The Jets are 50/50 with Bringing Back Thomas Jones

Also...that's 3 years ago.....TJ has 3 more years of wear n' tear on his body since then. Back in 2007, he was fighting for yards.....he plays complacent now.

I watch S.Green run...and I watch TJ run......it's like night and day.

 

Getting rid of TJ is insane. Pay the dude his money and bring him back. If he asks for an extension, tell him to see how the year works out, but give him his monies. He'll be back next year to full strength and show everyone he can still carry the load of the running game.

 

i never mentioned LT....i don't want that has-been anywhere near this team.


Obviously if the Jets elect to keep TJ....i'll support him.....but i remember doing a lot of facepalming when TJ would get hit trying to move or scamper through the pile...and then crumbling to the ground on first contact.

I keep comparing Greene to Jones because they fill the same role, with Leon being our scatback/receiving threat out of the backfield.

 

Were keeping Jones for at least another year, we would be dumb as fuck to let him go

Leadership, Poise, Superbowl experience

 

Well, if the Jets think they can get something for him, this would be the year to bite the bullet with that option and do it.

Jones has a good overall skillset, but he is hardly irreplaceable with the amount of similar workman-type backs flooded into the league. He's a jack of all trades and master of none. His best overall quality is durability, and that failed him during the postseason. Will it happen again? No one knows that, but at his age it is likely.

 

100% agree with that.

I don't think we should release him...unless we have a contingency plan in place...and we get some sort of value in return.

 

I don't think is was durability that failed him in the post-season, I think it was overwork during the season and an accumulation of wear and tear. He was 31 years old and the Jets let him carry the ball 331 times including 50 carries in week 16 and 17. If you look at his workload last year he carried the ball 20 times or more 11 times. That's a huge workload for an aging body.

Now the Jets didn't have a lot of options there because they didn't have Leon Washington and they were unwilling to use Greene a lot during the season, maybe because they were worried about his durability. So maybe they had no choice but to overuse TJ during the regular season. If that's the case then they really need to add a 4th back for next year who can go into the rotation on a regular basis if needed and also keep TJ.

The Jets are going to go as far as their defense and rushing game can take them. Sanchez may step it up a notch or two next year but that's not going to be enough to carry the offense. We're still a ways out from a Mark Sanchez dominating effort in my opinion.

 

I'd be fine with that scenario, assuming they didn't use TJ as a crutch like they did in '08 and '09. Leon was getting more carries than usual last season, I'd like to have seen how many carries he was getting near the end of '09 had he not broken his leg.

TJ and Greene worked well in rotation during a few different games in the regular season, but I do think there are concerns with his durability. It may be that we have to stick with TJ because of the Final 8 Rules, but I'd almost prefer that we went young and dealt with the consequences - I've seen too many teams rely on aging backs deep into the season and get burned for it. I don't want to see that happen here.

 

I think it's all 1) throwing a stone in the pond to see where the ripples go, and 2) posturing before they sit down to chat with TJ and agent.

Unless they can get a sweet pick, or make a sick trade, for TJ, I can't see him going anywhere. With Leon being a bit of an unknown coming off this leg, and Greene still being somewhat injury prone (maybe that changes in the offseason...maybe not), they need TJ (or another solid back) for at least another season.

If this wasn't an uncapped year, he'd be a gonner, but this year, not so sure.....

 

I kinda agree with you.
If anything the injuries we had last season proved that we NEED to carry 3 backs. Add to that the other qualities TJ brings to the table i say it's a no brainer we have to bring him back.

 

I should have checked this before the post above, since it was an obvious factor in the equation: The 331 carries in 2009 for TJ were a career high. That makes the wear down at the end of the season even more likely to have been due as much to overwork as to aging legs, although it probably was both.

 

Yeah - ask Larry Johnson and Curtis Martin how that affects the twilight of a runningback's career.

 

It gets better - only 1 running back over the age of 30 has ever had more carries than TJ did last season, that being John Riggins with 375 carries at the age of 34 in 1983.

Several backs had more carries at 30 but only Riggins and TJ have been in that rarified atmosphere at 31+. Riggins had 327 the year after at 35, in one of the all-time ironman performances but then was done.

 

TJ is done as a feature back in the NFL. He is going to wear down again, probably sooner this year than last year. He was not running hard before Greene got his carries in the Saints game and he could not run hard by the end of the season. He gassed himself completely. Noble effort, but it cost him. Tannenbaum should be looking into trading him from now until March 5.

 

I'm going to take issue with the blanket statement that he is done, because he actually ran fairly well in the majority of the games last season. He's not like Curtis at 31 - who just could not get anything going or LT last year who looked weak all season.

He ran for 1,131 yards and scored 11 TD's on the ground over the last 11 games. That is definitely not a guy who is finished. He just wore out at the end because the Jets had to ride him so hard to get to the playoffs.

Edit: BTW, I thought he was done going into last season and I said so several times. Obviously I was wrong.

 

Under normal circumstances I would say get rid of him a year to early as opposed to a year to late but he earned the right to stay if the price is right and he is a valuable clubhouse mentor as well and that does count for a lot. I hope Tanny monitors the situation and TJ's ego does not have him make a bad decision and both parties come to a 1 year agreement that works for both parties.

 

I agree with that. But I think the name of the game is to move on before he does lose his effectiveness. He's gained a lot of yards for the Jets, even when they had a swiss cheese O-line, but when a runningback loses the ability to get ot the hole quick enough or stay healthy enough to fight for yards, they hurt the team's ability to sustain drvies and win games.

It may be a heartless aspect, but the NFL is a business of gambling on the ability of players and cashing in your chips before they stop being able to do their jobs.

I like TJ as a person and a player-leader, and he has proven me wrong on a number of occasions when I didn't think he had it in him to continue as a primary back. But that fact is that this is prime time to get youth in the backfield if the Jets really want to take the step that they couldn't this past season.

 

Thanks for the info. It will boil down to money as always.