With the picks of Eric Smith and Schlegel it seems like the Jets went more for "character" depth guys than guys who could be potential stars in the league. Players like Darell Bing and Ko Simpson had the upside to be one of the better safties in the league in a few years. From what I have heard from the analysis on the draft: 1. Schlegel is too slow and was picked as a "character" guy. Can't we address character guys later in the draft and focus on picking players with more potential now. This offseason we have added a bunch of players who have "character" and are going to be backups. Why do we need another one of those? 2. Eric Smith completely baffles me. With people such as Darell Bing and Ko Simpson on the board it doesn't make sense that we would take this guy. The funny thing about this pick is that the Jets website has Bing listed as the 2nd best safety and Simpson 4th. These guys should never have slipped passed the second round, much less the 3rd. Hopefully, everything works out and these two players become good players in the future. I am just surprised that we didn't try to find potential superstars with those 3rd round picks and instead settled for good backups or average starters.
With the Smith pick, we went for a backup/ST guy, not a starter. we already have coleman and rhodes for that
Bing and Simpson are "name" players with big flaws in their games (which I mentioned elsewhere). Smith and Schlegel appear to be backups/special teamers and I think it was too early to draft those players where the Jets did, but they should be able to help the Jets at some level.
I understand that every player is going to have flaws... but you can't deny that Bing and Simpson have a bigger upside than Smith. The thing that worries me about Smith is that his injury concerns will hamper him and make him a backup for his whole career. Schlegel is an "ok" pick, but only because I think Jerius Norwood or John Alston would have been better picks.
I wish that we had stayed where we were and picked Pope or Calhoun, but given that both guys were gone after we traded down, I don't mind the Schlegel pick at all. To be successful running the 3-4, you have to be in the top 8-10 in stopping the run. Schlegal can help with that.
I suppose I would agree they have bigger upsides than Smith, but Bing has to get tougher (he was too soft at USC) and Simpson is just not a good tackler. Maybe they can be coached up. The Jets also have Andre Maddox. He's essentially a rookie. They're just going to thow safeties at the wall and see who sticks. But back to Smith, Simpson, and Bing. I agree with what you wrote about Smith, but at least he is tough and can tackle. I desperately want good tacklers on the Jets. This franchise has had too many wussies on defense in recent memory. (I still can't understand what the hell Aaron Beasley was trying to do on the Troy Walters TD in Indianapolis in 2003. Weirdest tackle attempt ever.)
Bing and Simpson were originally 1st round projections. There is a reason they fell, and I'm not gonna doubt Mangini's defensive back knowledge about the players he picked.
Character guys is what Mangini has picked for years-lets not doubt him just yet because those character guys are the ones who put 3 rings on his fingers
