The problem wasn't the GM's, the problem was the system that supported them. The Jets did not find good players in the latter parts of the draft very often and they missed on too many high picks. That's a broken scouting and talent evaluation system. You can find good players all over the place and still fail due to bad resource management but if you can't find good players all over the place you're going to fail under a capped system where the only cheap talent comes out of the draft.
No it wasn't. It was never a good pick. I was screaming then that I did not want Geno. I was also screaming back then that I did want Jamie Collins..........
Overall, a spot on post, Barry. I didn't like Idzik and definitely thought he should be fired, but I think you might be a little unfair/too harsh with a couple of the players, and perhaps harsh enough on his failure to find a QB and/or WR for the Jets. Similar to Bellows1, taking a flyer on Geno seemed to be not a bad use of the pick, unless Idzik had been warned about Geno's mental issues with playing and lack of football IQ and ignored it. The Jets desperately needed a new QB. He has a ton of physical talent. I had seen Geno play a lot, and he looked like a good prospect to me, so at the time I thought it was worth taking a shot to develop him. He could still wind up being a decent backup QB, but of course, one doesn't draft one's backup QB in the 2nd round unless one has a loaded roster and it's a luxury pick. Where I could fault Idzik is having blind faith in Geno or not wanting to admit he had made a mistake and then passing on Teddy Bridgewater and Derek Carr in the 2014 draft. Ideally, Geno should have never seen the field in 2o13. Whether Idzik manipulated that will perhaps never be known. If he did, then he deserves all damnation for that. Since Geno did see the field, and had such a horrible rookie season, it should have been pretty obvious how much work Geno was going to take, even given that he had no weapons around him and the OL sucked. Teddy was pretty much NFL ready. With the importance of the QB position, and with the Jets' sorry history at the QB position, Idzik should have doubled down and taken either Bridgewater or Carr. As much as I liked and still like Pryor, he was the wrong Louisville Cardinal to draft. I can't blame him for Milliner. Milliner suffered some injuries at Alabama, but always played through them. I don't think he missed but 1-2 games in college. The injuries were different, and Milliner was fast, had good size and was the best press coverage CB in that draft if memory serves me correctly. There's no way Idzik could have know that Milliner would be an injury-prone player in the NFL and never able to get onto the field. While it's doubtful, there's still a possibility that Milliner could get healthy, stay that way, and develop into a good starting CB. Injuries are weird. Some players have bad injury problems in college then go to the NFL and are never injured seriously again. Others never get injured in four years of college, then are constant injured in the NFL. Still others seem to be jinxed or brittle and just can't stay healthy. Most others are a mixed bag. I have some small hopes that Milliner isn't "brittle" or jinxed and that he can still contribute at a high level. Thus, I can't kill Idzik for that pick. Richardson, at least for his play on the playing field, was a great pick. The character issues may not have existed, or may have been allowed to fester under Rex's lack of discipline and accountability. Hopefully, he can get his life straightened out. Winters has definitely improved and is perhaps a decent backup, but I don't think he'll ever be more than that. I hope that the Jets can have better OL depth than what he affords. I liked Rambo as a player and the Jets had a need at S. I don't know if Idzik didn't like him for some reason or if he allowed the Jets' need on the OL to outweigh Rambo's play and potential. If you're going to roll the dice on a player with a lot of talent but who will be a conversion project, the 6th or 7th round is the place to do it. The Jets definitely had a big need on the OL. I simply don't have enough facts about either player to kill Idzik for not taking Rambo. In hindsight, it was a horrible decision, but it may not have been apparent beforehand. I don't understand why Bohannon is still on the roster, but there must be something about him that Rex and now Bowles liked and felt useful. I have hopes that he will be gone next season, but guess we'll just have to wait and see. The 2014 draft is the one that was really criminally stupid, imo. The Jets had crying need at QB and WR. It was considered to be the best WR draft perhaps in history, and Idzik failed to come away with one of the top prospects when they went 2-3 rounds deep. The 2013 QB class was considered poor beforehand, whereas the 2014 and 2015 drafts looked a lot better for QB prospects. IMO, Idzik should have planned to take a QB in 2014 and not 2013, or if he didn't get the opportunity in 2014, he should have definitely planned to trade the ranch to get the top QB prospect in 2015. IMO that just shows his lack of knowledge, experience and judgement of talent and timing. I didn't like Amaro at all. He looked stiff and clumsy to me, couldn't block and over 90% of his catches in college were within 2-5 yards of the LOS, were uncontested, and a result of the Texas Tech offense. He had a decent rookie season, but still can't block. I don't have much hope that he's going to develop into anything worthwhile. I hope I'm wrong, but I think this was one of his worst picks. Brandon Dixon was immediately picked up by the TB Bucs in 2014 and appeared in 14 games for them. He was on the Saints PS this season, so at least he has some potential. I still have hopes for Enunwa. He has a great size/speed ratio. The problem doesn't seem to be his hands, as he makes some great catches, but rather focus. That can be fixed. He could still develop into a solid, if not dynamic contributor. There are definitely clear and compelling reasons why Idzik should have been fired.
