Other than quarterback, I think the biggest limiting factor to this team could be the offensive line. There are enough bodies at receiver and cornerback that I think the Jets will be fine. While I'm not all that worried about the line, there is the chance it falls apart and the quarterbacks get killed as a result. Brick and Mangold are getting older, Colon is limited and injury-prone, Winters is a question mark, and Giacomini is average and new. The Jets must have kept Aboushi, Campbell and Ijalana around because they thought they had chances. All were young, and all are wild cards since we've barely seen them play. I like Dozier a lot as a developmental prospect to plug in next season. Dalton Freeman could compete for a job as a backup center. Caleb Schlauderaff is Caleb Schlauderaff. The optimistic view is that Winters steps up and plays to his draft status, one of the young players replaces Colon and is an upgrade, and Brick and Mangold play like themselves. The pessimistic view is Mangold is merely good and Brick falls to average or worse, and guard is a turnstile all year. Or if one of the two pillars comes down with an injury and the young kids aren't ready/good enough. So what's the confidence meter like in the offensive line?
I am glad somebody brought up the O-Line because looking at the current roster it is the one spot that I think could potentially be our biggest weakness. RB we are great. WR got alot of help. TE should be good. The QB play should be better with alot more weapons. Our front 7 on D should be very good again. We have signed so many corners that the odds are 2 or 3 will play some solid ball. Pryor should really solidify our Safety position. The OL though is extremely thin and all it would take is an injury to Brick or Mangold to give the Jets big problems. We need a young guy to really step up. Winters has taken alot of criticism over the last year but I will say this for the guy. He was a 3rd round pick out of Kent State the really had no business starting yet, and he started all 16 games. At the very least he now has some experience under his belt and hopefully will be able to improve upon last season. Dozier is a project. Any time you get a guy coming from a D-2 school, it's going to take some time.
I think we should definitely be a priority next year, possibly with a high draft pick. OL and CB are probably our two positions that need players to step up this year. Loosing Slausen hurt, and I'm not terribly confident at RT coming into the season. Colon is at best an OK stopgap, Winters (I know he's developing) had a painful season last year. There's only one season after this that we're on the hook for a lot of money on D-Brick's contract, and he's certainly been declining recently. We need to find long term answers in the OL, and fast. Especially with a young QB, we're really risking it. Hopefully we can pick up a good LT candidate high in the draft next year that we can plug in at RT until we can keep or cut D-Brick. We desperately need one of our guards to step up.
The jets kept all those rookie OL players on the roster for the entire year last year. They must have done that because they think those players have the potential to become good players and were afraid of exposing them to the waiver wire to get them on the practice squad. To be honest, we don't really know whether we have a lack of depth on the OL or not, but I suspect its not as bad as you might think. I guess time will tell.
This is pretty much how I see things at this point. Aboushi and Campbell were both clearly drafted as late round projects last season. There was no reason to believe that Campbell would make the transition from DT to G in one season and Aboushi was raw and likely to have early adjustment issues to the NFL. I think the Jets depth at OL is ok to good going into 2014. If one of the mainstays gets hurt they'll be challenged to replace them but that is true of any NFL team. I particularly like the number of guys they have competing at the two guard slots. Odds are good they have better guards than they had last year.
I suppose the upside is that there seem to be enough bodies to make for a good competition. The downside is that we really don't know whether any of these guys could fill in as an effective replacement if we lost a starter. It's a bit scarier having so many unproven prospects at OL than it is at WR or CB because if you wind up with a Wayne 'WTF' Hunter situation it can kill the entire offense. I wouldn't be surprised if that debacle was a major part of why Tanny is no longer an NFL GM. Although I am very happy that the Jets finally look to be building their team through the draft rather than going for the big FA splashes, OL is probably the one spot that I wouldn't mind them splurging if they see that the need is there. It's the one unit on the team where you really are only as good as your weakest link. If one of our starters goes out for an extended time and one of our unprovens gets the nod, he's going to have to be on a pretty short leash. If they see another Hunter situation developing they're going to have to do something to fix it quickly, not just slap a band-aid on it and hope it gets better like Tanny did.
I think just by adding some offensive talent, the line will look much better than last year. Having quick dump options should take some of the pressure off.
I agree that OL is a worry coming into 2014, and it's flown largely under the radar. It's also interesting when you consider our offensive strategy. The whole league knows Rex likes to run, and we have the RBs to run a lot. Ivory, CJ2...throw in some formation fakes with guys like Amaro as a TE in the slot to pull a LB out in coverage and then running to the opposite side...we could be running the ball quite a bit. Even in Amaro doesn't excel at blocking from a standard 2 TE running formation (which he could be fine at, but he wasn't asked to do), you can have him block like a WR in the slot on a LB, and give a bit more space on the second level for someone like CJ2 to run into. So, we have an O-line that I think can do some decent things in the running game with the formations we can throw out there; this year defenses will have to respect our TEs as pass catchers and hopefully our WRs on play action as well. Between running the ball and play action to some decent WRs, I think our O-line can handle the running game; it is no longer dominant running the ball like when Faneca was here, but hopefully that part of our game in 2014 is solid. Then you have pass protection on throwing downs, where we all start crossing our fingers. In a MM offense, with more weapons and (hopefully) improved QB play- we could be throwing the ball a lot. We won't be doing the West Virginia offense where Geno is throwing 50+ times a game, but still. Do we get so bad that we start running more plays out of the shotgun (or the pistol) just to give Geno a shot to get the West Coast Offense timing plays off before he gets killed? My one O-line hope for 2014 is that we are good enough up front that we aren't making THOSE types of decisions come week 4.
