except nobody has done so. what has been done is that some people understand the reasoning behind it and believe it is a sound strategy. obviously that is dependent on his ability to draft talent and build the team with value-priced cuts. how can you interpret that as some sort of celebration?
In my opinion the "Idzik love fest" is a direct response to the "sky is falling Idzik is incompetent" crowd that seemed to turn up an hour into free agency. It's a case of one extreme leading to another. I don't think anybody is crowning the guy just yet. How could you? It's just as foolish as writing him off. That said..if you've followed front office football & the Jets for long enough, it is clear that he has a sound plan of action & has thus far stuck by it.In alittle over a year's time he's made this team much younger as well as financially stable. You simply can't deny that portion. It's a pretty good start. When Tannenbaum was fired everybody was clamoring for a GM that would build a roster through youth,fiscally responsible contracts & the draft. That's exactly what Idzik is trying to do. So now that strategy has been deployed why are folks panicking??? It boils down to hitting on draft picks. And not just plugging holes on paper that keep the whiners at bay.Legit impact performers w/ explosion & playmaking ability.That's what this team has lacked.That's where they need to get over the hump. As others have already stated this group is not yet a serious super bowl contender. That said..that could change VERY quickly.While explosion is a glaring need, depth is not.If Idzik can select just a few game changers(easier said than done) this roster will be young, deep & affordable. You simply can't argue against those qualities.
There's nothing to judge with Idzik,He's doing what he does best signs players near or past there prime who are injury prone but have upside and come cheap,there's a nice pattern developing here with Idzik signings David Garrard-Injured during training camp,very injury prone Barnes-IR few weeks into season,injury prone Cribbs-IR during season Winslow-Peds suspension ,jerks off in walmart parking lot Goodson-Charged with felony gun possesion,then put on IR ,another injury prone guy Nelson-Has injury history panned out,but wont be surprised when he gets put on IR Jacoby Ford-signed this offseason ,horrible injury history will be gone by week 6 Mike Vick-horrible injury history ,if he starts he will be Injured by week 8 Dimitri Patterson-bad injury history will be gone by week 5 Ivory-injury History ,One of Idziks better gambles
What Idzik is doing is the basics that every NFL GM should be looking to do. He's cutting waste and looking for cost-efficient solutions through the draft. He's supplementing this by signing the occasional vet free agent to a multi-year deal and a lot of stop gap 1 and 2 year signings to fill holes. He's not giving us rocket science here, he's just doing the fundamentally sound things that most good organizations do. The reason some fans are upset is that the Jets have not operated this way in the salary cap era. Fans have been trained to expect flashy signings and big promotional campaigns as the normal course of events. So when the Jets start doing things the way the Steelers and Ravens and Packers have traditionally done them there's a real culture shock involved. We need a QB to step forward and be the guy. Once we have that all the other questions will go away.
I think it's fair to point out, many of these signs are not intended to play at all, they are back up roll players. If we do get regular production from them it will be a bonus. Ivory, Nelson, Landry were small gambles that did have good seasons coming off injuries, they were cheap in a year we had no money.
Well no shit. Any average joe could be a successful GM if he's got a QB. Not exactly any hard hitting analysis there, besides calling Idzik cheap. I agree he is cheap, apparanetly you like that I guess. I guess I disagree. Playing against Darrelle Revis twice a year now is just one consequence of him being cheap...not to mention taking the teams biggest position of strength to possibly it's weakest in less than 2 seasons. ($100 says he goes with a corner in rd 1, again) Building through the draft can be a good strategy but you have better make damn certain you are a good drafter, which isn't easy. I personally would hedge my bets on proven players instead of young men who haven't played a down in this league, even if its a little more expensive. Lots of ways to win in this league. I don't necessary think he's doing a terrible job, but I also find no reason to be optimistic about him. He's had a very ho hum tenure..
This is where the rubber hits the road. It doesn't matter if he's a spend thrift or goes "Dan Snyder" and throws ridiculous money at FA's. No matter his philosophy...no matter whether he was integral in building SB bound teams in Arizona or Seattle... If John Idzik has properly revamped the scouting department, manages the ins and outs of the draft and delivers 85% of this draft as contributing starters then we should have a season to talk about. Doesn't matter if he hires all our FA's in the first 2 weeks or is still shopping 2 days before training camp...the draft is the key to his success. We shall see how it all unfolds!
One thing to remember about last years draft, Idizk was brought in so late that he was working with a scouting department from the previous regime. That said it was a pretty solid draft for the first year of it, how solid we won't know for another 2-3 years. And while there is nothing you can point to that says he'll be a great gm based on his past, there is also nothing in his past that says he'll be a poor GM. Circular argument.
