Strongly disagree. In fact, we were in a position in which NOT taking the risk would have been an extremely foolish move. We all know "no risk, no reward," but the decision to take this particular risk was a no brainer given that all we basically gave up is a 2nd Round pick. How long has it been since we've had a franchise QB? We're long overdue. This has been a glaring deficiency for far too long. We had to take this shot, especially since it fell in our laps for a very inexpensive price. If Sanchez fails, he fails, but we had to take this risk at this time. Kudos to Tannenbaum.... I still don't know how he pulled this one off.
Great post,man. How many times in the past have we "stayed put" or traded down only to miss out on the franchise QB? This franchise was STARVING for this move...andd give Tanny credit for making the deal. This draft class was seriously awful...Sanchez was one of only a very few in this entire draft who has elite upside..the fact that he playhs a position of such value and fills a HUGE longtime need is only frosting on the cake
Coleman and Ratliff, that would have give you a warm feeling in your belly? Coleman was the worst signing Tanny has done and Ratliff played good on pre-season and looked like crap in the camp. I did not want Snachez either, but for what we gave up, other then what we have to pay him, I can't see any negatives unless Elam is a Pro Bowl player like Peter " Brady" King said in his MMQB.
We've been needing this move since before Cutler's draft even. I was pissed we didn't try to make the move on Cutler at that time because the writing was already on the wall with Pennington. Then there was the Flacco thing last year, a seemingly "expensive" move since he goes from the 2nd Round up into the middle of the 1st. But considering the fact that we took Gholston at #4 instead of getting out and trading down for Flacco, there again was another blown opportunity. Then comes the Brett Favre band aid. No, for Tannenbaum to have NOT made this obvious no-brainer move on Saturday would have been criminal.
I am not really sure what to think about the Sanchez trade. I guess the people who have been posting and expressing strong opinions pro and con, more pro than con, think they have thought it through enough to do that. The fact of the matter is that the Ravens move on Flacco really paid off, but that does not mean the Sanchez move will be equivalent. The Ravens were a team that pretty much only needed an upgrade at Qb to be a playoff team. The Jets I think do not fit that description. People dump on Favre for getting hurt and leading the Jets to that terrible collapse, but the Jets also won those huge games against NE and Tenn in consecutive weeks, thanks to him. Looking back at last season, though, and despite the other off season moves, there remain some big questions for this team: Wideout. Right now this is the most mediocre group of receivers I can ever remember the Jets having. Who is the #2 receiver? And don't say Stuckey - he hasn't even established himself as anything but a mediocre #3. OL Depth. Basically, there is none. None. One of the starters goes down, anyone of them, and there will be problems. TE. Right now the only TE on the roster besides Keller is Dearth. This is not as significant as the previous two issues, but it is not good. DL. Thin last year, with Ellis aging and Jenkins having no real solid backup, it is even thinner at this point with Coleman's departure. And there was also the loss of Mosely who I thought contributed last year. Who will start at DE opposite Ellis? Pass rush. It remains to be seen whether this team is any better at rushing the passer than last year's mediocre showing. #2 CB. It remains unclear who this will be. Sheppard will help, but I don't think he will be up to playing full time, and Lowery does not inspire confidence as the starter. Maybe he will improve. Imo that's a pretty long list of holes. The strategy in past years of getting quality instead of quantity, which you can certainly say is what the Jets pursued this year, has yielded quality players like Harris and Revis. But there are also players who have been good who are getting older and have no replacement in the pipeline, like Ellis and Faneca, and positions that there presently do not appear to be solid starters on the roster for, like DE, #2 cb, the #2 and #3 wr's, plus overall weakness on the bench for over half the team's units. I sure hope Sanchez works out. If he doesn't the team's moves this draft will have an adverse impact for the next few years. And even if he does work out there is a fairly long list of other problems on the team.
I don't see any negatives here unless Sanchez fails. If Sanchez becomes the Jet's franchise QB then Abram Elam can go to the Pro Bowl for the next 5 years and we still came out ahead. Look at who wins Super Bowls and who plays QB for them. That's the thing the Jets have been missing since 1969.
It wasn't long ago that the Giants' selection of Eli Manning had even the most loyal of Giants fans screaming bloody murder. But their gamble 4 years ago paid off. Not equating Sanchez's selection to Manning's or anyone elses because Big Blocker is right about no guarantees and all the other deficiencies we're facing, but to not have taken Sanchez this year wou7ld have been criminal.
Terrific post. No question about the other needs, although I'm hoping our last pick will help with the O-line depth (Faneca's not getting any younger). What shocked me most over the weekend was not the move on Day One, it was the move on Day Two. Did we really need to trade all those picks away to take the Lions' spot in order to draft RB Shonn Greene? It seemed like a pretty healthy price to pay for a RB, that's all I've got to say. This guy better be the next coming of Gayle Sayers. All those picks we traded away to get him would have come in handy in addressing some of the needs you've posted.
