I don't believe the bold is true. He had a try out a couple weeks ago for Detroit who what been decimated by injuries in the secondary. They passed. If he was blackballed as you say, he wouldn't have gotten a try out. Trust me if Patterson could play he'd have a job, probably with the Jets.
You can't expect to get quality or "functional" CBs when you are not willing to offer more than 1 year. You can't have your cake and eat it too. I could see how a quality vet taking a 1 year deal from a Super Bowl contending team for a shot at the chip but why do that with the Jets? Only bums, guys trying to prove they are healthy or way past their prime vets that refuse to retire take 1 year deals on bad teams. I suggested Corey Graham, who got a 4 year deal from BUF and playing well, last year well before the season ended. The Anecdote King came back with some crazy argument about how he may be good now but will suck in 2 years because he is 28. Color me cynical but I get the feeling that defenders of Idzik will find a way to rationalize any and all inaction by him.
You have a valid point, maybe JI's mindset is incompatible with how the CB market was operating last year. Theres a growing desperation for starting caliber CB's these days, what with this being a "passing league" and all. Teams would rather pay shall we say "B+ caliber" CB's a little more then they might be worth than be caught with their pants down at corner, and the players are getting more cash money as result. And then theres John Idzik who, despite this trend, has voted to shirk the hell out of the CB markets inflation, and would rather find some cheaper ways of operating than commit more than he has to. trading Revis (mandated as it might have been) and refusing to bite more then he thought he should have on DRC proves that. More short term vet contracts, (if a workable longer deal can't be reached) less giving in to players demands despite only having one solid season. Because you don't want to be caught tied to a player you regret later. JI also wants to build through the draft, so its possible he didn't want to use free agency to permanently fill a position. instead he's looking for a stopgap, a guy to be usurped by answer rather than be one.So he might have been looking for a guy willing to join with little long term commitment, or perhaps a long term deal thats easy to get out of. The problem was that this wasn't the game being played, no matter how much JI tried to play it. the "name" free agent CB's wanted assured money over a decent period of time and bloated deals that might go beyond what they should reasonably be paid for based on their impact. Because its a passing league, and you're paying that premium for a solution at CB, risk it or lose out. Its possible, (nay probable) that JI's refusal to come to grips with the times and steadfast need not to play the over commitment game had cost the jets ability to lure more than a lower caliber kind of guy like Patterson aboard. Maybe DRC really should have been given what Idzik passed him across the table, but this is a league where Corners are getting more than their worth, so JI lost lost out. Such is life, thats the risk JI was willing to pay for (or not pay for) by taking this stance. This MIGHT not have been so bad if JI's lower cost gamble had paid off, McDougle plays surprisingly well and got more and more reps from a serviceable Patterson and we'd all be hailing JI as a man with excellent poise and vision in free agency. But of course we're going to bemoan this strategy in lieu of whats happened to our CB situation. Our cheap vet flew the coop, our allegedly over drafted CB prospect is out all year, and we've only one "starting" caliber CB in Milliner who hardly qualifies as such, especially with his injuries. its starting to feel like over committing was a good idea. Injuries could've still happened and would be magnified in impact if a player was overpaid, but at least we'd have something tried and true at Corner right? the extra cost is worth it in the end right? well thats the big question; is it better to be pragmatic and bend to the wills of trends that might cost a bit more flexibility, or is it better to HAVE flexibility and use patch work solutions till your SURE something's worth investing in? Really the pendulum of public opinion can just as easily swing the other way if JI finds other solutions with time and the commitments made to the CB's we could've had look overbought and harder to bare for their respective teams. The bright spot of all of this IS the money saved despite our folly, which is better than being stuck with a more expensive middling player. Still, that just means the best result of JI not spending is spending more tomorrow, hopefully on something better than what we could've had. thanks to his low cost guys not working out Idzik is inevitably gonna have to spend on a free agent corner, because thanks to his plan not working we don't have a reliable enough set players to move forward with. funny how these things work out. lets hope that theres a quality player waiting at the end of all this and that JI's stubbornness wasn't in vain. so far the results are (subjectively) frustrating, even if one is willing to be patient.
oh shit, i wrote an essay! … uh, slightly tiered TonyMaC is a rambling TonyMaC… I should get some sleep… and a life...
