2011 Starters: Santonio Holmes – 6th Year: Holmes is a tremendously talented receiver, the fact that he finished with one less reception then Edwards in 4 less games is a testament to his ability. He is a dangerous open field runner as he is able to use his speed and agility to make big plays. He uses his quickness and acceleration to run sharp and precise patters allowing him to create separation. He does tend to lose focus and drop some balls from time to time. He and Sanchez have developed a good chemistry and have been especially dangerous running the quick slant. Plexico Burress - 10th Year: The big target that Sanchez needs, but he comes with a lot of question marks. He is now 34, out of football for the past 2 seasons. Can his legs hold up and stay health for the whole season? He was always battling ankle and leg injuries before his shooting and joil time. Does he have enough speed and agility to create some separation? He looked great against the Bangles (many will), but disappeared against the Giants. I don't know if he will get back to form or not, but if he gets close, he will be an upgrade over Edwards, if not, the Jets don't have enough depth at WR make up for the lose of production. 2011 Backups: Derrick Mason - 14th year: On old veteran who is a great rout runner and soft hands. He replaces a fan favorite in Cotchery, but its hard to argue that Mason isn't an upgrade over Cotchery. Hopefully he will share his wisdom with the younger players. Excellent underneath receiver. Uses his quickness to get open on short routes. Has seen it all and can pick apart zone coverage. Tough player who knows how to take a hit. Age and injuries have taken their toll. Doesn't put on the moves and run away from defenders like he once did. http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/players/1409/derrick-mason Jeremy Kerley - Rookie: The 5th round pick of the 2011 draft. He did not have a blistering 40 time, but it looks like he has amazingly quick feet, able to stop and cut on a dime reaching full speed with his first step. Should be able to come in and contribute on special teams immediately as he was a great college punt return. He will need to spend some time working on route running, but has the potential to develop into a good slot receiver for the Jets. Strengths - explodes off the line and reaches top speed instantly. Possesses very reliable hands and quickly secures the ball. Has fluid hips and great lateral agility which makes him very difficult to tackle in the open field. Shows good vision as a return man and has the quickness to exploit seams. Willing run blocker. Weaknesses - Lacks the top end speed to stretch the field at the next level. Does not run refined routes and struggles to find soft spots in zone coverage. Gets sloppy with his footwork at times and loses momentum in and out of his breaks. He is undersized and will be pushed around by bigger corner backs on the press. Mardy Gilyard - 2nd year: Picked-up on wavers from the Rams, his game and size projects very similar to Kerley's. Mardy as a converted cornerback with above-average athleticism and fluidity. Shows great instincts, vision, anticipation, and quickness in the open field (helping him especially as a return specialist, but also as a wideout). Lacks top-tier straight-line speed and isn't a big, strong target for the possession game. Isn't a polished technician on his routes. He may get a shot to compete with Kerley to return punts and kicks, if he isn't able to beat out Kerley, it would not surprise me if he is released once Payne returns to health. http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/players/108647/mardy-gilyard Logan Payne: Payne is 26 (6’-2”, 208 lbs), and has been on the Seahawks, Chiefs and Vikings. From what I have read, he is a very athletic WR with good hands. He isn’t a deep threat, but is able to break free in traffic. He is also a willing blocker. Logan is an inconsistent and has trouble getting off the line in the DB’s jamb him. He is un-proven and inexperienced as an NFL player. He did show that he can be a contributor on special teams, which is why he is on the roster, so much so they Jets are carrying him even though he had wrist surgery and is not able to play for several weeks. 2011 Practice Squad: Patrick Turner – 2nd Year: Big possession receiver who has chemistry with Sanchez dating back to their college days. Has not had an overly productive start of his career in Miami, but showed some flashes with the Jets last season. Not going to be a deep threat, but his size could make him a nice red zone target. If Burress can not stay healthy or be productive, Turner may be brought back to the active roster to give Sanchez another large and familiar target. Outlook: Holmes is signed to a long term deal and he and Sanchez should become a fordable pair, as long as Holmes stays clean. The rest of the core will be mixed and matched in different packages. Burress gives Sanchez the big target that he needs. Mason replaces Cotchery, he is a solid slot receiver who should help the younger players learn how to play the position. Kerley has the ability to develop into a nice slot receiver who is dangerous after the catch. Gilyard has similar ability to Kerley and Payne has decent size but is more valued on special teams. I am not overly comfortable with the overall depth of the position, hopefully the unit can stay relatively healthy throughout the season so that they will not have to be tested. I feel that Turner will return from the PS at some time this season, and I was surprised that McKnight was not signed to the practice squad, I would have though that was a guarantee!
