Massive rebuild of the OL coming. I think only Carpenter and Winters will stick. Breno, Clady and Mangold (gulp) are gone. I can see them targeting a LT in round 1 of the draft and C in round 2. LT: Ijalana - 1st round pick LG: Carpenter - Dozier C: Wes Johnson - 2nd round pick RG: Winters RT: Qvale or FA
Better to cross our fingers and hope the Second Round Curse is broken, or to trade away our second round pick for a couple of fourth rounders?
Yes, the team needs an almost complete overhaul of the OL. In typical Jets fashion, this is not considered a good year for OTs in the draft. There may only be one OT with a first round grade, and he has character concerns. There may be some decent OTs available in the 2nd or 3rd round. If so, we definitely need to pull the trigger and pray they develop fast. I have some hope that they can sign either Schraeder of the Falcons to man the RT spot or another vet FA, but have no illusions that they will be able to steal either Armstead or Peters to man LT. They may be able to steal Whitworth from the Bengals for a year to play LT. Winters will probably be back. In an ideal world they could keep him as a backup and draft or sign a FA as his replacement, but with their desperate need for OTs and maybe a C, they'll probably have to keep him as the starter. They may bring Mangold back for stability, to make one less change they'd have to make in the OL for next season, and to allow him to play out his contract before he retires. They could sure use his $9 million salary to address other needs however. If they make the cuts they should (Fitz, Giacomini, Gilchrist, Revis, Harris, and most of their TE corps) and trade Richardson, they should have room to sign some FAs to help improve depth and hopefully get a quality starter, maybe two. Dozier needs to be replaced, and I don't have much hope for Shell. I hope that Mac will be able and willing to trade down a time or two in this draft and acquire some additional picks. Regardless, however, he really needs to nail this draft and find at least 2-3 players who can come in, start immediately and play at a high level. At this point, I think the 1st round pick will either be used on a QB, pass-rushing OLB, CB or RB.
Its funny, I thought the biggest issue with revamping the OL would be cutting Mangold. But noone seems to be too concerned about that.
Yeah. His play has fallen off some, he has missed several games I think with injuries, and Johnson has played better than anyone expected. The cap may play a part in this as well, but I think it's largely due to most posters thinking that the situtation needs to be blown up, and the Jets move on from any older, more expensive vets, and go with a youth movement.
A couple years back when Mangold was out the defense would wreak havoc. This year you haven't been able to tell. Johnson is doing a good job.
The guy I would target for the Jets offense line is Raider guard Gabe Jackson . ( has to be a trade) Who will be a Ufa after the 2017 season . ( probably cost a third rounder) . Now why would the Raiders even think about trading a bigtime talent like him? Simple economics as they are going to need to put a big chunk of money aside to sign Derek Carr, and Khalil Mack. Not to mention 2016 Undrafted Fa Denver Kirkland ( have him cheap for next three years and seventh rounder Alexander can easily move into Gabe Jackson spot without missing a beat. The Jets fix the interior with Rg Gabe Jackson c Mangold/ Johnson and Lg Carpenter is strong and gives Qb time to step up in the pocket. Gabe Jackson will only be 26 next year, and is the type of player this franchise needs - as he is just enter his prime years.
Carpenter is a keeper and Winters should be kept even if he ends up backing up both guard spots. Guard seems to have some decent options in free agency. I wonder if Winters can take over as starting center if we grab a guy like Warmack. This should be an interesting off-season.
