If history is any indication, there is a reason why many Jets fans are a tad skeptical regarding the new face of the franchise...Mark Sanchez. In the past 20+ years, the Jets have had very little success drafting inside the top 10. Starting in 1980, here is a list of all the top 10 first round picks the Jets have made: 1980 - John Wesley Jones (2) 1981 - Freeman McNeil (3) - This is one of our better top ten picks, but not great. 1984 - Russell Carter (10) 1985 - Al Toon (10) - Unquestionably, the best top 10 pick. 1988 - Dave Cadigan (8) 1990 - Blair Thomas (2) 1993 - Marvin Jones (4) 1995 - Kyle Brady (9) 1996 - Keyshawn Johnson (1) 1997 - James Farrior (8) - Good now, but did next to nothing for the Jets. 2003 - Dewayne Robertson (4) 2006 - D'Brickashaw Ferguson (4) 2008 - Vernon Gholston (6) Maybe failure in the first round is the norm in the NFL, but it's alarming when you look at our top 10 picks vs. our 1st round picks outside of the top 10. There is absolutely no comparison. Maybe things have changed. Maybe it is finally the end of "Same ol' Jets..."but we've felt like this before. I hope that Sanchez is the real deal and can lead this team to the promised land, but I don't think many of us would be surprised if he fell flat on his face. Hey, maybe that's part of the allure of the Jets. Maybe it's fun always being the underdog. I don't know how I would feel if people started hopping on the bandwagon. I don't know how I'd feel if my sense of cynicism was no longer needed when it came to Jets football.
Also, just something interesting I found while looking some things up...notice anything odd in the first round? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1981_NFL_Draft
It's a different regime now, Tannenbaum and Co. are doing a pretty good job of putting a team together. I know we were disappointed with how last year ended but facts are facts, we went from 4-12 to 9-7...pretty substantial improvement.
No arguing the improvement in record, but most of that was accomplished through FA, i.e. Woody and Faneca, and trades, such as Favre and Jenkins. Look what happened during Parcells, we really turned it around. Hell, we were practically one flea-flicker away from the Super Bowl. Yes, he fucked us and then the whole Belichick debacle, but that's just it...that's the Jets.
Yeah, but I still think this regime is more competent than some of years past in doing anything...Brick is a good LT and Gholston may still be a player in Rex's new system.
Disturbing idiocy. Basing what will happen with the 2009 draft pick based on players Evaluated by different people at different times is very faulty. If you want ot point to gholston, that would be fair. To look at the trend of Tanny's recent first rounders gives you not only a bigger sample size, but a track record that is much better. To take a look at the list of guys Tanny has traded up for and you find only one that looks really bad.
It is, I agree. However, many Jets fans just believe we are cursed or destined for failure. Much the same way as Cubs fans (can you imagine, 100 years?) feel and Red Sox fans felt. It just gets to a point where it doesn't seem to matter who is making the decisions or who is on the team. I'm not an idiot and this was not meant to be scientific in any way. Last year is a great example...8-3, coming off 2 huge wins. What happens? The team fucking chokes and misses the playoffs.
Of those picks, how many were QB's? I think if we had a chance to get Sanchez at 11, people would still be pissed off at what we would've had to give up to get him. It's a no-win situation.
Very good point. In fact when you look at the QB's that we've SELECTED in round 1...they are the most successful one's in the team's history! -Namath -Todd -KOB -Pennington
It's not really what we gave up, though for a team with absolutely no depth, except at RB and CB, it was a lot. It's more the fact that none of the experts are totally sold on him. I guess that doesn't matter, but when you trade up, you really want a zero risk guy, if there is such a thing. Shit, at one point, the experts believed Ryan Leaf was a top prospect, so I guess you never know.
And Ryan Leaf's physical ability wasn't the problem. He was a complete head case from day one. To compare Leaf to Sanchez is laughable.
I wasn't really comparing the two. I was pointing out how pre-draft analysis isn't everything. That was all.
Experts weren't sold on Sanchez? That's news to me. There's very little out there that guarantees any team that a top QB prospect won't bust. It's just the nature of the beast. Can u imagine that? And Leaf had a more impressive resume than Sanchez coming out of college. It's amazing how little these facts matter in the grand scheme of things, huh?
Nope. The situation a QB enters into and the way he's treated and brought along matter as well. It's just no coincidence that most of the first round QBs who bust do so for mental or confidence issues.
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3dJvwW593M[/YOUTUBE] There's actually quite a few, many of whom have been singing Sanchez's praises for months now.
Interesting read...if there is any truth in this formula, Sanchez has a good shot at being a good pro. http://community.foxsports.com/blogs/alex.lim1006/2009/04/18/Projecting_QB_success_not_necessarily_a_crapshoot
Mike Tannenbaum has made three draft picks in the top ten. One of them is a good left tackle who will stay healthy, get fatter and get better as he gets older. The second is an underperforming pass rusher who will now be schooled by a defensive guru. The third is our franchise quarterback. What are the three most important positions in the modern game? 1) a passer. 2) someone who can get to the passer. 3) someone who can stop number 2 from getting to the passer. If you want to talk about trends, look at where this team has spent their money in terms of positional value. Tannenbaum had three top-ten picks; he picked the three highest valued positions. All of the pre-Tanny picks are at other positions.
I am not saying Sanchez will be a bust, I'm just pointing out that as a franchise, we haven't had much luck with top 10 picks. It was just an interesting observation, that's all. Not meant to predict success or failure, just pointing out the reason for skepticism.
True, but without even assessing the performance of the three players, you can't argue that this franchise has gotten wiser about where they put that risky guaranteed money.
