I see a lot of posts here complimentary of how Mac is handling winning now vs winning in the future. People's belief is that he is basically improving us right now but not at any cost to the future, because the big contracts he is handing out to aged veterans don't lock us into anything long-term, so we can just cut them later, when they are no longer useful. But locking a team into long-term contracts is just one way to screw it over when it comes to building for the future. There are others. Essentially, by trying to be competitive right now, and going with the veteran approach, you are not going to be developing young players the same way as a team that has its eye more to the future. Take our QB situation. Fitzpatrick is having a relatively nice year, but he is a 32 year old journeyman, and will be going nowhere. If we weren't so focused on winning right now, we could've given Geno another year to show improvement and possibly establish himself as our QB for the future. Despite all the bitching about him around here, we still don't know for certain that he is a bust, because he actually has improved from year 1 to year 2, and has shown improvement in year 3 in very limited time (Oakland game). Yeah he took some dumb sacks, but he finished with an 87 QB Rating, twice as many TDs as INTs, and overall had a fairly decent game in a difficult situation. But now we are going to give up on him just because we are trying to compete now, even if that's ultimately going nowhere. Same thing with other positions. Look at linebackers. We are playing ancient guys like Pace and Harris, terrible players like Demario Davis, and so on. Why? Because they are established veterans with a good understanding of the system, and in Harris's case, good production. They are the safest bet if you are trying to be competitive now. But they are not the solution long term, and we are just losing time. It would be so much better to insert younger guys with unproven potential (Mauldin, Reilly, etc) and see what they have. That's a riskier approach, they might make mistakes or not work out, but there is also the promise of finding good young players and developing them, which is much better long term. In the secondary, by signing Revis and Cromartie, we are taking playing time away from guys like Marcus Williams, MacDougle, and whoever else younger and cheaper they might have gotten had they not went the expensive veteran route. And why? Even if Cromartie was not absolutely terrible, him and Revis are not going to be a part of any long-term plan, so why waste time on them? Just to be mediocre this year?
1. The league now mandates that the team spends at least a certain amount of salary floor. Jets spent well below that floor the past two seasons - they had to shell it out now. I am not making this shit up. 2. If I could have it my way, I would have paid Mo up front this year - but Macc didn't see it that way. So be it. 3. Don't think like this team has budding young stars waiting in the wings across the board. The talent level has been rather pathetic. T-Bomb literally nuked it, and John masterfully fucked the draft. Ask Geno. 4. If you think this team is competitive, I suggest you check your definition of competitive. Last time I checked, Jets looked mediocre. And I rejoiced at the sight of it. You can look that up - I am not shitting ya. When your team stays at the bottom for so long, the team has to learn to be mediocre before it can dream of being a competitive contender. Jets are on the way. Have a little patience.
I love how everyone thinks we should be building this young team from the ground up.....This isn't baseball or basketball there's 16 games and its a win now league ....A lot of the top teams in the league have a mixed roster of veterans and younger players...Without the additions Mac made we would probably be 2-6 just like last season.It takes to many years to draft an entire roster of starting players at every position and really isn't realisitic in a league where everyones under pressure every year to keep there jobs
The best player on this team was picked 30th overall. The best young QB in the league was picked 36th overall. Screw tanking, lets win some games and scout/draft/develop well. Marcus Williams had limited PT earlier this season but it doesn't look like that's stunted his growth at all. He's showing to be a stud
As soon as I saw you were advocating another year for Geno to start I stopped reading. Not including special teams we have 22 starters. Giving Geno another chance to fail miserably means that we fail to develop or evaluate the other 21 starters or any backups. 1. Without good solid veteran leadership you will never be competitive enough to see what you have out of your other guys. 2. Just because Geno is not starting does not mean that he isn't getting reps in practice, watching film, learning from Fitz or being given other chances to develop. I think you just want to watch the world burn.
