I didn't see Winters peak, I saw the Jets hide him. I doubt he's ever the answer at G for the Jets. Lattimore has potential to be a game changer.
Lattimore has very good potential. He has also suffered two devastating knee injuries. Winters menahile helped the Jets this past season by providing competition and eventually replacing Ducasse at left guard. Both players may never make much of an impact, but I think a high third round pick on a player with Lattimore's injury history would have been too steep a price. He went to the perfect place for a player with his condition. San Fran was a very deep team that had the ability to get by with our immediate contributions from their draft picks. We on the other hand have no where near their depth.
replacing vlad ducasse is no major accomplishment. And he did very poorly in replacing him. there were 4 guards graded worse than winters on PFF this year. Four. I'm sure we could have found similar production from a street FA or just stuck with Ducasse for the same type performance if need be. It would have been very little cost/risk for the potential of Lattimore having a full recovery. Winters has less of a chance of becoming a legit NFL guard than Lattimore does of becoming a big time NFL RB IMO. And I'm taking into account the obvious injury situation with that opinion.
Wow what a surprise..Jet fans prematurely labeling a young player a bust. Winters clearly struggled this year but he did make some progress by year's end. It's ridiculous to write him off at this early stage.Ridiculous.
I promise you my track record of defending specific young players development over time trumps your half assed, short sighted excuse to have a scapegoat & whine for change.
Yea OK Kurt. I never scape goated Winters or called him a bust. I said I don't think he'll ever be the answer at guard and would have preferred to have taken the chance on a guy who has a much higher ceiling. He was absolute garbage this year and didn't show much of anything in terms of development. The Jets did their best job of hiding him at the end of the season by turning him into an extra blocker on passing downs like a fucking RB. Some offensive lineman. You defend every single shitty Jet player with the same boring shit. If you didn't defend every single one it wouldn't be so easy to write it off as KTJF being KTJF. When you defend every single one you're bound to get one right. Have a good one.
Gosh, it was not long ago that the same fans labeled DeBrick as a bust in his rookie season...some things never change. I think Winters was much improved on the last 3 games, and getting more accustomed to the left side. He will be much improved next year. I also think we gave DeBrick and Mangold too much credit for their efforts this year, and hiding their less than stellar performance under the excuse that they were helping the rookie.
You've in essence furthered my point. Every single young player on the Jets who isn't a heavy consistent contributor from week 1 of TC his rookie year is written off as a bust or a never was. There have been literally COUNTLESS players come through Florham Park who struggled or didn't contribute early but eventually became very solid/pro bowl type players. That notion gets shunned though. You guys live so in the moment & are so anxious to write players off it's laughable. If I have a label of being the counter to that..so be it. I have a full understanding of player development & am able to see the big picture..rather than just focus on impatience & writing players off. Players that are SUPPOSED to be on our side. The fans side. If you think it's boring or whatever..you are entitled to that opinion. But the facts are on my side. Most young players need time in the NFL. As for Winters..what I don't understand about your logic is the Jets were "hiding" Winters from essentially his first snap as a starter. Yet by year's end we saw the Ol as a unit improve as well as his individual play. So within your logic..what changed. Did they "Hide" him better?
I'd be ok selecting a RB with one of our 3rds, but only if we select a WR/TE first. I don't see RB as a huge need.
Never called him a bust. Only stated that he was terrible.....which he was. I'm disappointed, but not yet willing to label him a bust.
For some reason running back is a position where value is often found in later rounds or as UDFAs. I wouldn't mind a 3rd day pick brought in to compete and maybe we'll get lucky.
If Carey is there in the 3rd we pick him, Ivory nor Powell aren't that dynamic enough where you don't address the main weakness on this team which is overall talent.
WR, TE, OLB, S & possibily a CB if Cro isn't resigned are more critical than a RB. There is good RB talent after Round 3.
I actually assumed that he was a sophomore because not many draft pundits had brought his name up. He may be a product of Auburn's system though.
I think the kid's the real deal. He's got good speed, excellent vision, runs hard, is tough, good leverage/low center of gravity, and I think I remember reading somewhere that a good portion of his yardage comes after initial contact.