The funny thing is that people are saying this pool of CB free agents wasn't good and that Idzik was right not to sign any to a long term deal but guess what: next years pool of FA could be much worse and if we want to get any if them under contract we are going to have to throw money and term at them. It's not like next year there is guarnteed to be a dozen starting CBs on the market who for some reason are all willing to sign for next to nothing. Maybe he will somehow get the steal of the century but it's not likely so we're just going to have to go out and sign a FA next year so why not do it this year when you knew what the quality of players were and you had piles and piles of money? Even if it's not a "win now" thing you still lock that player who can contribute when you are ready to be good. That's exactly what he did with Decker which, interestingly enough, is a deal I don't hear Idzik fans ripping on which is a bit odd as that was making a splash for a FA at a position of need and locking him up long term to an expensive deal. So at WR it's OK to do but at CB it would have been idiotic? Doesn't add up.
I think Patterson was an example of one before this shit went down, I think Cortland Finnegan would be as well. Finnegan got a 2 year deal from Miami which is basically a 1 year $6 million deal. I think that we probably could have picked him up, but again he's a bit of a head case himself. At least he still is in the league. I wouldn't have minded Idzik signing Graham, I'd even have been ok with the contract that the Bills gave him. Graham could have started for us if need be, and taken a backup role when/if the drafted CB stepped up. I also think this is a case of the grass is always greener though, and by that I mean although Graham has made a few decent plays I think you may be building him up a little more than what he is because what we have is so frustrating. The truth is that in 2013, Patterson played better than Graham, Finnegan, and even Cromartie and a lot of other CB's. I'm not saying that Patterson was the only option, I admit there were other options who could have been realistic signings. What I'm saying is that if you compare everything about the guys who would have been quality short term stopgaps, there's a few decent options and in reality Patterson was probably the better option. He was inexpensive, played the best, and as far as the issues we did end up having with him, there was no indication of anything like that in his past.
I appreciate a long winded post, it's all good. I think There will be opportunities to sign short term players or long term players this FA period. Revis will most likely be a FA, and Tramon Wiliams at age 31 might be a good short term signing. Terrence Newman has been quite good, and at his age he would probably take a short term deal. There are plenty of guys who will be available, and in reality there is probably going to be a better set of short term options this year than there were last year.
You might be right about that but trust me black balling is common place in the NFL. If a player is considered to be a "distraction "in any way he can be out of the league permanently. Just ask Tebow. Even if you hate him as a player you would think with his college record plus that one year starting for Denver he can get at least a try out. But not a sniff for well over a year and basically two seasons off the field.
It's not Idzik's primary job to field a competitive team. His primary job to to build a championship contender. From that perspective, Cromartie is useless to us, a rapidly aging corner with other issues. That's the primary reason Idzik went after young solutions at corner (Milliner, McDougle, Dixon) who could eventually be part of a contender. Patterson was just a cheap temporary stopgap solution while the young guys learned the ropes or in case they struggled. Patterson was better than Cromartie for this role because given Cromartie's history, he might have chaffed at seeing his playing time given to young guys, and just in terms of team atmosphere, as Cromartie often clashed with coaches and would be a bad influence on the young players. And that's on top of Cromartie being pretty much the worst corner in the league last year.
He has been a backup most of his career and has only played one full season in 9 years. The guy could be insurance but no one you should just hand a starting corner job based on his past with no consistency whatsoever.
The fact is he wasn't handed a starting position and that supposedly started him not showing up and the rift he had with management. He was supposedly going to be one of a group of corners used in different packages not the starter.
How is blackballing common in the NFL? If a player is good enough, a team will sign him. Please dont bring up Tebow either. He is downright garbage.
Signing him when you have no one else but Kyle Wilson, Dee Milliner, AA, and Darren Walls as your current corners is essentially signing him to start. You dont go out and pay him what he was signed for to be a rotation player.
Would love to see your proof on when Cromartie clashed with coaches. No one is going to argue that he was terrible last year but he sucked it up and played when he obviously wasnt a 100%. He could of just sad out half the season like Dee but he played through his injury and you have to give him props. He is returned to play at a high level this year now too and here the Jets sit with the worst group of cornerbacks in the NFL.
I don't really see too many NFL teams going into the season with more than that at cornerback. Most teams don't gave two elite guys meaning big money contracts. New England had a shuttle system at DB for years and bend but not break personnel. As a matter of fact Philip Adams the only Jets Dbs to have a pick so far this year was with the Patriots one of the many ok to average players they bring in. In the past when they had good players who wanted to get paid they let them walk. We had 2 guys for awhile Revis and Cro but now we've got Milliner and the other guys. Cro would still be here and the team helped him out financially a lot in the past with his many paternity problems but the fact is he wasn't worth re-signing for that kind of money. He sucked last year.