The simple fact is that EVERYBODY won't be happy drafting a franchise QB unless He throws for 5000 Yards 80 TD and 0 INT in his final season which he won the National Title and Heisman Trophy. People need to accept the fact that sometimes you hit it big, and sometimes you don't. Is there a risk with Sanchez? Sure. But if you remember correctly, Indianapolis was having a hard time picking between Peyton Manning and Ryan Leif. Some of their fans thought they should have picked Leif........
Indy guessed right and we guessed wrong when we took Kenny O'Brien over Dan Marino. It's just the luck of the draw. More than 50% of Day One QB picks disappoint, which is why I'm not so quick to annoint Sanchez just yet. If Clemens gets the nod in September and then goes on to have an excellent year, that's not the end of the world either. In fact, it's a good "problem" to have. If both QBs look ready for the '09 season, I'll feel good that whoever starts has a good enough backup should something happen.
If Clemens wins the competition, and I think he's got a real shot, then he'll be traded after the season - just like Drew Brees was. The Jets can't afford to pay two starting QB's any more than San Diego could, and for the same reason, which is that one of them was a top 5 pick with a top 5 contract. I'd love to see Clemens come out firing in camp and take the job. He's been hosed by the Jets more than any other player I can think of in recent history. He lost a competition to Chad the year he was drafted, which was expected. Then he won the competition the next year but Mangini mind-farted and gave the job to Chad anyway. Then the Jets brought in Favre in year three. Now they've brought in Sanchez in year four. If Clemens takes the job he's getting us a 2nd round pick or better in the 2010 draft is my guess. That'll be good for him and very good for us.
No. We didn't guess wrong. The biggest difference between O'Brien and Marino was the quality of the teams they played on. Kenny O was a career 58% passer, Went to the Pro Bowl twice. That's not a bad QB. Thats a good QB on a Bad team. (And please before getting irate in your reply, look up their stats, and tell me how many times O'Brien was on his back relative to Marino...) Clearly Marino had the better career, but to say we chose wrongly when we picked K.O. is to ignore the fact that the team he was on sucked for many of those years. In the Prime of his career he was getting sacked 50 times a year, yet was a career 80 QB Rating. (marino was 86)
I'm not gonna dispute the needs you listed, although I think some of the projections are being alittle over-dramatized. What I will argue, is that had we not traded away those picks...odds are we'd still have the holes. Why? B/c this past draft was atrocious. There were basically no players to follow after the 4th round and aside from the top 2 QB's, Top 2 OT's, and some of the LB's...there were serious questions about every single prospect at the next level. This draft STUNK. Rather than poutting...and ignoring this fact and hoping for the best. The Jets shrugged it off, made the best of it and took players who they have a more educated projection on. Yes it stinks we couldnt upgrade the depth...but w/ or w/o those picks that was gonna be the case. Look at the Pats...they did all that manuevering and made all those selections and aside from Darius Butler..who stands out?? A Guard they scouted in GERMANY?! A long snapper from hawaii?? The wheeling and dealing they did was amazing..too bad they didnt save it for next year...I doubt teams get taken by BB again. The selections they made speak for themselves(see above). I happen to like the jets strategy much better. Don't try to polish a turd...go quality over quantity if the resources are not up to par.
Your argument is so compelling I stand corrected. It's compelling because your facts are spot on. No one remembers Kenny O'Brien being sacked more than I do... I was there live! My son and I called it the "Kenny O'Brien Praying Mantis Position," which is what he resembled most of the time as the pocket was collapsing around him. So yes, I stand corrected. O'Brien's numbers were pretty respectable considering what he had to work with.
Clearly we picked the wrong QB that year. Marino is a HOFer that is in the discussion as one of the best QBs of all time, as much at it pains me to say that. O'brien was a good QB but to say that we didn't pick the wrong QB when the other QB was Marino is just ridiculous. Those Jets teams were pretty good, yes Miami had a better OLine but O'brien also held onto the ball too long while Marino had the quickest release in NFL history probably. They both had good Wrs during that time and the Jets had a better running game. The big difference between those teams was Miami had a future HOFer playing the most important position on the field while the Jets had a decent/good Qb playing for them.
I don't believe Drew Brees has ever been traded in his career. He signed a FA contract with NO after being treated like shit by SD and to a lesser extent, Miami. He was franchised in 2005 following the expiration his rookie contract, then left as a UFA. Clemens will be an RFA next year. If he plays well this year, all we have to do is offer a tender that will net us a 1st and 3rd rounder (only $2.5 million, so easily doable), and we either get to keep our veteran QB or get well compensated. If we decide we do not want him, though I would like to keep him as our vet provided he can handle the job, we should be able to get a 2nd as long as his play is commensurate with that value.
that's assuming that whoever traded up with Cleveland, other than the Jets, would have taken Sanchez. maybe not. whether Maclin will be good or not is irrelevant to the discussion of whether the Jets made a mistake by nnot waiting to see if he would be there at 17.
I'm not sure anyone else would have traded up with Cleveland. Washington was ready to move up, but they weren't prepared to pay the price Cleveland wanted (they didn't have any desirable players for Cleveland). brothermoose - Good point. I was ignoring the fact that he was set to become an RFA. I'd imagine that if he has a good season, a team would be happy to pay that price to get him. Otherwise, a sign and trade is always possible.
