I'm against it the Jets have been horrific drafting at that position and also not good in free agency either. Lawson went down before playing one minute last year.
We only really drafted 2 DE's during Rex's tenure. The hope with Coples was that he would play OLB and rush the passer. I specifically remember Rex talking about how he ran Coples through OLB drills while scouting him and was impressed.
There were plenty of people trying to rationalize the Jets lack of Edge Rush at the time. When Rex arrived in NY they had spent a top 5 pick on an edge rushing OLB in 2008 so they were initially still hoping that would pan out. Obviously Gholston sucked and that was that. Because Revis was so good in 2009, it gave Rex the opportunity to get pressure through blitzing instead of rushing 4, and they traded for Cromartie the following off-season as insurance for the impending Revis contract dispute. They got a deal done with Revis, and so they continued with the coverage focused and blitz heavy defensive scheme, drafting Muhammad Wilkerson to replace Shaun Ellis in 2011. Around this time the book covering Rex and his 2010 season with the Jets came out called “Collision Low Crossers” and in it, Rex talked a lot about how important the “bitch kitty” position was in his defense, which was the pass rushing weakside OLB, and how they were desperately trying to find one. Calvin Pace had been playing that role but he was not really a good rusher, he was run defender who could get a clean up sack here and there. In the 2012 draft, the Jets finally picked an edge rusher (Quinton Coples) but despite his excellent athleticism, he was a hulking true 4-3 base end, and they tried to put him at OLB and he was a horrible scheme fit. If you ever want to know just how important an Edge Rusher was to Rex Ryan’s defense, read Collision Low Crossers, it spells it out very clearly.
They sure didn't act like it at the time. They had opportunities to draft OLBs and didn't, so I have a hard time believing what Rex said in a book.
That was a typical Rex bad decision and move. There were opportunities, particularly with trade up Tanny at the helm, to get better OLBs in the draft, and they never did, so I have a hard time believing anything Rex says in retrospect. I think a lot of the problem was that Rex wanted 270 lb. OLBs, and there just aren't many of those who have the speed to get to opposing QBs. There were opportunities to get OLBs at a lighter weight and they passed. Having Calvin Pace and Bryan Thomas as our OLBs was idiotic.
I mean yeah, it was definitely a bad move, but the point was that Rex did value pass rushing OLB's and drafted Coples because he thought he'd become one. This isn't just hindsight analysis either, I remember Rex talking about running Coples through OLB drills and how he did them well right after we drafted him.
I didn't read the book, but thanks for the synopsis. But this is another reason why I didn't like rex as a HC.
They just made a lot of bad moves in that era. They drafted Gholston who was supposed to be a pass rushing OLB, but he was a bust. They didn’t know that for sure until 2010. In 2011 they claimed Aaron Maybin off waivers from the Bills, who was a 2009 first round pick as a pass rushing OLB. The Bills thought he was a bust, but when the Jets claimed him he had a burst of sacks and forced fumbles to finish 2011. The Jets (and Jets fans if you remember) were very hopeful they had found a legitimate rusher, so they re-signed him and drafted Quinton Coples in the 2012 off-season. Turns out the Bills were right about Maybin, and Coples was not a good scheme fit. With Tannenbaum, Rex had 4 drafts, and they spent a 1st round pick on one OLB in that time frame. With Idzik, he had 2 drafts, but that was 2013 and 2014 and they had just drafted Coples in 2012. The Rex era was marred with poor decision making and talent evaluation which is why they had crap rushing OLB’s. It’s not because they didn’t value them. That book is a recounting of the conversations between the Jets coaches, players, and front office members. The author spent an entire year in the Jets building, he even had his own locker. He sat in on meetings as if he was an employee. It’s not like Rex wrote the book or anything, it’s literally one of the best peaks into the Jets organization ever produced.
Yeah I meant 2011, not 2010. They had come off back to back AFC Champ games and the hype was high. It recounts the lockout experience and the 2011 season first hand
As a fan of course I was happy at the playoff runs in 2009 and 10, but I knew they were the result of "smoke and mirrors" and luck, not because they had a good team or solid foundation. Had their luck held even once and they "stole" a SB then I would've been ecstatic like everyone else, but I still wouldn't have expected them to be able to continue that success. Rex was a very good (great? maybe) defensive mind, having learned from his dad, but he didn't know total football as evidenced by the dumb personnel decisions he was involved in. Allowing the offensive support around Sanchez to leave and not replace it with equal or better was dumb, and as you noted the whole misfire on finding a good pass rusher. And I dislike blowhards.
Thanks. I never understood the Maybin thing. There Rex wanted 270 lb OLBs, and Maybin weighed what, 215? 225? He went from one extreme to the other. Well, at least he did value them. That's something that never showed on the field, and i guess the authors of those articles was mistaken. It could have been Cimini or someone equally bad. I just remembered reading that and it sure seemed accurate at the time.
Spot on, with my only caveat being about whether Rex was a very good defensive mind. He could come up with great game plans, but that happened what, 3-5 times a season? He also came up with real stinkers. And didn't they lose every single game following the BYE week? Also, once the rest of the NFL caught up with his exotic blitzes and some of his better veteran players were gone, he ran out of ideas. He couldn't adapt. That 2009 team had great chemistry, but as soon as the season was over, Rex began dismantling the team. He continued after the 2010 season, and all the veteran leaders who kept things going smoothly and winning were gone. He obviously didn't understand chemistry or that player leaders were needed since he didn't have any discipline himself.
I am not bothered about double-dipping but I feel we need to see how Lawson is going to play when he comes back next season, for me, his injury was one of the biggest disappointments of last season, he looked like a quality signing in preseason.
KT at 4, and T. Walker at 10. That may solve the pass rush problems for the next 10 years. But may set us back in other areas. That said, we could have a great defense, with average secondary. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
