Jay Cutler, that guy looks awesome. Oh that was a few years ago. Anyway, I would do the Darrelle Revis deal again just as they did it. This guy has been playing like a true top flight, shutdown cornerback. Darrelle Revis gives our defense the ability to be alot more aggresive. The guy just has owned his side of the field so far. Who would you have taken with the 25th pick, to play with Hank Poteat, Justin Miller, and David Barrett?
The Jets have gotten beaten like dirty rugs with Revis on the field since they drafted him. This is like the Champ Bailey argument all over again. Is Champ Bailey great? Yes. Does his team win a lot of games because of his skills? No. Defensive backs just don't have that kind of effect on the game unless everything else is in place too. Notice that the Patriots let Ty Law and Asante Samuel go. Washington had Champ Bailey and they let him go. Everybody let Deion Sanders go. When you see a good defensive back on a very good team who actually sticks around for more than a few years the odds are he's considered to be very under-rated. That's why he sticks around that long, because he's getting paid less than top dollar for about 90% of the peak performance of the superstars. When teams pay top money to keep that kind of person they're rolling the dice bigtime. The Colts put their money where their mouth was with Bob Sanders. The injury was unfortunate, but the facts are that if Peyton Manning was going to be hurting all year there was nothing Bob Sanders was going to be able to do to get the Colts into a dominant position. That's just not the role of a defensive back.
Gholston simply because he has the potential to be great and Bryan Thomas would not be playing like this if we didnt get him
I'm hoping the point you're trying to make is the front seven needs to be good to help the cornerbacks and I would agree with that. However, I disagree with you in the sense that you think defensive backs aren't that important. You don't think the Jets can do alot more with their defensive coordinator knowing that Revis is going to lock down his man. I mean, you don't think that had they still had a subpar corner playing Revis' position that they would have to get safety help for him.
Wasn't the conclusion we got from this point before was that you didn't know how the draft worked? Not only is Revis arguably a top 5 player from the '07 draft, but a shutdown corner is insanely more valuable than a G. And we drafted a front 7 player too...our best one last year actually...so no the trenches weren't ignored...they just weren't fixed instantly...your hindsight doesn't really change anything. Edit: Just saw that Bailey point. It's...hilarious...in so many ways.
Your argument though is that it was a Revis-quality CB or nothing. I think the Jets could very easily have gotten 90% of Revis ability at 50% or less of the cost, and that's what good teams tend to do.
Same could be said of G's. Or any other position. Kind of like us taking Bender... See picking them higher just kind of perceptively increases the chance they'll succeed...
When I said that TE could be a 2009 draft need, it was because my hindsight draft clearly had no Dustin Keller in it. In fact, I believe the first thing I said was "no trade for Dustin Keller." Then again, I understand how you can miss that and make such an unneeded, sarcastic, dumb comment, with your head that far up your ass. Moron.
Dude, I don't know why you are critisizing the FO for taking Revis with high draft picks. That is totally insane. We have a corner spot locked in for several years to come, assuming no injuries. Revis is a shut down corner. How often do you see that? We fixed two very important positions with two future pro bowlers, Harris and Revis in that years draft. If these two end their careers as Jets, then those two picks takes care of about 20% of the defense as pro bowlers. Add Rhodes to the mix along side Jenkins and pace, we may very well get 5 pro bowlers easily. Thats almost half the D to be Pro Bowl caliber. The best part is, they all young and have long careers (about a decade)ahead of them, Jenkins excluded. Can't get much better than that.. Ellis, Thomas and Lowery have been pretty good but I'm not gonna claim they will or will not make the pro bowl team. Think of it this way. If we are able to grab two pro bowlers a yr in the draft and keep them for their entire career, then we will have 20 pro bowlers on the team with in one decade. Though this is almost impossible, but its a way of grading the draft IMO. Did we need help at OL? Sure we did. But so did the secondary. Really I mean even with Revis in there, our FO worried who would start opposite (thank God Miller is out). OL was addressed in the FA. Thats what the FA is all about, to address your 'remaining' needs, not the needs you 'ignored' in draft.
