I felt the same about the Vick signing. But as soon as the Jets got to camp, it became evident that Idzik was not really going to have a competition, or to play him. The schedule early looked daunting, and it also really hurt to go into the season with such a weak Cb roster. But the idea of having such chumps for the team's Qb's and then to not allow a proven talent like Vick to really get a crack at it smells of a combination of ego and wishful thinking. I don't think Idzik is stupid. But his moves smack of arrogance, and that's probably just as bad.
I can't say that Harvin will not produce for the Jets. But we can say for sure that signing him was not part of some Idzik Master Plan. It was a reactive move, and made when the season is already essentially over.
A guy who cuts 5 of his draft picks the same year he took them isn't leading the team with arrogance. It's the opposite. He is just making mistakes
Arrogance was evident in playing a rookie Qb every other team in the league had passed on, watch him reach historical levels of sucking, fool yourself that winning 3 games on the last quarter showed he'd turned the corner when his ypa went down, focusing on the short pass, and expecting him to have a breakout year this year. Then to sign Vick as some sort of fake competition and instead give the ball to Smith. Yes it's a huge mistake, but it smacks of arrogance. "I am so smart I found a franchise Qb in the second round!" Uh, no you didn't.
I am an Idzik critic but I couldn't disagree MORE with all of that. -For starters, he's not the one playing* Geno Smith anyway, the coaching staff is making that decision. -Second, Smith was definitely the best of the QB options last season anyway and probably this year too. (unfortunately) -Third, signing Vick in itself kind of showed he isn't arrogantly trying to prove something with Smith. The fact that it didn't turn out to be real competition can be blamed on the coaching staff, not Idzik, or Vick himself for not being very good. If you want to criticize Idzik for not recognizing that Vick was not very good anymore that's an argument, but it doesn't sound like that is your argument. It's very rare for General Managers to lead with arrogance or want to set out specifically to prove they are right about a certain guy above anything else. I mean anywhere in this league. There's just no time for that and generally you don't make it to the General Manager level with that type of stuff in you. Scouts, sure, probably like to stake their reputation on certain players but General Managers have to win above all because their job demands are stronger than just a single player. Idzik, I would argue is rare in that he is less apt to be arrogant or tie himself to a certain player even more than other GMs! He is a guy who already cut nearly half of his draft picks the same year he took them, this year. He's not arrogantly hanging onto guys he drafted. He has turned the Jets into one of the leaders in transactions over the course of the last two seasons. That means he is signing and releasing guys like wildfire. He has drafted QBs and signed veterans both, just like virtually every other position on the roster. His plan has been to basically throw shit on the wall and see what sticks. There is an argument to suggest he is poorly evaluating talent, sure, but to suggest he is arrogantly hanging onto Geno Smith is a ridiculous argument. His record shows he'd drop Geno Smith in a NY minute if he could find someone better.
The only thing wrong with your post is most of it. Yes he cut some lower round picks, but most came in roster cut downs, and then putting people like McDougle on IR. He has less committed to those lower round picks than he did with Smith. I take it you are suggesting Vick was not a better option at starting Qb than Smith. That is ridiculous, but even if you think that, Idzik did not try to get any other Qb than Vick, so to say starting Smith over Vick is "the best option" is absurd. There were other options. And if you think he has no say in who the starting Qb is, I have a bridge in Brooklyn you may want to buy.
I thought Vick was a good option at QB in the offseason and criticized the staff for botching the "competition." They still deserve blame for that but at the same time Vick wasn't and hasn't been lighting the world on fire. In preseason Geno Smith outplayed him, fair competition or not, he was better over the preseason. In Vick's only chance in the regular season he was "unprepared." If Vick was the better option he would've shown it either in preseason or by at least preparing himself to play to win the job. Geno Smith was the better option and still is. And I guess you are right, technically Idzik has a say in who the starting QB is. He could trade the next 15 1st rounders for Phillip Rivers. Then he'd have a new starting QB with the sign of a document. But he's not telling Rex Ryan to play Geno Smith, that's absurd. He could probably sign someone but that's what he did with Vick and he failed at it. Idzik is just not good at his job. He's not involved in some conspiracy for Geno Smith.
