We got Conner. Again, how greatly would he have helped this team? Without him, we still have the 4th best KOR in the league right now, and Brad Smith routinely breaks as many tackles as Leon had to on those return TDs. If we played a team with coverage like San Diego's on Sunday, Smith would have had one too. We haven't had a 3rd RB yet, and given Leon's 11 carries for 29 yards so far, I don't think he'd have been much help if we did use him in that regard.
We could have gotten Conner in the 4th if he is that important, which IMO he will be. We wouldn't have had to waste a pick on McKnight and could have easily replaced Leon next year when he leaves as a FA, if he left. I find it hard to believe a player with Leons skillset couldn't help us this year at all. A couple carries a game plus KRs and who knows what Leon could do.
Rookie CB's usually have a rough time. As far as McKnight, yeah he looked like crap, and RB is usually listed as one of the positions that's easy to transition into the pros. Still, give the kid some time. Leon wasn't staying with that injury and for MJD money. Yeah Woodhead and C. Washington looked like they were better than McKnight from the bits and pieces we saw from camp, but McKnight might have the higher upside potential. http://www.nfl.com/combine/profiles/joe-mcknight?id=497192#tabs:tab-overview
John Conner didn't have much value in the fourth round. Joe McKnight is a second round talent that fell into the fourth round. Moving up for him was the right thing to do. During Sunday night's game, the commentators were talking about how much Tomlinson is helping Greene in the passing game. I'm willing to bet he's helping McKnight out just as much. This was clearly a developmental pick, so give McKnight a "redshirt" season before you bitch about the move. Washington had no role in our offense, especially after the LT signing. He'd be a forgotten man on offense. His only value here is as a return specialist and there's absolutely no reason to pay a return man MJD-type money. We got our fullback of the future for a player that had no future here at all.
Plain and simple Leon wanted more than he was worth to the team, and that inevitably spells "don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out". Also, chances are he would have held out with Jets and we didn't need two players holding out. He is playing out West to prove himself to his new team and shoot for a better contract next year. Good luck to him and props to Tanny for moving him.
He absolutely was drafted to replace Leon THIS YEAR, they thought they had a younger, cheaper version. LT was not brought in here to take leon's role, he was brought n for a much bigger role on offense. It's easy to say that now, he would have been here had we not traded him. I said it at the time so it's not hindsight. We could have acquired a 5th rd pick and again we could have moved down from the 4th, got another pick, kept Leon and still drafted Connor. The only thing that is stupid was your childish response. I gte that as soon as guys leave the Jets they suck and as soon as they become Jets they are great- I'm sorry you don't like it when someone can be objective about our team. It was a mistake, he hasn't made many but that was one of them. You guys are missing he point, Leon wasn't getting big money off of the injury and his salary was meaningless anyway- it's about guaranteed money. I'm not sure what he wanted or what the Jets wanted to pay but the Jets had the hammer after the injury. Holmes and Cromartie might be here for one season to but what if leon made a few plays that helped us win a SB? wouldn't it have been worth it even if we lost him after the year? You are too wrapped up in the draft and draft grades. Sometimes those grades are wrong and guys cannot play in this league, I'm not writing off McKnight yet but I'd feel more comfortable if a)he didn't puke at minicamp, b)didn't fail his conditioning test in TC and c)showed us anything in preseason.
This isn't Madden. McKnight had great value in the fourth and anyone (that isn't retarded) knows that. Of course some of those grades will eventually be wrong, but you can't write off a developmental project three games into his rookie season. I'd feel more comfortable if a) you knew what you were talking about, b) didn't fail your TGG knowledge test, and c) showed us anything on this message board.
No. Leon's value this year would have been as a kick returner. Nothing more. McKnight wasn't going to take that role from Brad Smith, who performed well last season and is doing so again this year. LT is here to take on the role that Leon otherwise would have: pass catcher and COP back. The fact that he's seized a much larger share should tell you about his value vs. Leon's as a RB. His wife was running her mouth about how unappreciated he was on Twitter prior to the trade. Ditto for Keels. He was gone, gone, gone next season no matter what. What if, what if, what if? He's had two KOR for touchdowns against shoddy special teams. As soon as we lose a game because of Brad Smith, we'll talk. Until then, it's completely hypothetical nonsense. Leon has done nothing to help the Seahawks on offense thus far, and that's behind worse backs than Greene and Tomlinson. I'll play the what if game. What if Conner makes a huge block on ST to spring Smith for a TD? What if he steps full time into the FB role late in the season and manages to key the return to dominance for our run game and it carries us to the SB? See how easy it is?
