I've said for a while this team needs help in a lot of places. But despite all our issues, we still somehow won 8 games and had a chance to make the playoffs week 17. The QB needs to develop, but he's young and has had some success. The RB corps needs to produce on every down, but we've drafted 4 RBs in the last 3 years, so we should have numbers. We need to patch up RT and LG, but the rest of the line is very good. We need a WR opposite Holmes, but Kerley is solid as a 3, and it's a deep WR class in FA and draft. We need the TE to improve, but he's still pretty young. And we need a #2 TE to come in and complement him. The DL is young and talented, so there's reason to believe they'll improve. We need a pass rush from our OLB. Maybin (and Westerman) are young, but we've struggled here for years and still had some success. We need to replace Scott, but Mauga has shown promise, and we don't play the 2nd ILB all that much anyway with all our extra packages. We need 1-2 safeties. Can't argue with that. Smith is fine as a 3rd rotational safety/special teamer, but we need reinforcements. Punter/kicker are average, but both are still pretty young, and it's not a big problem. Just trying to bright side. We do have needs, no doubt about it, but we have a full complement of draft picks, some money to play with, and we still have some talent on this roster. This team has issues, and this is a huge offseason for us, but it's not THAT dire.
Sorry, just would like to ask about Conner. You don't seem like someone who would post something off the cuff, so I was wondering if you had re-watched games or something and focused on him. I actually tried to read up on him to read for any analysis or press, but he's a FB so it's almost impossible to find. I think that with the change to man blocking, Conner will be utilized more heavily and we will count on him to help seal off more holes for Greene and McKnight and help them get to the second level. I also think man blocking is better suited to Greene's style than zone, so that he doesn't have to be as laterally shifty to get into a hole. He can more so just be patient and wait for the hole to develop and go north and south and take what he can get. I am hopeful that whatever linemen we will employ can at least meet adequacy in man blocking and that the backfield, at least to me, looks to improve from the switch. Negative opinions of Conner are kind of disconcerting at this point with so many other issues, and the fact that we used a draft pick on a near obsolete position. So, to cut through the bull...what about Conner, in your opinion, isn't that good?
I definitely don't see the need to use a draft pick on a punter, as I've seen in a few fan mocks. Yeah, with an emphasis on running and defense, a great punter would be nice. Yes, Conley had a few screw-ups along the way. However, his net average is right about at the league average. Our coverage unit was in the top 5 in touching it down, top 5 in setting up the D inside the 20, and they (Conley and the gunners) combined to be #1 in forcing fair catches. Leave it alone and uncover a gem at safety, dual-threat TE, LB, OL or WR/RB with those low rounders. Bring in "out to prove something" competition for the FA/Draft picks we make this offseason. Build depth at positions of perceived weaknesses and you can only wind up with good problems.
I agree. Every team has issues - every single one. The only difference between an 8-8 team like the Jets and a 12-4 is better play from the QB position. Sanchez really needs to get his shit together this season.
Why? If he's an impact player, he's an impact player...... He was "rated" 1st round before the injury and is now recovering.... So, because some people didn't get to see him run around at the combine, he's not worthy? He's the best Safety in the draft.... Do we need a safety or not? Again, I'm not saying he should 100% be the draft pick or they shouldn't try to trade down to right befoire the Pats pick and still get him but, he's a player they have to spend a ton of time on.
Barron is the best safety in the draft. I do think our best bet is to snag him in the 2nd round (OLB in first), maybe trade up for a high 2nd pick or get lucky and hope others pass on him as his value goes down. If he doesn't go in the first round, we should consider it.
I think OLB is a more impactful position than safety because applying pressure and not allowing the quarterback to set up a survey crew of the field goes a long way towards the success of a defensive effort to challenge a passing attempt. And obviously you hope that they are solid run defenders. We fans perceive a insufficiency in stopping tight ends. OLBs in a 3-4 are often responsible for short-intermediate routes by a TE. Also, TEs are often asked to block and then release to their route, another way getting to the QB quicker will make up for a lack of good talent at S. For me, it's not so much that I don't think Barron will be a stud, or his sports hernia injury. I don't know how most of these prospects will shake out any better than the girl sitting in front of me in class, I just think that our defense will be more positively impacted if we are able to get an equal talent to Barron at OLB. But if he's deemed BPA, or we are able to trade down and land him, I can't complain because we can certainly use the help
If he's at the top of their board then sure. Otherwise the Jets should draft the bpa regardless of position except QB and CB.
I think this type of logic is oversimple and can lead to horrendous blunders. If Ingram/Upshaw are on the board with Floyd you might argue that Floyd is marginally BPA and take him as such. Then you will have just committed the biggest mistake from any of the reasonable available choices that you can dream up. You have to consider BPA in relation to team need.
I appreciate the positiveness in my dire state at the moment. I sincerely hope you are right, but I just have the awful feeling that the train has left for this time and we might have seen the best of Rex. Game changers, that are not totally unprobable: - Sanchez turn into a very good QB. - Our D-line with picks Wilkerson, Ellis, etc play solid - We pick up a pass rush in the 1st round, OLB that produces off the blocks If that works out, we will be more than fine.Then we can live with any reasonable solutions for safety and oline.
Or you could trade down to the point that you can fill the need with the BPA. The Jets have done a terrible job of creating value in the draft from 2001 to 2011. The lone exception was 2006 and they got the haul they got there because they had 10 picks including a top 4 pick and another 1st rounder. Taking a player at a position of need when there is a superior player still on the board is the kind of move that sinks franchises in the long-term. Trading up for a player except when that player is the BPA available and at a position of need is another way to start taking on water. Exercising just a handful of picks each year because you continually refuse to trade down for the BPA at need or continually trade up for somebody you need is liking living at the conjunction of bad draft strategies. It leaves the team with less talent and less depth than the elite teams you're competing with. All of the above apply to both the Bradway and Tannenbaum regimes and that's why the Jets are 4 games above .500 over the last 11 seasons. There are 5 teams that are +11 or more on wins over the Jets over that span in the AFC alone. The Denver Broncos have won more games than the Jets since 2001 and they haven't been over .500 in 5 years now. If you keep doing the same things you keep getting the same results and the Jets ups and downs are cyclical at this point because they've kept following the same flawed strategies through two GM's in a row.
It really isn't. Bryan Thomas or Ed Reed? One of them was a big fish in a small pond whose supposed strengths were right where the Jets were looking, as a counterpart to John Abraham in the pass rush. The other was a consensus 1st team All-American in his last two seasons at what was one of the top four programs in the country. You cannot take guys like Bryan Thomas over guys like Ed Reed and expect to win at the same level as the teams that take the Ed Reeds. The Jets are really big on taking small college guys who fit a need. They sneer at the obvious choices. We pay the price for that as fans. For years.
I am just saying; nobody picking for team need would pick the 2nd player in that position (according to their own board). Either you go for the bpa or what you need.
