At this point the future of this team lies with only a few players who are out there playing. Or at least, might lie with them. I re-watched the game last night watching exclusively Quinnen Williams, Mekhi Becton, and to a lesser degree Sam Darnold. Coaches film hasn’t been released but I’ll take a look at that as well once it’s out. I’ll start on the brightest note. Mekhi Becton: -Becton looked great. He won almost every pass protecting snap, even when he was primarily taking on Bosa early in the game. The Jets were trying to throw quickly which helped but even when Darnold held the ball a little more, Becton did well. He was more up and down in run blocking. He made some big flashes, but it looked like when defenders knew where the play was going they were able to evade his hands. I think a big part of this was that it did not look like the interior line was getting much push on interior runs. Quinnen Williams: -Williams flashed but there were four things I noticed with him. 1. Gregg Williams really does rotate his linemen a lot. I didn’t count but I feel like Quinnen was in for less than 75% off defensive snaps. This is something I will be able to confirm once coaches film is released. 2. When Quinnen was in he was the best front seven player. This meant the play could be run away from him or he could be double teamed. 3. He looked like his motor wasn’t going 100% at some points. I don’t know if he was tired or discouraged, but because of what he is capable of, you can tell the difference. 4. Quinnen still does flash some serious ability. He had some pressures and by my count (without looking at box stats) 2 half sacks or 2 sacks depending on how they count it. He also made some stuffs when 2 gapping and some knifing tackles for loss. The lack of edge presence really hurts his effectiveness. Sam Darnold. -I won’t have as much to say on Darnold until I see coaches film. I can tell you he was miles better than last week even if the loss was still a bad one. I need to see how well he was reading the defense. I will look at guys like Mims, Zuniga, Davis, Clark etc when they are getting in there.
Joe Douglas is in year one. We may be in year 60 but the Jets lack talent. No way it matters at this time who the coach is on either side of the ball. Sam has no quality receivers or running backs. The defense is below average on the corners. The GM is pilling up draft choices and money to add to the roster. Look at it that way and watch the young guys improve. Peace.
I'm cautiously optimistic on Becton. He's been good so far. Very small sample sized but I like what I've seen. Darnold and Quinnen have significantly larger sample sizes and the bulk of the evidence indicates they are mediocre players. Both guys exceeded their game 1 performances yesterday but I would like to see continued runs of success before I'm ready to be truly optimistic about them.
Jamal Adams was supposed to be on that list. When JD refused to pay him his worth (as seattle will) he completely depleted the HEART of this team. Sam won't be here too much longer either. And he'll leave by choice.
Don’t forget Maye, hopefully he will stay with Jets. He’s learning new responsibilities as a safety but I see him continuing to develop and provide some stability in the secondary.
Becton is the real deal. Why we don't run to his side is something only a brilliant offensive mind would know. Kind of like why we wouldn't try a QB sneak on 4th and 1 and instead call a long developing run up the middle. Quinnen is taken out a lot because he needs more conditioning. He cant seem to play more than 2 or 3 snaps without being gassed. I did notice in the second half Williams was keeping him out on first down so he could be in on second and third which is probably a good move. Especially in the second half. Darnold is currently being ruined by Gase. We have a QB struggling to gain confidence and a complicated passing game that goes nowhere. The game is never going to slow down for Darnold in this system. I cant put into words how much I despise our game plans and lack of adjustments.
I agree with you on Gregg Williams and Q. If he's that gassed (and honestly he shouldn't be) then we need to find an alternative option to make sure he's on the field on 3rd downs in the fourth quarter. Our pass rush sucks but he can generate pressure when he's playing that wide 3 or 4 technique. His burst was fantastic in the first half. We have a defensive line full of run stuffers - get the kid a break early in the downs if we can do so without suffering in run stopping. Marcus Maye needs to be added to this list even though he got torched. I don't blame him though. They didn't modify the defense whatsoever from last season and the plays are being called as if Maye is just Adams 2.0. He's not that player and we're negating his strength. We need to go to a 4-2-5 look with two high safeties. We can use McDougald or Maye in a robber if they want to play cover 3 or play a more traditional Tampa 2 and drop Neville in the deep ILB pocket (which is where Onwuasor will help this defense a ton when he's back). Bless Austin looks really good as well and I think he's even better suited for a cover 2 because he's not afraid to tackle. All the 49ers did was identify the weakest cover guys on the field and check it down on out routes.
