I'm trying to reasonably go through all of the CB's that we could have potentially signed. Keep in mind that Idzik did not want to sign a CB to a long term contract, and that he planned on drafting one relatively high. He must have considered that there was a reasonable chance that there would be a good CB available worthy of their first round pick in the draft, so investing long term in a FA CB wasn't what he wanted to do. With the likelihood of a 1st to 3rd round pick being the future at CB, he knew he needed to sign one as a stopgap. The guys available (and let me know if I missed any) were: Aqib Talib Darrelle Revis Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie Vontae Davis Antonio Cromartie Alterraun Verner Brent GrimesDimitri Patterson Brandon Browner Cortland Finnegan Corey Graham Carlos Rogers Charles Tillman Tarell Brown Champ Bailey Chris Cook Perrish Cox This is roughly the order in which I consider the skill level of these players. Aqib Talib is immediately removed by the monster deal with Denver, and Vontae Davis cleaned up pretty well with a big deal from Indy. We were looking at giving a pretty hefty one year contract to DRC, but the Giants shelled out on a multi-year deal. Idzik upped the total of the one year deal, but DRC still chose the long term contract. Alterraun Verner as it has been widely discussed is a zone corner, as is Charles Tillman. Cromartie had many issues in the past with coaching authority, and he was truly terrible last year. The Jets likely believed the chances of improvement from Cro were not good. Brandon Browner was going to miss the first quarter of the season due to a suspension, so he was not a good option. Carlos Rogers and Tarell Brown are not good, and Oakland just went after anyone that they could get to come there. They signed Free Agents to start for about half of their starting lineup, and they couldn't be picky. As a potential starter, that leaves Brent Grimes, Dimitri Patterson, Cortland Finnegan, Corey Graham, Champ Bailey, Chris Cook, and Perrish Cox. Neither Cook nor Cox are any good, they aren't even starting for the 49ers who have weak corners. Champ Bailey is very old, and not particularly talented at this point in his career. He couldn't even stick on an NFL roster. Grimes would have been a solid option for us, but the Dolphins offered him a surprisingly large backloaded contract, which took him out of the running. This basically left us with 3 legitimate options, Corey Graham, Dimitri Patterson and Cortland Finnegan. Finnegan was offered about twice the money in Miami that we offered Patterson, and he definitely is not twice the player, and thus Patterson was the better option. Graham has never held a starting role for any reason other than injury to starters. Despite having a solid game in Buffalo that caused many Jets fans to wish we had signed him, he continues to play a supporting role. He signed a 4 year deal with the Bills, and it's not likely he would have turned down the deal for a shorter contract and the possibility of starting. Basically what this means is, out of 2 or 3 legitimate options, Idzik picked one. It's not like he could have actually chosen from all of the players I listed. Later, Brandon Flowers was released from the Chiefs, and many fans wanted Idzik to sign him. The Chiefs happen to run a defensive system very similar to the Jets, and Flowers struggled mightily in his role in that system. Although he is playing well in San Diego, the Chargers actually run a 3-4 zone scheme with 2 FS, instead of a 3-4 man scheme with 2 SS. It's a very different role than he would be playing here. Not to mention, this was long before the Jets issues at CB became apparent. With Milliner, Patterson, Wilson, a new draft pick in McDougle, and an improving Walls, it may not have been a strength of the roster but it certainly didn't look dreadful. The point is that it's not so much that Idzik is "cheap" and it definitely has nothing to do with Woody Johnson not wanting to spend the money. Idzik was willing to offer DRC a significant amount of money to play for us, but he didn't want to be tied to any FA CB on a long term deal. In my opinion, this is a very reasonable strategy, and it does make it a little harder to sign FA's because most are looking for that long term contract. Perhaps the right thing to have done after all was to have signed Revis to a 1 year deal, since we were probably willing to pay almost that much to DRC on a 1 year deal, and it seems like Revis was the only truly quality CB to accept a short term contract. That's part of why I'd have interest in signing him this offseason.