I disagree that the problem wasn't the GM's. Yes, the scouting system was broken and needed fixing, but whose job is it to do that? The GM's. With only a few minor exceptions, no changes were made in that area, and I think at least in the case of Joey Clinkscales, he opted to leave rather than was fired. Both Tanny and Idzik failed to address that glaring area of weakness and both kept Bradway on. Now in fairness to them, maybe Woody wouldn't allow them to fire Bradway. If so, then that's on Woody, but if not, it's on them. Tanny should have never been made GM. We can thank that asswipe Bill Parcells for that. He had zero background in scouting and personnel and was a bean counter and attorney. Idzik at least had a little background in scouting and personnel, but most of his work was in administration and contract negotiations. He should have never been hired either. That's on Woody. One of the first things Mac did was to begin overhauling that area. We may never know if Tanny or Idzik could have done that, but the bottom line is that they didn't have the necessary knowledge, background/experience to make those decisions.
To be fair, Enkampali is the best pick outside of Richardson in that group. Jets never do so well this season without him.
The silliest of all the picks was mcdougle in the THIRD ROUND. NFL.com predicted mcdougle would not be drafted and several other publications had him 7th round AT BEST. Idzik wastes a high 3rd rounder on that piece of crap, who hasn't shown squat with the jets. At least Millner, Geno, and Amaro were highly rated/coveted by other teams, although have shown little with the jets--Idzik could have had mcdougle in the 7th round.
I think based on his other picks odds are he would have fucked that up too. All the guys he picked between Amaro and Enunwa.... if any of them are still in the league they are sitting on someone's practice squad.
The past is prologue but hard to take Management in every business is key. TG we have MM Amaro is still a question mark, Enunwa hardly Mr Clutch
I will give you this: if you even suspect a guy is going to fail you do not draft him at the top of the 2nd round. And it would be hard to admit that the suspicion of failure did not accompany Geno. You do not draft upside at the top of the second round.
I don't have a problem with Idzik keeping all 12 draft picks (versus using some to trade up). First of all, most of his picks were late rounders (6th and 7th round). He wouldn't get much 'trade up' value for any of those picks. Second, picking in the late rounds is a crap-shoot, numbers game. Draft 6 to get maybe 1 gem. Most late round picks don't even make the team. So John used all his late round picks in hopes of ending up with a 'few' good guys, like Enunwa and Riely. No one thought all 7 late round picks would make the team, let alone become solid starters. He threw a ton of shit at the wall, and some of it stuck.
none of them have really stuck and it was a horrible decision at the time. they were playing with house money! some of them were compensatory picks that you can't trade anyway so trade the ones you can and you still have late round picks! it was a huge fuck up! and to make matters worse he made some of the stupidest picks with his late round picks anyway
You move up if you see a guy you covet that might be just out of reach. Seems Idzik didn't covet anyone. Wonder why? Seems he's a go with the flow type of GM and not a fire in the belly type of GM like Tanny. Let's hope Mac has both fire, and better judgement in who he covets.
Actually the man to blame is Woody since he hired him as he did Herm, Al, Rex, Eric & whatever other nitwits he has working @ FP.
Woody has no background running a football team, and he was obviously overly reliant upon and perhaps loyal to the staff in place when Leon died. In hindsight, its obvious he should have axed Bradway and the scouting dept much, much earlier.
