I wouldn't cut losses with Milliner yet. Our secondary is week as is. I say go out and get 1 FA corner, Maxwell/Cro/MAYBE Revis, then draft one, Peters/Ekpre-Olomu to name a couple, and then see what we get out of Dee, Dexter, Wlliams, and Walls. Should be a somewhat interesting training camp for the cornerback position. I will admit I'm rather optimistic about Dee and Dex, I'm usually more a realist or pessimist, but hey, I have faith in this team and CB is my favorite position in football so I'm a bit biased.
Yes, I'm saying you plug in the guy you drafted 9th overall and see if he can handle it. Call that crazy, but I hate the idea of spending money at the CB position when it's such a luxury position in today's NFL. If you don't get pressure on the QB, I don't care if you have 5 Revises, an average QB will find the open guy. If you have a pass rush, you don't need to spend so much on the back end. Anything that impacts the QB's focus directly is the key to win in today's NFL. That's giving him time to throw on offense and that's rushing him on defense. When we beat the Pats, it's not because of good coverage. It's because we dial up pressure on Brady. And that's how you beat any good team. A good QB will always find an open guy if you let him and as long as our CBs can hang on for a few seconds, that's all you need. So yeah, I'm fine with bringing in 1 semi marquee CB and seeing what we can do with milliner, McDougle, Marcus Williams, walls, etc.
And why the hell has everyone abandoned ship on Milliner?? I seriously hate jet fans. We're so stupid. Everybody (rightfully) ripped on him for his first 14 games. Then they thought he was the 2nd coming of Revis because of two all pro games to end a season. Then he gets hurt before the season starts, and people forget that they anointed him the savior. He's back to being total trash. Make up your damn minds. Seriously.
for those begging to sign back Cromartie.... ...I remind you.... Cromartie and Milliner were a duo in 2013 and absolutely stunk up the joint. It's not a good pairing at all. Plus CRO is older. Milliner is not ready to start. He may eventually become a starter...but you have to sit him until he shows something good. I'd be fine with CRO on one side, but you need a better corner on the other side. I'm in favor of drafting a CB in the early second or late first (trade back up). Also...I wouldn't be opposed to trading for one.
You are talking out of your ass. Cro was injured. We gave up on Revis when he was injured an guess what? When he got better he played lights out this year. Guess what else? Cromartie also got better and played lights out this year.
You can never have enough quality corner backs. Even if you have two studs, Brady or Manning will roll out 3-5 receivers and pick on your weakest link. If we bring in a starter and draft another potential starter we still need someone to play the nickel and dime positions. Just because you have someone who started at some point and looked pretty good does not mean ignoring opportunities to acquire quality players at that position. Competition is a good thing.
Not all of us hate him or see him as hot trash. I think giving up on him this early would be nuts. IMO it's pretty obvious that Rex and his CS sucked at developing young players. It's funny when Rex was hired he said that he was going to keep his D likeable and learnable, then developed one of the most complex Ds in the NFL that still couldn't get off the field on 3rd down. If Milliner can't stay healthy and develop under Bowles, there will be plenty of time to cut him later.
I'm still confused as to why we have to choose between a pass rushing LB and a 2nd CB with 50 million dollars to spend? I'm not saying to spend it all but there is a difference in future cap issues and filling the rest of the roster with 1 year deals that expire and renew the cap year after year. Signing a key OG, OLB, and CB still leaves a ridiculous amount of space which can either be wasted or spent on veterans like Cromartie on 1-2 year deals that can be voided after year 1 (CJ).
I say steal away Maxwell from the Seahawks. He gets thrown at constantly because other teams stay away from Sherman and he is constantly making great plays. Cromartie is a stopgap, and we really need to build for the future.
I'm not drafting a corner in the draft unless we trade down and pick up extra seconds and thirds. This organization has been burned on drafting corners high as of late. I would sign one of: Cromartie, Jackson, Skrine, Maxwell or Revis. Then if we pick up extra picks I would draft one. I don't like many of the corners at the top but guys like Kevin Johnson, Josh Shaw, Senquez Golson, Ifo Ekpre-Olumu and Ladarius Gunter intrigue me.
but in terms of defense, he's not the anti-Rex, and that is a good thing. both Bowles and Rex are the anti-Mangini. Bowles, like Rex, deploys multiple fronts and coverages, complex looks, and change what they do year to year, and even week to week, based on their personnel and opponent. most importantly, they believe in being aggressive. they don't want to play vanilla D, and certainly don't believe in conservative bend but don't break philosophies. Good Corners simply means more flexibility in what you can do, and the more aggressive you can be. why would you bring in a coach, and then limit their ability to do what they do best? give them the tools to succeed. let's hope we learned some things from last year's offseason mistakes.
I'd be onboard with Maxwell. like Decker, we will have to overpay for a good, but not great player. that's ok tho, as long as we don't vastly overpay. We need the help big time, and i believe Maxwell will contribute reliably. Cro is a stop gap, but that is also ok. all teams need to fill out a roster with a combination of young upcoming talent and veteran players. We can't address the entire roster with young promising players. we'll need stop gaps at a number of positions in order to field a remotely competitive team.
After the year Cro had in Arizona he will want a real contract this time. Of course he could be our # 1 CB the way he has been playing.
I want Cromartie on this team, but he's not a no. 1. It would be a huge mistake to make him your number 1 guy. He is not that. He is an old veteran who had a decent year in a dominant offense with Patrick Peterson as the no. 1 corner there. Cromartie thrived under Revis as a no. 2. Cromartie succeeded on his own when Revis went down and the Jets still had CB options. Once Dee Milliner came in in 2013, it was too much. Cromartie wasn't able to counter the terrible play of Dee Milliner. Having a 10 year vet as your starting CB is not a foolproof plan. God forbid he has another injury and then you're stuck with the 2014 situation. I don't know where some of you got this skewed perception that Cromartie had an amazing year either. He had a pretty average year. In the early season he was getting beat in his matchups and even Todd Bowles himself called Cromartie out on it. Cromartie had 3 interceptions (most thrown right to him), the same amount he had in his bad 2013 year. He isn't a number one corner and to settle for him as that would be a mistake. He's a really good number 2.
You have a point but do you pay Cro $6-8 mil or do you pay $10-11 mil for the younger stud # 1 CB that you are describing? With Millner and possibly another CB drafted this year (not at # 6 overall) Cro should be good enough.
