Wouldn't hurt if JD stop shopping at Dollar General for FA talent either... His incessant dumpster diving for FAs has produced at best, mediocre result. We have cap space, but nothing really to show for our purchases.
overspending in free agency is what screwed us with guys like bell, tru, mosley, and a few others. drafting well and adding mid tier FAs is a good policy and that's what JD does. it's value. The giants gave galladay 18 mil a year and davis at 12.5 has been better for us even with the drops. we signed lawson and jarrod davis but both are out. hard to blame JD for injuries. rankins is playing well for well as a mid tier FA. berrios has been a steal.
I guess it comes down to who's doing the shopping. I think we're seeing the effects of underspending right now. At best, you wind up with mediocre talent. Rarely do you find superstar talent on the bargain rack at Kohls. Then again, what superstar in his right mind would want to come to this organization in the first place...
We know he was after Thuney, but he went to a team that's made it to the last 2 Super Bowls. And going big on FA's is what got us Johnson, Mosley, and Bell. FA's should for the most part be complimentary pieces to a homegrown core. We don't have the core yet.
Dont need superstars though, just have to get better at eyeing talent and projecting production. Buffalo for example were really weak at right tackle. They shopped at the bargain bin and got Daryl Williams for dirt cheap, $2 million. The guy came in and started every game and played at a high level, earning an extension. Joe Douglas is supposed to be the offensive line guru though. When Buffalo was making a shrewd move like that he's overpaying for Van Roten and Mcgovern who both are terrible.
We can absolutely blame JD for injuries when he specifically targets injury-prone players because he feels they offer higher value if they do stay healthy. The risk to that strategy is that injury prone players continue to be injury prone, it's not a free lunch. Overspending in FA is far worse than underspending but underspending is still bad, especially in the manner JD has done it. If you have to slightly overpay to protect your rookie QB then you do it. I'm not saying break the bank, but it's clear from the performance of our OL that JD didn't do enough, and now we're stuck with the shit OL because there's no one available to improve it. The only real option JD has to significantly improve the OL right now is a blockbuster trade, and odds are that would be to our detriment long term even if it would help in the near term.
lots of players wanted to come here. lawson was more then happy to be a jet and was one of the top rushers on the market. JD is willing to spend on the trenches. he made a run at thuney but thuney wanted to go to KC for a SB chance. he signed mcgovern who was the top FA center. he paid a bit too much to get fant who we badly needed. he spent top 15 picks in back to back years for a LT and LG. games are still won in the trenches. you get a good o-line and a good dline and a good QB and you'll be a good team. JD has only had 2 offseasons to fix a train wreck of bad contracts and a shit team. We have 38 million on IR/PUP which is bad luck. the bets teams are the lucky ones who don't get lots of injuries. On top of that enunwa, bell, and tru are taking up 17.5 mil of our space this year. all bad contracts handed out by mac. when you factor in macs bad contracts and injuries we are down about 60 million in cap space for players not actually playing. We are down 33% of our cap which handcuffs the product on the field and out of JDs control. we are basically playing this year with 2/3rds of what we could have. it takes time to fix bad contracts and injuries just suck when it happens to high paid players. thankfully it'll be fixed by next year where we only have 1.5 mil in dead cap. were estimated to have about 70 million to spend and not many big free agents. just maye and JFM and foley. we also have double picks in rounds 1, 2 , and 4. our young players will have an extra year experience. wilson won't be a rookie (josh allen sucked as a rookie, was solid year 2, and a pro bowler in year 3). This year has always been a wash. we all new that. we are building a winning franchise not a win now for 1 year and fuck the future team. we just have to be patient and give JD and saleh a chance
lawson and davis have never been injury prone players. lawson blowing out an ACL in practice was a fluke. can't blame JD for that. Using a late pick on a high talent guy with injury concerns is fine. most late picks don't stick around anyway for long. davis has only missed 9 games in 4 years. him missing 6 weeks for us is again a fluke. becton had no injury issues in college and suffered a fluke injury. joyner missed 11 games in 6 years, less then 2 games a year averaged. not injury prone. I don't see what your argument is here at all. we didn't underspend. you know we only have 7 mil in cap space right now? because 1/3rd of our cap space is bad contracts from mac and injuries. I posted it above here earlier but 3 bad mac contracts are costing us 17.5 mil this season. that's enough money to sign a good edge rusher or top WR. next year is when we can spend a little more
The other issue is elite players just don't become FA's. Thuney was an exception and he went to a contender. We need an internally developed core that can be extended when the time comes.
he tore it once in college in 2014 and missed the season. missed a few game sin 2016. then as a rookie in 2017 missed no games. then tore and ACL in 2018. came back in 2019 and 2020 and only missed 4 games in 2 years with a hamsting injury. he's had bad luck but far from injury prone and didn't miss a game last year at all. frank gore tore up his knee in college too and then lasted like 15 years in the NFL pretty injury free. there is a difference in a guy who is always banged up (cashman) compared to someone who suffers a freak injury. and that is still 1 player. not like we have a roster of them.
It's not even that we didn't acquire elite guys though. We currently have a couple OL who are performing near league-worst at their positions. Signing two average or just below average guys would've been a huge improvement. How can we say a guy who tore two ACL's along with a hamstring issue is far from injury prone? That just doesn't make sense. You may think he's only a little injury prone, I'd disagree, but to say he's "far from injury prone"? Come on. The Frank Gore example is irrelevant. 99% of guys who suffered the injuries he did had their careers significantly shortened because of it. You can't use the outlier of all outliers as proof that injuries don't matter.
I wanted to sign Trai Turner last offseaosn. DId not want to go into the draft with Van Roten penciled in as a starter.
David Carr mentions below how lafleur is rookie as well and how the play call leaves Wilson with no options after his progressions, so he freezes up and then too late to do a thing, I find that interesting take. Zach Wilson Zach Wilson New York Jets · QB What I like: As the No. 2 overall pick, Wilson has everything you want in a franchise quarterback, and I've seen some good things from him early, despite poor results. He's athletic enough to escape pressure, the route concepts are there and he's delivered some accurate passes. Unfortunately, the Jets have 11 drops through three games (second-most in the NFL, behind Pittsburgh's 12). What I dislike: In addition to a rookie quarterback, New York also has a rookie offensive coordinator. There's a reason Robert Saleh brought Mike LaFleur with him to New York; the offensive system LaFleur learned under Kyle Shanahan in San Francisco is meant to put the offense one step ahead of the defense. But that's not what I'm seeing from the Jets right now. Based on my own experience as a rookie QB, I'm guessing this is because Wilson is watching film on the sideline and making adjustments after the fact -- and then by the time he gets out there again, the defense has already changed. (Of course, back in 2002, I was looking at pictures on the sideline instead of video.) I remember constantly working to ensure I had answers for everything at the line of scrimmage: What if a receiver falls down? What if my receiver isn't in the right spot? Who's my go-to if the play goes off-schedule? The list was endless. Wilson appears to be getting to the end of his progression and freezing up because, for one reason or another, he's run out of options -- and he's paying the price for it. According to Next Gen Stats, heading into Monday Night Football, there were 91 sacks in the NFL this season that took more than 4.5 seconds from snap to tackle, with Wilson accounting for a league-high eight such sacks. He needs some help from his play-caller and supporting cast. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