Lets say the Jets have Lowery, (late round mediocre draftee) Poteat, Miller, and Barrett this year because they drafted a Guard at 25 (i.e. Blalock) in 07... the secondary becomes extremely weak. Then does the argument become why not Aaron Ross at 25? Or why doesn't the team have someone to cover the Moss and the Owens of the league? With each move, questions follow. The 07 draft is not a sole reason for 5-13. Even with a Guard to replace Kendall, that was a 5-8 win team. I feel your post is more of a Kendall replacement motive than anything about getting Revis. If the Jets would like to be known as the "Green Highway" then don't draft Revis.
Oh wow...tell me how you really feel. Rest of your post probably sucked that's why I over looked it. Anyhow back to the current conversation...remember when we had John Abraham and his ferocious pass rush(when healthy)? We had Donnie Abraham and Aaron Beasly playing corners for us, and teams ate us up passing the ball. We couldn't deny anyone from picking up a 1st down from 3rd and long situation. The corners would give everyone about 10 yards cushion. Thus, you can't just expect to put scrubs out there playing CB and still be a great team. To be a great team, you have to be balanced. When you have a great CB in your team, you can do more with your defense. Yes, a great pass rush does make CB's look better, but it won't be too long before the other teams figure you out.
to the point about a shut down cb 'changing the game', it really depends upon how much scoring power the opposing team places in a SINGLE star receiver. pats-moss, cboys-TO, saints-colston, jets-Keyshawn, etc. IF you can shut down an offense by taking away their 'best receiver' then yes, a shut down cb certainly helps. BUT...if the opposing offense has 3 or 4 'quality receivers', none of which are top tier stars, then taking away only one with your shutdown cb still leaves 2 or 3 quality receivers to domintate your secondary. jets-key-wc or jets-walker-toon were much harder to cover even with a shutdown smurf. and then there's the running game and special teams.
The PROBLEM with picking Gholston at number six is the unknown factor. He is a project going to play a new position and he has a tweener type build. TOO MANY UNKNOWS! Any pick in the top ten are paid HUGE sums of money to start, and that is start from day one. Any pick in the top ten should be a known factor and ready to play. Gholston is one of the highest paid players ion the team and he isn't playing. Personnelly I feel drafting anyone in the top ten is a waste. They get too much money and picks between 11-20 are just as likely to become good or great players. The Jets as a team has never had luck with picks in the top ten.
No, he's not. But he's clearly not responsible for any wins in that period either. Good teams draft players who are responsible for wins when they spend as much value as the Jets did on Revis. You can argue as much as you want about whether or not Revis is a great CB and I'm not going to dispute that. I will argue that great CB's don't win games though. They're nice to have around as long as you have all the rest of the pieces but they are probably the single piece that a great team is happiest letting go if they have to make choices. In that regards they should be one of the last pieces that a team trying to become great should add. Revis, BTW, is not as good as Aaron Glenn was at this point in his career. And Aaron Glenn was never the difference between a bad team and a mediocre team or a mediocre team and a good one. Aaron Glenn was a great corner, especially in his early years before teams stopped throwing in his direction.
You make some excellent points. Draft picks in the top 10 don't help the teams as much as become very expensive gambles. Players who don't produce end up eating inordinate amounts of the team's salary cap. And there is pressure to play guys before they are ready to justify their big paychecks. That has to be one of the biggest reasons that high QB bust - too much too soon. The current draft system just screams to be reformed in the next CBA. As for the Jets #6 pick, it is bad for the team having an expensive player like Gholston sitting on the bench. Gholston is the highest draft pick not yet starting. I think eventually he'll come around but you really need production from your top 10 pick immediately.
If we hadn't traded away our high 2nd round pick in the Thomas Jones deal, the Jets could have had CB Chris Houston and OG Justin Blalock with our first two picks in 2007. Both are starters for the Falcons now.
see thats not really a fair assessment of the jets drafting. just because players are starting for the falcons doesn't mean they are good. it means the falcons have nobody else, and aren't going out to get free agents so they are starting what they drafted. there is a reason a guy like gholston isn't starting for us right now for everyone saying he sucks because he doesnt play. he doesn't play because the jets have enough talent that they don't need to rush him in before he is ready. it can be looked at as a good thing that they haven't had to force him into the lineup yet. but everyone likes to be so doom and gloom about everything they just want to call him shit right away.
