The Quarterback “Developer” Deep Dive

The biggest issue with a Defensive HC is there will NEVER be consistency at the OC position no matter the scenario or outcome. If the offense struggles, rookie QB struggles, team struggles the OC is going to be replaced. If the offense excels, team excels, young QB excels, then the OC is going to be a top tier HC candidate. Either way you’re looking at the potential of revamping the entire offense time and time again. It’s a losing formula for developing a young QB. If the HC is offense oriented, bo matter how many coordinators he goes through the philosophy and terminology remains the same for the QB. Ben Johnson was arguably the best OC candidate, DET is still a top 5 offense overall without him. They haven’t skipped a beat.

The art of defense in the NFL is long gone. Saleh gave it away long ago when he was here, but the truth is most defenses run themselves. You can easily turn a defense around in this league because it’s completely plug and play. Long gone are the days where every team’s defensive strategies were wildly different. 46 D, 3-4, 4-3, 4-4…. Most now are Nickel base like 80% of the time playing a bend don’t break style hoping that a talented pass rusher can force the throw early and result in a turnover. Old school Rex defenses that intend to not only stop you from scoring, but stop you from moving the ball altogether at all are antiquated. There really are not any defensive genius coaches anymore, that moniker has been strictly held to offensive coaches lately.

 

Good post, thanks for that info.

I think you hit the nail on the head before even listing out all the deep dive research. You can kind of just tell when someone has "it" right? Some people are born to be NFL QBs, others are born to try and fail at it. There's not much you can do to overcome that (see: Wilson, Zach and Fields, Justin). If a guy doesn't have "it" then no amount of great coaching is going to matter. So that's your first and foremost issue, finding the right guy. Then the infrastructure comes into play and as you pointed out it goes far beyond the head coach, I'd argue the head coach is one of the least important parts of developing a QB unless he's also the offensive playcaller, designing/installing the offense, running film sessions, etc. To me the OC and positional coaches matter infinitely more.

And how it relates to us... the tape is very kind to Engstrand. Execution has been god awful. Is that because we have terrible players or are they not being coached well? I'd say it leans a whole lot more former than latter, and this is a rookie offensive staff as well that in theory will only get better. I expect us to feel pretty good about Engstrand barring catastrophe after a few games of Tyrod making very routine NFL throws, something we haven't seen all year from our former starter.

 

Agree…I’ve expressed it as the QB needs to have that “innate skill set” on the soft stuff…they are born to be a QB.

I think it’s very hard to develop some of these “feel” things like pocket presence, route awareness, fast processing, reading a D, accurate ball placement…they kind of all go hand in hand, and you see it when QB’s “throw the receiver open”…its a combo of understanding the D, knowing which routes will work, accurately placing the ball, etc. Of course you need to practice those things…the QB and WR have to be in full sync and read the field the same way, but those skills are innate in the QB or else they will most likely never be there.

It’s why a guy like Fields has to wait and see the receiver open, and then use his strong arm and mobility to try and get the ball there. This can work fine in college, where even in the SEC the QB is not playing a defense made up of 11 NFL guys. In the NFL, the competition is infinitely better, and those things that got him through college aren’t enough in the NFL. Same for Zach.

And it results in what we see on the field…indecisiveness, too many sacks, holding the ball, inaccurate throws, etc.

 

Fuck man...that was WELL DONE! Just started reading but wanted to give you pat on the back. Look, I'm not a dick, just sick of losing and, for as much as I talk about it, I'll never bleed anything but Green and White. Somehow, somewhere or some time, they'll get it together. I just HOPE to high hell I'm alive to enjoy it at least once! lol

 

Outstanding research JV. Well done. Thanks for the effort. Your results beg one big Question on my mind. Why oh why it seems to work across the league for most time sooner than later, except for a few losers like the Jets, the Browns and may be the Saints as of late.

 

Everything lining up.

Sanchez - right guy, semi-right staff, wrong front office. Completely dismantled the team around him until he was broken
Geno - maybe the right guy, wrong staff, wrong front office
Darnold - right guy, wrong everything. The single biggest fuck up by the organization, ever.
Wilson - right coach (MLF), wrong guy, wrong FO

Then you look at historically competent franchises that rarely experience QB droughts and it all starts to make sense.

 

So the question really begs to be asked...

