In all my years as a sports fan, I have never been this pissed from reading an article about one of my teams . Gary Myers again brings up the comparison of the Redskins and Jets, a day after signing Scott and Sheppard. I am not sure where to start.... we never had the cap problems they had.... we held onto most of our draft picks... we have had excellent drafts... Scott and Sheppard are 27 and 28, not past their prime... we keep our young veterans... we sign FA to plug in holes not to build the team .. its infuriates me to know end. I love Peter King next to this guy. Man, give me 5 minutes with this guy. We have a plan dammit and we execute it with precision. Please tell me its not me. I am thinking of writing the editor http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/columnists/myers/index.html One day the Jets will figure out free agency and realize champions build toward the Super Bowl, they don't buy it. Instead of using the Colts, Giants and Steelers, the past three champions as their model, the Jets curiously have embraced the big-money spending plan preferred by Washington's Daniel Snyder, the architect of champions. Woody Johnson and Snyder have had one thing in common in the years since Snyder bought the Redskins in 1999 and Johnson bought the Jets in 2000: Neither has come close to the Super Bowl. Snyder took the year off from free agency in 2008, but then Friday made Albert Haynesworth the first $100 million defensive player in NFL history. He gave him $41 million guaranteed. How long before Snyder tries to get out of that deal? Haynesworth has not played a 16-game season since his rookie year in 2002. Throw in DeAngelo Hall's $54 million deal to re-sign in Washington right before free agency started Friday and Snyder needed about 10 minutes to spend $154 million. The Giants stepped way out of character by even calling about Haynesworth, but there is no way they would spend that kind of money when they have to take care of Eli Manning. Johnson handed out $140 million in contracts last year when the free agency/trading period opened and despite the additions of Alan Faneca, Calvin Pace, Kris Jenkins and Damien Woody and the August trade for Brett Favre, which added another $12 million, the Jets suffered the worst collapse in their history, going from Super Bowl contenders at 8-3 to a beaten 9-7 team that saw Eric Mangini and Favre get run out of town. The way to build a champion has always been through the draft. Bill Belichick found Tom Brady in the sixth round and won three Super Bowls with him. Even with Brady hurt last year, the Pats won 11 games with Matt Cassel, who was picked in the seventh round and was traded Saturday for a second-round pick. The best teams keep the best players they drafted and then use free agency to fill in holes. They don't use it to set the foundation for the franchise. The Jets are so impatient and so unsure of themselves they change their approach every year. They started off free agency this year by signing Ravens linebacker Bart Scott to a six-year, $48 million contract. The Ravens signed Scott as a rookie free agent in 2002. And Saturday the Jets traded for Eagle cornrerback Lito Sheppard. Why are they always spending big for other teams' players? The Jets spent six years developing guard Brandon Moore. Then because he was due a $7 million roster bonus and the Jets didn't want to pay him even though he is their best run blocker, they cut him. He was one of their own. They were ready to sign Pittsburgh's Chris Kemoeatu to a four-year, $16 million deal until he decided to stay with the Steelers. Then they re-signed Moore to a four-year, $16 million deal with $10 million guaranteed. They got lucky. Moore is a better player than Kemoeatu. The successful teams draft well and keep their best players. They don't try to build their teams with veteran free agents who have played their best football in another uniform. It's hard for the Jets to stick to a plan when they don't have one.
He is not the only one so don't let it upset you..ESPN started off Friday by saying "Here the Jets go again"...it's a pretty common thought among writers after last year and the results.
Gary Myers is a douche. Hes one of those very opinionated writers who doesnt know when to just shut the hell up. Comparing the JETS and Redskins is ridiculous. I never liked the weasel and now I dislike him even more.
