Becoming less and less impressed. Two days in and we've re-signed our already franchised kicker and a RT nobody seems to know to replace the one that we lost. Might be signing a decent WR in Decker at least but even that's not a done deal. Pretty shitty job so far. I get trying to get bang for your buck when you are cap strapped but we have $40+mil in cap space...it's not going to kill you to over spend by a few million here and there.
Frankly, we should be delighted the Pats pissed their cap room away on Revis. Who's he going to shut down on the Jets? Stephen Hill? Our best receivers get shut down by players making league minimum. We're a running team - that's what Rex wants to do, that's what Idzik is building, and most importantly, that's what we should be considering our personnel (Bottom 5 starting QB and receivers). Revis affects us probably the least of any player in the league making more than $10 million a year. EDIT: In a week to 10 days, there will be a handful of B+ players who haven't signed yet that will be willing to take significantly less because all the available jobs have dried up - people like Woodley, Jared Allen, Peppers, both Cromarties, Hakeem Nicks, etc. You scoop up a few of them for pennies on the dollar and you get a nice FA hall.
Seriously thats why its a joke. He cant shut anybody down because the Jets suck. And there wonderful plan is take 2 days per free agent while the rest of them sign elsewhere.
The Jets look like a team without a plan right now. Letting Austin Howard hit free agency was the first in series of blunders by Idzik. 2/5 of last year's O-Line is gone, while its weakest link (Winters) is still on the team and 1st on the depth chart. Your team's best player in the last 10 years just signed with your arch rival when you were flush with 39+ M in cap room. You currently have one starting-caliber CB on your roster, a 2nd year player who got routinely torched the first 12 games last year and was so bad he had to be benched in-game on multiple occasions. You do not have a viable backup QB other than the one you are about to cut before March 25. With Ed Reed gone you still have no playmakers on the backend of a defense which was at the bottom of the league in takeaways. (I would take a hard look at -- or at least "kick the tires" on -- Peanut Tillman. He's old but at least I know I can count on him to force a bunch of fumbles and probably snag a few picks. Plus you get his experience and veteran leadership / presence for mentoring the younger guys.)
Ward would've been a steal @ 5.5M, Asamoah was a no-brainer @ 4.5M. Could've signed both of those guys in addition to the 2 actual acquisitions so far, rounded out depth with some vet min range acquisitions and the team would've been instant legit playoff contenders. At least Idzik was able to bring in Decker so maybe he can pull a rabbit out of his hat and sign one or two more meaningful additions even though the two best reasonably priced guys are gone along with several of the big ticket players that could've helped the team. A guard is desperately needed, TE is a priority as is safety, not to mention resigning Cro or a replacement. If at least two of those areas are addressed well I'll come around on this FA period somewhat though it's still nowhere near ideal imo.
because there is no difference between two teams that already played in the AFCCG last season and the amount of players they need to take that next step, and thus the amount of money they can spend on only a few players, versus an 8-8 team that needs more players than just one or two and thus needs to distribute that money across more players to take that next step? are you actually claiming that there was no such difference between the Jets, Broncos and Patriots and they should be conducting business identically?
yeah, too bad we didn't win the initial free agent period by signing every available player that could possibly improve the team. because that is the only way to improve your team. Woody Johnson is now 0-15 in bringing home the Vince Lombardi Free Agent trophy.
Idzik is doing a phenomenal job so far, I especially like the fact that he didn't cave in to Howard's ridiculous contract demands. Eric Decker was signed at a very fair price my only issue so far has been the lack of a long term contract for Wilkerson.
Yep ,Sporles to eagles for a 5th?Idzik couldn't do a better deal then this?Atleast Idzik saved his money for no reason at all being that its not ment to be saved
So your point is what, it's better to bring in 5 mediocre players to come in and barely do their job rather than bring in two perfect fits that don't break the bank and fill out remaining holes with the first few draft picks and add depth with the rest? It hasn't even been proven that he's going to bring in four or five more mediocre players yet, so then what would your point be if he doesn't? That it's better to have $20M left in your cap for the year?
