After a day spent cooling off, I've got a much clearer picture of the Jets intentions on draft day. I don't love it and I don't hate it. Overall, I don't think it did much to upgrade our roster all-around, but it was better than awful. The Good OFFENSIVE LINE- Both D'Brickashaw Ferguson and Nick Mangold are instant upgrades on our offensive line and will start immediately. This saves us from the possibility of starting a very average Trey Teague at center. Teague and Clement would have been poor starters but now they are excellent depth, with both being able to play multiple spots. The new line is athletically superior to last year's unit and the Jets have four solid young starters now in Ferguson, Jones, Moore and Mangold, and Kendall is an above average guard and provides veteran leadership. A frail unit is now a strong unit. OFFENSIVE EXPLOSIVENESS- Mangold and Ferguson upgrade the athleticism and mobility of the line, as I've stated. Jones moving to right tackle gives us an above average athlete at the position. Leon Washington will give us an athletic option and will probably serve as a weapon in the short passing game, like Schottenheimer utilized Tomlinson in San Diego. Brad Smith could give us an exciting downfield option with his size and speed, and they will probably find ways for him to contribute immediately. We added two possible home run threats. Character- We drafted a bunch of choir boys. While the talent level might be lacking, all of these players are competitors who will show up every sunday and who will be comfortable filling an assigned role. I think Brad Smith actually WAS a choir boy. We drafted far less athletically talented players than the Bengals did but we didn't pick up any of the issues that might come along with them. Coachability- With the exception of "Titties" Adams, all the players we drafted seem smart, disciplined, and coachable. Besides filling roles, each will be able to pick up the scheme and execute it on Sunday. NEGATIVES Nose Tackle- The Jets waited until the end of the day to address the DT situation. Particularly, they drafted a guy who is poorly conditioned and seems like a non-effort character. Dewayne Robertson and Sione Pouha will probably alternate on the nose when we go to a 3-4 set, and the both of them need to do a much better job than they did last year when it comes to holding at the point of attack. They may be making the same mistake Herman Edwards made when he first came here, changing the scheme and not garnering the necessary personnel to make it worthwhile. Athletic Limitations- Schlegel hunts wild boar with a knife, that's impressive, but it won't do him any good chasing backs outside. If he was only a depth pick, and ditto for the safety from Michigan State, why did we make those picks so early? If not, will he be able to overcome his lack of quicks and succeed? Value- I know this is overrated, but the picks were of terrible value. For all the moving and posturing we did, a few of these guys could have been had later on. We probably would have done well to spend a latter round pick on a guard, as Kendall isn't getting any younger. I don't think there were many teams jumping all over themselves to get a sometimes starter h-back from Wisconsin. Darnell Bing or Ko Simpson wouldn't have been superior to Eric Thomas, who is too John McGrawesque when it comes to injuries for my liking. Overall, I think this was an ok draft, but I am not thrilled about Kellen Clemens, the lack of athleticism, and the disregard of the nose tackle position. I think only time will tell, and I will find solace in the fact that the offensive line seems set for quite some time. -X-
I actually love the Kellen Clemens pick. We needed a QB, and I did not want Lienart, or Young. For the record I think lienart may be a bust. We'll see. I would have been happy with Cutler. But if it meant giving up Mangold I would have to say absolutely not. Thats why I love our first 3 picks. We got a good prospective future starting QB while giving our Oline a nice upgrade.
i too like the clemens pick very much...ron jaworski almost came out of his chair while talking about him...and as far as value,clemens was awesome value when you consider he came with an additional second rounder
Jaws got me pumped up about that pick. I don't follow College like I follow the pro game, so I can't evaluate the draft on that player personnal level. All I know is that I did not want to mortgage pur picks to move up. We filled a lot of needs in this draft.
I agree in a lot of ways, I would have liked to have seen a defensive tackle come off the board a bit earlier, and Eric Smith's injury history is pretty scary. To me, the fact that our offensive line is pretty much fixed makes it all worth it though. People complain that we didnt pick up exciting players, but there is nothing in the world worse than watching a team with a broken offensive line. I would think more Jets fans would understand that after watching last season (although I get the feeling a lot of people gave up watching last time around after the first few weeks). Its become very cliche to say it, but it doesnt matter who you have playing the exciting positions if you dont have quality on the lines. This weekends draft may not have added many sexy players, but I submit that Curtis Martin, Laveranues Coles, and Chad Pennington are going to look much more like their old selves this next season thanks to Ferguson and Mangold.
eric smith's injury doesn't scare me as much because, he'll be primarily on specials and will not be a full time starter because of the rotation we now have at safety
Didn't upgrade our roster much? A massive upgrade to the offensive line, a quarterback who according to multiple experts is good enough to start today and a potential 3rd down playmaker in Washington and possibly Brad Smith. You couldn't be more wrong. All the good ones were drafted early; you can't get everything you want in one draft. And don't tell me Gabe Watson. He didn't fall down the boards by accident. If you watched his tapes, he's a human battering ram. He'll be used in the middle to plug up the middle and blitz the quarterback, so chasing backs outside is not such a big issue. According to whose value chart? ESPN's? These teams do their own scouting, and they know which teams are talking to which players, so they know better than the casual observer whether or not a player is likely to last into the next round. Schlegel and Eric Smith, according to several scouting services, were rising rapidly leading up to draft day.
the goal of Mangini is to maximize talent and hide liability...like the Patriot style. That is why although some of the draft picks have limitations (all players do for the most part) I am less concerned than I might have been.