Just some useless stat, Leon Washington is tied for 2nd on the all-time kick return for TD list with 6. (Tied with many others) Cribbs is in first with 8. I'd like to see him take that record just so he has something to hang his hat on when it's all said and done.
We EASILY could have acquired a 5th rd pick to get Connor. That was just an example, either way if McKnight doesn't work out we gave away leon and wasted a 4th rd pick. Yes, if you didn't know McKnight was considered a great value in rd 4 you must be retarded:rofl2: He's not looking like such a steal so far, huh? No one is writing him off yet but he hasn't shown a thing, usually rookies show flashes at some point. Keep watchging college games and scouting Montana State, those of us that know about the NFL will watch the NFL and evaluate. I bet you were high on Gholston too? You are quite the draftnik
We would have had to give up something to get a 5th round pick. What would you have given up? Leon was gone after this season anyway, it was the right move to get some value for him. Especially since he would have had a minimal role on this team if he was still around for 2010. Do you agree Greene was a steal in the 3rd round? Did he do anything to show us that 3 weeks into last season?
He would have been worked back into the offsense just like he will in Seattle, he's a playmaker and too valuable to just return kicks. LT is here to replace what we would have expected from Jones as the #2 back, Greene was sliding into the #1 back spot occupied by Jones a year ago. Who cares what his wife was saying? Ohh so now it's against shoddy STs, that's why he did. In weeks 1 and 2 SD's opponents had 9 returns for 171 yds and a 19 yd average which is outstanding coverage. The difference is w/ my what if's Leon has helped us win a ton of games in the past so there is a track record. We know he's going to make big plays, he's done it every year.
It's threads like these that make me want former Jets to fail. I was always a big Leon fan, and I'm glad he is having success, but for fucks sake, if you can't understand why he was traded then that's on you. I'm hoping more than ever that McKnight becomes a beast now.
We could have given up another pick or 2, we give away draft picks all the time anyway or again we could have used that 4th rd pick used on McKnight to maneuver to get a 5th rd pick. We easily could have gotten Connor even had we not traded Leon. Greene showed flashes in preseason and in camp, he got dinged up and didn't play much until Leon went down but yes I expected him to be a contributer and he was. McKnight has shown us less than Gholston has.
I understand why he was traded but it turned out to be the wrong move. he was traded b/c we never thought he'd fully recover from the injury. I 100% guarantee you in meetings the brain trust wishes they never made that move after seeing how leon has come back.
There was no way we were going to sign him to a long term deal. The bridge had been burned before he was traded. At best we'd have had him for 1 more year. Now we have a potential long term replacement in McKnight and a potential long term replacement for Richardson. You're writing off McKnight already and you know that's foolish.
They've tried working him back in. Have you watched the Seahawks play this season? He hasn't looked good on his carries. I like Leon, so I've made a point of watching him. Like I said, he should get better than 2.5 YPC, but when? How much of a contribution can you possibly have expected from him? Are you serious? LT replaces what we would have expected from...Jones? Since when is Thomas Jones a pass catching threat and a dominant outside rusher? Apparently he did, since he said yesterday that he was never going to stay in New York. Again, did you watch? He did it against shoddy special teams. Leon did an excellent job, but the Chargers made terrible mistakes in coverage on both kick off returns. How they looked in the first two weeks is completely irrelevant to how they looked that night. We had excellent STs all last season and terrible STs against Miami when Ted Ginn returned 2. It happens, and it happened on Sunday. You're very big on using past performance to determine current success, aren't you? The Chargers must have been good against the Seahawks because they were good in Weeks 1 and 2. Leon must have helped us because he helped us in the past. I use my eyes. I watch the games. Leon was one of my favorite players while here, and you'll notice me congratulating him in the NFL forum during the game. That doesn't mean I have to close my eyes and ignore what I see. Nor should you.