Maye is on the last year of his contract. I already know exactly what he is, and he s not good enough to warrant a franchise tag. He’s a good player but this is more about core players, and Maye very likely will not be a Jet for more than a few more months. I need to properly look at the game film but I got the feeling Quinnen was not on the field for as many 3 DL alignments, and was more often used in 4 DL alignments. I did not see him as being particularly productive when he was playing the edge role.
If "core players" includes depth and ST-type players and players who will likely be on the roster for at least 3-5 years, I think we have more than 3 future core players on our roster. I see the following as future core players. Definite Core Players Becton Austin Maye Mann Hennesy Poole Potential Core Players Darnold Q Williams Fatukasi Berrios Clark Mims Hall Davis Perine
Mann. Punters get a lot of work on a bad team, and the bad teams need good punters a lot worse than good teams do.
I would give Maye 5 years/$50 million with $30 million guaranteed if they plan to return him back to his natural spot and keep him out of man coverage. That puts him right at around the 9th-11th highest paid safety in the league which seems about right. We can't just keep letting players to and having to plug holes because they're not All-Pro's. It's the same reason we should've kept Robby Anderson last year and why I'm glad we retained Jordan Jenkins and Williamson. NFL rebuilds are not any longer than a year to two years especially before there's active progress on the field and we need to start keeping the NFL starters we draft.
I think you are being wayyyyyyyy to generous with the term core player. There are zero “definite core players” on this roster. These guys have not shown enough to be definite anything. I think these are more realistic categories: Probable Core Players -Quinnen Williams -Mekhi Becton -Sam Darnold Possible Core Players -Denzel Mims -Chris Herndon -Cameron Clark -Ashtyn Davis Probable Role Players -Jabari Zuniga -La’Mical Perine -Folorunso Fatukasi -Bless Austin -Bryce Hall
I think this list is a bit bizarre without Marcus Maye on it. Chris Herndon looks just awful this year. A drop in the end zone and a fumble (both at critical times of the game) to go along with his 7 catches for 42 yards.
I’m not set against having Maye here, but have you heard even 1 single rumor about a Maye extension yet? He’s a good player who is already in his late 20’s with maybe slightly above average NFL athleticism at best, so he’s just not a priority. If he’s back, cool, but I would not go the $10 million route particularly when players of his caliber will not get that offer in the reduced/flat cap year. I’d have a conversation around 7-8. And not $30 guaranteed for sure.
I didn't realize his age. Why the hell is he so old? I thought he was maybe turning 26 this year. He'll be 28 at the start of the season. I'll retract and go down to a 3 year extension around the same price tag. I figured 5 since players are usually cuttable after year 3 anyway. And you're right. I haven't heard anything either which I find a bit suspect. But I also don't want the team to keep letting players go and creating holes. I'd rather re-sign Maye than let McDougald be the free safety for anything more than a year. Unless Davis is their hopeful move at FS and to find a strong safety.
You guys are my TGG crew till death, but have to disagree with the Darnold as a core player take.... I was the BIGGEST Darnold fan when we drafted him by the way, so I will confess to being wrong. Right now, he is no where near a core player. He is being outperformed by most QB's in the league right now. This is his 3rd year where he hasn't performed well...
He redshirted his freshman year and then played all 4 years of eligibility so he was at college for 5 years. He must have entered college at age 19. He was at his athletic peak by the time he was drafted. Which was one reason he was good as a rookie, but based on age and experience we’ve already seen everything Maye has to offer. I think he’s a perfectly good player at the right price but not a core player if you want a good team. A savvy vet. Davis is likely the future of the Jets safety position.
You're correct that I could be too generous, but imo it all depends upon what one means by a "core player." If one means strictly starters/star players, then yes I am certainly being too generous. If one means players likely to be here for the next 3-5 years and who will be solid contributors either as starters or role players, then I'm not. I think Bless Austin is going to be our #2 CB at a minimum, so I think he belongs in the Probable Core Players. I didn't list Zuniga since he was injured so much in college and has been injured and AFAIK is yet to practice. I'm not counting on him for anything. With Herndon's case of the dropsies, I'm not really counting on him any more, either. If Griffin is recovered from his injury, I think he is probably more of a sure thing than Herndon at this point, even though he isn't nearly as talented or as versatile. His hands are more reliable however.
