So now that the draft is finished, here is how the team looks: Offense QB's: Hack, McCown, Petty (in Alphebetical) Discussed ad nauseum. Looks like an open competition, McCown has the advantage, but I think Petty can beat him out. RB's: Forte, Powell, Romar Morris, Elijah McGuire. The tandem of Forte and Powell was decently productive last year, both receivers were +1,000 yards from scrimmage. So its understandable the Jets decided to stick with them again. But if one of them goes down the running game gets very weak. It would have been nice to grab a younger runner in the draft. TE's: Austin Sefarian-Jenkins, Jordan Leggett. Surprise! The Jets now have the makings of an actual TE core! Watch Leggett be named the opening day starter. WR's: Decker, Enunwa, Anderson, Quenton Patton, Charone Peake, Ardarious Stewart, Chad Hanson: Devin Smith is gone, Jalin Marshall will miss the first 4 games and is on the bubble. But the Jets really infused their WR core the last few years. Very interested to see how these guys develop, and this bodes well for a projected pass heavy offense. OL: Kelvin Beachum, James Carpenter, Wes Johnson, Brian Winters, Brandon Shell, Ben Ijalana, Jeff Adams, Brent Qvale, Craig Watts, Donald Hawkins, Jonothan Harrison, Dakota Dozier: Given that they currently have 12 OL on roster, and with the exception of a few drafted players the 17 class was mediocre, I can understand why the Jets decided to pass on OL this weekend. Maybe they like the development of some of the young guys and think the OL coach can train them up. I'd like to see them bring Mangold back. But I dont think it will happen. Defense DL: Mo Wilkerson, Leo Williams, Steve McClendon, Sheldon Richardson, Claude Pelon, Mike Pennel, Deon Simon, Laurence Thomas: Sheldon is possibly traded before OTA's, but its a good starting core and some decent depth. LB's: David Harris, Darron Lee, Jordan Jenkins, Lorenzo Mauldin, Dylan Donahue, Julian Stanford, Freddie Bishop, Corey Lemonier, Josh Martin, Frank Beltre: Really wished they could have taken a better pass rushing LB in the draft. The Jets need for Lee to grow into his 1st round rank and for Mauldin to rebound in a big way and begin sacking QB's. Maybe Kevin Greene can figure out a way to clone himself. CB's Morris Clairborne, Buster Skrine, Juston Burris: Marcus Williams, Nick Marshall, Dexter McDougal, John Ojo, Daryl Roberts, Jeremy Clark, Derrick Jones. I have a feeling about Jeremy Clark. He looks like a starting CB stolen in the 6th round because of the ACL injury. Again alot of depth here, but some major question marks. Need a few of these guys to develop. S: Jamal Adams, Marcus Maye, Rontez Miles, Doug Middleton, Ronald Martin, Calvin Pryor, Marcus Gilchrist: Transformed the back end of the defense overnight. I think they will keep Pryor. He wont get much trade interest and his cap hit is a managable $2.7 million. The Jets get no cap relief by cutting him. Give him one more year to develop, but no longer be reliant on him. Gilchrist is gone. The Jets take a $2.7 cap hit but free up over $4.6 million by releasing him.
What about Lawrence Thomas, DL? He showed a lot of promise last year before he was injured. Also what about Firkser, the FB from Harvard they signed as a UDFA, and the kid from Syracuse who was the nation's leading PR? Don't you think they'll be on the roster? AFAIK we don't have anyone decent to return punts.
Didn't include UDFA's yet. Don't know if any of them will even stick till beginning of OTA's. Though I know you like your fullbacks.
Actually, I'm not that big a fan of FBs. My posts have just been a response to what the Jets have said was their plan for this season, i.e., to get a FB to help the rushing attack. If they had drafted a power RB, or a TE that is a crackerjack blocker, then a FB wouldn't have been as necessary. Since they did none of those things, I would expect that they'd keep the FB. Failing that, the offense will probably fail to pick up first downs or TDs on 3rd/4th and short.
Lawrence Thomas gave us a lot to be excited about in the tiny amount of time he was on the field. I was screaming at the TV for the Jets to pick up Sam Rogers, FB, Virginia Tech with one of those 6th round picks, but I understand Firkser is actually pretty good, and is significantly bigger (6'2", 246). I am a big fan of fullbacks. I played linebacker in high school and I got to meet a few....
