I think that if we had bothered to use him the way we announced we were going to use him at least for one full season, I could possibly answer that question, but even after a year of him starting during a crappy season in Oakland, I still do not know for sure if Lamont is worth the money he was offered by the Raiders.
That's only partially true. Napoleon Kaufman and Tyrone Wheatley were never going to be great #1 backs but the Raiders decided a running back by committee approach would work for them, so no one really had a chance to carry a full load and reach 1500 yards
I was a huge Jordan fan when he was here, but it just wasn't economically feasible. With Martin coming off the best year of his career, you can't give a backup who is already 26 years old a 5 year deal. You have to assume Martin has at least 1 or 2 good years after that. It turned out that he probably didn't, but it's not fair to Martin to assume that he's finished after a year like that. Besides, we were in all sorts of cap trouble coming into this season, and locking that much money into the runningback position would have been ridiculous.
Jordan averaged 8 yards per carry as a rookie in 2001. We "lost" Jordan the following summer (2002), when Dimwit Terry Dimway gave Martin an 8 year deal thru the end of 2009 at almost 50 million. Once you give a 30 year old RB an 8 year deal for that much money, you CAN"T keep any other rb around and pay them ANY kind of money. Thank God Dimway was demoted.
Lamont, if he had stayed, would have been what he is now, a decent running back. He isn't elite and never will be. He wasn't going to be the one to get us to the promised land, I liked him as a player, but he wasn't that good.
If Lamont stayed here he would have been the starter after game 2 or 3 and our season might have been salvagable. So yeah, I think we should have kept him. Also in 04' he was the only effective back against the elite teams....i.e. Pats, Steelers, big run against S.D. in the playoffs. Martin was nowhere to be found against those teams. I love Curtis Martin and his attitude towards the game, but the reins should have been handed over to Lamont last year.
I just remember watching Raiders games with Lamont dropping passes and trying to be a hammerhead running back, but getting stuffed. Maybe that can be blamed on the O-Line, or he really is just average. Lamont's effectiveness in games as a Jet came because he was a change of pace. Give a team 12 straight Curtis Martin style, right up the middle carries, and then call a sweep or a trap with Lamont Jordan's fresh legs, then he's gonna crack open a big one.
he was going to be expensive, but we could not afford to keep him because the $24 million towel-waver was eating up too much cap money. the longer noodle hangs around, the less money we have to sign other players. it's that simple.:sad:
you could actually make an argument the other way that martin had produced results for YEARS. that argument is not there to excuse dumbway for noodle's contract. :wink:
I disagree completely. Lamont is a LOT like Curtis in the fact that if the blocks aren't there, he ain't getting a yard. He's not the type of player to make things happen on his own like a Faulk or a Tomlinson or a Barry Sanders. And I'm not really trying to compare him to those guys, only saying that those types of players can hide a subpar O-line, while sturdier, straight-ahead-ish runners like Curtis and Lamont and most other backs cannot.
And the corniness continues. The Jets once had Bill Pickel, Craig Yeast, Travis Roach, and Jim Apple, but they never had a Noodle.
I really dont think anything would of salvaged the jets season last year, let alone lamont jordan. Usually, when a team has a qb like collins, who throws more picks then completions, and fumbles the ball like a buttered up turkey, a team will tend to rush more. I do know this, i was greatful to not have to see one of lamonts passes again.... But as lamont being a stud running back, i don't really think he's got what it takes. He's not the size of the Bus to be that break through rusher, and he certainly not a lateral runner either. I just think he would of had been a mediorce running back for the Jets. Sure he rushed for 1000 yards, but martins done that 9 or 10 years in a row. And Blaylock wouldn't of been a bad backup, except for the fact he broke his foot in like 2 plays.
JFM, We were both ridin the L Train for a while together but think of what you said. I think the argument was more-Make Lamont the Starter who is ONLY 26 and has a 5 year deal as opposed to Martin who's tank is almost on E and had that Ridiculous Contract and "already" 32! This thing unfolded almost EXACTLY as I predicted it would but I stood my ground and have really yet to let out a big fat "I told you so". and BTW, if you look at the Numbers..Lamont was Very Affordable. :rofl: I just had to laugh ...very funny.....
Well, say what you will, but Curtis himself said that Lamont had more talent than he did and that he deserved to start somewhere. And about last year, we had no running game to move the chains and wore down our defense because we went three and out so many times. We depended on Martin to play on a bumb knee because our backup was an unproven rookie and the other backup had a broken wheel. Last year was definitely salvagable. We were in just about every game except maybe two or three where a good running game would have made the difference. If Lamont hung in there and we gave him his contract he would have gotten his shot and we wouldn't have had the fourth round pick this year.
