My biggest concern is that as a rookie you expect bumps ( See Geno) but you also expect to see flashes ( See geno)....so far all I have seen is a guy who shows , zero play recognition , poor to zero technique , an inability to play any form of coverage , his recovery speed is poor and has made zero positive plays. He has bust written all over him ....if he had been drafted in NE we would all be laughing at another bust CB....now we have Wilson and Milliner...
Couldn't agree more, good post. We all know and appreciate how difficult CB is to play in the NFL, but as you've said, there have been few if any highlights. Kyle Wilson looks like Deion Sanders compared to Dee
You can only loosely describe him as a 'rookie' NFL player, he's barely even that. He's missed most of practice, most of the games and spent a significant spell of his short career injured. I suspect he's not even as up to speed by Week 8 as some of the new starters were by Week 1. The criticism should fall on the drafting policy or playing squad. He's absolutely not ready, high draft pick or not. It's too soon to declare him a 'Ducasse'. If we've learnt anything from the past 5 years, it's that next years drafting policy should absolutely not include picks that haven't played enough games at a decent level (or have significant injury concerns) - ignore upside, 'intangibles' or any other non-quantifiable bullshit.
He played one of the worst games I have ever seen an NFL CB play. But for some people to call him a bust, to think he can never be better than this, is downright foolish.
The Jets have invested heavily in the CB position under Rex adding Cromartie + TWO first round "talents" while inheriting a Revis, and now going into 2014 it is arguably our greatest position of need on the entire roster. For a man-to-man evil genius (supposedly), that is a major indictment of his ability to evaluate talent. We will be riding out two first round picks at the position, likely not re-signing either beyond their rookie deals, and maybe never starting either one unless out of necessity. Huge disaster. Quite a setback. Only solution will be to throw FA money at the problem next year. An area of the team that should have been stocked with young, affordable talent for years to come.
I'm not calling him a bust, far from it but he doesn't show the calibre of skills that are of a round 1 pick .
i am on record for posting my negative opinion about picking milliner last april at 9. forget the perceived value, forget the chart, forget the CB position and revis crap.... My thought at the time was the jets needed to make an ultra-safe pick at that spot and, IMO, should have been along the OL. i didn't think milliner was the safest pick at the time because of his injury history and the demands of a CB in ryans system. its easy to hindsight this stuff and all but with k. wilson not living up to his draft slot and the possibility that milliner doesn't either - the jets will now be forced to go CB again next offseason via draft and/or FA.
His performance thus far will bring out the "should have kept Revis" crowd. If "Mevis" wasnt so money hungry and selfish we wouldnt have had to draft this kid. By the way Milliner is proving that no matter the competition you face in college it doesnt prepare you for the talent in the NFL
You seem to have forgotten the Jets never even began trying to negotiate with Revis. Woody wanted him gone. The simple truth is we do not know what would have been acceptable to Revis for him to stay with the Jets. That discussion never occurred. But you are correct that trading Revis led directly to the draft of Milliner and the hope that he would step in to replace Revis, sooner than later. And of course not to mention that the other piece was that Kyle Wilson was not seen as an acceptable option starting at corner. I understand there is much out there that suggests many scouts liked Milliner alot. But let's face it, his pick was not a BPA deal. The Jet FO wanted to take use a first round pick to replace Revis, so that the new player would start right away. The Jets are lucky that Walls has been playing better than expected, or they'd be in even deeper trouble.
I would agree with your overall point except it was Woody who wanted to get rid of Revis, not Ryan. Hard to blame Ryan for the results of Woody's decision.
There's a pretty good chance that he was at the top of almost every NFL Draft board including ours when we picked him.
Agree with Biggs, as he was slotted to go as early as 5 to Detroit. Outside of Warmack or reaching for Floyd/Richardson/Star at 9, Milliner was the man. Injuries and a slower adjustment to the NFL game has slowed him down and it's frustrating as hell. Agree totally with the fact that we have seen zero flashes of positive play from him, but ya gotta give him one season to make mistakes. Even though they're aren't any good highlights, if Milliner comes in day 1 of 2014 and shines, does it matter that he sucks in his rookie year. Honestly, if he or Walls can learn on the fly this year and come in next year as starting caliber talent, we don't look so bad. Cro, Walls/Milliner on the outside and go out and draft or pluck a stud safety in, and we are looking solid.
If Revis was still on the team, would they have picked Milliner? I don't know, but unless the answer is definitely yes, it was not a BPA pick.
Ftr I have not given up on Milliner. It is too early for that. He's not played as much as he could have due to injuries. While the injuries cause concerns, they do not appear to be anything career threatening, not even close. But he looks lost out there, and I don't see that as attributable to his injuries. He got benched for poor play, not because he got hurt. I wonder if he starts against NO....
Kurt, we can argue this till the cows come home so we're just going to agree to disagree. That Cooper was picked a few slots in front of Warmack doesn't mean that Cooper was the better player, schemes enter into it (power vs. zone). Gil Brandt likened him to Larry Allen. Again, he wasn't DeCastro 2.0. And Cooper fwiw is out for the season.
The guy missed all of camp and the pre-season and everyone expects him to just step in and play at a high level? Heck even Revis had growing pains when he was a rookie. Outside of QB, from a technical perspective CB is the hardest job to learn and transition to in the NFL. This year is all about evaluating the roster and determining his progress over the last 8 games will go along way to that end.
if you consider they had no problems drafting a dlineman 3 years in a row the evidence suggests millner would have been the pick regardless of revis' status on the team. sometimes the board falls just right and bpa meets position of need. this happenes to be one of those times. it will be great if it works out and millner becomes a good player but i withhold judgement on that for at least another 12 months
I agree to an extent. There's struggling, then there's struggling and not even trying. Each time I see Millner out there, I don't see the fire, no hustle. If you are going to get beat at least TRY and get the defender. One of the big plays to Jones, the guy flat out just gave up. I don't mind Millner making mistakes, but at least TRY and do something - make some contact, fight for the ball do SOMETHING
If he was the highest graded out player on our board when it was our turn to pick then picking him regardless of Revis being on the team would have been BPA. No that doesn't mean we wouldn't have made a need pick instead of BPA. Chances are pretty good that he was graded out as BPA when we took him.
I still don't have a problem with the Jets trading Revis. However; that is no reason to reach for a CB with the first pick unless that player is a surefire, Day 1 starter. At the time I was lukewarm on this pick. Liked it from the standpoint of backfilling Revis. Hated it from the standpoint of not addressing so many areas of need on Offense where there were really good players on the board. Being in desperate rebuilding mode that we are, we simply can't afford any more Kyle Wilson/Vernon Gholston draft day blunders.