In response to Gary Meyers Todays Daily News http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/columnists/myers/index.html Let me start off this by saying i think Gary Meyers is a total jerkoff. I think i will probably get a lot of flack for writing what i'm about to write but i am going to look at this from both sides of the arguement and say that this is MY OPINION. Everyone is entitled to thiers. Meyers states that the Jets are clueless because they are not following the formula of such successful franchises as the COLTS, GIANTS, & STEELERS. Instead we are compared to the REDSKINS who Meyers claims we are using as our criteria for building our team. He states we are not building our team through the draft instead trying to "buy" a championship. He states "The way to build a championship is through the draft. Belichick found Tom Brady in the 6th round and won 3 SB's with him". I'm sure that was the plan all along in NE. They saw Brady as this diamond in the rough who would lead them to the promise land. LUCK had nothing to do with it. He also states "the best teams keep the players they drafted then use Fa to fill holes". Uh, ok some teams have more holes to fill then others, Gary. Exactly how many holes are acceptable to fill through FA? I believe we drafted RHOADES,HARRIS,REVIS,ELLIS,LOWERY,KELLER,PENNINGTON,CLEMENS,WASHINGTON,MOORE,THOMAS(nothing to brag about),MANGOLD,BRICK & OTHERS on special teams and such. Are these guys not considered to be building blocks and thus looked at as building through the draft? We have a hole at LB, so we go out and fill it in FA. We needed O-line help last season, so we fill that hole in FA. We had a chance to get one of the best QB's of all time last year, so we took a shot.Everyone knew it would be a 1 yr run with Favre. We had a revolving door going at CB so we fill that hole in FA. Exactly what is it GARY that we are doing that is so wrong? Again i ask, how many holes are acceptable to fill through FA? We have a new coach coming in and it is understandable that he would want to add players to fit his style of play. He comes from a team that had one of the best defenses in the NFL for like the last 10 years! Would it not make sense to raid a team of players who, A) are familiar with the new system, being that they were in that system, and can therefore ease the transition for the "new guys", which are actually the guys on our team NOW, not the FA's we're bringing in! and B)Guy's that fill the holes at the positions that were exploited, last season? I just don't get this jerkoffs point. Look at our team and the guys i mentioned above. We drafted all those guys! Some of whom are no longer with us, but most are and are big contributers to our team! The only thing i agree with is that, YES,YOU DO HAVE TO BUILD THROUGH THE DRAFT. But i don't see that we haven't done this. I also don't agree with his last line of"it's hard to stick to a plan when they don't have one". Total bullshit in my opinion. We have a plan. Our plan is to build a team that has a nice mix of vets leaders & players who give us the best chance to compete for a championship, NOW! The sad part is i'm sure if we didn't go after these FA's Meyers artcle today would have been written about how stupid we were not to fill the holes in our team with FA. Either way we can never win. Fire away
Man you beat me to it!!! I'm just as pissed!! I guess our threads will be merged(sorry), but i'm with you Bro!!
You make some good points, but I agree with Myers on this. His main point is that you should spend the big money on the players you drafted (assuming they aren't busts, of course) rather than on high-priced free agents. He would argue that the Jets should have shelled out to keep guys like John Abraham, Coles, Santana Moss, LaMont Jordan, Randy Thomas etc - good players with years in the Jets system who could bring continuity. There is then less money for free agency so you have to settle for second- or third-tier free agents to come in and fill a role. Hopefully one or two of these turn out to be better than you anticipated and you have a star for a good price, but that's just a bonus. The opposite way, letting good-but-not-great players leave your team, while showering money on the top free agents, is dangerous. You don't know how that player is going to fit in, they may already have played their best football and you are hurting team cohesion. I think continuity may be one of the most overlooked elements on a successful team.
I read this article and was ticked. Bretts arm and a new def scheme towards the end derailed our season. How the hell did we get to 8-3 in the first place? And I think they have made some more good moves this year while keeping our cap #s reasonable. I do think you have to balance your pickups between the draft and FA, and we have done that. We have had some picks/FAs fail, some are keepers.We have the cap room so lets use it. We cant apply it towards next year.
And we resgined guys like Rhodes and Leon, Mangold and Harris our core players that will be resgined well before their contract is up.
Myers is doing what he knows will illicit a response from readers. It is a stretch to compare the Jets to the Redskins, but it isn't so outlandish that it cannot be done while remaining (remotely) logical and cogent. Thus he does this knowing his article will get linked and get hits online and be read in newspapers. Even if the premise is flawed, he knows what he's doing. Two years of being aggressive in FA do not make the Jets the Redskins. Having said that, if they do this next year then I think you can make the comparrison and should be a tad nervous as a fan.
Agreed, but those guys you mentioned never went on to be superstars, and Abe could never stay healthy. Also, at that time our FO was run by morons. I do agree with your point about continuity, though. This is why i'm so gald we signed Moore.
I think it's worth pointing out that the Giants traded for Eli Manning and this trade did involve draft picks. Considering he is the offensive leader of the team and a Super Bowl MVP, I think Myers' premise is somewhat flawed.
They shell out money on jet players they want to keep. Abraham, Coles, Moss and Jordan are players we decided to let go because they were not worth the money for various reasons, not because we wanted a free agent in their place. Abraham is a perfect example, he was and still is injury prone and does not play when he's less then 100%. While he had a good year, overall, he's been a dissapointment and not worth the money. YOu are wrong, we do sign our own players if we want them.
The Redskins have had to release good players to get under the cap. Yes, they've signed Haynesworth, Hall, and Dockery. But they have also had to release Springs (arguably their best CB) and Washington (whom they don't really have a viable replacement for). When the Jets start doing that, then you can compare them to the Redskins.
the problem with building in the draft is the Jets are a NY team and the fans demand results, rebuilding and suffering thru 2-3 yrs of 4-12 wont cut it in a market like new york
Yeah, how convenient that he does not mention Leon, Mangold, Brick, Cotchery, Harris, Revis, Rhodes, Keller....
I agree . As long as we keep most of our picks, stay out of cap hell and resign our good players we are not the Redskins. At some point, probably next year, we will have to spend our extra cap money on Manglod, Harris, Leon and Revis so if we let them go and sign FA's in their place then call us the Deadskins
I'm not sure what the grip is the guy is dead on. We have traded away picks, drafted badly and spent big in FA. If it works I'm all for it.
How have we drafted badly? Barely any of Tannenbaum's picks have been busts. It's still way to early with Gholston.
what bothers me, is that we DID build through the draft and that is why we got to where we are now. you need FA to add the last missing pieces.
