Vontaze Burfict is set to be one as well but I bet the Bengals extend him at some point. If not I could see us at least being in the mix for him.
Yeah but its always good to have a solid vet that can step in if your rookie/2nd year guy is struggling.
It's better to have a broken down guy who used to be really good on a 1 year contract because a) he will often recapture much of his former skill level for a year as he contemplates the oblivion of retirement and b) it keeps you from getting complacent and letting that 28 year old average player turn into a 30 year old hole on the field as he loses 5% a year and becomes a drag on the team. I'm only half kidding on both points. Thinking that you have sewn up a hole by putting a guy just above replacement level in the spot is one of the biggest mistakes bad GM's make over time. 95% of formerly good NFL players are just above replacement level by the time they are 29. The other 5% are only available once in a blue moon.
I'm sure the Jets will consider signing an ILB if the right one is out there. Whether they do or not depends on a lot of things but I wouldn't consider it out of the realm of possibility.
We did get Dawan Landry as the vet, and also brought in Ed Reed last year, as far as CB this year we brought in Patterson as the vet.
Point taken on Landry, but he fits the 1 year wonder category pretty well. He may well get a second year out of the deal but not much more than that. The Jets had 4 and 5 year guys sitting out there in free agency this year and said no both at safety and at CB.
They signed Pace, Decker, Giacomini, Vick, and Johnson. It depends on a lot of things; Did George exceed expectations? Should we sign Harris to a 1 year deal? Who are the available FA's or Cap Cuts? What position are we drafting in? Obviously Idzik prefers the draft over FA but I think assuming we absolutely will not sign a player at any given position is silly at this point in the year.
I know the wr position could be better but Idzik really created a ton of competition at that position at a short period of time. Baring a rash of injuries it's hard to imagine that won't result in a much more productive group than last year.
If a premier ILB is interested in playing for the Jets at 60% of the market top I'm sure the Jets will be listening if they don't think they have somebody ready to go in the system. That's where Eric Decker went this year.
Ed Reed doesn't count, we all know Rex just brought him in so he'd have a better place to sleep than his cardboard box
It's possible that the only WR left from the 2012 roster will be Kerley. That's an outstanding job of attacking a weak position and upgrading it in a hurry.
Amaro will flex out but we will probably play 2 TE sets where both guys are in line quite a bit. It's a great formation for a run heavy/PA offense to work out of, since defenses will have a harder time predicting which way Geno will roll out of. Slot WR's probably won't be a huge part of our offense but I don't think Saunders will see much outside of special teams this year, so Kerley will be our primary slot guy. If we let Kerley walk in FA, Saunders will step into that slot role.
I'm pretty sure Ed Reed was brought in for the stretch run because the Jets had nobody capable of playing centerfield and Rex finally woke up to the fact that his CB's were bleeding all over the field as a result. He further realized that the Jets #1 pick that year needed the help in the middle to stabilize. It was a good move in retrospect. Milliner stabilized after a true FS showed up.
No one said anything about a premier ILB. I wouldn't call Harris a premier ILB but I could definitely see us bring him back on a 1-2 yea deal much like Pace, while a guy develops behind him.
Amaro didn't play inline much last year. 87.5% of his snaps (http://www.rotoworld.com/recent/cfb/131966/jace-amaro) were in the slot. That means he didn't have a defender right on him most of the time last year. I doubt the Jets are going to use him inline much.
Post draft interviews with Amaro and press conferences with Bradway indicate that they know this but that was just because of Texas Tech's offense, and that we can expect the Jets to use Amaro in line quite a bit. Personally I've been saying since March that Amaro's blocking is underrated, and even though he isn't an all world blocking TE he makes up for it in aggressiveness and persistence.
