How about this draft? We take Mario Williams, Manny Lawson and Gabe Watson with our first three picks and solidify our defense for 10+ years. Then we can still get two OL in the third round because people like O'Callaghan, Whitworth, Colledge, Strief, Eslinger, Cook, McQuistan, Spitz, Boothe, Matua, Setterstorm, and Sims should all be available and I think a number of them could start for us. Then we would solidify our defensive line and prepare for the 3-4 exchange by adding a solid 3-4 end, NT and rush LB while still strengthening our offensive line. The rest of the draft could be used to get some more OL depth (at this point I think we need at least 2 more tackles, 1 guard and 1 center), another WR, and a QB with some potential (Vick, McNeil, Olsen, etc.)
I would tend to agree with you in the first pick for defense but then it goes downhill. OL depth isn't the problem. The problem is having good enough starters. We also need a young RB in here. By no means do we need to go defense in the all of the first three.
Rambo, I love the idea. Some people here would have seizures, but I would be doing backflips. You can absolutely get high quality starters for the OL in the 3rd round. I don't think we'll have a shot at Lawson at 29 or Watson at 35 though. May have to Watson at 29 and hope that Carpenter falls to 35. That would be such a sick defense. One thing though... I'm not sure we need to go LB so early anymore. I mean the guy we just picked up isn't a world beater, but he is a quality starter, and we have nice depth, especially if Bryan Thomas is able to make a transition to a 4-3 DE / 3-4 OLB. So we could make pick 35 the best RT available.
Rambo I like the idea in large part due to the fact that I'm not as big on taking QB/RB as a lot of others. I'd also want the Jets to sign 1 or 2 more free agent O-Linemen if they were going to go in this direction.
If those defensive players are the best ones available, then I would have no problem with that. It is harder to find good defensive players than it is to find offensive linemen. That is a bit ironic, especially since IMO the backbone of your team is the OL, but it's the truth. That might be a little bit of overkill though, just because we already have young talent. By drafting Williams, Lawson, and Watson, it gives us a lot of depth, but is it really worth it considering the holes that we have? I'm not 100% sure. It would give us one of the best front sevens in the league for a long, long time, though.
I'd be interested in it, if we didn't have such great linebacker depth. I don't think Mario Williams is an ideal fit for a 3-4 defense, I really think it's a waste of his talent to tell him to hold blocks. Even still, I'm a defensive guy, so I'd accept it, and build a run heavy offense around it (much like the Ravens did).
I would prefer to get a RT instead of one of those guys... since OT is a pretty big need this year I highly doubt guys who could start like Colledge and O'Callaghan fall past 50. Give me a RT at 29 or 35 and I give it my seal of approval.
If we draft a tackle at #29 or #35 it better be Eric Winston or Marcus McNeil and I wouldn't be happy about that even. I would not be against drafting Brick at #4 but the only OL we should take at #29 or #35 is Mangold, otherwise we should look at other positions like RB (Maroney), OLB (Lawson), NT (Watson), TE (Pope, Lewis), or CB (Youboty, Cromartie). In my opinion Winston and McNeil don't provide as big of a talent upgrade over some of the third round Tackles like Colledge and O'Callaghan as the players listed above provide at their positions. I'm not saying we should ignore the OL or even do the draft that I proposed above, I just thought it was an interesting scenario that I think we may find ourselves in.
If the Jets could get Williams, Lawson, Watson (though I'm just eh on him), then grab O'Callaghan with our early 3rd, I'd be ecstatic. We'd be getting some phenomenal value, and that's really what it's all about.
