Well, we only have one draft to go on. We also haven't seen how Brick plays this year. If Mac handles the draft like he did this year, he'll go BPA in the 1st then address needs, although they could have had Smith or perhaps some of the others rated as the BPA at that point of the draft. If Brick plays badly this year, then Mac will be forced to change his modus operandi unless we got lucky and the BPA at our pick is a LT. If Petty's ready, I would hope and pray that Mac wouldn't be stupid enough to throw Petty to the wolves by not having at least a solid LT. If Petty isn't developing or isn't ready, then he may decide to let Geno or Fitz take a beating. Brick's cap charge next year is $14,107,000. I don't see any way the Jets will pay that unless Brick plays lights out this season. I can't see Brick taking a huge pay cut, either. It doesn't matter if they cut him pre- or post-June 1, they can save $9,093,000 against the cap, but will incur a $5,014,000 dead money hit. I think he's a goner unless I'm wrong and he is still playing well enough to be worth and is willing to play for $7-$8 million next season. In addition, Mac could always trade down so that their 1st round pick was an LT and he is the BPA at that spot.
We don't know that for certain. We only have this year's draft to go on. There wasn't a critically desperate need and perhaps no other team was willing to pay value to move up to the Jets' pick. If Brick blows chunks at LT this year and Petty is developing, I can't see Mac going BPA and taking a CB or something and throwing Petty to the wolves. He'll either have to trade down or up and get the Jets' new LT or he'll be forced to reach out of need. I think the former is more likely than the latter, but can't see the team paying Brick $14.1 million next season unless he plays lights out this year.
Here's a scenario I can easily see playing out: Leonard Williams is everything we think he is this season. Wilkerson then gets traded for a 1st round pick plus whatever else we could get in the deal, and we draft both our LT and RT of the future in 2016. Boom, o-line rebuilt.
I love Wilkerson as much as the next guy, but now you've got a lineman who's about 5 years younger than Mo, potentially better, and on a rookie deal for at least 3-4 more years. You turn what was diminishing returns on a position into a 12-15 million (or however much he ends up earning per year) dollar cap savings PLUS an extra productive player or two (if Mo could fetch multiple picks) on rookie deals. Have to see how the year plays out obviously, but that would seem like a no brainer to me. Just another example of why you always draft for the best player regardless of who currently plays that position. It gives your team the best flexibility moving forward.
Read this on ESPN - actually may be a way to dela with difficult roster decisions (not dissimilar to the Shaq Evans one last season) Dee Milliner, the forgotten man. It's a shame he has to be labeled this way, but we all know the NFL is a "What-have-you-done-lately?" business. The New York Jets' former first-round pick suffered a devastating Achilles tendon injury last season and watched in the offseason as the team signed not one, not two, but three cornerbacks -- Darrelle Revis, Antonio Cromartie and Buster Skrine. Milliner, who went into last season calling himself the best cornerback in the league, now faces a training-camp battle to keep his roster spot. Darrin Walls and Marcus Williams backing up the Big Three. And don't forget about former third-round pick Dexter McDougle, who has returned from knee surgery. "It’s going to be some tough decisions," Rodgers said. "It’s a lot of good football players on the back end." One scenario that looms as a possibility is putting Milliner on the physically-unable-to-perform list to start the season. By rule, he would have to sit for the first six weeks of the season, but he'd be eligible to start practicing after Week 6. That would buy him more time and it would save a roster spot. The Jets are in a good position because, with their high-priced reinforcements, they don't have to rush him back. Would be a way to keep an extra player if they feel appropriate
He needs all the work he can get in the preseason it would be a shame for him to miss all of that and the first 6 games. There's no way he's getting cut this early in his career. They may keep all 7 if one or even two can also provide safety depth and what not. Revis, Cro, Skrine, Milliner, McDougle, Williams, and Walls is my order. I'd say Walls is the most likely candidate to be released if we keep 6.
Nice thread, I was thinking about creating something like this myself ... so thanks for doing the work for me! I was watching the Jets-Bears week 3 game from last season that I still have on DVR, and I noticed some interesting things. First of all, other than a couple bad picks, Geno Smith had a pretty good game on the Monday Night stage. He was working with terrible receivers who dropped some untimely balls, Decker was hurt, and he still threw a real nice TD pass to Kerley that had Jon Gruden raving ("big time pass from Geno!"). He threw for the most yards in the first half by a Jets QB since Pennington in 2006, and he really looked poised, confident, and in control. He led us to 14 unanswered pts at one point and almost rallied us to a victory. In fact, we would have won had it not been for some terrible calls by the refs; one in particular that negated a TD directly. They were also talking about how we almost beat the Packers the week before, so we easily could have started the season 3-0 instead of 1-2, and who knows how the rest of the year might have gone. Also, on D, David Harris and Demario Davis played great, and clearly Harris is far from done. Now I know why Mac's first move in FA was to re-sign him. He may not be the fastest LB, but he's quick, smart, and makes plays. Antonio Allen also had a great game, even though they had him playing out of position to try to mask the CB deficiencies. He's an underrated player and might have a big year now that he's back at safety. Overall, our team looked better than most of us remember, even with a decimated WR corps and secondary. We should be much improved in all aspects this year.
6'4" 220 pounds. Excellent size. Was supposedly a good prospect coming out of junior college, but never did much at GA due to chronic hamstring issues. Probably is just a camp body. I don't know anything about his hands or speed, but love his size. I can't even remember when the Jets have had so many taller, big-bodied WRs. I may actually root for this kid over some of the stiffs that Idzik drafted last season.
He made an impression at the rookie minicamp as a tryout player. It must've been a good one since we have so many young WR's already.