Any GM with a real plan to improve the team long-term would've let Geno play this year over Vick. Vick was just a back-up brought in in case Geno gets injured or sucks so badly, they give up on him midseason. If you want to improve your team, you need a QB in the NFL, Geno had a chance to be that QB for us, Vick didn't, so why would you play Vick? To appease butthurt fans who wanted to win this year? That is not how long-term success is built. I disagree. You can read the ESPN/Grantland article on the sidebar by Barnwell, where he talks about this exact thing. This was very much a part of Idzik's master plan, use as many players playing on cheap rookie contracts or budget free agency deals (e.g. Decker, Ivory, CJ, Vick, Patterson) as possible to preserve your cap space, because then when stuff happens around the league like it did with Harvin, where for whatever reason a quality guy becomes suddenly available, you'll be one of the few teams with enough cap space to swing a nice deal for him, in this case essentially stealing him. If we had a Tanenbaum-like GM instead of Idzik, we all know he would've splurged out entire available cap on guys like DRC and would've probably spent a lot more on Decker and other players. Now with his splurging, we might have been a bit better in the short term, although DRC hasn't looked good at all so far, but we would be locked into a bunch of huge contracts and never have a chance when things happen as in the Harvin thing. What I want to point out especially, is that even after Harvin, we have a great cap situation going forward. If Idzik continues to do it like he has been so far, and not spend the entire huge cap next offseason on overrated FAs, we can continue to be in position for these kind of steals. Now imagine if some quality QB becomes available at some point (like Drew Brees when he was let go by the Chargers or Peyton after Colts or Bledsoe after Pats). That's when Idzik's approach can really strike gold. A little perspective on the bolded part, when Idzik got here, our offensive weapons consisted of: - washed up Santonio Holmes at WR - Stephen Hill at WR - Jeremy Kerley at Slot WR - Shonne Greene at RB - Jeff Cumberland at TE Now, less than two years on the job, he s turned that into: - Eric Decker at WR - Percy Harvin at WR - Jeremy Kerley at Slot WR - Chris Ivory at RB - Jace Amaro at TE So I think it's reasonable to say we went from the worst offensive skill positions group in the league to one of the better ones. So you can talk about all the ways he's let you down, but that is an impressive feat in such a short period of time, especially considering how all of these guys are young and here on very team friendly contracts.
You must be running a campaign to be elected biggest FO Homer on the boards. You have my vote! Too bad it's a fools errand. Most other people by now have been convinced by the poor results that Idzik doesn't know what he's doing. And to say the Harvin signing was part of a plan - it is entirely idiosyncratic to Harvin's situation that anything like this happened. You could have hardly counted on his becoming available. Meanwhile when DeSean Jackson became available last summer, the Jets had no interest in him. In the interim the Jets season has gone down the toilet, in large part because of an unproductive offense. Nice plan. Even if Harvin was available the Jets would probably not have gotten him if they were, say, 3-4 rather than 1-6. Idzik knows he's being criticized for his approach to date, so he's bounced into another one. For the FO Homers, EVERYTHING that happens, or does not happen, fits into a plan. So since you are so familiar with The Plan, I assume you saw this very development coming a mile off. Funny, I don't recall you predicting it. Sorry if I missed that. And btw if Amaro is a clear upgrade over Cumberland, how come Cumberland continues to start? Btw the Grantland article was entirely discredited.
1)Idzik was not desperate for a new QB and shouldn't have reached for one. Tannenbaum wasn't either but due to Chad's durability issues you could justify it though it cost us div title. 2)Holmes helped us nearly reach a SB and had a million big catches, let's wait to see hat Percy does before we say he is better.
When Idzik gets a thread like this: http://forums.theganggreen.com/threads/just-another-day-in-the-life.47937/ Then we'll talk.
I am not a homer for anyone or anything, though I do like our current GM's approach, but considering how much unfair criticism Idzik gets, only seems fair to even things out. It's not the specific Harvin trade that was part of the plan, the plan is more general than that of course. The plan is to keep cap flexibility and space, so that whenever ANYONE they like (not Harvin specifically) becomes available, they are able to make these moves. Instead of Harvin, it could be someone else, but the result is the same, because we keep cap space by not signing overrated FAs like DRC and getting guys on cheap contracts like Decker and Ivory, we can make plays for really special players whenever they become available for whatever reason. I'm also pretty sure this deal gets made regardless of our record. Why would we not get Harvin for nothing if we were 3-4 now? It would make just as much sense to make this steal of a deal then. Getting Geno, a projected 1st round QB (even was projected as #1 overall at some point) in 2nd round is a reach now? And how were we not desperate, Sanchez got 4 years and kept getting worse. It's not like he carried the team the first 2 years either, with better offensive talent. He was terrible his rookie year, and really, the only reason he gets any kind of benefit of doubt is because of those 2 playoff games in 2010 where he wasn't even great, just played well. Holmes was good for us in 2010, but we didn't make the superbowl, much less win it, and for that, Tanny gave him a terrible contract and Holmes has stunk it up ever since.
he wanted his own QB, Geno oar doesn't look like the answer. He inherited a good QB that was bad in 2012. Should have used resources to rehab him starting w/ bringing in some actual offensive talent. Mark was not terrible his rookie year, his overall #s weren't good but he was good the majority of that season and had 3-4 awful games that skewed his #s before having an outstanding postseason. this current O has more talent for the QB than Mark's rookie year(though OL not as good) and Geno has been worse than Mark when Mark was at his worst in 2012.
