I want to say, I absolutely loved the Wilkerson Pick. That said, if I knew Ellis would be available in the 3rd, I probably would have given Ayers a closer look. I wouldn't change the pick, but if I knew Ellis was there, I'd have to think about it. 1 Wilkerson 3 Ellis 4 House 5 No trade up. Kerley if there, or Quan Sturdivant 6 Tyler Sash, Jarrell Powe 7 Jeremy Beal In all honesty, I would have probably drafted McDaniel in the 5th, but I'm a know nothing fan who just saw that he was a good college player with good size, decent speed, and had a high ranking on some websites. Don't know what's up with House- the guys on NFL network raved about him for the last 2 months- I'm surprised he lasted that long. Sturdavant is a beast, and would have been a perfect pickup-- would have been a nice guy for depth, and to eventually replace Bart. Beal played slow, timed slow, but was productive enough that he may have some success in the NFL if used in the right role. I loved the McElroy pick though-- I was really excited we drafted him.
He's talking about Chansi Stuckey, who went to Clemson and was part of the Edwards trade. I'm still not sure what it has to do with Mick's comment about the lack of quality among drafted players out of Clemson, though.
I actually forgot someone: Trevor Pryce. But that's one impact, major NFL player who dominated for years. Its scary to see the JAGs and busts that have come out of that school since. Stuckey is a nice slot WR, but he isn't a special player. I could add Chris Gardocki, but he's a punter.
No, he's not. Apparently 624 was trying to make the point that you have to package a Clemson player in a trade in order to make him valuable.
The Fridge was never a talented player. He was just part of folklore because he played offense on a SB winning team. Dawkins should get his just due, but he was a part of the Eagles. I don't recognize that franchise.
That's true that the Fridge wasn't a great player, but his brother sure as hell was. IIRC, Michael Perry was a Clemson alum too.
I don't think I ever saw Michael Perry play, but I only went back to 1990 to see what has come out of that school. He was drafted in 1988. I'm not impressed. For a school that has had a lot of high ceiling prospects come out of that school, no one seems to reach their potential.
This question seems to imply that you know nothing of Brian Dawkins or his work involving unnecessary elbow drops.
I wrote a whole big thing last night and when I went to post it the website logged me out and it didn't save but I'll make a shortened version of it for this. I loved half of the Jets draft and was not stoked about the other half which leads to the changes in my "redraft". Basically very similar to yours in where I change my picks, so nice ideas. 1st Round: Muhammad Wilkerson, DE, Temple. Actual Jets pick: Muhammad Wilkerson, DE, Temple. This pick got an A-/A from me when it was made, and would have gotten a straight A if Cameron Heyward was not available. Everyone is comparing Wilkerson to Odrick right now, but for the next decade Wilkerson and Heyward will be compared because of their draft spots in the back of the 1st round and both being drafted as 3-4 DEs by two tough defensive teams. I may have taken Heyward if I was GM, but clearly our staff likes Wilkerson -- because of that Wilkerson remains the pick. Wilkerson has the higher upside as a pass rusher, but Heyward has showed he can truly dominate a game. If Wilkerson grows into what we think he will, then great. Either way its a great need/talent match. 3rd Round: Kenrick Ellis, NT, Hampton Actual Jets pick: Kenrick Ellis, NT, Hampton This was my favorite Jets pick in the draft. For 3 months leading up to the draft I was talking with my friend about how I thought Kenrick Ellis was the best 3-4 NT prospect in the draft and how great it would be if the Jets could find a way to get him after Round 1. Then I was pissed the Jets weren't scouting him while the Pats, Steelers, and Ravens were, but then as the draft got closer they were. Kenrick in the 3rd was my dream pick a month before the draft and then he was still available as we were getting closer to our pick...but as these things never turn out like one hopes with getting the guy you really want when we're on the clock (see: Sapp, Warren) I was expecting to hear a name like Sam Acho which would be understandable. But then the ticker read: Jets select - Kenrick Ellis, NT, Hampton, and I could have done a cartwheel or two if I knew how to. Immediate A+ grade on this pick. Kenrick is a beast and fell for off field issues that he's either overcome (smoking weed at South Carolina) or are overblown by the media because they need something to talk about (the broken jaw incident was an act of defense and he will definitely not go to jail, and I doubt the case goes to trial at all) -- his talent is much better than where we got him in the draft. Right away he'll rotate in with Pouha but in a year or two he could claim the starter's job and take the lion's share of the snaps there. Our D-line for this season looks like it will be dominant and fresh with adding two great talents with our 1st two picks, and the future of our D-line looks very promising. Up through this point in the draft I was ecstatic. 4th Round: Robert Sands, S, WVU Actual Jets pick: Bilal Powell, RB, Louisville Similar to the OP, this is where I make my first "redraft" change but with a different DB. My mocks for the month leading up to the draft had Wilkerson/Heyward, Ellis, and Sands as the Jets 1st three picks and I was hoping lightning would strike twice, but it didn't. My initial grade on the Powell pick was a C- but has since moved up to a B- with re-evaluation. LT is on his last legs, Shonn Greene has yet to show he can be a 3-down RB because he can't catch or pass block well at this point, and McKnight's "breakout" game was done intentionally by the coaching staff with 32 carries against the league's worst run D to try to show they didn't make a mistake letting Leon Washington go and then drafting McKnight and letting Woodhead go to the rival Patriots -- McKnight has otherwise been unimpressive and could still not turn out to become anything really. My main issue is that for