Let's get a few things straight. Gilmore and Bouye will get massive amounts of money because they are corners in a market that sorely needs them. Gilmore is going to get STUPID money. Bouye will get less but he's arguably the best corner on the market and a team will pay him handsomely
The draft is deep a corner, I think we can get at least one good CB there. Free safety and left tackle should be high priorities in free agency.
Gilmore has looked like a pro bowl corner some years, but this year he didn't play good. Maybe he was pressing due to FA. I am sure he maybe interested in a prove it deal, in which we hope he'll prove something and then he can get paid elsewhere in 2 yrs.
The Jets would honestly probably be best waiting until they get a QB and a few more young pieces before spending big in free agency
Ingram is in the heart of his prime right now. He's got another 3 elite level years left, maybe more. He's a disruptor that can be the QB of this D for years. He would look good in Jets green.
He's come on the past couple years but he was largely considered a bust his first three. He's in no way shape or form elite. Signing him would actually remind me a lot of the Calvin Pace signing. Good not great player that can be solid for a while.
We could go into next season with 3 solid corners. We should sign one via FA as well. 1. One via FA [Gilmore] 2. One via Draft [Desmond King, Jourdan Lewis, Sidney Jones] 3. Burris Revis should be cut from the team. Gilmore and Burris will be regulars on the outside. Rookie in the slot. I don't see any free safeties worth breaking the bank for. I would rather take the 6th pick and draft Hooker at FS. All the secondary would need is a SS and the rehaul would be just about complete in 1 1/2 seasons.
We aren't finishing this build in one year. If we can get solid LT, FS, CB and OLB this year we can find another CB next year.
For those wanting Ingram, he's Calvin Pace all over again. He'll be expensive to sign and then he'll be a good but not great player for 4 years for us. I'd rather not get back on the merry-go-round again. This team signs a lot of prime free agents only to get a few good years out of them and then slump again because what you really want are 24 year old stars from the draft not 27-28 year old guys very expensive on their second contract because you can't draft for squat. The Parcells talent base basically aged out or got prematurely injured after 2004. Curtis Martin, Kevin Mawae, Chad Pennington, John Abraham, Shaun Ellis, Jason Fabini and Jason Ferguson were the Jets best 7 players in 2004. By 2005 they had all begun the decline phase of their careers and were never the same. You can make the argument that Shaun Ellis decline was also caused by JAbe leaving town. From 2005 onwards the Jets are 88-104 with 3 playoff appearances in 12 years. The strategy during that time has been to sign blocks of veteran free agents to be competitive in a short window which has then been followed by a collapse period. Lately we're not even that competitive in the window. Fix the team. Build it to be good for sustained success not a 1-year wonder against a weak schedule. If we sign like 4 or 5 vet free agents this year we'll go 9-7 next year, maybe 10-6, maybe even be decent in 2018 also and then the bottom will likely fall out. There's almost no chance we'll be a real contender off of another wave of free agent signings. Really good free agents, the ones that swing teams from being mediocre to consistent contenders never hit the free agent market. Even the stars that do hit the market are way over-priced and they constrain the signing team as much as they help it over time. When you sign a free agent like Calvin Pace to a contract on the open market you pay at least 50% more than he's worth because he's on the open market and then you live with large cap charges year after year despite the fact that he's a good not great player. Then your own young players look at that and want top dollar when you try to re-sign them early, because they know you have the cash - you're just being cheap with them, might as well see what's out there on the market.
Seriously? JPP, who's 28? What's the point? Have you learned nothing from all the other 28 year-old FA vets the Jets have signed? We aren't going anywhere next season. He's gonna command too much money and his production will diminish rather than increase. Berry is also 28 and would break the bank. I doubt he'd sign here, but even if he would, that move makes no sense unless the Jets plan on keeping up the facade of the "competitive rebuild." Reiff's also 28, but at least I can understand that, because it's either him or Whitworth who's 35, but Whitworth's a better player and imo still a safer bet at LT than Reiff.
