When Eric Mangini was appointed head coach of the New York Jets, many people believed, and hoped, that he would follow the so-called ?Patriots blueprint?. Having learned from Bill Belichick it is only natural to assume that Mangini will have absorbed some philosophies from the one-time (and one-day) Jets coach. We won?t know how far Mangini models himself on Belichick until we?ve seen him at the helm for a while longer, but his experiences with the Patriots must have had a big impact on him. Belichick has won three Super Bowls, and while you would hope that Mangini does have some ideas of his own, disregarding everything he saw in New England would be reckless. The draft is suddenly full of opportunities for the Jets. With two picks in the first round there is all sorts of scope. Let?s assume that Mangini is a firm believer in the Belichick way. What would that mean for the Jets? draft strategy? First of all, it would appear that the Jets will be looking to fill the trenches. This is not only Belichick?s apparent philosophy (he has taken offensive linemen with his first pick twice in six drafts, defensive linemen three times and tight end once), but also fits in nicely with the Jets? needs at the moment. But haven?t Belichick?s picks always been towards the bottom of the first round, when the skill players have been picked over and the linemen represent the best value? Not always. In 2001 he owned the sixth pick and took Richard Seymour, following with tackle Matt Light in the second round (No. 48). In 2003, with the 13th pick, he took Ty Warren. Neither would having two picks in the first round be foreign territory to Belichick. In 2004 he took DL Vince Wilfork and TE Ben Watson with the 21st and 32nd picks, respectively. This all points to a big body to fill the No. 4 slot. D?Brickashaw Ferguson, who has beefed up to 312 pounds could well be the man if the Jets opt to stay put. That is far from certain, because if Mangini follows the Belichick philosophy, he will not be averse to a trade ? up or down. In 2001 Belichick moved up two spots in the second round to take Light, giving up a sixth-rounder to the Lions to do so. In 2002 he gave up third- and seventh-round picks to Washington to move up from 32 to 21 and nab Daniel Graham. In 2003 he gave up a sixth-round pick to move up just one spot, from 14 to 13, to take Ty Warren. In 2004 he traded down two spots from 19 to 21 and picked up a second-round choice from Baltimore. The blueprint seems to call for fairly minor moves to make sure of getting a targeted player, rather than blockbuster trades. Does this rule out the packaging of the No. 4 and No. 29 picks to move up and get Matt Leinart? This is where the blueprint lets us down. It is easy to say that the Patriots (ie Belichick) only draft quarterbacks in the lower rounds. They did it most famously with Brady (sixth-rounder in 2000), but also with Rohan Davey (4a, 2002), Kliff Kinsbury (6, 2003) and Matt Cassell (7a, 2005). This disguises a simple fact, of course. In 2000 Belichick wasn?t looking for a franchise quarterback, because he had Drew Bledsoe. By the end of 2001 he had a Super Bowl-winner in Brady, a player who has become better and better ever since until he?s now one of the top guns in the league. Belichick has never gone looking for the big QB because he?s never needed to, so the entire blueprint may have just gone out of the window. The data suggests offensive or defensive linemen with the Jets first-round picks, but only if Mangini follows the Belichick philosophy. If he looks at Chad Pennington?s right shoulder, and weighs up his No. 4 and No. 29 draft picks, then Leinart could very well come into his plans.
Good post. Considering Mangini's history with Belichek, the only positions we probably wouldn't consider early on are WR and DB. -The need at QB is too obvious to disregard in the early rounds of the draft -History has shown OL and DL are an excellent possibility early in the draft as well -Any defensive minded coach who runs a 3-4 will strongly consider a versatile, potentially dominant LB like Hawk at #4 -RB, while probably not the biggest need right now will probably be addressed sometime in day one. While the Pats seemingly never needed a great RB to win (Antowain Smith), they picked up Corey Dillon as soon as we was available. Having said that... I would LOVE to see (and I think it could happen) -D'Brick at #4 -Maroney at #29 -Manny Lawson (3-4 OLB from NC State) with our first round 2 pick
Great post... Not only would Brick provide a solid (perhaps franchise) LT but it also give us depth on the O-Line.
It would also signal the signing of Ramsey had a much more profound affect on our future planning than first thought. If they don't draft a QB at the 4 spot and decline to trade down, then you'd have to figure they're really banking on Ramsey flourishing in the new system. 3 wins or better knocks us out of the Quinn sweepstakes next year so, what to do?
perhaps i should take some time off the board because im becoming more and more like champ in the sense that everyones post is just sounding like the same old crap around here....is it me? or is this the same old post with different wording...belichik and trench guys and d'brick...yeah yeah yeah already
get dbrick in the first round...................wait on a QB until later on...........(Brodie Croyl, Charles Whitehurst, Omar Jacobs)
I'm with Parcells on this one. Parcells would call Ferguson a "planet guy". What he means is that there are only so many guys walking the planet who are big and strong enough with the footwork and speed to play left tackle in the NFL. When you have the opportunity to grab one you should take him because you may not see another for quite awhile. No qb is any good if he has no protection and that all starts with the O line and in particular the left tackle covering the blind side.
Parcells had the opportunity to take Pace, and he traded down. Pace was definitely a better prospect than Ferguson.
I have not been on the boards as much recently...I am trying to take the next week to two weeks off from the board...It just isn't a hot time to be posting.
