If people expected no playoffs and around an 8-8 record, is it really so hard to believe that's exactly where we'll end up? All of our hardest games came at the beginning of the season.
Yes, it is hard to believe. Have you seen how terrible we are? Besides, I said it isn't the record I'm interested in. It is the product on the field, which sucks. Same garbage as last year. Season is a failure regardless of eventual record, which will not be good. I assure you.
Last year the Jets played like a 5-win team and got several lucky breaks, including the Bucaneers game and the Pats game. You can see this statistically through our points and turnover differential. This year we're not much better but we're also not much worse. We haven't shown progress like we should have by now, but none of this mean Idzik's plan is necessarily flawed. We've simply been struck my injuries, mediocre rookie development, Qb woes and a declining O-line. We still have games to play, money to spend, drafts to pick, and former rookies to develop. Let's just see where this train takes us before assuming that it's going off a cliff. Then again, maybe I'm the naive one.
Last year the Jets played like a 5-win team and got several lucky breaks, including the Bucaneers game and the Pats game. You can see this statistically through our points and turnover differential. This year we're not much better but we're also not much worse. We haven't shown progress like we should have by now, but none of this mean Idzik's plan is necessarily flawed. We've simply been struck my injuries, mediocre rookie development, Qb woes and a declining O-line. We still have games to play, money to spend, drafts to pick, and former rookies to develop. Let's just see where this train takes us before assuming that it's going off a cliff. Then again, maybe I'm the naive one.
We've been within one score on our final possession of every game we've lost except San Diego. We've also played 4 of the best teams in the NFL.
It's easy to forget the situation that Idzik was handed last year too. - He came into a team that had 18+ million dollars in dead cap money, mainly from Revis, and one that had payed Sanchez, Holmes, and Cromartie a combined 26.5 million dollars. He had absolutely no money to spend last year. - This year he had more money to spend but the free agent market was very weak. The best 2 WR's by far in free agency were Decker and Tate, both of which are low-end #1 / high-end #2 receivers. He got Decker and Decker has been very good. Desean Jackson came up later, but Idzik decided to wait until the next off-season to get another WR. The CB market was also extremely weak. Guys like DRC were getting overpayed, so he just decided to get nobody. That has cost the team this year but if he makes the right signings later no one will care about 2014. The Jets are going to offer Dez Bryant 16 million per year. Just watch. The Cowboys will only have about 18 million to spend and both Dez and Murray are Free-Agents. Murray right now is a Top 5 RB and is leading them to wins. They will have no choice but to pay Murray and let Dez walk. When we end up with Dez because we waiting a year Idzik will be considerd a genius.
Like others have said....what have the Jets re-built? How many pieces of this team can we legitimately expect to be key parts of a contending team 2 years from now? Assuming the Jets can re-sign everyone they want.... - Wilkerson (assuming he gets a long-term deal) - Richardson (will still be under his rookie deal) -Harrison (hopefully the jets can re-sign at a reasonable number) -Amaro (still under rookie deal) -Davis (hopefully he takes a reasonable extension) -Decker (will be 29, but should still be an adequate # 2 or 3 WR) Other than that, who is there? Mangold , Ferguson and Harris are already past 30 and almost certainly past their primes. Guys like Kerley, Ivory, Cumberland, Allen and Coples are basically just complimentary pieces. Milner is a mess and Pryor is very shaky so far. (other than running really fast in a straight line and trying to lay someone out, what does he do well?) You've got some decent depth guys like Ellis, Douzable and Wilson (still a decent nickle despite his many flaws) but they're not building blocks. So basically we have a great D-line, 2 complimentary receivers and an average ILB (hardly a key position). No QB. No star pass catcher. No young stud offensive lineman, No secondary (although Pryor could obviously improve) No elite outside rusher. Not exactly a great base when you consider the team has had 19 picks over the last 2 years. Idzik needed to hit on half of our draft picks (at a minimum) in order to justify his slow and steady approach and give us hope for the future. At this point, he's like 2 for 19 (Richardson and Amaro with the jury still out on Pryor and mabe a couple of others) Its a disaster. Unless things turn around QUICKLY next May, it will be very clear that Idzik was nothing more than a bean counter who got credit he didn't deserve simply by being part of a franchise that got lucky with a bunch of mid-late rounders.
But, the year-to-year goal in a rebuild isn't to be "not much better but . . . also not much worse." The idea is to progressively get better and better while amassing a talent base and a winning culture/attitude. I agree that Idzik's plan isn't necessarily flawed, but I fear that his drafting/personnel decisions may be inadequate to fulfill his plan. Time will tell. At the end of the day, I agree that it is way too early to make an ultimate assessment of Idzik. I also personally think the team needs a new head coach.
