Jets' left Max Gilles & Gabe Watson on board on draft day in 3rd round & picked some stiffs instead. By selecting these 2 available players. Jets' would have assured themselves of having not only the best draft of any NFL team this season, but also have really stocked up on some talented & needy position players. Jets' got a bit to cute for themselves. Jets' would have had the needed big NT for there defense & a road grater at guard. Try invisioning these to players added to there draft & getting the LB Schegel in the 5th round. Would have been a truely dominating draft for Jets'. Jets' blew this option. Jets' still had best draft in there division, but would have created a dominant side to there O-Line, which they don't have now; & a dominance that would have stood for years to come....all in 1 draft. Now thats really special. :up: By getting these 2 players...Jets' would have assured themselves of making playoffs this season & would have covered every major weakness the team has. 1 4 Jets D'Brickashaw Ferguson T 6-5 295 Virginia Czar: A good, safe, solid choice, but no one has compared Ferguson to Orlando Pace, Jonathan Ogden or Walter Jones, the league's top offensive tackles. Full analysis 1 29 Jets (from Broncos) Nick Mangold C 6-4 290 Ohio State Czar: The Jets did the smart thing with their second choice in the first round by replacing long-time center Kevin Mawae with Nick Mangold. Full analysis 2 49 Jets (from Cowboys) Kellen Clemens QB 6-2 215 Oregon This is a very solid pick for the Jets considering their concerns over the long-term with Chad Pennington and the uncertainty of what they have in Patrick Ramsey. Clemens has good physical tools and leadership ability with more upside than last year's first rounders at quarterback. Clemens will need time to learn the pro game. 3 76 Jets (from Eagles) Anthony Schlegel LB 6-1 251 Ohio State Has the smarts and toughness to fit well within Eric Mangini's defense. 3 97 Jets (Compensatory Selection) Eric Smith CB-S 6-1 193 Michigan State In the box safety who can cover some ground, but isn't very instinctive. 4 103 Jets Brad Smith QB 6-2 210 Missouri College quarterback with a good feel for the game. Has good football instincts on the field. 4 117 Jets (from Chiefs) Leon Washington RB 5-9 202 Florida State Has good run instincts to become a change of pace back and perhaps a return man, but lacks size and has durability concerns. 5 150 Jets (from Cowboys) Jason Pociask TE 6-3 267 Wisconsin Gives a lot of effort as a blocker, but needs to add bulk. 6 189 Jets (from Cowboys via Redskins and Jets) Drew Coleman CB 5-8 173 TCU Can make plays, but also had some knee problems. 7 220 Jets (from Eagles) Titus Adams DT 6-3 300 Nebraska Has size, but is better as a one-gap defender. Wears down too easily.
Gilles and Watson have reputations for being lazy. There's a reason why 31 other teams kept passin on them too. In retrospect, I love the Schlegel pick. He's going to be the perfect bodyguard for Vilma, and has a nack for getting to the QB when asked to. Not sold on Eric Smith. He has McGraw part deux written all over him, but Watson and Gilles can all be useless bags of fat elsewhere.
I like Schlegel also, but Jets' could have really used the beef up front & with this supposed good coaching staff, Jets' should have been able to extract these players greatness...???
Why bother, honestly? Let some other team deal with that headache, and instead pick up guys that love football and want to work their asses off.
The thing is that the Jets FO is looking for a certain mentality and drive at the onset. If they don't see that, I really don't think that they care too much about what else the player has to offer. I had the same question about GILLES, until it was pointed out by members of this board that he's really too big for his own good, and has gone against criticism that he slim down to improve his game.
Its very easy to understand where I'm sitting. They wanted character guys who are smart and love the game of football.. You can't say either of the two you mentioned fit that criteria.. My biggest complaint with the 3rd round was their trying to get to cute with Gocong.. they should have just taken him at 71 than they could of still had Schlegal at 97. That would have been an A+ draft..
The thing is, we all assume they got cute with the Gocong thing, but none of us truly know they absolutely wanted him. If they did want him however, I agree with you 100%.
I think you're 100% right about them blowing the 3rd round. They reached horribly with both players forsaking better players at positions of greater need such as RB and DE/OLB as well. Gabe Watson and Max Jean-Gilles were much better options as well. The Smith pick was puzzling as we seem to be OK at safety and on specials. The two 3rd rounders were more like 5th or 6th round training camp fodder kind of guys. Vilma doesn't need a body guard. He needs better OLB's to play next to him. I give Tangini solid marks for this draft but this A plus happy horsecrap stuff that many give them is really homerish and myopic. They could have done better and this idea that they're following the Patriot model is way, way premature.
Max Jean Gilles has a chronic spinal disorder. Gabe Watson has chronic laziness. The third round was fine.
Smart, tough players - smart, tough players... Remember the mantra, you will hear it over and over and over during the Tangini regime. Those guys made it perfectly clear, that they wanted to take smart, tough players, and (unspoken) they did NOT want dumb, lazy or non-team players on their Jets. I also saw a lot of talent and wondered about passing it over in the draft...but these guys stuck by their words. They have a plan - and they are sticking to it, and I'm on the bus!
And how do you know what the Jets board looked like? Why do you call their picks a reach? Because ESPN or Mel Kiper said so? The Jets did their own scouting, rated the players according to their own criteria, and picked who they felt was best for the team. Please let the professionals do their job, and stop judging the players before they have even stepped onto the field.