The Plan is so general, it isn't even a plan. Maintain Flexibility! Make moves, uh, when you make them! And when you make a move, it is always part of The Plan! No matter what move it is! And here I thought all the Idzik homers believed the cap space was going to be rolled into next year. Next year would be when they put it all togehter. How about instead of that the Jets spend $7mil THIS year when the team is already 1-6? Having said that, it is reassuring that it is all part of The Plan.
Can you go more into how it's a reactive move? I see this line of thinking, and I just don't follow. If Harvin was on the last year of his contract like the Tone trade, I could see that. But he has years left and WR role #2 was still an open position for the Jets (or WR role #1 if we get into semantics). Obviously Idzik did not plan for Harvin becoming available, but he left the team a LOT of cap room. Was it for next year, probably. But the room was available because of Idzik. Reactive to pressure, I don't get. Reactive to the fact that we didn't have a #2 WR, sure. But then every move is "reactive". The season being over is the other thing I don't get. This season is all but over, yes. But why should that stop us from trying to get more talent on the team? Worst way this move backfires is that Harvin isn't talented anymore and we cut him and we gave up a 6th rounder? I don't see this as a reactive move, I also don't see this as a master plan. This was a talented player who became available and Idzik had cap room to sign. Credit to him for having the room otherwise we would be on the outside looking in trying to get Harvin, but no way he knew ahead of time or was waiting for talent to become available in the middle of the year.
So what's the problem with general plans? You want Idzik to outline to you 5 years in advance which specific guys he is going to sign or trade for? The guy through his shrewd budget signings and trades puts us in salary cap position to get any talented guy who becomes available whether it's through trade, free agency, or draft picks. Who exactly becomes available, no one can predict that, unless you got some oracle powers, but the laws of probability state that over time, people will become available. It's just a matter of not blowing your cap on overpriced middle of the road players like Tanenbaum was often doing, but keeping it stashed for when you can strike gold. Any move is not part of Idzik plan. What's part of his plan is to spend high-end money on real game-changers, and to have lesser players either play on cheap rookie contracts or real short term budget deals (like with CJ, Vick, Pace, Patterson, etc). This is different from Tanenbaum's approach where he would routinely hand out high-end contracts to non-elite players (e.g. Sanchez, Holmes, Harris) just to keep the team competitive in the short run, but it generally came back to hurt us big time in the long run. Now you may preffer that type of short term approach, because it makes the game right now more interesting, but lots of fans, myself included, would rather see the team build a real championship contender. And the whole thing about cap being rolled over or not, that's irrelevant. The point of rolling the cap over is to get great players with it, so if you can get them now instead of next season, what's the difference?
Trading for Harvin specifically was not part of Idzik's long term plan, and no one is saying that it is. However, there is no doubt in my mind that part of his plan was and is to keep an eye out for players like Harvin who can be acquired for little risk and potentially have a very big impact. People question why he didn't sign Emmanuel Sanders, but on both of their best days Sanders doesn't come even close to Harvin's impact. When Bill Belichick traded for Randy Moss, it's not as if Moss was part of Belichick's plan long in advance, but that does not make it any less part of Belichick's plan to keep an eye out for potential high impact players.
I'm sorry but that is absurd, arguably our secondary is in a worse state than our WR crop. Revis is over-rated as well? I understand that a GM needs time to put his stamp on a team, and Idzik has so far...a bad one. I could be wrong but so far its not looking good.
DRC is overrated, Revis is too old. He is about to hit 30 and is already not the same player he was in his prime. Have you seen how Decker had success against him our last game? You guys want to have your cake and eat it too. But in life, everything has a cost. If you want to build a championship contender, you often have to sacrifice some seasons. Signing Revis now would be fun for you guys cause the team would be better right now, but would be bad long-term, because by the time our young rebuilding core is ready to compete, Revis is gonna be on the wrong side of 30. And then you are right back where you started, needing another corner. A guy like Revis makes sense for an aging elite team like the Pats, since they have a small window right now to compete before Brady is done. Makes no sense for a young rebuilding team like us. We need to get young corners in here who can grow with the team and be part of our window later on. That's what Idzik tried to do with Milliner and McDougle, but sometimes things dont work out. So you move on and try again.