I understand the Jets not drafting a FB. They usually aren't drafted, but am very surprised that they didn't sign more than one FB for competition' sake, but after seeing the roster that Pulsejet posted, I guess they have a lot of young players that they want to see, and can only have 90 players so, it's a matter of numbers. I would be curious to know if they tried to sign Rogers, or just thought the Firkser kid was better, or better fit what they plan to do.
OK, thanks. I didn't pay any attention to the bottom of the draft aside from seeing who the Jets picked.
You can have 90 players on the roster until around August 30th when you cut the roster down to 75. Then around September 5th you can cut the roster down to 53. So the undrafted free agent will be at the OTA's.
Team @ 90 when counting draft picks and UDFA's QB - 3 SAFE - Josh McCown, Christian Hackenberg, Bryce Petty RB – 6 (9) SAFE - Matt Forte, Bilal Powell IN THE MIX - Romar Morris, Brandon Wilds DRAFTED / UDFA - Elijah McGuire / Anthony Firkser WR – 13 (22) SAFE - Quincy Enunwa, Eric Decker (unless traded), Robbie Anderson IN THE MIX - Deshon Foxx, Frankie Hammond, Jalin Marshall, Quinton Patton, Charon Peake, Myles White DRAFTED / UDFA - ArDarius Stewart, Chad Hansen / Gabe Marks, Brisley Estime TE – 6 (28) IN THE MIX - Braedon, Bowman, Brian Parker, Austin Seferian-Jenkins, Eric Tomlionson, Jason Vander Lann DRAFTED / UDFA - Jordan Legget OL – 13 (41) SAFE - James Carpenter, Brian Winters, Brandon Shell, Wesley Johnson, Kevin Beachum, Ben Ilijana IN THE MIX - Dakota Dozier, Craig Watts, Jeff Adams, Jonothan Harrison, Donald Hawkins, Brent Qvale, DRAFTED / UDFA – 0 / Jaravius Leamon, DL – 12 (53) SAFE- Sheldon Richardson (unless traded), Dion Simon, Mohammed Wilkerson, Leonard Williams IN THE MIX - Brandon Bryant, Anthony Johnson, Steve McLendon, Claude Pelon, Mike Pennell, Thomas Lawerence DRAFTED / UDFA – 0 / Jareid Combs, Patrick Gamble LB – 13 (67) SAFE - Jarvis Jenkins, Darron Lee, David Harris IN THE MIX - Frank Beltre, Freddy Bishop, Randell Johnson, Cory Lemonier, Josh Martin, Lorenzo Mauldin, Julian Stanford DRAFTED / UDFA - Dylan Donahue / Austin Calitro, Conor Harris Corner - 12 (79) SAFE - Justin Burris, Morris Claiborne, Buster Skrine, IN THE MIX - Bryston Keeton, Nick Marshall, Dexter McDougal, John Ojo, Daryl Roberts, Marcus Williams Drafted / UDFA - Jeremy Clarke, Derrick Jones / Xavier Coleman Safety – 8 (85) IN THE MIX - Calvin Pryor (unless traded), Marcus Gilchrist, Ronald Martin, Doug Middleton, Rontez Miles DRAFTED / UDFA - Jamal Adams, Marcus Maye Teams – 5 (90) K – Ross Martin / Chandler Catanzaro P – Lachlan Edwards LS – Tanner Purdum / Zach Triner The number above includes the draft choices who are not yet signed but their numbers add to 90 Known Tryouts – anyone getting as deal pushes someone else off the roster. Dane Evans QB / Dylan Haines S / Toby Baker P / Kevin Malloy OL / Rashad Dillard EDGE / Darius Victor RB / Kevin Kenton OL / Keevan Lucas WR / JaBoree Poole LB If 2016 is anything to go by a lot of tinkering at the bottom of the roster between now and start of camp
The thing about having a fullback is they help set the tone of the team. There is nothing as awesome as a fullback blowing up a linebacker to bust open a whole for a decent gain. Sure they are part time players but 3rd and short comes up a lot. Also the west coast offense usually requires a fullback. Powell & Forte are both good pass blockers and can help but neither are lead blockers. Not sure if we can find one but we need a guy who can smash you in the mouth & go out for some sneaky little passes. Maybe Howsare, Vander Lann or Firkser (Harvard) but I doubt it Looking forward to see if a few players have improved in the off season guys like Roberts (CB), Shell (RT) & Middleton (S)
Maybe I am a homer, but that does not look as bad of a roster as people say. Big if, but if the Jets get even average QB play, they can have an okay season. No excuse to go 2-14 or anything like many are suggesting.
