I think it can be reasonably argued that the secondary will be much improved as the pass rush has been a huge emphasis for free agent signings. I don't have the statistics in front of me but we only had 31 sacks and that's with a heavy blitzing defense. I imagine we generated the lowest sack rate in the league or near the bottom in terms of front four pressure. The offensive line lapse is a bit puzzling but they might feel very good about the depth of prospects that will be available at 23/34. I like Leatherwood and Davis a lot and I hope the Jets do too. I could see Leatherwood playing guard for a year and kicking out to right tackle when we move on from Fant in year three. He was a second team All-SEC guard as a sophomore first time starter.
Surely JD and RS know the OL is marginal. Could it be that after Thuney realistically there was not much there and no pure guard worth the free agency value in the eyes of JD and CS.? Could it be that they are focused on the draft more, or feel good about Cameron, or they are contemplating a trade? Say what you will about free agency, but JD has a damned good feel about the weak positions on this team.
Its clear that JD has grades and tiers for these FA, and he won’t go out to overspent on what he feels would be out of the tier to money cost. Especially going thru the models of the Ravens, and the massive pick capital, he rightfully will be building thru the draft. Now you just hope JD hits on these picks.
I disagree and so does JD. The Jets had no interest in a C in FA, why would they in the draft? They are happy with McGovern at C. This is a great draft for OTs. They need a better swing tackle than Edoga, they can get their future RT, and that RT could quite possibly play RG for a year or two until Fant is gone and then move over to RT. I see no reason to take a C. Let me hasten to add that I can understand why you would want to try to upgrade the C position, but I think JD is happy with McGovern, his play was really good over the last half of the season. I think we all will be pleased with the OL this year after they have a full offseason to work together and had all of last year, plus with the new offense and some new blood infused via the draft and maybe camp cuts or following the draft. I think our OL will be pretty solid. I think JD realizes he couldn't fix everything this year. He had to spread the love around. It was a tough balancing act, I'm sure. I definitely expect him to draft a C next year, and if he doesn't draft a RT this year, then he'll probably do that next year.
I disagree. IMO JD is not a strict BPA guy anyway. Who was he going to sign at OG in FA? There's no way we beat the Chiefs for Thuney. G. Jackson never made it to FA, neither did K. Zeitler. The Jets aren't going to the playoffs this year, so why waste cap space on a 32 OG in Trai Turner whose skills are diminishing? JD made several big offers for William Jackson and he signed elsewhere. Maybe Saleh and JD didn't think any of the other FA CBs or Ss were good fits, or they may have talked to them or their agents and they had no interest in signing with the Jets. I saw on Twitter today that one agent said that almost no FAs wanted to sign with the Jets. The only 2 reasons that some did were money and Saleh - they think he will build a culture here like Pete Carroll did in Seattle. It was posted here several days ago, but I believe it was Connor Hughes who said that JD had made multiple increasing offers to William Jackson and Thuney, so it appears that your belief is wrong. JD is not interested in signing older, really expensive FAs, and I salute him for that. Earlier (a week ago), I was questioning JD's work in FA, but changed my mind. He did exactly what I wanted. He signed 12 players. He didn't go crazy, signing huge contracts and didn't try to rebuild the team through FA. He did try to fill needs/holes, upgrade depth and competition, and has made the team better and stronger. The Jets will have the best 4 deep WR corps they've had in decades. They'll have potentially one of the best DLs in the NFL. They'll have more team speed and players that fit the new schemes. The OL should be better by virtue of the new system which supposedly makes it easier on OL, having had a year together and having a full offseason this year, and the addition of another OL or two in the draft. Cameron Clark should be ready to compete this year as well. Damien Woody loves what JD did in FA, and so do I.
Are you assuming the Rangers resign Poole? If they do, and the pass rush improves from bottom of the league to top 5, that would help our passing defense, but there’s still no reason not to improve outside corner when they were as bad as they were last year.
Hit the nail on the head..in FA we are getting pure JD ..maybe 1/6 th of signings for big $ the rest not budget busters Well said as usual NC!! What do you think about potential signings after Draft and Training Camp shake offs?
Yeah there is. It's called asset management and not trapping yourself into players that aren't worth it. We have plenty of kids that could work in this defense and did some good things last year. The Jets bad pass yardage allowed numbers are attributed to an extent to a stingy run defense that forced teams into throwing the fifth highest amount of pass attempts in the league. Couple that with a front four that can't create pressure that forced us to leave corners on an island and a second safety who sucked and you have a magical formula to make corner look worse than they actually are. We now have two good veteran safeties. Signing a corner would just jam every player down the depth chart. I doubt this is a big thought of organizations but next year has a really strong corner draft class and a potentially strong free agency class (that of course could change with tags and signings). Some of these draft picks are going to play while the team rebuilds in a year where we won't comlete. They were drafted to do so. Hall wasn't drafted to be a gunner.
Zeitler did make it to free agency and why would trading a day 3 pick for an o-line upgrade be off the table? Plenty of teams that didn’t sign Thuney managed to upgraded their o-line. We had one of the worst in the league and ignored it. Why sign linemen over 30 that give whoever our qb is a chance to read a defense and make a pass, open a hole for the running game, or give a receiver a chance to catch a ball? Because if the o-line for the next 3 years is as bad as the last 3 years, we’ll be looking for a a qb again in ‘24. Our receiving group is not better than the Sanchez days. And Douglas not signing William Jackson, or anyone else to a long term deal doesn’t prove that Douglas is willing to sign a guy to a big deal. It proves the opposite.
how would the Jets asset management be negatively impacted by signing a starting caliber cb when we don’t have any proven starters and have no one to resign for 3 years? Saleh’s defense was top 4 last year because of strong play in the secondary. Their pass rushers were all hurt. There’s no cb on the Jets roster that can be relied on for for solid cb play right now. I actually expect Hall to play, and play well, but he hasn’t done anything yet. the Jets have a clear need at cb, upgrades were/are available in free agency, and there’s no reason to leave a starting position open for a potential draft pick.
Great points. But the biggest question is Darnold staying. Because if he is then I hope the Jets draft Pitts instead of another OL. If it Wilson then we will probably see offensive weapons.
No, he actually didn't. He was able to be signed before the FA period began. He was released, wasn't due to be a FA. For all we know, JD never had a chance to call or negotiate with him or his agent. I was upset initially about it, but he's older and JD may have had no interest in signing an older OG. That may or may not be a mistake, but I can at least understand his reasoning. I can't answer for JD. I was disappointed and think it may have been a mistake to not trade for Jackson or sign Zeitler, but liked what else he did in FA, and am not going to kill over that unless he fails to get an OG in the draft or the one he drafts doesn't play well. I totally disagree that our receiving corps isn't better. In 2009 they had Braylon Edwards and Jerricho Cotchery at WR and no one else of note. Dustin Keller and Ben Hartsock were the TEs. In 2010 they added Santonio Holmes, Matthew Mulligan, Jeff Cumberland and David Clowney.
It's always possible that JD will add players following the draft and TC cuts. At this point, I don't have a clue who might be available, but I imagine that there will definitely be some OGs and CBs available at that point.
You're making my point without even realizing it. The 49ers had seven corners start at least three games. It was an injury carousel for them at the position with a bunch of retreads and nobodies especially once Sherman went down. We can't fill every hole in free agency every year and we're going to have to rely on some draft picks and young players to fill holes.
