I'm definitely not a frequent poster but a few observations about the team and it's offseason. 1) I don't mind the loss of Jones, he's lost a step or two and while reliable health wise he get's his bigger runs these days on holes the offensive line opens up that my grandmother could run through. Not a knock on Jones but he's getting up there in age for a RB and he's very slow to the hole as he's lost a step. Greene and Washington, assuming Washington doesn't bolt, are perfect for me at RB. 2) I love the Cromartie trade. With Ryan to get him to man up and return to his previous form I think this gives the Jets on paper perhaps the best Cornerback combination I've seen in my 48 years. 3) Getting a 4th this year and a 7th next year from Rhodes is a good deal in my view, I've not been happy with Rhodes play this past year, he got lazy. Though this does weaken our Safety corp. 3a) To strengthen our safety corp I do believe we should move Lowery from Nickle back/CB to Free Safety. Lowery does lack the step to cover man to man on elite wideouts in the league, but at free safety he wouldn't need to line up man to man except perhaps in 4 wideout lineups, but no team has 4 elite wideouts, few even have two. Lowery has demonstrated a nose for where the play is going and being at free safety would allow him to play the ball rather than having to play the reciever, and playing the ball is one of Lowery's strengths. His size isn't that important in that role either as a free safety usually plays back from the line and away from the runs. This of course still leaves us lacking a strong safety, a man who can cover the opposing TE and play against the run. In my opinion this would need to be addressed through the draft or via trade for a physical Strong safety 4) and this probably should be #1 on my list, but...the team absolutely must obtain a pass rushing DE or OLB, I'd prefer DE myself. The team must be able to generate pressure with only a 4 or 5 man rush and not have to depend on 5 and 6 man blitzes all the time to generate any pressure at all. 5) The team needs a slot receiver with good hands and size. 6) the team needs to get some depth on the OL and an extra RB would be nice as well in case Greene or Washington goes down with an injury.
Thanks for a competent opinion/recap of the off-season so far. Beats the hell out of another "Shuld We Get (insert name of over-the-hill vet/recently cut sex offender/recently cut alcoholic/Olympic swimmer/cartoon chicken here)". Post more often!
Nice post man, agree with most of it. 3a) We have the man whom you described; his name is Eric Smith. Not a great cover guy, but a strong guy with good football instincts. Perfect for stuffing the run and covering a TE. When he started over Sherry this past season, he proved himself admirably up to the task. I would like to get another cover guy before I'm comfortable with the group as a whole though. 5) I'll take hands over size, we need another Chrebet. 6) We need a vet RB with a guy coming back from injury and another guy that seems to always be injured.
Good post, I agree with that we need another pass rusher, I just think it needs to be a LB not a DL. In a 3-4 that is where your pass rushers usually are. I wouldn't mind the Jets picking up Greg Ellis to add some much needed depth to our DL group.
For someone who claims to be an infrequent poster, you could have fooled me. Agree with everything you wrote-well stated.
I thought this thread was comeone complaining about their seats for the new stadium next year. Like the observations.
Fantastic post...please post more often I agree with everything except needing a big slot receiver...I'm in the small shifty elusive camp on this issue
Great assessment, just a couple of points I have concern about 1) While I agree letting TJ go was wise, nevertheless we must look critically at GREENE, and LEON. We are unsure what kind of backs we really have, and while I LOVE the way GREENE runs and carries the pile, he was a little too oft injured for my comfort zone, Same with Leon, we don't know what we have in him yet (though I'm Rooting for him and hoping he hasn't lost too much of a step) we simply don't know yet, thus I say pick a sound back in the draft for sure/for depth. I have no interest in free agent has beens.... 3a) I think with your suggesting of moving LOWRY is a great Idea, I think we can safely rotate Smith, Leonhard and Ihedigbo, without too steep a fall off..... I would trade D. Coleman for a strong safety and save a draft pick 4) Im satisfied with the way we blitzed last year, and don't think this is a big need as you (just sayin 5)Slot receiver, I would be happy with a rotation of ole L.Coles, and rotate in Danny Woodhead sometimes, he seems to have that Chrebet protoype going for him. 6)O line depth for sure.... this can come from the draft Once again, nice job on the needs list, I don't think many of us are far apart on this thought process....:up:
A talented edge rusher is always a nice addition, and we certainly could use some more talent at DE. But I think people are failing to account for the return of Kris Jenkins in this regard. Anybody worried about our pass rush needs to go back and watch film of Jenkins busting through two blockers like the monster truck that he is. Going into 2010 with Jenkins, Ellis and Devito starting on the line and Calvin Pace and Bryan Thomas at OLB, I think you can count on a pretty strong rush. We might not have anybody with a ten sack season, but that's not something Rex Ryan really does, Suggs has only passed 10 2 out of 7 seasons. We've got 4 or 5 guys who will probably end up in the 5-12 category instead. And as unpopular as it is to say, it really is bad strategy to count Gholston out after two years. If we didn't have Calvin Pace, it'd be a little different, but as is, he gets another year. You just can't give up on investments that quickly. The fifth item on your list is what I think the Jets will address with a first or second round pick. Edwards and Cotchery are a strong starting duo, but Edwards needs to be more consistent hands-wise if he's going to be a long term solution, and anyway, you have to be more than 2 deep at wideout to have a strong offense. I'm hoping for the Jets to pick up Jacoby Ford from Clemson, he's blazing fast and was always, always open when they needed to make a play. He's the player that Clowney becomes in the pipe dreams of Jets fans. Jones leaving is the only thing I question about this teams direction. It's amazing to me how many people want to denigrate his performance after a 1400 yard season. Greene might be a better option to start next year, but that doesn't mean there isn't a role for Jones to play on this team, and balking at a 5 mil salary after the season Jones just had isn't the sort of thing that keeps player morale high.
Nice post/thread. I'd like to see us add depth at DE and OLB, with the latter being the pass rusher we so desperately need. There are no more pressing needs than at those 2 positions, although if we lose Leon, we'll desperately need a new RB.
I'm Of mixed mind on Smith, I've not really seen enough of him in that role. I'm of the mind hands and size and we have a hands guy in Jerhico. However, I may be a tad bit prejudiced as I do like a good vertical game. I'm not so concerned about the injury status of Greene, but could be wrong. But I'm still not worried about losing Jones. Jones season was misleading in my mind when you look at total yards gained. But again that's just my opinion on the matter. Jones served us well, but football in the end is a business and it was time to let Jones walk. The fact he signed with the Chiefs and didnt get much in the way of offers from other teams should tell a big part of the story on Jones.
