So far so good

mem_reddog · May 5, 2006

#1 Jets Fan said:

and if none of them pan out? would you say the same?
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Yes I would. I am making my statements based on what I perceived as a good draft day for the jets. What happens in the future will not change the way I felt at that time. Crying over spilled milk later doesn't do any good. If there were a draft crystal ball, we wouldn't have these draft busts every year. But I haven't always felt that we made the best decisions in the draft in past years on draft day. But this time I do feel that we made the best decisions. Sometimes things happen that don't work out, but if they continue to make sound decisions then it will eventually work out for the best. We can't let the past hold us back from a successful future.

xxedge72x · May 5, 2006

Br4dw4y5ux said:

I decided to take your question literally and look for positive things to write about the Jets and the new regime. Gonna do my usual by the numbers routines as it will let people who agree or disagree easily identify what exactly they are agreeing or disagreeing with.

1. The new management has taken a proactive approach to making the Jets roster better and deeper.

Not satisfied with a defensive backfield that included David Barrett, Justin Miller and Derrick Strait at the corners they went out and got Andre Dyson to start at CB. It was a bold move since one of Barrett and Miller are now going to be pushed to the nickel back position, creating an intense competition in camp. A less proactive regime would have just assumed that Miller (2nd round pick last year) and Strait (3rd rounder from the year before) would duke it out for the other corner spot and a starter would emerge from the two of them. The stand pat guys would have drafted or signed a lower profile guy to create competition at the nickelback. As a result of the new regime's style of attacking problems the Jet's defensive backfield has a chance to be very good next season.

Prior to the draft they signed Trey Teague, a good journeyman center/tackle. This theoretically lessened the Jet's need to go heavy on offensive linemen in the draft. On paper they could have argued they'd have Pete Kendall, Adrian Jones, Teague and Brandon Moore on the line with just one high profile addition required, either at tackle or center to finish the line. Again they chose instead to proactively go out and get some real depth by taking both Ferguson and Mangold. The Jet's offensive line is now likely to be a strength next year instead of just holding the line.

The Jets had three quarterbacks on the roster headed into the draft. All of them had serious questions going into next season. Chad is injury-prone and has not finished a season since 2002. Ramsey has had real adjustment problems to the faster pace of the NFL. Bollinger looked overmatched last year much of the time he was on the field. All of that said there is a real chance that the Jet's answer at QB lies in one of these three guys. Bringing a Jon Kitna in would just have clouded the situation and at best presented a short term fix at QB, much as bringing Vinny in in 1998 did. This team wants a 5 year leader to emerge at QB in the next couple of seasons. Drafting Matt Leinart or Jay Cutler on the 4 would have presented the best chance at that leader, but at the cost of leaving the offensive line weak and thin at the start of the rebuilding phase. The Jets chose to address the line first, which was the soundest move, and then went out and got a good prospect to throw into the hunt at QB.

2. The Jets have not reached at need positions in this offseason.

The Jets still have a problem at defensive tackle and maybe defensive end. They had numerous opportunities to draft a body (Gabe Watson, Claude Wroten, Chris Gocong) to fill one of these gaps. They, along apparently with the rest of the NFL, had these guys rated as non-priority players and chose to fill other needs where they had prospects rated higher. This is called taking the best player available (in your estimation) as opposed to grabbing whatever body fills the need. I'm guessing I'm really going to like watching Anthony Schlegel play. I'm going to get the opportunity because the Jets decided he was a good value and fit at 76 instead of reaching for Watson.

3. The Jets have been very measured in terms of their cuts in the offseason so far.

Losing Mawae was tough, but it was a likely possibility given his age and injury last season. Losing Fabini was a blessing. Other than that the Jets have been very careful to try to preserve what value is on the roster headed into camp. A different crew might have come in and cut a half dozen starters from last season's team to make a point about rebuilding. Kendall was on the chopping block, but he had some real value if used right so he's back for next year. The same can be said for Chad (Jets wound up with more than ample space to cut him if they had to.) Justin McCareins, Brooks Bollinger and Bryan Thomas are other examples of people who could very easily have been gone on a whim. This regime gets it that they're going to need a lot of talented players to win in the AFC East. They've only cut the guys they absolutely had to so far. That speaks volumes about their priorities for the team.

5. The Jets have signed and drafted people who are proven leaders to rebuld with.

Kimo Von Ohlhoffen, D'Brickashaw Ferguson, Nick Mangold, Anthony Schlegel, Brad Smith. That's a lot of leadership to add to the mix of a declining team that had a definite morale problem last season. Half of the challenge in the NFL is getting the lockerroom focussed on the tasks at hand. That group of players will help immensly in accomplishing that objective. Me-first players like John Abraham and Ty Law were allowed to leave even though their skills were superior. You build a winning attitude with team spirit, not "where's my money?"

6. The new regime are tough bargainers who are not going to be fleeced easily.

There have been several opportunities for the Jets to fold and accept lesser value than they were due in the last 3 months.

The Abraham situation appeared to be very unpromising with Abraham and the Falcons maneuvering to corner the Jets into taking a 2nd round pick as compensation for him. The Jet's answer was to bring Seattle into the conversation to firmly fix JAbe's value at a first round pick. Then JAbe and the Falcons tried to wait the Jets out on the theory that they'd fold and take the 2nd. Finally the Falcons made the 3-way deal to get JAbe. The Jets got their first round pick and we got Mangold. Then the Falcons whined about Tannenbaum's lack of professionalism in shopping JAbe and all of us got to laugh at their frustration and enjoy being on top for a change.

The Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart situations presented even greater challenges as the press whipped us all up with the notion that anything other than coming out of this draft with one of those guys would mark it as a failure. Bradway would have folded like a paper bag and sacrificed a lot of value to get one of them. Our guys went out and ignored the pressure and did their jobs. They've been on the job for 3 months now and they've demonstrated that they're tough and resourceful, both with the NFL and the media. That's a great thing to see early on.

I see a lot of reasons to be hopeful as a Jet's fan right now.
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Amazing post, I agree with just about everything in this post. Great job!! :beer:

Some points I would like to make about your post:
1. Building on your analysis of the Jets FO proactive approach to the offseason, the Jets not only took care of their MAJOR needs by signing good role players such as Von Oehlhoeffen and Dyson, but they also gave themselves the flexibility going into the draft to do absolutely anything they wanted. If they didn't sign Teague, they would've needed a C with absolute certainty... however, what if they didn't sign Teague (who I don't think is that good personally), and then the Saints told us they'd allow us to trade up to #2 for our #29 only? I know this is an unrealistic scenario, but crazier things have happened in the NFL, especially with the Saints. If the Jets didn't sign Teague, we wouldn't have been able to trade up and get Bush IF that scenario had panned out. I know we didn't trade up and get Bush, but the point is we had the flexibility to do it because of that signing.

2. As others have pointed out in other posts, the Jets had a plan, and they followed it. It doesn't matter what the draftnics say, if you create a draft board and follow it to the letter, without drafting players simply to fill needs, but rather because they are the best player left on your board, then you did damn good. No one can tell if any player is going to pan out, but you can't blame anyone for taking a player higher than a draft service would've... thats how you end up with the Curtis Martins of the world.

3. Mangini and Co. did a great job with their selection in players to release. They got rid of all ... I have to leave I'll finish this post later...

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So far so good

mem_reddog New Member

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mem_reddog New Member

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