Good write-up, I guess the only thing is to ask what every Jet fan's gonna have to answer for the next few months and that's who do you want back personally if it comes down to Braylon or Santonio?
I think the Jets need to sign them both, even at the expense of brad Smith The sum of Edwards & Holmes is greater than Holmes or Edwards plus whoever they get in replacement. And Cotchery is no longer a valid #2 option. He's much better as a #3/slot type receiver.
Cotchery is clutch, and will be a Jet. I know he had some out of character drops, I agree he's a good slot receiver.
Nice write up. not enough credit for Holmes, who is the superior receiver. I thought u said this was long?
WR is an interesting position for us next year. We could have a thin and relatively average group, or an outstanding group, depending on how free agency and the draft are handled. I for one think that this area is where Tanny is going to take care of business and bring back Holmes and Edwards. I could also see a late round WR addition, or the emergence of Pat Turner as a very solid #4 (or #3 if necessary) on the depth chart. The "Flight Boys" trio of Holmes, Edwards, J-Co is outstanding. Sanchez will be able to do some special things with this extremely talented group in his third year, second season with the trio, and first 16 game regular season with the trio intact (hopefully). I understand the tricky salary cap situation that we are in with Harris and Cro (and Smith) up for deals as well as Holmes and Edwards, but I see Edwards being signed because he is still a very good value for us. Although all the beat writers seem to agree that Holmes is the priority over Edwards for the front office, I think that our ability to sign Holmes is more a factor of the market than our ability to sign Edwards. Holmes could receive huge money, OR his next-offense 1-year suspension could be enough of a deterrent to keep him within our budget. Edwards is less valued (perhaps rightly so) around the league. Edwards was absolutely superb for us from the DUI forward. Do not under-appreciate his contribution when this offense got rolling towards the end of the year. He was the ultimate team player both at practice, and on the field, and he stepped up his playmaking quotient drastically.
Braylon would be much harder to replace, and he's showed his ability to make big plays late in games like Holmes did No one on our roster can physically dominate a CB like Braylon, not to mention his contribution to the running game with his blocking skills I'd rather look for a WR similar to Holmes elsewhere IF we had to let him go Braylon needs to stay, and this offense was pretty good before Holmes came a long let's not remember that
He had a critical drop in 4 of our 6 losses this season (key drop vs. Baltimore, several vs Green Bay, couple in the Miami game, and a big drop before Sanchez' fumble 6)
I know he had a lot of drops this year. My point is that it was very uncharacteristic of him and he never did that when he was the #2 guy. It's possible that not being in the game on a normal schedule contributed to his mental break downs (drops).
Wilson yes, the other guys no but who's to say we can't get a cheaper ILB? I would need to see a free agent list but I'm sure there's a guy out there that can play moderately well with Scott doing the dirty work freeing up lanes for him to make plays. Not as good as Harris but relatively well.
I don't get why people seem to give Bart Scott all this credit for Harris' success. As if he wasn't a beast prior to Bart Scott. We will severely miss Harris if he's let go unless we find a very good replacement. I understand the Ted LB'rs role and how he helps the Mike, but I don't buy into the any old Mike theory some seem to subscribe to here. If anything, the Ted is easier to replace.
Keller is basically used as a slot receiver much of the time as well. It's not ideal, but if we go into next year with Holmes, Cotchery, Turner, free agent/rookie slot receiver type, and Keller.. that's not a bad group of receivers for Sanchez to throw the ball to. Especially with Tomlinson and McKnight out of the backfield both having the ability to split out wide.
Maybe. There aren't a lot of good 3-4 ILBs on the market (Tavares Gooden? The corpes of Takeo Spikes?) I'm just very concerned about the cap next year. The Jets are at 118. If there's football and a cap of 140 the Jets only have 22 to play with, but, because of the increased cap spaces all teams will have, free agents salaries are going to go up 10% or more. Holmes and Edwards could easily cost 14 or 15 combined, leaving you cap space of 7. You might be able to get 4 million or so with a Sanchez restructure (leaving you with 11) and then you can free up about 11 by getting rid of Jenkins/Woody/Thomas and Taylor, but that leaves you with around 22 million but you have to replace six starters (RT, DE, OLB, ILB, CB, Safety) plus your nickel back and third tackle, and then add about six players at a bunch of positions for depth and special teams. It's a tall order.