Absolutely. Why sign Melvin Ingram to a bloated contract when you can get a Takkarist McKinley from UCLA in the 2nd round? 21 yrs of age, sounds like a better idea then Melvin Ingram who blew up in a contract year. Better size and an arsenal of pass rush moves. Jets need to draft more EDGE. It's like we are allergic to them in the draft. How many in the past 5+ years? Lorenzo and some other scrubs.
Not that I'm impressed with Skrine, but I think he's a nickel corner that was playing out of position. He was playing on the outside because everyone else was terrible. He should either be in the slot or not on the field at all. Sent from my KIW-L24 using Tapatalk
The reason we've been allergic to edge rushers is that you can't pay CB's like QB's and still afford premium edge rushers. Also, when you've been DB happy the way Rex and to some extent Bowles have been you wind up using exotic DB blitzes out of 5 and 6 backs to generate pressure instead of just earning it the old fashioned way: through fast big edge rushers that cannot be picked up by a halfback or h-back in the backfield.
The only players I'd even consider on that list are A.J. Bouye (25), Nick Perry (26), Kevin Zeitler (26), Ricky Wagner (27), Larry Warford (25), Andrew Whitworth (35), Riley Reiff (28), Mike Glennon (27), Dont'a Hightower (26), and maybe Trumaine Johnson (27) and/or Tony Jefferson (24). The Jets have needs at LT, RT, RG, maybe C, OLB, ILB, TE, QB, RB, CB and FS. The #1 priority is addressing the LT spot, but upgrading the OL overall is #1A. They aren't going to be able to fix the QB spot in FA. Some of those needs can be well addressed in the draft or with second-tier FAs. The only two options at LT are Whitworth and Reiff. Both are 28 or older, and the only two players that old that I'd consider. Whitworth is somewhat of a risk because of his age, but has only missed 2 games in the last 8 seasons and is still one of the top 3 LTs in the game. He probably wouldn't come here, but I'd see if he had any interest. If so, I'd make him such a generous offer for 2 years, that he'd be hard-pressed to turn it down. Reiff doesn't excite me at all, but he's better than Ijalana, and the reality is that he's probably the one who would sign here, so I'd significantly overpay Reiff for a 3-4 year deal. One of them MUST be signed. The reality is that probably neither will, and the Jets will be looking at signing a second-tier LT (if they're lucky) and have him compete with Ijalana in TC. Zeitler probably wouldn't sign here either, but maybe Warford would. I have some injury concerns about Warford, but he'd be an upgrade over Winters. I'd keep Winters as depth at both OG spots and probably cut Dozier loose. My only hesitation with either of these two is what type of blocking scheme they are best in. I think Zeitler is used to the zone scheme. Warford, I'm not sure. I know that Carpenter prefers the man scheme, but I think we went back to the zone scheme last year. I'll be shocked if Bouye doesn't stay with the Texans, but if he'd come here, I'd give him a very generous long-term deal. If the Jets are really high on Shell being a quality starter, then they probably won't pursue Wagner, but he would help remake the OL. If I couldn't sign either Reiff or Whitworth, Wagner would be a priority signing to upgrade the OL overall. In that case, I'd be forced to draft an LT at some point in the draft, and give both him and Shell a lot of work at LT during the spring/summer camps and pray that one of them could handle the job and not get our QBs killed. I'd keep Ijalana as depth/insurance. Hightower would probably laugh at the Jets and use us to drive up the price for the Pats, but it would be worth it for that alone if it could cause them some cap issues. If he would come here, it would not only hurt the Pats, but if he is the leader that Belicheat has claimed that he is, he would help turn our D around quickly. Even as bad as Bowles and Rodgers seem to be, with some quality veteran leadership, the team would likely play a lot better. Perry might come here for a good contract and the chance to start. With the draft being deep in OLBs, he wouldn't be a high priority, but it would give the Jets some flexibility. I'd hate to pass up on taking an OLB in the draft, but there's always some risk with them, and Perry should not only help immediately, but be able to help Mauldin and Jenkins as well. Sadly, the reality is that the Jets may not be able to sign any of the players on that list, and are going to have to settle for second-tier players at their positions of need.
