Jets About to Jump to the Next Level By Joe Caporoso | June 10th, 2008 The Jets aren?t a well know team personnel wise by most people who follow the NFL. If you went up to a casual NFL fan and asked them to name the first few Jets who come to their mind, who would they really say? You might get Pennington because he has been the quarterback for awhile, maybe Laveranues Coles because he has been around, and probably Thomas Jones because he was involved in a big trade last season. The Jets really don?t have any headline grabbing guys, which is both a good and bad thing. Regardless, watch for these Jets to jump their games to the next level on a hopefully much improved 2008 team and begin to receive some league-wide recognition. Kerry Rhodes - Rhodes has been snubbed out of being a pro-bowler the last two years because his name isn?t Lynch or Polamalu. #25 is now the unquestioned leader of the defense and being paid as one of the premier safeties in the league, which is well deserved. I expect the Jets defense to be one of better ones in the league this year and for Rhodes to be a large part of that. Watch for him to have a similar year to the one that he did in 2006 and finally get that well earned trip to Hawaii. Jerricho Cotchery - One the better young receivers in football, who nobody talks about. The guy was a big play machine in 2006, and then cracked 1000 yards for the first time in 2007. He is now the Jets #1 receiver, since he is basically a younger version of Laveranues Coles with more big play potential. Cotchery is extremely dangerous after the catch and capable of putting together a few monster games a season (All three versus NE in 2006, and vs Baltimore, Tennessee, and Cleveland in 2008). Last year he finished with 1130 yards and was second in the NFL with 13 receptions of 25+ yards. Look for Cotchery to approach 1300 yards this year, with his touchdown production raising back up to his 2006 amount or slightly more. Nick Mangold - Mangold was a pro-bowl alternate his rookie season but took a few baby steps back last year because he surrounded by a weaker line. This year he will have future hall of famer Alan Faneca lining up next to him, which will help tremendously on the field. Under Faneca?s mentoring, expect Mangold to become the best center in the NFL over the next couple of years. Yes, I said the best center in the NFL. David Harris - Harris would have been the defensive rookie of the year last year if he started from week one. He recorded 127 tackles, 5 sacks, and two forced fumbles in only nine starts. Patrick Willis is great but Harris would have put his numbers to shame if he started all 16 games. Willis only recorded 4 sacks and two forced fumbles with 174 tackles in 16 starts, if Harris starts 7 more games he is probably at about 200 tackles, with 8 or 9 sacks. He should have been named ?NEXT? by ESPN Magazine, not Willis > http://mvn.com/nfl-jets/2008/06/10/jets-about-to-jump-to-the-next-level/
Cotchery is not a young Coles. He has never had, nor will have the speed that Coles once possessed. He is a top-tier #2 though.
There just a few who will up there game, if I'm being honest i expect Jones to make some massive strides this year with a improved line and a renowned hole creater in Richardson as his FB.
Darrell Revis should be on that list. If you are talking about marquee players that the JETS now have, Revis has to be on that list. There are a lot of good corners in this league, but after an extremely impressive rookie year (remember that -- a rookie year) -- Revis has a chance to be 1 of the great ones at his position in this league ---- just like D. Harris, N. Mangold & K. Rhodes. JC is a great guy -- great hands -- hardworking, lunchpail guy. I hope he spends his entire career in green. Its just that he is not athletically gifted enough to be a PREMIER player at WR (Owens, Moss, Fitzgerald, etc.). But he is a great young guy to have & consider a core nucleus of the JETS team.
That was an awesome article to read! I am really glad they put Cotchery in there too, because I have felt he deserves so much more respect than he is given around here. He is without a doubt a true No. 1 receiver.
He just didn't seem to be a #1 last year. After checking the numbers, nothing really changed from playing with Coles (74 ypg) to playing without Coles (76 ypg). Not having a legit receiver next to him for the second half probably didn't help either. He's just not an elite receiver. He doesn't take over games and defenses don't shake when he lines up.
yeah revis proved to be a shutdown corner who proved more than worthy in run support. he will be a future face of the franchise and one thing that jumped out to me and i didnt know was Cotchery being 2nd in the league in receptions 25+ yards. doesnt surprise me now that i think about all the plays he made but for him to be 2nd in that stat is a testament to his route running abilities and his vision/toughness after the catch. cause we know he doesnt have elite speed. its a cliche but hes "sneaky fast". comparing him to LC was dumb though i agree, their games are completely different. their toughness and run after catch ability is about it. one thing that helps cotchery is his prototype WR size. coles is smaller and body positioning is almost null when your a small reciever and becomes an asset as recievers get larger. something cotchery knows well. david harris is a monster(any real football analyst can see that) the few of my friends whod watch games with me were in awe about how nobody talks about him and wished he was on their respective teams
Weren't you paying attention to the horrible play at QB we had last year? And yet he still had over 1,000 yards receiving!!!
if the Free Agents gel together quickly in Training Camp, everyone will know this team. BTW, to name some people on the Jets now got a lot easier if you simply follow big trades/FA signings in the NFL. 2 guys have to come through at very important line positions and this team should be stabilized instead of the playoff-to-top-ten-pick the Jets love doing since 2003.
He is somewhat reminiscent of Coles, except he might be more physical in terms of after the catch. Coles uses his agility and speed more. As fast as Coles once was, he never translated it onto the football field a whole lot.
hard for a wr to take over a game, when your o-line doesnt give the qb enough time to throw, add the fact chad cant throw rockets into tight spaces
Nobody was a #1 anything on the offense last year. Basing any form of a performance report from last year is a bad idea. Nobody played up to their potential and everyone was trying to make up for someone else's slack. Those numbers are flawed because of our terrible OL. That line was really bad, worst I have seen in a very long time. You could've had Moss, Fitz, Owens, Smith, etc... You would have seen the same production because of our piss poor line. Our recievers didn't have the oppurtunity to make defense's tremble because we were failing in the trench. They knew our recievers would only make it 15-20yds down field before they could get to the QB, so that would make any defense comfortable.
Three guys spring to mind when I think about Jerricho Cotchery and his long-term contribution to the Jets. Rod Smith, Isaac Bruce and Amani Toomer. It's something about the work ethic, the approach to the game, and (I hope) the longevity. I see J-Co being a starting receiver for the Jets until 2020.
True, however he does have a much better ability to break tackles and get down the field. Cotchery is already one of the best YAC receivers in the league, especially when facing contact from Defensive Backs, IMO.
I love when people bash Cotch like 1. he's not athletic and 2. his not-great speed means he'll "never be more than a #2." It's really crazy how Jets fans will always find a way to knock their own good players...
Cotch has every potential to be a number one guy, if i want yards to get that first down, Cotch is the man im looking at first.
