Next year Vilma will be even more damaged goods than he is now if he is not yet fitting well into the 3-4. The cap hit to trade him is $750,000 + whatever we pay his replacement since he's 2.25 million against our cap on the roster and 3 million against it in a trade. My point on Vilma, which I kind of arrived at about midway though last season, is that he's a decent linebacker but not a particularly good one in a 3-4. There's nothing wrong with keeping him in the middle of this defense but there's also nothing particularly right about it. He doesn't hit all that hard and he doesn't take on blockers all that well. What he's good at is dogging somebody to the ground when he gets a clean shot at them, and he's quick enough to cover a fair amount of ground in that pursuit. Should the Jets let him go with no other reasonable options in the middle? No. Should they try to make better options available so they can capitalize on Vilma's higher value to a 4-3 defense? Yes. That's basically my opinion. I'm no happier with Vilma in the middle of this defense than I was with Santana Moss as one of Chad's receivers. Neither of them particularly fit the bill that was/is needed. Like the Jets found Coles, who is a much better receiver for Chad than Moss was, they probably need to go find somebody to be the hard glue in the middle of the 3-4.
I dissagree with you Br4w4y5ux.. so I will agree to disagree yes Vilma doesnt fit the 3-4. I wont argue that... but I dont see us getting anyone better. plus it doesnt make sense finacially to trade him. plus teams are smarter they dont trade 1st rnd picks. we could maybe take a couple steps backwards and trade Vilma but.... I just dont see it. If we are going to trade a ILB it would be Barton but that is slim also.
Vilma is a perfect player for Mangini's system mentally. Problem is that he is not a perfect player physically. Who knows if he will ever be that. At the moment, his trade value is higher than his value to us as a player. Does his value as a leader and his potential for growth in the scheme equal his possible trade value? That's what this team needs to decide. That said, I would be shocked if we dealt Vilma. Mangini will view his value to the defense as a leader and a captain as more than canceling out his physical limitations.
I really don't think the jets WILL trade Vilma either, but I would take a 2007 1st round pick or a 2nd and 3rd for him. I really just didn't hear his nunber called that much last year.
Wilson is a beast ! An Absolute beast he has destroyed the top competition If we can get this guy injured or not we should do it he destroyed a man Andrew Zow before my eyes and said " I could have fucked you up Nigga so Quit crying" He straight destroyed Jamal Lewis on Monday Night after he was diagnosed with this so called neck injury. The man is a player and has alot left all the these guy have questionable injuries but he still makes plays in a brutal sport....... He can help us!
Calm down a little with the language, MAJORPAYNE. Also, sentences end in periods, and putting these periods at the end of sentences makes what you say a lot easier to read..
People are severely underestimating the type of adjustment the 4-3 to the 3-4 is for a MLB. Where you once were able to use speed to roam and free-lance to the ball, you are now forced to be disciplined within a certain gap, fight off blocks and power your way to the ball. W/ that said, I thought Vilma was one of our most improved players by the year's end. Much like D rob(and the 2 feed off eachother) he went from a liability to one of our better players. Additionally(A notion I have stated countless times w/ little to no acknowledgement), Vilma may very well be the best pass coverage LB in the NFL. It is his speed downfield that allowed us to become more aggressive w/ our blitzing that eventually led to our D's performance turn-around the second half of the year. When you throw in him being the defense's true leader, I just think the positives outweigh the negatives. No one said the transition would be easy for alot of our players. Improvements were made by year's end across the board, and for whatever reason, people are forgetting this or choosing to ignore it.
Vilma is bigger and faster than Thomas. People also seem to forget that it took Ray Lewis a year to adjust to the 3-4 also. It is ridiculous to write off Vilma because he didn't have an All-Pro year. Was it the system or was it that there were no defensive linemen suited to the 3-4 to keep the blockers off him? I think the Jets need to fix the interior of the DL before we go trading incredible talents like Vilma. If you look at successful 3-4 defenses, they have a huge NT to swallow blockers to free up the ILBs. The Jets had a converted small and quick one gap player (Robertson) while the prototype is a 330-350+ NT. Let's fix that first. Trading Vilma is just a ridiculous concept. You all remind of Mike Milbury who had the patience of a flea and now we Islander fans can watch former Islanders as All-Stars on other teams because of mad Mike's unwillingness to wait for a player to develop or recover from a down season.
