Contracts could keep jets from improving: expert

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8:47 AM, February 1, 2012 ι By BRIAN COSTELLO

INDIANAPOLIS -- Fixing the Jets won't be so easy if you ask Michael Lombardi.

The current NFL Network analyst and former league executive said he doesn't think the Jets have enough payroll flexibility to repair what ailed an 8-8, dysfunctional team.

"I think the Jets are tied together by a lot of guaranteed contracts," Lombardi said Tuesday. "I don't know how you could ever go about fixing it. If Santonio [Holmes] is on the team in [February], he's guaranteed the next year. I think whenever you have a locker room controlled by guaranteed money it's tough to fix."

Lombardi, who has been critical of Jets coach Rex Ryan's style, said he expects the Jets to talk plenty about repairing the locker room, which blew up at the end of the season, but actually doing it is another matter.

"Fear does the work of reason. If you can't put fear into the players that they're going to lose their jobs, it's tough to reason with them," he said "I think it's going to be a very, very tough locker room to get handled. I think it's going to be a lot of easy quotes in May and June and August, but I think once the first bump in the road comes when things don't go good, that's going to be the true test."

Like many people, Lombardi said he believes Ryan needs to change his ways. Lombardi said Ryan's constant praise of his players has a detrimental effect.

"I think you have to be honest with the players," he said. "I think they want you to be honest. I think you have to be honest with yourself. I don't think you can go in front of everybody and say you're the greatest team in America and you just got beat. I think you have to be more critical. I don't think that's a sustainable paradigm.

"He's in the last week of the [season] and he's talking about if we just get in we'll win the Super Bowl. Is that really realistic? I just think it's going to be a really hard job for him to change the team if you don't change the players."

As for quarterback Mark Sanchez, Lombardi said the Jets need to revamp their offensive personnel in order for him to flourish.

"I think if they want Mark Sanchez to be a great quarterback they need to have a blue-chip running back around him," he said. "If they want to be ground and pound, then you can't be ground and pound when Dustin Keller can't block anybody. It's tough to be ground and pound when everybody knows the tight end isn't going to block anyone. So now you have to substitute to get the blocking tight end in. Oh, by the way, they're going to run the ball now that [Matthew] Mulligan is in the game. Why don't we just put up a red flag and say we're going to run it? I think they have to change their roster to suit that. I'm not sure Shonn Greene is the guy who can be the blue-chip running back."

Lombardi, who last worked with the Raiders in the league, did not reserve his criticism for the offense. He also said the Jets defense is overrated.

"That's the biggest misconception about them," he said. "[Ryan] talks about the defense when he doesn't have a blue-chip player in the front seven."

And the idea of the Jets getting Colts quarterback Peyton Manning if he becomes a free agent?

"Where are they going to get the cap room from?" Lombardi said. "Look at what they did last year to the team with the idea to get Nnamdi. They guaranteed Bart Scott's contract, which they tried to cut him at the end of the year until they found out he has $4 million guaranteed. They guaranteed Calvin Pace's contract so he has to come back."

After getting done ripping Ryan, Lombardi also took a shot at general manager Mike Tannenbaum and how the Jets have drafted lately.

"They've had 13 draft picks, nine of them have been spent on running backs, wide receivers and quarterbacks and you'll hear the GM at the next press conference talk about how Ron Wolf told him to draft a quarterback every year," he said. "That's worked out well for him, hasn't it?"

Ouch.

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