HOW do WE, the fans, FORCE the NY Jets to operate like one of those franchises? Totally rhetorical question, of course. We already know the answer for that one and I'm just waiting for the Epstein Files to be released. Wouldn't shock me in the slightest if that shitty little loser, Woody, is in there a few times. That'll FORCE the hand of the NFL to make that scumbag sell! (Hey, I can hope can't I?)

For as much ranting as I do about our QB situation et. al., if you really want to tune me up, show me a bunch of fuck ass Steeler fans whining about being in the playoffs or above .500 year in and year out.

 

Nothing we can do

Unfortunately

The only thing we can realistically do is boycott the team…don’t go to games, don’t buy gear, etc. Empty seats or stadiums full of visiting team fans can send a message. Not that it would hugely impact Woody’s bottom line because I think the bulk of the revenue comes from all of the broadcasting revenue sharing stuff, but I assume stadium tickets and concession sales would at least shine a light.

If we could, we should all just say fuck this team and choose a new one that is much better run, but fandom is such a weird thing…you grow up with a team for whatever reason…your dad or mom loved it, you used to go to games as a kid, whatever….and they can suck for years but it’s hard or near impossible to let it all go.

A rational decision would be to say, hey I would like my team to win, my team is run by a clueless owner who has no idea how to start winning, I think the odds of winning are low, so let me go find a better team…

But fandom is not rational, it’s emotional, and it is what it is.

Most of us on here are here because we love this team, so hard to imagine really walking away from it

 

You cant. Thats the unfortunate truth. It would take something catastrophic like what you referenced to overthrow the textbook old rich white owner.

So in many ways the NFL is just like any other job.

 

I've often wondered what Sam might have turned out like if MLF could have gotten his paws on him right from the beginning. I kind of liked a lot of his offensive concepts.

I'm not even sure Darnold's coaches let him down "that" much. I mean they did per se but I think with Sam the biggest problem was that he just had absolutely no help. The personnel around him was not only league worst it was fairly bad by historical league-worst standards. It was an absolutely routine scenario for him to try to be running a pass play, have none of the league worst skill players open and the OL already beginning to collapse before the ball even touched his hands. Hard to make chicken salad under those conditions.

 

Great work JV!

Good QB's are born and not made for the most part. They can also be ruined by lousy coaching too. Right place, wrong coach happens way too often with the Jets. Dowell Loggains, Nate Hackett or even his dad Paul.

Since its apparently a lock that Mougey will draft a QB in '26, we can only hope the curse lifts and this kid won't suffer the same fate as his predecessors....

 

Draft a QB early in 2026.

Draft another qb or two early in 2027.

Play the numbers game. Increase our odds. The Jets need to think outside the box.

 

I have a question for you. Have you been watching what's going on in Cleveland this year? And that's with two guys who weren't taken in the 1st round. I think you need to quantify what you mean by "early." If this team, moronically, takes a 1st round QB in 26 AND 27, that will be the single most stupid waste of resources ever. That will rank up there with some of Matt Millen's drafting in Detroit. Drafts which are legendary all for the wrong reasons.

If this team drafts a QB in the top 5 this year they'll have to wait at LEAST 3 years to see if it even pans out. Draft another kid in the top 5 in 27 and you'll ruin them both.

 

Thanks JV ..Can’t wait for the Draft lol. Actually nice job at tracking the Leagues more successful QB progress and development

But sad reality is the Organization has always sucked !! Draft exceptional talent but “there’s nothing we can do”

Just depressing for 5 or 10 more generations of Fans till Woody croaks

 

The flip side to having a defensive minded head coach is that a good defense is often helpful to a young QB.

we saw it with Josh Allen, he was a wild mess early on. But they would win games 14-13. The defense kept things together until he figured out how to play QB. The defense bought him time and it helped him play close games

 

and to be fair to Allen, an offseason of very hard work before the start of the new season, that has to be respected, he went and improved his faults and got better and then in his 3rd season he truly shone and hasn't really looked back despite some times the rest of the cast not looking top notch.

 

As this is QB related and I didn't want to start another thread (which is unusual) I saw some interesting stats regarding deep throws over the season to date.

https://x.com/Doug_Analytics/status/1991309059673248021/photo/1

Looking at QBs with 50+ attempts through weeks 1-11 Taylor has thrown the highest % of deep balls of any QB whereas only a handful of QBs have thrown fewer deep balls as a % than Fields

Frustrating to see the QB with the second highest score in terms of throwing catchable deep balls is Darnold (as I said at the time - should've kept him rather than drafting ZW).