It seems like that. It also seems like we have always had a dominant super team in our division. The Phins in the 70's and 80's, The Bills in the late 80s and 90s, the Pats the last freaking 20 years and now the Bills again. We have never had the luxury of playing in a division like the NFC north which makes the Lions ineptitude even more remarkable.
The only way to "overcome the elite AFCE" is the way Douglas is going about it: building a sustainable winning roster. You can try to take shortcuts, like with signing a Tyreek Hill, and sometimes they pay off and enable you to get into the playoffs in a given year, but given the state of the roster that JD inherited, and its current state, this would've been very unlikely, and even more unlikely would be going to the SB. As a 56+ year fan it kills me to be try to be patient, but the only thing keeping me this way is that I believe that Douglas's approach - having a good blueprint and building to it - is the best approach we've had since at least Parcells, and before him Ewbank.
parcells brought in a bunch of his guys as FAs and also had the luxury of 4 1st rounders and got 2 great pass rushers, a FQB (would have been if not for injuries), in 3 of those 4 picks
Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that Douglas is following Parcell's blueprint - which I didn't like but I DID like that he had one.
he came into a better spot then people think. having 4 1sts is almost unheard of. he was able to land a solid vet qt QB in vinny who had his best years here. grabbed a top 3 RB as a free agent. and landed 2 10+ sack a year rushers in the 1st.
He came into it with one first round pick and moved Keyshawn and Belicheat to get the other three (also our second rounder).
Douglas just tried to trade for Hill, and Hill rejected him. If Douglas really thought that way, he wouldn't have made the offer.
He changed his approach, but for some reason our fans are not discerning that he is feeling some pressure, I’m not saying he’s going to go Tannenbaum on us but it’s palpable.
The gap between the Jets and the rest of the AFCE just got very wide. In spite of our recent FA aquisitions, we actually lost ground to the other teams in our division. We were catching up to MIA, but with this new development, we are not only non competitive with either BUF or NE, but we can now add MIA into that mix along with quite a few other teams in the AFC. We may be building a relevant football team, but the pace of the build needs to pick up or by the time we're relevant, the rest of the AFC will be juggernauts. JD I think realizes this and with his attempts to sign better FA's, is trying to speed up the rebuild before it becomes impossible to catch up. If we're not careful, we will become the Detroit Lions. Competitive, but never getting over the top. I'm sure the Sunshine contingent will disagree and that's ok. Hope is something a lot of folks cling to.
Key word is “almost” The Jets presence in the division virtually guarantees 2 wins each for its division rivals.
Going into the draft, I agree. But Miami just gave away their 1st, second, and 4th round picks in the draft, and they have no picks in the top 100. We have 4 picks in the top 40. When one team sells their draft for a free agent and the other team doesn't, we would expect the selling team to look better until the draft. Let's see how things look after we have 4 top 40 picks on our roster (and they don't).
Truthfully I don’t think this is the year for Jets to make the big time trade, I thought he would draft 4 more playmakers and next year make a trade for the big time player to complement the core of home grown players. However with Bills, Patriots and Miami getting better, I understand why he would feel pressure to improve team now.
If he stays healthy and committed, he's a player who is probably worth those picks given that draft picks are always a gamble. I admit I was tempted to say sign him whatever it takes because of the instant impact he'll make, but in the end I'm glad Joe had the discipline to hold firm and stick with his plan. I'm encouraged that he at least went after Hill strong.
More than anything, they need an edge rusher. They've been avoiding that conversation since Vernon Gholston. Hopefully JD bucks that trend.
We've had a lot of top picks in recent drafts and we've won 6 games in 2 years. Having high draft picks does not = success
Spending a lot of $ on FAs also does not = success. Whether it's free agency or the draft, you have to get players that work out.
