I know, I know, another mock offseason thread but..

I kinda really like this one. Bottom line is with so many possible changes its alot of fun to play GM trying to put your own spin on the team. If I'm in charge I think you can't try and do too much. Has to be alot of change, but you also don't want to put young draftees into a dysfunction system in which it's like an open tryout for every position. It's all well and good to have a bunch of young hungry guys taking learning on the fly, but I think to a certain point you have to surround them with the right type of players so they develop to their fullest potential. So, after I wake up from a nap and I realize my name is Mike Tannebaum, GM of the Jets, here's what I do.

1) Trade John Abraham to Jacksonville for pick #28. I still think we can get a 1st rounder for Abe, and this may be the best fit. They signed Reggie Hayward last year to a big money contract to improve the pass rush and at the time were interested in Abraham. Plug him next to one of the best DT tandem's in the league and he's probably an all-pro again. Having two picks 7 apart from each other gives us alot of flexibility with both our 1st first rounder and the rest of the picks.

2) Cut Chad Pennington, sign Jon Kitna. I admire the hell out of the guy, own his jersey and wish him the best of luck, but it's time to part ways with Penny. Both the team and Chad need to get a fresh start somewhere. If we bring in Chad to compete and after a couple throws float into the hands of the defender or he comes up with another injury all you'll hear is same old Chad. He deserves a chance to go somewhere and given a fair shot, and we deserve a change of scenary. Chad's a southern guy and a Parcells pick and New Orleans is close to his home and now coached by a Parcells guy. If they take Leinart with their first pick Chad may be a good choice to play 2004 Kurt Warner.

Kitna is a good-solid stop gap QB solution. He's got a strong arm, good mobility and would bring a solid veteran presence to the line of scrimmage. Have to act fast since Cincinatti will probably want to bring him back with Palmer's knee questionable, but I think the idea of playing time here would hopefully lure him to East Rutherford.

3) As for the draft, 4th pick I'd go with Cutler. As a big UND fan finishing with the worst record and taking Quinn next year is the kind of thought where you say you don't want to see them awful next year but it'd be cool to see him in Green and White but I don't think you can plan on being the worst team. Cutler looks like he has all the intangibles of a franchise QB and could best case scenario our answer to Brady, Roethlisberger et all.

Getting a guy like Schaub would be reminiscent of Seattle trading for Hasselback and in the unlikely scenario of being able to get Rivers for Abraham I think you pull the trigger, but I feel like having Cutler get "Carson Palmer'ed" under Jon Kitna just seems like the right way to go about rebuilding the organization.

With the next two draft picks I think you have to go offensive line. In order Marcus McNeil and Max Jean Giles. Alot of guys have been championing these two players as potential targets and they're dead on. Both are mammoth sized players with a ton of athleticism. An offensive line of Jones-Giles-Mawae-Moore-McNeil is a solid blend of size and athleticism as well as experience and youth.

It gets tougher to predict who's going to be around as the draft goes on, but I would love to see Maurice Drew available with our 3rd round pick. Guy is a poor man's Reggie Bush who is likely to max out as a Brian Westbrook type player. He's a playmaker that would be a great compliment to Martin and Cedric Houston.

4) As for rounding out the rest of the team and the draft it becomes a best player available-let the young guys get some reps. If with our 4th round pick Manny Lawson from NC St. is around I'd like to pick him up. He's a DE/OLB tweener and at 6'6 he reminds me a bit of Willie McGinest which would be useful if Mangini runs a sort of hybrid defense.

If we make one semi-big FA signing I'd want it to be Ma'ake Kemoeatu. Ginormic at 6'5, 350 would help us out regardless of what system we go with. He's still young at 27 and would make everyone around him better. Really no true NT prospect in the later rounds although Rodrique Wright of Texas may have the size, but he'd probably be an excellent 3-4 DE. He'd be one to look at if he slips to our 2nd 4th round pick or with the 3rd round compensation pick.

Late round guys that could help us at WR could be Travis Wilson of Oklahoma or Hank Baskett of New Mexico. I personally like Baskett, could be a sleeper since he's from a small school. Both have good size and would help the redzone offense. I'd really like to add a better downfield threat to the receiving corps, but I don't see anyone feasible out there so it may have to wait.

So basically, assuming we pick up more guys for depth, I'm willing to go into 2006 with this as our depth chart:

QB Kitna, Cutler, Bollinger
RB Martin, Drew, Houston
FB Askew
WR Coles, McCairrens, Cotchery, Wilson/Baskett/whoever
TE Baker, Jolley, Dreesan
LT Jones
LG Giles
C Mawae
RG Moore
RT McNeil

DE Ellis
DT Robertson, Reed
NT Kemoeatu, Piouha
DE Thomas, Lawson

OLB Barton
MLB Vilma
OLB Hobson, Brown

CB Miller, Strait
CB Barrett, late rd draft pick, FA pickup
FS Coleman, Celestian
SS Rhodes, Washington

 

I actually forgot about putting Blaylock on the roster list. Figure since we only have 1 FB he'd stick around at least for special teams. The Patriots and Chargers both keep alot of running backs on their roster that aren't necassarily fullbacks, and my guess is our offense will incorporate both of those schemes.

I would sign Kitna probably to a 3 year deal where the money is mostly constituted in the 1st two. This way he'd be here to backup Cutler as he's first getting started.