Most of this is pure, unadulterated speculation and convenient disregardance of facts. By your definition, every player in the league has an injury history. Idzik's free agent pickups have not been perfect but you can't simply write them all of because of injury history; you're also ignoring all of the better signing he made this year and last (including Colon, Decker, Giacomini.)
The bolded part, right after you state there is nothing to judge about, is actually judging him. You're also assuming, based on 1 1/2 FA periods that this is always what he will do. You're basically stating that I was right about you in a roundabout way. Thank you for the confirmation. Now, if Idzik continues to sign mostly low risk players over the span of four years (and you can bet we will be here at least four years) then your judgment about him will be somewhat correct. If, however, he stays frugal in the FA market early while accumulating a solid core of players, then uses a large amount of cap space (due to the rollover rule) to sign some of the higher rated FAs in a future FA class (that doesn't suck) to put the team into contention, then your judgment will prove out to be wrong. This is what people mean when they say to give the guy a chance to prove himself instead of judging him (exactly what you are doing) based on a small body of work.
Building a team with FAs is kind of like Paint By Numbers. It can look OK, but it's still someone elses players. Following your own vision and building with hand picked rookies is more rewarding and is more respected around the league.
Other than QB's, and we can argue the timing on those deals, which big contracts around the league are paying off in terms of championships? Lions - Calvin Johnson and Ndamakung Suh? Nope. Cardinals - Larry Fitzgerald and Calais Campbell? Nope. Vikings - Adrian Peterson? Nope. Browns - Joe Thomas? Nope. Ravens - Haloti Ngata? One ring and he was in the low cap number year of the deal when it happened. Bills - Mario Williams? Nope. Panthers - Greg Hardy and Charles Johnson? Nope. Eagles - Trent Cole? Nope. Rams - Chris Long? Nope. Bucs - Gerald McCoy and Darrelle Revis? Nope. Packers - Clay Matthews? Nope, they won when he was still in his rookie deal. Chiefs - Tamba Hali? Nope. Redskins - Brian Orakpo? Nope. 49ers - Patrick Willis? Nope. The big money deals are a sucker bet. They don't win you championships because individual superstars don't win for you in the NFL. Even the QB's don't fit because they generally win on a cheaper deal and then get signed to a megabucks contract and have a very hard time getting back to the show.
I am not going to disagree that Tanny made some bad decisions on extending some guys for longer and for more money than he should have. However, at the end of the day, he was always able to maneuver and for Idzik to be able come in, cut some guys and have the most cap space in the league within a year means the cap was not as bad as some people make it out to be.
Kurt, I in fact did have concerns about Idzik pretty much from the get go, and that was because it sure looked like Woody's main criteria for picking a GM was to find a guy who would accept Woody's input on major decisions, and that in the first instance meant accepting that Ryan stayed another year, at least. He picked a guy with some personnel background, but whose primary focus was on the contracts and numbers. Several other candidates apparently did not want to accept those conditions, and were not hired. But... putting that aside, last year I would have had no argument with the points you made here. The problem is since then we can look at last year's off season, as well as the first part of this one, and I think we should add some concerns to the one I started out with. Now I don't blame Idzik for all the issues I had with last off season, such as the Revis trade and the way it went down, which is on Woody. At the same time I don't give him credit for the main positive move, which was getting rid of Tebow, since anyone was going to do that. But some other issues, I wonder how much were on him, such as keeping Sanchez around and ending up having to start a woefully unprepared project Qb, which nearly tanked the season and got Ryan fired. Other moves were more clearly on Idzik, both good and bad. I thought the Ivory signing may have been his best move outside the draft. In hindsight it was. Ivory's play last season was the kind of thing that makes it worthwhile following the Jets. He plays like a Jet. Goodson, on the other hand, was unfortunate. Nothing came of the Barnes signing. Perhaps the worst move I think is on Idzik was letting Slauson go in favor of attempting to start Ducasse, which eventually led to having to play the third round pick, Winters, who ends up being the worst starter on the team. That was just bad. Other signings, particularly those after the season started, are hard to judge because the Jets in fact had limited options. Perhaps something might actually come of Salas and or Sudfeld, and Nelson was a decent pickup. Landry was not as good as his brother, who was overrated the year before around here as it was, imho. In the draft I think it was a mixed bag, too. Richardson was one of the best Jet picks in recent memory, to be sure, but Smith as noted above nearly killed the Jets' season. Milliner I have high hopes for, but it remains to be seen whether he justifies his pick. Imo the Jets' best move last off season other than the obvious one of getting Tebow off the team was firing Sparano and replacing him with Marty. But I don't think that was mostly Idzik's call. And then we can add in this off season's controversies. The point is there have been the makings of a track record for Idzik that is not really reflected in your post.
I was responding to those who already are proclaiming Idzik a big succcess as GM. I have not said he is a failure. But I do not agree the draft last year was solid. I think it was mixed.
