I trust Jet management to be correct on this one. Even if he has a productive year next year, he's not worth 6m to us
Hopefully we will never find out if he is good behind a bad OL. I don't care if our success in the running game is solely on the OL or the RBs, as long as we keep doing whatever we did to have so much success I'll be happy. We produced the #1 Running game in the league, you need to have good RBs and a good OL to do that.
good point but one other thing concern me is I hope he not injury prone. Look at what happen when he got the bulk of the carries. Don't get me wrong I love Greene
Greene was relied upon a little bit too much in the playoffs, next season hopefully he can split a lot more with Leon and maybe someone else. I have a feeling that that rib injury was with him all year and it was never fully healed before he came back. With his style of play his ribs would not have had any chance to fully heal after him coming back with them not 100%. Hopefully that is one reason why he kept getting injured, and it is not because he is just one of those injury prone players.
Durability seems to be the only concern with Greene thus far (the fumble problems dissappeared down the stretch and can be fixed either way). I'm willing to find out the hard way, with Leon coming back and more than likely another between the tackles player brought in. I really liked T Jones, but if they don't want to pay him they don't have to.
Jets had no choice. If Jones insisted on 6 million dollar pay for next year, and Jets have a chance to get out, you have to get out. I like Jones as much as the next guy, he just had a great year, but he is 32. This is advanced age for RB, very advanced. And play-offs showed Jones was slowing down. True, the year is uncapped, but 6 mil dollars is still a lot of money that can be spent on younger talent. And for the final 8 rule, we cannot sign any FAs until we lose our own. With 32 year old Jones demanding 6 mil for next year and unwilling to renegotiate, it's obvious who is the FA we need to release to be able to sign other players. It's true, Greene is injury prone and Washington is coming off very serious injury, but it's not like Jones was able to pick up the load either when Greene was injured against Colts. For 6 mil, we have no choice but go in the other direction.
As far as age goes yes that is getting up there in RB years. You also judge their age on carries throughout a career, and early on TJ was not used that much. I think he still has a lot left in him but I trust what the Jets are doing.
If Jones ends up on a team without a stellar O-line, the Jets will look like geniuses in the end. Might turn out that way anyway.
The O line has nothing to do with him running through people. Dont get me wrong our blocking is great but in games like against the chargers where he just ran over i think it was Jammer, he looked a lot like AP.
Another entire off season in the weight room may do a whole bunch to address the durability issue. Any player coming from college into the NFL needs a season or two to get into "NFL" shape. They may not get bigger, but they get a whole lot more solid and core strong with the NFL conditioning programs. I think the fumble issues are behind him. That was baptism by fire rookie stuff. He looked great in the playoffs and carried the ball high and tight.
If you compare his performance late in the year to TJ's earlier in the year. I would say that the combination of a good line with a good back is what works. TJ broke down late in the year and was only somewhat productive behind the line but when Greene came in he was able to produce much like TJ earlier in the year. So you need both a good back and a good line! Only time will tell for sure but I think he will do fine. We will need to draft another back for depth and insurance that Leon will be a Lion not a Lioness after his injury.
Its hard to compare him to TJ because they have such different styles of running. TJ has always been more of a faness runner, hes very smart and is great at reading plays and taking what the OL gives him. Shonnmower isnt stupid by any means but hes not as good as TJ at seeing holes. His strength is his strength. Hes a mean ass LB in a RB body and kicks your ass if you try to take him on yourself.
I have not been this excited for a JETS Drafted RB since Lamont was here... When we got him I was extremely happy but his injuries and fumbles started to bother me... I sooooooo want him to be the RB I think he can be. If he can work on his fumbles and stay on the field he will be a leading rusher in the Nfl.