I would have taken a big back with speed in Jerrius Norwood with the first pick and either Darnell Bing or Demetrius Williams with the compensatory selection. If Tangini was set on getting a tough safety there were two better ones available in Bing and Calvin Lowry. Gabe Watson would have been a good pick at either spot. His size and ability alone makes him a better prospect than either "tough guy" we got in round 3. I can't believe after all Jet fans have seen and suffered through that there are many who still take the Cannizarro approach that a new coach/regime deserves no second guessing. Some of you in here are way too thin skinned and homerish to handle even the obvious truths about this organization. The view of a Jet fan should always be "prove it to me" not "I trust the Jet hierarchy implicitly"
No team really knows if they fudged a draft until a season or two passes so the players can actually be evaluated in the NFL. The carry-over of potential from college to the NFL means nothing, as any player can be a bust and any player can be a star.
I totally disagree on taking a RB there. We have enough at that position on our roster to wait until next draft [cough]paterson[/cough]. I would have Ding over Smith for sure, and even said so in the draft thread. But neither of us were in the interview room with him, or Gabe Fatson for that matter. They took the guys THEY wanted, and we'll have to sit back and wait to see how it pans out.
Its not about the trust just as yet but seeing how the draft went and then reading various articles about mangini and the draft you can see why they left those players. They went for specifics. Players who were team leaders, had a history of strong work ethic, scored well on the wonderlic test and have little to no rap sheet. I will admit that I dont know much about Watson, Bing or Lowry, the same way I knew little to nothing about Schelgel, Clemens, Smith and Smith prior to the draft. But now that the draft it is obvious whatTangini's game plan was and they stuck to it. Passing up what some might consider better talent for perhaps smarter football players and people. I for now, will give Tangini the benefit of the doubt as it shows that they do have a gameplan which is something that has been severely lacking the last several years.
That right there is the problem with judging the player by what we as fans see. So Gabe Watson has great size.."woopdy damn do". Size can be made...the heart, brains and desire of a player are the unknowns for the fan. (Any one out there remeber a guy named Ron Faurot. Looked the part, talked the part but played LB and DL like a kicker trying to make a tackle. How about Blair Thomas? He has better size and speed than Emmitt, but he had the heart and desire of donkey. Emmitt would run through a wall for a first down, Blair Thomas wouldn't run over the side judge to get a 1st down.) When a team does a background check on a player, they are not only calling up his police record. They are more importantly meeting and talking with the players numerous times, the coaching and scouting staffs meet with their families coaches, professors, HS teachers, charity event organizers, to see what type pf person they are investing in. They are trying to determine the guys CHARACTER. When you are a 1st time HC why is the name of Christ would you want to spend time building a guys character and heart, when you can get one with that already part of the package. (It is sort of like getting a toy that says batteries included. You get to play with it right away. Not next week when Mommy gets the time to go to WalMArt and get batteries.) But more importantly we the fans have no idea of Mangini's game plan. So second guessing without the knowledge of how our Defense will look is unfair. What if Mangini plans to move Vilma around more? Let him blitz on 1st and 2nd down? I would think you would then need a "stay at home LB in the middle" . A player that has CHARACTER that played the role of the "Stay at home LB" in college...a CHARACTER player that was not seeking the spot light.... A CHARACTER player that knows and plays his role..A CHARACTER player that played in this system, who coincidently led his team in tackles for losses and led the team in tackles 2 years ago. If that is what he might be thinking then you know what.... I'll take the character guy over the big guy with questionable work ethics and desire any day of the week. As a matter of fact I'll take 53 of them. Now if next years draft comes around and you find a CHARACTER type DT, but pass on him to get a speedy WR with a questionable heart, when those guys are generally a dime a dozen, then I would say that second-guessing the new front office would be warranted.
The problem with taking Shlegal and Smith is not that someone else might be better but the idea that we took them each many rounds to early. Most people had them as 6th-7th round picks. Maybe they moved up the last few days but they would have almost certainly both been there in the 4th and 5th rounds. It really doesn't matter if they turn out to hall fo famers or if they never play a down. The probelm and issue is appropiately using your draft picks to get value. Something we failed at miserably from the 3rd round on (excluding the 4th round picks of Washington and Smith). We routinely used to do the same thing when Mike Hickey ran the team. Taking picks far to early and it drove the team into ruin. The example most people use was spending a 1st roud pick on Lageman when we could have waited until the 3rd or 4th round to take him. Many people said hey he could be the next lambert. Who cares. He would still have been an awful pick regardless of how well he played if we could have taken him in the 3rd or 4th round. I appreciate the idea of falling in love with players and wanting them on your team whether its Shlegal, Smith or Lageman. But at some point you have to say I may lose that player and someopne else may take him but I will not overpay in terms a draft pick to choose him. Sure you can take a reach on one or two players but taking reaches on almost every pick will kill you in the long term. The philosophy of the Steelers, Eagles and Patriots is direct opposite of what the Jets did this draft and why those teams draft so well. They know how to use their draft picks to get good value from almost every pick.
I have this very strange feeling Schlegel is going to end up being one of our best picks. The more I read about him, and see of him, the more I feel like this guy will do some great things in the NFL and more importantly for the NYJets. I think we are all going to be in for a very pleasant surprise with this guy. I think Tan-Man had this guy pegged all along and thats just the way it went. they got the guy the really wanted.
You are Example A of the thin skinned, "I trust the Jets FO no matter what" fan. The Jet board?? Why should anyone trust the Jet board given this team's draft history and the fact that two new guys were running the board? Give me a large break. Nobody had Schlegel in the 3rd round. Nobody from Kiper to Ourlad's to PFW to any scouting service you can name. A high third rounder is a good place to pick up a starter not a backup ILB who plays specials and is good in the classroom. I'm sorry the "we picked tough smart guys" rap is lame pablum for Jet apologists. While you can't grade a draft in May you can judge a team on how well they meet needs and how much value they got with those picks. I give the Jets a D for Round 3 and a B+ for the rest of the draft.
