Yes I worry about trading away 5th round picks. Tannenbaum has traded: 4th round pick for Barlow 3rd round pick for Favre 3rd and 5th round picks for Jenkins 3rd and 5th round picks for Braylon 2nd or 3rd round pick for Cromatie 5th round pick for Santonio two 5th round picks for Lito Sheppard I'm sure I am missing someone. Tannenbaum has only drafted 9 players on the defensive side of the ball in 5 drafts. Other then Harris and Revis they haven't drafted any other impact players. Lowery, Coleman and Eric Smith are role players. Kyle Wilson is still an unknown. I think it's safe to say that by the 2012 season that most if not all of the following players will not be on the Jets roster: Jason Taylor Shaun Ellis Kris Jenkins Bryan Thomas Calvin Pace Bart Scott Trevor Pryce Then you have the free agents: Cromatie Brodney Pool Eric Smith The combination of not drafting many defensive players in 5 years, a salary cap, having an older slow defense, trading away tons of draft picks means that the Jets are going to be in a tough spot. When a front office: Trades away draft picks for veterans signs veterans only drafts 9 players on defense over 5 seasons The bill is going to come due at some point. I know I actually look at the big picture, not just year to year. I look at how the Steelers, Pats, Eagles and Ravens consistently build through the draft and supplement a small portion of their rosters through trades and free agency. It's the only way to sustain long term success.
I'm not bitching about one specific trade. I'm bitching about the idea that Tannenbaum keeps trading draft picks for veterans that are not under contract for long. I know that trading picks for veterans has positives and negatives. Is a year of Favre worth a third round pick? Is that third round pick Anthony Schlegel or Pouha? Is 12 regular season games of Santonio Holmes worth a 5th round pick? In the short term these trades all look good. But in the long term we miss out on the cheap young players that our competitors are getting. Let's say we lose to the Colts tomorrow, Santonio and Cromatie leave for the best money they are offered. At best the Jets get a 2012 comp pick depending on the formula. Meanwhile you have an old slow front 7, a secondary that needs to be revamped and little to no cap room to spend on free agents. Also, assuming that at a minimum, one of Braylon, Santonio and Brad Smith leave and that it's very likely that two of them leave, who are the wr's other then Braylon or Santonio and Cotchery? Is Patrick Turner coming back to be the third WR? So now you go into an off season with little cap space (assuming that the owners and union agree to bring it back which they basically have), losing a 2nd or 3rd round draft pick for Cromatie, a ton of free agents and players like Jason Taylor, Bryan Thomas and Shaun Ellis that need to be replaced sooner then later. Oh and by the way the Patriots have tons of draft picks, cap space and few aging players that need to be replaced.
The Jets have $113 million on the cap next year. If they released the following players they would give cap savings of: Kris Jenkins $4.6 million Vernon Gholston $400,000 Bryan Thomas $3.7 million Damien Woody $3.2 million Tomlinson $2.5 million Jason Taylor $2.25 million This would give you savings of around $17 million. Sanchez, Revis, Pace, Brick and Scott count for well over $50 million in cap value next year. All information was taken from http://www.nyjetscap.com/salary11.html
I notice you are using this years salaries, so I must ask is 113 in cap based off of this years salaries or next because Taylor and Jenkins are both listed as much higher in 2010. I remember reading that Taylor's second year was listing around 10 million and Jenkins was higher than that
I used the 2011 cap values as per the jets cap website. It's not based on salaries it's based on the cap value of that player being on the team in 2011.
I don't know if I'm correct. Those numbers are based off of that website. Jason does a great job compiling information but I'm sure it's not 100% accurate. It does paint of picture of what kind of cap situation the Jets will be in 2011 when the cap comes back.
Was 12 games + playoffs of Holmes worht a 5th? Hell yes. With out him we may not even be there after all the big plays he made for us late in games this season. Trading late rounders for vets is just fine. Do some research on the chances of a 5th or later making an impact in the NFL, its not likely. Its part of the reason spending on a FB like Conner makes sense. Not tons of upside, but a lot of value and playing time will come from it. The picks traded for players like Jenkins and Cro where quick fixes to huge gaping holes in our defense. The Farve pick didn;t work out, but it was obvious we needed a QB. The Barlow trade sucked, but moving down for Jones was a great deal. Have you so quickly forgotten how bad we were in 2005? How we completely overhauled most of the roster over a few short years into a playoff team? How we not only still have many of the vets we traded for, but young keystones like Sanchez, Revis, Harris, Brick, Mangold, Keller, and Greene? The amount of turn around into young guys who have All pro type play now or potential for the future is amazing. Only the ghost stands out as a big time miss for us. You can add Clemens to him if you want to. The fact remains that we have traded a ton of picks. We've also added a ton of key parts that have helped us get back to a contender. We have areas that need attention, but every NFL teams has weak points on thier starting roster let alone depth issues in some areas. The Cap keeps it this way. Trading for vets, bringing them in to our enviroment, and then resigning them has accelerated things for our rebuilding. We are again a team that people want to play for. Yes we pay, but other teams pay alot of money as well. We get guys that fit what we are doing and keep them, or find out a quick fix did not work and part ways with it. I'm not sure how you can fault much of what was done to bring a aging, losing roster to the current stable of young building blocks we have today.
I'm okay with most of the trades. The Jets definetely needed a talent infusion when Tannenbaum took over in 2006. Talent wise we are another level compared to that team. Do I wish we had help onto some more draft picks? Yes. My point is that going forward this needs to change. We have the talent base to compete every year if few injuries occur. The Jets have drafted elite talent all over the field. Elite talent is great but what happens if David Harris and Dustin Keller go on the IR. Mauga and Hartsock take over? The Colts, Steelers, Pats, Eagles all utilize the draft as their main source of adding talent. They can do this because they already have a talent base that can compete every year. By drafting 6 to 12 to players every year that fit their system and then slowly developing them as depth they are all able to compete every year. If the Jets continue on the path of trading picks for players they will eventually have a roster made up of old players, some draft picks and a lot of undrafted free agents. The good organizations build rosters that have a few superstars, some veterans, a lot of guys drafted in the mid rounds and some undrafted free agents.
So now that we know we're only going to have one pick in the first two rounds. What position do we use it on?
I agree with ya to a point on the first bolded part. 5th and later picks are really hit or miss, not much better than a UDFA. Trading them to me is nto much of a problem as long as your hitting on your early rounders. The Steelers are famous for drafing guys from small schools and brining in UDFA's who fit thier system. They are also well known for drafting for the future as opposed to fill holes and going for BPA, within thier systems, at alomst all times. Most of thier picks get a year or two to sit and learn and we have not had that luxury lately. The fact that our season did not collapse despite getting very little immidate return from this years draft class speaks volumes about our organizational depth at this point. Mike T has also come off as saying that if the staff highly belives that one guys is a sure fire talent and they have the means to get him, he will. The trades up for Revis, Harris, and Keller all seem to back this up. I'm not a fan of moving up every year, but I can't argue with the results for now. The question is what is better 6 to 12 maybe guys or 2 sure things and 4maybes with some UDFA's added in. You can not constantly kepp adding 10 guys a year and develop them because of the roster and practice squad limitations. I think they really have a good handle on things the way the current CBA is written, but thats all going to hell and soon.
