Don't know why he would want to play Safety. I was just thinking outside the box. You bring up a good point though. Vilma would be less likely to reinjure his knee playing safety. If we can upgrade so be it, but I like to try and keep a team together. The way to keep you team together is to look outside the box. Right know we might get a 3rd pick for him, and he is worth more to try him somewhere else.
I point it out because he has been paid like a playmaker the past three seasons. If he is not expected to be a playmaker in a 3-4, then why did the Jets give him a $15 million bonus and $5-7 million a year in salary the past three years???? That is what is odd. You pay for performance and DEs that are paid that much money do more than occupy blockers. The Jets should have demanded he renegotiate after his horrible 2005 season, which was a preview of things to come for Ellis. I don't get why Ellis continually gets a pass on this board when he has clearly underachieved as much as any player on this team.
So now we're blaming Ellis for not giving money back? If you think he's been paid too much, then blame it on Tannenbaum, not Ellis. Ellis gets a "pass" because he does what he's asked to do. He hasn't underachieved. Infact, 10 sacks in two years as a 3-4 DE is pretty good. But, "playmaking" statistics are useless when reviewing the performance of a 3-4 DE.
What Hobson got on his OLD contract is completely irrelevant since he is a free agent. It's all well and good that he made 600K last year, but if you want to keep him around next year, you're likely looking at a 4-5 year contract worth around $3-4 million a year. That's a lot of money for a LB who can't get to the QB.
good insight Deviljets, but i dont think we can let hobson go and cut barton, we need to spend our money on the OL and not finding another servicable OLB/ILB
That's a fair point. Unless you think Hobson's a long term starter at LB, you're probably better off keeping Barton at his $3.2 million base salary for 2008.
Thats what I mean, and Hobson is not a long term guy imo Barton is a safer bet, and so we need to keep the cheaper guy as they are about equal, and i think we need to keep Barton for one more year, and next year if his play does not improve, he can go then.
Well if this is true, than Vilma is a lock to come back. I would certainly agree with cutting Eric Barton. He's a solid player, but he's making quite a bit of money IMO. I'd like us to resign Hobson though. Give him a shot at ILB or on running downs in the rotation duty, but not a full-time starter.
i'd like that too, that is, i'd rather keep Hobson as depth while still trying to upgrade via FA or the draft. the problem is, he may want to be paid like a starter especially if he can start somewhere else.
My opinion is that Hobson goes. It all comes down to contract status. He is going to want a 3-4 year deal (minimum) & a decent amount of money. He's had plenty of playing time here to convince us whether or not we want to keep him here long term (like we all feel about Kerry Rhodes). He hasnt convinced me. If we can sign him cheap for depth & spots to rotate in every so often, I say keep him. But not for the $$ that he is going to want. Vilma MUST be traded (my opinion). He doesnt fit the 3-4. He wont want to play safety. Get what we can while we can. Next year he is UFA & gone. We'll get nothing. Trade him for 2nd round pick. Eric Barton has 1 year left. Granted, he is overpaid, but I think they will keep him for the final year of his contract. I think the FO will treat him like they did w/McCariens who had 1 year left + was overpaid (but he is not as bad a J-Mac). Same thing w/David Barrett. Barton is a better fit (not great) at ILB for the 3-4 than Vilma or Hobson. So he is one of those "can fill the position now" guys.
LT was an All-Pro from his rookie year. Even if Hobson turned it around tomorrow he wouldn't be another "Taylor".
I don't think that Hobson warrants a big contract from anyone. Like I said I think if we let him go the Pats will give him a decent contract to come in and play middle linebacker. Whether he can play at a high level in the middle is yet to be know.
Maybe Ellis will be moving to LB, that was one of the expirements they did after the Bye week. Apparently they like the results. Now you have Harris, Ellis, Thomas.....Maybe you're confident about bringing in Terrell Suggs, or drafting Shawn Crable.... maybe they are high on James Laurinaitis....
Why do people only focus on that one play of the guys entire career? He has actually been one heck of a player for us over the past few years, and has recieved minimal, if any credit. I would actually be quite dissappointed if we shipped off Barton.
No offense intended, but let me get this straight. Ellis, who is known as a pass rusher and who was paid a $15 million bonus and $5-7 million a year from 2005-2007 is not overpaid and is doing "his job" when he has 12 sacks in the past three seasons as a DE. Yet Hobson, who is not known as pass rusher and has been paid $600,000 a year for the past 3 years and who has 9 sacks in the same three year period, should go because he "can't get to the QB." This is no knock on your analyis of Hobson. He maynot be worth $2-3 million a year. It is, however, a tremendous indictment of Ellis. Someone explain to me what Ellis has done or is doing for this team besides taking up space and cap money?????