Talk about young and unproven team.... yeesh. And I thought the Oregon Ducks roster was thin. I hope Macc's luck improve this year!
Guys, these are the Jets. When you think they will suck they surprise and play "nearly" good. When you think they have a good team and can make a run they disappoint. Wouldnt surprise me if they go .500 this year. The offensive line needs to play decent, but I think with Powell and Forte catching passes out of the backfield and now having a pass catching TE the Jets should be able to sustain drives. I think Leggett and Enunwa are a decent redzone threat pairing as well. And the defense is nearly set. They need more sack production out of their blue chips. Williams had 7 sacks last year. Mo had 4 last year and 12.5 in 2015. If both of those guys have good years (8-10 sacks each which is very doable) the defense should be very good. I think if the rookie DB's take away the over the top stuff the pass rush should improve. If Mauldin and Jenkins become decent pass rushers then the Jets are in business.
For me (and based on a lot of other comments here) the Jets have some quality but in other areas we are really unsure at this point I will take a position by position look at what we have based on opinions here, the media and my own. Quarterback While there is a lot of uncertainty about the future I think the QBs on the roster are the ones we go into battle with in 2017/2018. I remember last off-season the thread was Fitz Vs Geno with a lot saying that they did not trust Geno and Fitz had to be better – many others felt Fitz’s 2015 was a blip never to be repeated – outcome we were all right for various reasons. Fitz stank it out but Geno got injured due to bad decision making!! In reality this year we want one of the young guns to win out in the camp battle for the starting job – personally I really don’t care which of Hack or Petty shows up but one needs to. Ideally we would see a lot of Hack to ascertain exactly what we have – is he a potential long term starter or a total bust? At this point we have no insight and probably won’t until we get into late July – until then all talk of tanking the season is premature. Hack has all the intangibles and was not thrown out to the wolves last year. A good pre-season and a reasonable early schedule could potentially see him gain confidence and begin to be the prospect from his first year under O’Brien once again. Just as possible is a total dud throwing inaccurately and leaving us hoping we get the first pick so we choose as the Browns have so much ammo next year they can trade up to the No.1 spot easily. Petty in limited action showed he was one tough sun of a gun – stood in and was brave although his ability to be our starter is still a massive ? – we need to see during later July and pre-season if he is over his Madden fixation and looking at real life game reading. How he handles the new Offence will be interesting. Josh McCown – a true journeyman who also has trouble staying off the injury list. In 2015 he was beginning to rip the Jets D apart when he got dinged at the 1 yard line and ended up being replaced by Manziel. The Jets went on to win the game but I’m not sure what could have happened if he stayed in. If he starts then we are in trouble as the youngsters will have disappointed IMO Running Back We have 6 RBs on the roster at present with 2 [Forte & Powell] looking like locks to make the team and the draftee [McGuire] looking at the third spot. Forte is slowing down but can block well in pass protection and still has enough gas (I hope to be effective). In all likelihood he will be spelled on a 50/50 basis by Powell who again last year showed that he is more than capable of being involved heavily in the rotation. Both have good hands and add complexity for defenses looking to defend the Jets. Both Morris and Wilds have chances of being stashed on the practice squad but almost 0% chance of taking a slot amonst the final 53. We will probably carry a FB/H type this season to fit into the new Offensive scheme we will run meaning that Firkser or Harris [who has much more versatility] has a shot at a place in the the final 53.
Two guys made me respect and realize the value a FB can have back in the day, Tony Richardson (the guy who forgot how to spell JETS) and Mike Sellers a FB for the Redskins, a good FB can help a lot, whether it's picking up Blitzers or getting in the second level to pick up a LB or Safety for the RB, can't argue against having a good FB.
