Both our HC and GM are absolutely obsessed with the trenches. Where has it gotten us? As Jets fans, I think we overrate the importance of having an elite OL due to the Rodgers injury last year and general QB ineptitude. Good QBs not only shift protections, they also get the ball out quickly to negate bad OL play. We haven't had a truly good QB in probably 20 years. The point is that a lot of what we've considered to be terrible OL play pre-Rodgers was just as much terrible QB play disguised as terrible OL play. Beyond that, a QB going down for the season in this scenario is based on two hypotheticals - losing your starting OT and then subsequently losing your QB specifically because you lost that OT. Believe it or not, those two things happening in the same season is extremely rare. It's not smart to plan for outlier events. It's more likely that Fashanu contributes very little to the team this year than it is that we lose an OT for the year and then Rodgers because of that OT. The game is won by having a good QB and as many weapons as you can on offense.
Really is a pointless discussion. The Jets will more than likely not know what they have in Olu for another couple years. The speculation as to when Smith goes down and whether Olu steps in and amounts to much, this year, is just that speculation. It's a better than average bet, that when Smith goes down, Olu gets schooled. A LOT. Just the way the position is. As far as TE goes, let's ALL face it, the Jets, historically, have been a HORRIBLE Tight End team. Not sure why but it just "is." It's the same issue as they have had with QB's. The Jets have never "home grown" a QB from the draft on. Just isn't their thing, and I, as well, do not know why. You want defense, well...outside this year's shitty D-Line, but, you want defense...the Jets are your team. Offense...nothing. Outside RB, this team's track record is spotty. Every once in a while they get it right (see D'Brickashaw, Mangold and a few others) but usually, when it comes to offense and the draft, they miss far more than they get lucky with someone like G. Wilson.
I disagree with your statement. Best teams that go deep in the playoffs have superior lines on both sides of the ball. Not to mention till now we never had shit. As it stands right now we have some pretty damned good set of weapons with Hall, Allen, Wilson, Williams and Conklin. We would be even better with Bowers but Ole will anchor the line for the next ten years.I just hope we don’t need Ole this year. Our Achilles heal for now is our D AND WE NEED TO GET IT FIXED.
He may be but his obsession has been misdirected.... Until this year its one bust, a young promising but oft injured player, Old injured dudes, and a couple of well maaaaaybe in the future. and no, this doesnt mean I'm anti-Bowers (actually was for him) but it's hard to hate on the OT selection given the past few years (not to mention the shitty use of TEs by the current OC)
I said it during the draft and I’ll repeat it now. Drafting someone as depth with a top 10 pick in a win now year is as dumb as you get. Bowers was an impact player day 1 and just imagine how much more that would open up the offense for Breece and Wilson if defenses had to account for yet another weapon.
I get both arguments but I heavily leaned tightend. Remove the “win-now” thing from the argument for a second and it’s not like Bowers doesn’t help the Jets beyond this year, he just also helps them a lot more this year than a tackle does. The fact that the Jets can’t find a single starting offensive lineman that’s decent beyond the first two rounds is very alarming and why we ended up with JD feeling like this was the right pick. Not for anything but I’m also not encouraged by Tippman. He looks like a more natural guard since he seems slow off the ball which is a bad sign for a guy trying to play center. Still plenty of time for him though.
As always the issue is there aren’t enough picks to go around. Sure the Jets can use a Brock Bowers talent - we all knew he was a great talent. The problem is so was Fashanu and LT was just as much of a need. I know they signed Smith to start but never bank on a 32 year old staying healthy the whole year. Fashanu will prove himself a great talent too and when he does get on the field full time the fans will be happy we took him.
Is this the little interweb box where I type the absurd and unfair point that the canned ham throwing him all these balls is Gardner Fucking Minshew. I didn’t make that up. Pretty sure that’s his real middle name.
Yeah, that’s the real point - he looked exactly as he did at Georgia. Like, now. Meanwhile, we picked the OT of the future to protect the QB of the future who, by the way, we don’t yet have. So, by the time we eventually, and hopefully, get peak-Olu, the QB we acquired to win NOW will be winding down his career and we’ll have the blind side of Christian Hackenberg Part Deux locked down. I just dribbled excited pee.
I’m sorry but anyone drafting a TE with a top 10 pick when they have the worst offensive line in football and all their eggs in the basket of keeping a 41 year old injured qb healthy is a moron. Not drafting bowers was the right call, however, I’m not sure Olu was the right tackle. I preferred others. We’ll see
He might, but I'd rather not have to speculate as to whether my #11 overall pick will even see playing time. Bowers is on pace to have about 500 receiving yards a month from now btw.
What's really moronic is drafting a guy who hasn't even played yet when this team's window is literally only this season all built around an aging QB. You need Weapons for that aging QB and you need them today. Not next year or 3 years from now. You're either all in or you're building for the future but you can't do both. Which one is it? Pick a lane and stay in it. Clearly this basic concept continues to allude the idiotic Joe Douglas. And by the way, you never pass up a sure fire HOF prospect for a guy that "maybe" will be that caliber of player one day. GTFO. Bowers was the right call every day and especially on Sundays. This will be another in a long line of what coulda been for the Jets.
Let’s walk through this history of the obsession. He signed an aging veteran, Khalil, to be our center. Dude abruptly retired and we were left with Jonathan Harrison as our center and our tackles were Beacham and Shell. He drafts Becton and signs Fant. Reasonable at this point to expect Becton to be solid, and Fant was a quality signing. Following season Becton gets hurt, we signed Moses and had a decent LT/RT combo with Becton in the wings if he could get healthy, the following season could be Fant/Becton/Moses as your trio of Tackles. This period was the only time under JD’s tenure where the Tackles were better than competent. But JD gonna JD, he lets Moses and Fant walk without an offer from us because he’s so cocksure about Becton . Becton doesn’t return, ends up out for the season again. So, he signs Duane Brown at more money than Moses got in BAL and our starters end up being Brown and Ogbuegiwhatever the hell his name was. Then, even better, he now triples down on Becton and decides that the trio of Becton, Brown, and Max Mitchell will be an adequate Tackle trio. Brown of course gets Rodgers killed and the rest is history. Now he’s making that same gamble with Tyron Smith. The difference is this time he actually has a quality player in the wings if/when Smith or Moses goes down. Id vehemently argue against your notion that JD is obsessed with the trenches. He’s taken every shortcut imaginable and stubbornly stuck to Becton when it was as clear as day Becton was a real issue. This is the first season where I can confidently say he actually took care of the line, and with a 39yo QB he has no choice but to ensure the OL is solid no matter what. Bowers is a wonderful player, you can’t argue that drafting him would have been bad for us. But there’s real validity to us making sure we have a strong and deep OL this year.
You are only looking at offensive tackle for some reason and forgetting he traded up on multiple occasions for linemen (Tippman, Vera Tucker, Johnson) the statement was "both our HC and GM are absolutely obsessed with the trenches. Where has it gotten us?" Joe Douglas has had 5 drafts and has taken a linemen in rounds 1 or 2 every. single. draft. sometimes 2. and where has it gotten us? Most of those linemen picks have been busts. People argue about the importance of a TE with Bowers, but Guard is even less important, and this GM traded back into the 1st round for Vera-Tucker, who, lets hope he gets through a full season sometime...