Terrific post, ukjetsfan. I found myself reading each and every line in this post several times at least. Well thought out... and VERY interesting hypothesis on this. I'm hoping we can do better than the Belichick Blueprint, quite frankly. I'm hoping Mangini can take the best of "The Belichick Blueprint" and use all else he's learned from "the genius" and others (like Parcells) to custom-tailor solutions to our needs and bring about the changes we need to get back on our feet. We need to be contenders. We SHOULD BE contenders. But I think you're right, Mangini will certainly extract what he's learned, use it, and perhaps make it better. That's what I'm hoping for, and that's what makes him a far better coach than having Edwards still here.
This post really intrigues me. I wouldn't be shocked if he picks Leinart/D'Brick and Super Mario in the 1st round.
This post makes a lot of sense, good job with it. If anything is an indication, it's that Parcells/Belicheck people are too stubborn to take first round offensive lineman (in most cases) because they think they can develop their own.
I could get the Parcells drafts(Jets, Cowgirls, Pats, and Giants and some Browns drafts but its a crapshoot. The only common theme is never overpay a player or FA(Abraham) and get something in return. It seems Belichick does the following: some are enigmas 1. QB we dont know, the Patriots got lucky on Brady and with the Browns he had Kosar then signed a failed at the time Testaverde to replace him. Parcells always relied on the vet except when he had a shot to draft a QB(Bledsoe). I am not quite sure but Simms was almost done before Parcells came. Is Ramsey the guy???? I have no clue 2. They love DL. The Patriots rotate about 8 player, so Mangini might want the same thing We might have 5 picks in the 1st 3 rnds. I think 2 might be DL 3. OL seems to be in rnds 2 and after.....I think we will have to wait and see if we sign anyone. If we sign a guy like Hopkins Dbrick is out. 4. What is the love for TE's? 2 in the 1st rnd? Was it a Charlie Weis thing? I have no clue? 5. Rnds 4-7 will be special teams players who might contirbute immediatetly. Here is Belichick's Pats drafts 2005 1 1 32 32 Logan Mankins G Fresno State 2 3 20 84 Ellis Hobbs DB Iowa State 3 3 36 100 Nick Kaczur G Toledo 4 4 32 133 James Sanders DB Fresno State 5 5 34 170 Ryan Claridge LB Nevada-Las Vegas 6 7 16 230 Matt Cassel QB USC 7 7 41 255 Andy Stokes TE William Penn 2004 1 1 21 21 Vince Wilfork DT Miami (FL) 2 1 32 32 Ben Watson TE Georgia 3 2 31 63 Marquise Hill DE Louisiana State 4 3 32 95 Guss Scott DB Florida 5 4 17 113 Dexter Reid DB North Carolina 6 4 32 128 Cedric Cobbs RB Arkansas 7 5 32 164 P.K. Sam WR Florida State 8 7 32 233 Christian Morton DB Illinois 2003 1 1 13 13 Ty Warren DT Texas A&M 2 2 4 36 Eugene Wilson DB Illinois 3 2 13 45 Bethel Johnson WR Texas A&M 4 4 20 117 Dan Klecko DT Temple 5 4 23 120 Asante Samuel DB Central Florida 6 5 29 164 Dan Koppen C Boston College 7 6 28 201 Kliff Kingsbury QB Texas Tech 8 7 20 234 Spencer Nead TE Brigham Young 9 7 25 239 Tully Banta-Cain DE California 10 7 29 243 Ethan Kelley DT Baylor 2002 1 1 21 21 Dan Graham TE Colorado 2 2 33 65 Deion Branch WR Louisville 3 4 19 117 Rohan Davey QB Louisiana State 4 4 28 126 Jarvis Green DE Louisiana State 5 7 26 237 Antwoine Womack RB Virginia 6 7 33 244 David Givens WR Notre Dame 2001 1 1 6 6 Richard Seymour DT Georgia 2 2 17 48 Matt Light T Purdue 3 3 24 86 Brock Williams DB Notre Dame 4 4 1 96 Kenyatta Jones T South Florida 5 4 24 119 Jabari Holloway TE Notre Dame 6 5 32 163 Hakim Akbar DB Washington 7 6 17 180 Arther Love TE South Carolina State 8 6 37 200 Leonard Myers DB Miami (FL) 9 7 16 216 Owen Pochman K Brigham Young 10 7 39 239 T.J. Turner LB Michigan State
And how on earth are we going to get Leinart/D'Brick and Super Mario in the first round? Did you mean Lawson?
Very good post. The facts are Bill B. has drafted more DBs and DTs than any other positions says he likes to stop the run and dares you to throw on him.
It is so refreshing to read a good, insightful post. I cringed to open up the beloved ganggreen website and see yet again another mindless "the jets are patsies when negotiating" or "the jets got screwed again in free agency" post. So far the front office got nothing to be ashamed about, in fact they have done very well. Loooking ahead with 3 picks within the first 40 is outstanding and at number 4 the options are many. We can get some incredible talent on both sides of the ball. Then again, there are those that will bitch if we select a QB. or a OL, or a DE, or whatever. I'm just happy than we don't have to worry about really getting screwed by our own coaches and players unhappiness anymore, like Abe. The draft and free agency should first and foremost target players that want to play for the JETs. The rest will follow. And as we start winning, many more will get on to the bandwagon. Young team, strong heart, sound football coaching skills. we are on our way.