They've under performed my expectations for sure, but I think being 8-8 last year was a bit of a facade. Jets have played 6 games, and have been in 5 of them. It sucks things havent gone our way, but I think this is a more talented team than last year. Not crazy more talented mind you, but more talented nonetheless. Too early to judge the most recent draft, but I'm hoping we get some impact playmakers this offseason.
If this is year 2 of rebuild we are on pace to be a contender ----- never! 2 drafts have accounted for 1 real NFL player in Richardson and a potential player in Amaro. Pryor has been disappointing considering the need for a WR and the available WRs in the draft. Two free agency classes have delivered Chris Ivory and Decker. This woul dbe the year you say look at the 2013 draft really contributing and some impact additions...that doesn't exist.
-Wilkerson will be around for years (He will probably get a big extension this offseason for 6-7 years). -Richardson will be around for years (He has 2 years left on his contract plus the 5th year option). -Harrison will most likely be around for years (He is a restricted FA which means if a team offers him a deal we don't want to pay, which is not likely anyway, they'll have to surrender their first round pick to us. If we do want to match it, he's automatically ours). -Davis will most likely be around for years (1 year left on his rookie deal, he will probably receive a mid range extension this offseason). -Pryor will be around for years (3 years left on his rookie deal plus the 5th year option). -Milliner will be here for years, at worst he is a very talented injury prone CB. He won't miss every game ever. 2 years left plus 5th year option. -Coples will be here if the front office wants him to be, I think the chances are they will but hard to say. (1 year left plus 5th year option. His 5th year option will have to be activated this offseason if they want to use it, but it's not guaranteed so they will probably activate it and decide whether or not to keep him later). That is a very solid core of defensive players that will be around for quite a while. There are a few guys who may or may not qualify as core players in the future, but will most likely be around for a while. -McDougle has 3 years remaining on his deal, and even if he pans out as a nickel CB as opposed to an outside guy he has talent. -Reilly has 3 years as well. We will see whether he has a future as a backup/special teams specialist or SOLB starting potential. -Enemkpali has 3 years. He has a lot of potential to be a pass rushing specialist with a situational role. The future of the offensive core players is a little more up in the air: -Decker is under contract for 4 more years, and will probably be here for at least 2 or 3 of those years. His deal is very team friendly so if he doesn't perform well later in his contract he is an easy cut -Amaro is under his rookie deal for 3 more years, and will be a big time weapon for us at TE -Kerley will probably get offered a contract in the period where teams can negotiate with their own free agents before free agency officially begins. He is a quality slot player and won't be very expensive. -Mangold has 3 years left but after next year he can be cut with no penalty. He actually is grading out as the best center in football this year, and since centers can generally play for a solid 5 more years from his age, he will probably get an extension that gives him a little lower annual cap hit in a year or 2. All other core players are significantly younger than Mangold, but centers have a much longer shelf life than most other positions. Clearly the defensive core has more going for it than the offense. There are a few offensive players who will be around for a few years, but as with the defense we won't know if they will qualify as core players yet. -Winters has 2 more years, and may be destined to be a quality backup or a low level starter on a line with hopefully more talent. -Aboushi has 2 more years as well, and as a result of Winters' injury, we will find out whether he has the ability to start as a future guard or will be relegated to spot duty in the future. -Dozier has 3 years, and will most likely be a backup guard next year. Starting potential is completely unknown. -Evans has 3 more years, and was a raw prospect with good physical traits. He will most likely be a core player as a good #4 receiver for most of his tenure. With all of that in mind, we can look towards the future. We have so much flexibility now that it's hard to know exactly what we'll do. We will almost certainly keep Pace on at SOLB for the last year of his contract, since his level of play has not deteriorated much and he is very cheap for us. Allen and Jarrett will round out the safety rotation for one more year, but I don't know if Allen will necessarily be a long term player for us. Giacomini will definitely be on the roster for another year at least, after that it's easy enough to cut him. Ivory and Johnson both have a year left, but who knows what Ivory's future is beyond that point. Cumberland will probably be the number 2 TE for another 2 years, and Bohanon will finish play FB for the last 2 years of his deal. Ferguson will be our LT next year, but beyond that I think he is too expensive for his level of play. He will probably get cut after 1 more year. It's hard to know whether we will look to add core players in FA or the draft at any given position. In my opinion, we need to spend our first or second round pick on a QB. Signing two big money guys at WR is generally not a good idea, but because Decker's deal is team friendly, we can drop a bunch of cash on a big time WR if there is one we want on the team long term. It won't leave our future cap hamstrung because Decker can be cut.
No one knows why he's still here. Traded up for Dwayne Robertson, a big bust, took a kicker in round 2. We fired him as GM but somehow gets to run our scouting department? THis is on Woody.