me, the difference between Powell and some of the RBs taken in the 6th-7th and undrafted aren't significant whereas Rob Sands could have been a stud for us -- yet we took a #4 RB instead. What I think happened was that we were targeting Taiwan Jones but then the Raiders (un)expectedly took him one pick ahead of us in the 4th, and we were set on taking a RB so we went with the next best RB on the board. Jones would have made great sense as a compliment to Shonn Greene for a long time, as he has elite speed and is a good receiver out of the backfield. I'm just not a Powell fan, especially not when we take him at the expense of adding other players with more promise. Sands has elite measurables, but more importantly unlike other big safeties like Taylor Mays (Sands is 6'4), Sands is a true centerfielder and ballhawk with great hands. He has to refine his open field tackling and get a little stronger but Rex and co. could have gotten that done. We've always said we need a ballhawking safety and Sands fit the bill perfectly as that kind of centerfield roaming safety who could pluck the INT, and he's also good in run support which is rare. I think Rex could have turned him into something really special. He could have been a ST'er in his first year while competing for the safety spot next to Leonhard and then in the year or two after locked down the starting FS gig. Sands is going to be a steal for the Bengals. 5th Round: Jeremy Kerley, WR, TCU Actual Jets pick: Jeremy Kerley, WR, TCU Another Grade A pick for the Jets. Adding a playmaker in round 5 is always a good pick, and getting a slot WR in Kerley who is going to become a favorite of Sanchez's for the next eight years or so is absolutely fantastic. He's a great kid and competitor with good hands and quickness and he's a winner -- he's going to be a great Jet. He also has return skills and wildcat skills which will come in handy. Right now he'll be a star special teamer and likely #4 WR but should grow into the slot WR role with his ceiling being a #2 WR --our OC loves him and I think Sanchez will as well. 7th Round: Darren Evans, RB, VT Actual Jets pick: Greg McElroy, QB, Alabama I liked the McElroy pick, he should be a good #2 for us in the same that Matt Flynn is a good #2 for the Packers. I think Tanny saw the Pats take Mallett in the 3rd so they could trade him down the line for something more valuable than the draft slot they got him in and he wanted to do the same. He's a lot like Flynn coming out of college -- college champ, good but not great measurables, great immeasurables, not prototype size. The Packers are now fielding offers of 2nd and 3rd round picks for Flynn, and if in 3 years from now we can net a 2nd round pick for our 2011 7th that is a great move. By purely in terms of player, I have to get my RB here. To me, Darren Evans is just a better RB than Bilal Powell -- he's bigger, just as fast, stronger, and a better pass catcher. His freshman year he had 1265 rushing yards and 11 TDs with a 4.4 ypc and 117 receiving yards. He missed 09 with a knee injury and in '10 had to play #2 RB to Ryan Williams but still had 850 rushing yards with a fantastic 5.67 ypc (he averaged less than 11 carries a game) for another 11 TDs and had 100 receiving yards. Evans went undrafted, like many other talented players (Deunta, DeAndre) because of injuries, not due to lack of talent. Coming in as a ST'er and #4 RB he has time to get fully healthy and he can have the chance for a few carries to keep all the RBs fresh. Evans is a risk/reward RB and if you have a big problem with the knee which I think will heal just fine then you can pencil in Jay Finley from Baylor who is also talented and worth a 7th rounder. Andrew Jackson was a consideration here because I'm not a big Slausen fan and Brandon Moore is 30. Jackson fell because he was hurt last season but is a decent prospect in his own right. However I stuck with RB because our FO decided we needed one. 7th Round: Josh Bynes, ILB, Auburn Actual Jets pick: Scotty McKnight, WR, Colorado I really did not like this pick, I understand he's Sanchez's boy but he could have been signed as a UDFA if he really wanted to come to the Jets which seems to be the case. This came down to Bynes and Deunta Williams for me but for the sake of a different argument I'm going with Bynes. At 6'2, 240 lbs he's got the size for a 3-4 ILB, he the leader of the Auburn LB'ers and was an all-SEC selection last season. This pick is a project for Rex in the same way that Bart Scott was a project for him -- and Bynes would hopefully be groomed as Scott's replacement down the line. While he doesn't have an impressive 40 -- 4.8 seconds -- he does have very good quickness for a 6'2, 240 lbs linebacker. For comparison's sake, Rolando McClain's 20 yard shuttle was 4.38 seconds and his 3 cone drill was 7.16 seconds. Bynes' 20 yard shuttle is 4.32 seconds and 3 cone drill is 7.11 seconds. I firmly believe if he didn't get snubbed by the combine then he would have been drafted. I think Rex could have made Bynes into a starter down the line, hopefully we still pick him up as a UDFA. Just for kicks I'm throwing in Deunta Williams, S from UNC as a UDFA pick. He can be stashed on IR for a year and then brought up to full speed for 2012. The kid definitely has talent, and to have two ballhawking safeties who can both cover the back end and support the run for the next decade with Robert Sands and Deunta Williams would have been amazing. We can still pick up one half of this set, so hopefully that happens. So final run down: 1) Muhammad Wilkerson, DE, Temple 3) Kenrick Ellis, NT, Hampton 4) Robert Sands, S, WVU 5) Jeremy Kerley, WR, TCU 7) Darren Evans, RB, VT 7) Josh Bynes, ILB, Auburn UDFA) Deunta Williams
Now the dust has settled and after a bit of reading up on who we drafted. I'm quite happy with how things went. I'm ecstatic that we didn't bundle up picks, or trade futures as I think out draft team is excellent and near perfect on evaluating talent. I can't wait to see us drafting in all 7 rounds, or at least have that option. I can only assume that a new pass rusher is the way to us through FA, as it wasn't addressed through the draft. How many picks do we have next year?