Macc also invested in younger guys like Skrine and Gilchrist. We have a lot of youth in the pipe line. Pryor goes down, Miles come in from the practice squad and does a good job. Cro goes down and Williams come in. Rieley and Mauldin are getting a lot more reps over Coples and Pace. Geno would have started if not for IK, and would have came in mid season if not for Fitz. Geno's still on the team and will get his shot. Actually, Parcells was the HORRIBLE at playing the young guys. He never met a rookie he liked. Rex was right behind him. Bowles is moving younger guys in a lot this season and hopefully will continue.
McDougle and Marcus Williams, I don't see them being #1 on the CB depth chart ever. Cro you may have a point, but not Revis. As expensive as he is. As for Geno, well all you need to know is they would rather start an injured Fitzpatrick over Geno.
Mac is the best thing the org has gotten on board IMO Bowles needs to get better; maybe call tom coughlin for some pointers We have the weapons to be less conservative Mr Gailey
I disagree w/ the OP. It's much harder to develop young talent in this market when the young talent is directly in the spotlight. This fan base simply is incapable of showing the least bit of patience with young players.I believe it affects the players development as well as confidence; FURTHER it affects our long term success b/c the owner cowers down to the fans & media at the first sign of criticism. It's much better to let these young players be stashed away on the depth chart for a couple years, contributing where their strengths lay, & learn from veterans who have been there. They can take their lumps & learn their lessons in practice w/o SOJF's calling them a bust & to cut them, the first mistake or bad qtr of ball they play.
The real question is whether the Jets would have been better off investing the money they put into Revis into keeping Mo around instead. I think both are too expensive at the price but it's unlikely they can keep both at this point and Revis money is guaranteed.
This was the issue I had with the Revis signing initially. Keeping Mo is possible, but we need to make some roster adjustments and contract restructures. Mo is easily, the best defensive player the Jets have.
What a moronic post. The owners cowers to the fans and media? Really? Woody is a GREAT owner who doesn't do anything like that.
There's competitions in camp for a reason. If you're the best player at your position you start. We don't bench Calvin Pace because we want to see what Trevor Reilly can do in the future, you play your best players possible to give the football team the highest chance of winning.
You don't develop a TALENTED YOUNG CORE of players in the NFL. This isn't baseball or the NBA. You try to remain as competative as you can while buying yourself time. Macc used free agency and the draft to fill holes. If he'd has one of the first two draft picks, his philosophy might have changed. But he didn't.
What the OP is basically advocating is that we need to go like 4-12 for a few years with a rookie squad until we get good. I don't think it works that way.
See, I don't know if you are trolling here or not. - Playing Fitz is taking snaps away from Geno? Good. I wish we could take all the snaps away from Geno. I know you think we don't know whether he is a franchise QB but from my perspective, he isn't. So long. - Playing Revis is taking snaps away from Marcus Williams? You realize you are talking about one of the two or three top corners in the NFL and a surefire hall of famer playing near the prime of his ability? And you want him to sit to give snaps to some rookie scrub? - Revis is signed for six years with basically three years fully guaranteed. He isn't a part of our long-term plan? He is signed for more money and years than basically the entire rest of the defensive backfield. The coaching staff has other avenues to evaluate young players. They don't need to play them in actual games for us to evaluate them. Players who earn time in practice will get to play in games. You either trust the coaches to do that or you don't. If you don't, you want new coaches, not new players.
Rebuilding takes time, and we cant start youth all at once. Stopgap veteran starters like Fitz, Harris, Pace and Cro are valuable to a young players development, they need guys who have been there before to take the pressure off of them to succeed immediately and provide a baseline for them to work towards and eventually surpass. Its usually really ill-advised to put EVERYTHING on a rookie early on. Plus putting veterans first doesn't necessarily mean forsaking a youth movement. hell those two overlap quite a bit… waddaya call a 26-27 year old thats been in the league 4-5 years anyway? We're bult to win-now as a playoff contender, but we've also got a good amount of youth to look forward to as well, I do see the problem so long as we don't trade draft picks.
