as if Sutton and Schottenheimer were solely responsible, and that's the falicy of your above argument for not including Sutton and Schotty remaining as a positive for this year. My point was that Mangini is too inexperienced to undergo instability this early in his regime. He's obviously comfortable with both coordinators or he would have replaced one or both if he felt they had hindered him or the Jets. he obviously does not feel that way, so I see this as a positive. I know you're looking for concrete moves to tally in some sort of mathematical way, but sometimes, just the fact that you don't have negatives going on makes for a positive, and this is one of those times, IMO.
Good thread. Salut to Mr. Westhoff. Totally irreplaceable. Hope he's back in 2009. Callahan? Meh. Multiple failures at higher pay grades don't guarantee success at lower ones.
O'Dea was an assistant with the Bears, who have a phenomenal return game and kicking unit (Gould). He was with Arizona, and Rackers speaks for himself. From the articles I have read he played a big part in the development of both units. While he wasn't the coodinator, that doesn't mean his track and qualifications should be dismissed. Westhoff retired because of health. Nothing anyone can do about it. So the went out and got a highly qualified, and apparently talented, ST assistant. Given the situation that is a positive in my book.
But he isnt bringing Hester with him. :wink: Agreed. You cant omit the addition of a new ST coach. ST is a big part of the game, and this is an important hire.
Want yet another "intangible" (immeasurable) positive to the balance sheet for '08? Mangini and Tannenbaum are a year older and one year more experienced. Hopefully they've learned something from the Kendall fiasco, from staying with Pennington until the bitter end and the subsequent 4-12 drubbing debacle/spiral that followed, of putting in a young QB with little or no O-line protection and seeing him flounder. Maybe Mangini knows he's not the Artie Bucco "genius" that the Sopranos first depicted him as or that pounding a round peg in a square hole has consequences, and that he and Tanny have to roll up their sleeves and really get to work, big time, both on and off season. If these two guys have learned anything, that's a positive and a + to the '08 ledger.
As much of a fantastic player as Hester is, I can't imagine O'Dea is too disappointed in having Leon Washington and Justin Miller back there as return men.
He has some great talent to work with. i've been a big Leon fan since I saw him in his first tc. Hester is phenomenal, Leon is great. Tiger Woods > Phil michelson
Quote: "...This is a list of moves the Jets have made this year or that have happened without their actions and how it effects the Jets chances to improve or decline next year. I'm not going to add no-effect moves to the list I'm just going to ignore them completely. 12/31/07 - Mike Westhoff retires as Jets Special Teams Coach...." How about that new Special Teams Coach that Westhoff counciled Mangini to grab...? He looks great to me.