I'm not really too worried about the o-line. Sure Brick and Mangold are 30 and up but linemen don't age as fast as a CB. Both of these guys can play another 7-8 years easily. Winters struggled but will improve. I guess that a couple of years from now, you might have a top need on the line. However, looking at next year, I see WR, CB, and LB as being bigger needs. I see other positions as likely bigger. At this point, I'm mostly `wait and see what happens` when it comes to the o-line.
While hoping for the best (that Dozier's able to move inside to LG), I am concerned with the OL particularly at guard. Optimistically, I'm going to assume D'Brick and Breno will be able to hold the fort at LT & RT. RG: Willie Colon's injury history is always going to be a concern having had two season-ending injuries (achilles, torn bicep tendon). LG: Brian Winters, let's face it was rated 3rd to last performance-wise among guards in 2013. Big concern there. As for the subs who were drafted and sat last year (Aboushi and Campbell), while it's too early to make a call on Campbell switching from DT to G, the Jets 2's were lousy in training camp and preseason (right Mark Sanchez?) and imho I'd be surprised if Aboushi shows improvement that would warrant him a roster spot come opening day vs. the Raiders. Imo, he's a lead-footed clod who plays upright and bends from the waist trying to get his mitts on the defender. I really don't like this guy's package--he's just not NFL 'athletic' enough. Further, I was hoping they could've grabbed LSU's G Trai Turner, a quick-footed mauler with the #80 pick in the 3rd round (and taken their chances of picking up the injured [forgotten?] CB Dexter McDougle with one of their 'multi' picks in a later round. Patrick Ford? An twice cut training camp body. ….oh Dozier, I hope you can move inside. Right now the starting OL has a hole at LG which could very well impact the one-year-older Mangold/D'Brick left side of the OL. Beyond that though, heaven help us should any of them go down because I only see 'meh' at best (Caleb) to replace them. Dalton Freeman's a slightly undersized but promising reserve center who was having a good camp before gettin injured but he's not the answer outside the ball (G,T) as a fill in.
The o-line was underwhelming last year. It's hard to pinpoint why as there were a few potential root causes. Hopefully the additional experience at LG and QB helps to solidify things. The Jets should definitely be looking to bring in some big time young OL talent next offseason as brick, mangold and colon are all north of 30 and the rest of the bunch is average at best.
Confidence meter in current OL? Shaky at best. Caleb whatever his last name is should be cut as he has shown nothing. I thought the jets had a good 2014 draft, and the only error was reaching for McDougle in round 3 when OL Gabe Jackson was available (who Oakland took with the very next pick). Jackson, ranked 30th best player overall by nfl. com, is a mauler who I thought should have gone in round 2. McDougle, ranked 256th best by nfl.com, would have likely been available much later. Interesting the jets took McDougle so early since he was ranked 256th and, you guessed it, 256 total players were drafted this year. I hope McDougle makes it big with the jets, and I like their overall draft, but I agree with you that the OL looks shaky and the jets missed a chance to add one guy who I think could have helped. My opinion only.
The only reason to be worried about the o line is because there is alot of unknowns to fans. The f.o. seems to think they are ok based on the lack of attention it received this year. I am gonna take a wait and see approach before I let it worry me
Of course part of it was Winters and part was Colon, but I think another large part was that the O was on their third offense in three years and that includes switching from man to zone to man and turning over 3 OL starters in as many years. They have had as much consistency as champ after cheese fountain day at Golden Corral. At least this year they are in the same system for a second year with 4 returning starters.
Good post Joe. I'm concerned with the quality of our depth. Dozier will not be ready, and who knows about Campbell. Aboushi totally looked like a stiff, i agree. He was brought in to play OT, and i believe that experiment may be over soon. our only backup OT of note is Ijalema, with 2 previous ACL tears on the resume. none of the backup OG's can play C, so we'll need to carry Freeman or Caleb as well. Then there are the starters. At OG, we need better play out of Winters, and at least another decent season from Colon. I'm not sure on Breno's pass block abilities, and am still not sold on that being a lateral move from Howard. There are currently more questions than answers on this squad imo. one weak link can really derail a season. addressing the Oline was more important to me than addressing receiving options. I fully expect next year to add a quality lineman in FA, or with a high draft pick (or both).
Very concerned. If Brick continues to slip and Winters doesn't get it together that side will be a train wreck. No idea about our RT as well.
This is a valid concern. I hope some of our remaining cap space this year will be dedicated to shore up the Offensive Line. I expect some good names to become available during roster cuts.