I mean, that isn't even legal so it couldn't have gone down exactly like that. They probably just went after him hard and fast and got him to lock it down quickly. At that price there was still plenty of value and I think Idzik should have been offering at least an extra .5-1M/yr to try to tempt him away. That would've at least forced the Falcons to up the bid and it wouldn't look so ridiculous to see him signed somewhere else @4.5M. Same goes for Ward imo or Byrd would've broken the bank but may have been worth it given his skillset.
You know this how??? I like the approach of Idzik...slow, methodical & calculating...or so it appears. At least he is bringing in "age appropriate" FA's...which was always my beef with Tanny. Decker could, potentially, be on the team for the next decade...health willing.
The point is he'd easily be worth 5-5.5M to us especially considering the shambles the guard unit is in. Why not make that offer to a key FA. I'm guessing it would've at least caused Atlanta to up their offer higher than it was finalized at so that leads me to believe a strong offer wasn't made. Not exactly like Atlanta is some powerhouse or great draw geographically, the only thing I can think of is it's a marginally shorter flight to his recently married wife who is in med school in KC. Anyway it just doesn't sit well with me seeing Ward and Asamoah signing so cheap elsewhere. Byrd would've been a luxury, yes, but 9M for one of the top safeties in the game really isn't that outrageous. He would've been better value at that price than Decker at 7.5M and could've brought in one of several marginally worse WRs around 4-5M instead. There are a bunch of unknowns and permutations for how the first 2 days could've gone down but I think it's a pretty thin rope from here on out with the remaining available players to really improve the team as well as it could or should have been with that cap space.
The point us unless you are advocating merely offering one year contracts there is more to consider when signing players than can that deal simply be fit into this years salary cap. You have oversimplified a far more complex situation by reducing it to "is the player good and can we afford him this year under the cap?"
Oh no, once this initial FA period is over no players will be available before the season starts!!!! John Idzik is 0-2 in winning the Free Agent Championship Trophy.
I can't wait to see how Revis gets along with Belicheat (who he once called a Jerk on national TV). If he couldn't get along with the disciple (Schiano), how is he gonna do with the master (Belicheat)?
Because I don't feel like getting into an overthecap.com team salary cap saga with people to show how it makes sense years down the road. I guarantee that signing Ward, Asamoah, and Decker (though I would've went for a cheaper WR option if those 2 were signed) would've been financially sustainable 2-4 years down the road. Even if all of those signings were made and Wilkerson extended it still would've left ~10M cap this year and wouldn't create a problem as those contracts escalate. Harris is a big number and he'll be getting phased out shortly, possibly Brick too in 3 years, etc. The team easily could've afforded 3 mid tier FA signings or 1 top tier and 1 mid tier.
Waiting is very frustrating for us fans because we want to see the Jets do something. We know that the talent level was like in 2013, and even though the team played above its collective ability (due to strong character, which, for our purposes, is separate from raw ability). However, it's clear that talent level has to improve. Seeing Idzik do nothing certainly increases our anxiety, but he's clearly aware that the roster has to get better. Watching him wait, it's clear that in his view, none of the available talent was worth breaking the bank on. Still, that doesn't mean that he's done yet. There are holes to be filled. He could be waiting to snag older talent at a cheaper rate. He could be trying to work out trades. Until it happens (or doesn't happen), we won't know. In fact, we won't know if Idzik's decisions were/will be successful until we see the 2014 Jets, and how they produce on the field. That's why I voted Not Sure Yet.
The best fits are gone. The scraps are left with some half broken down TEs no-name guards, a marginal starting safety or two, etc. You don't even know those guys will be signed yet, and even if they are it still doesn't work out nearly as well. So losing is winning to you. Gotcha.