You say some guys are not worth the money but what FA is? You have to overpay a little in free agency, it's impossible not to unless somebody is looking to play for scraps
Good post and I agree this cornerback issue against Idzik is mostly bogus and signing Patterson at the time made sense. They could have done a better job checking him out personally because when issues arose they couldn't wait to get rid of him although there was a need at that position.The biggest surprise was switching Allen from safety to cornerback. This following him losing playing time the previous season to Ed Reed. Idzik could have drafted a corner with his first round pick but instead selected Pryor. I have no doubt with the approval of Rex who loves big hitters like Laron Landry. And Pryor is probably going to be a good player. So the defensive backfield under Idzik has not been neglected.
I didn't say anyone "wasn't worth the money." I'm saying at the time signing Patterson as opposed the the few other short term options was the most worthwhile. I think signing DRC would have been worth it, so long as it was only a one year deal. The fact that DRC was even considering a 1 year deal in my opinion means Idzik must have been convincing, and it if the Giants were willing to sink that much long term cash into him I'm not sure what Idzik could have done other than offer him weekly blowjobs.
This isn't a thread that can be answered until week 8 of the 2015 season. You're basically asking if the Jets should have spent a premium on veteran corners. If the Jets don't spend money in the next season, then you have your answer.
You think DRC would have signed for a year? Most players in their prime want job security in case they get injured
Without the power of hindsight yeah, we got killed by the injury/AWOL bug though so now the lack of depth is so bad we have a college LB starting the first 4 weeks and the GM STILL never made a move, that's rediculous.
Good post yes, but why re-live all that pain? Ugh.. At first I thought it was a post about the guys about to be available, and I was like HOLY shit that's a lot of good players..then I realized the truth to your post. All I know is Idzik better do something this next off-season about the CB crew, because more than half the fan base is already calling for his head. GM's aren't like coaches, or QBs. They are given 3 to 5 years to be judged fully. He is in his 2nd season as GM and it's already going hardcore off the rails.
You're right DRC wouldn't sign for the one year. Why should he when the Giants offered him more. So if you want you can criticize Idzik for that like a lot of the press did when he was signed by Jerry Reese. I didn't because I don't think of him as a necessary piece. And his previous play for Arizona was inconsistent. I'd take Milliner over him.
Milliner over DRC? I know you hate him because he is a NYG but that's a joke. DRC is a legit starting CB in the NFL and Milliner is dealing with injury problems. If anything, Revis was out there for a 1 year deal but the Jets said no
Not in off-season free agency when our guys were healthy, that's hindsight I had no knock then he tried for Davis who I really thought was perfect for our system, I mean right now he is still doing nothing to try to bring in guys to help our injury ridden CB corps, if I see AA on the outside again I might lose my shit, the guy just doesn't have the lateral quickness for the position but he does have heart I give em that.
I think he could have but it would have depended on what long term contracts were offered to him from various teams. The Giants gave him $11+ million guaranteed with an average of $7 million per year. The way that the contract is structured it's highly unlikely he'd be cut before year 4, so as long as he decides he wants to continue playing football, the contract more or less guarantees him $22 million. It's not technically a guarantee, but basically because of the dead money to cap savings ratio over the first 3 years there it doesn't make sense that they would cut him. So with an oversized (in my opinion) contract like that on the table, we'd probably have had to give him like $11 million for the one year deal. That's just an estimate of course. But I don't think there's any way he's worth that, I'd have gone to $9 million maybe. I know I'm not an expert but I wouldn't want to shell out that kind of money to DRC considering how inconsistent he has been.
Yeah but like i said, in free agency you overpay regardless if you want to or not. I didn't really like the DRC signing since guys like Revis and Flowers were out there but so far it hasn't been bad. It's weird that the Jets weren't in on Revis. I know you can't give a CB a big payday but what will guys like Richardson and Wilkerson make? Next year Jets NEED to bring in a CB and a S. Pick up a few O line prospects in the draft and bring in another WR. Add some depth to the team
Besides, Vontae Davis got an even better contract than DRC did, and he's also inconsistent and hasn't even put together a season as good as DRC's best season. The Colts are not a very good example of how to run a football team. They've been very good for the past 16 or so years, but that has basically been Manning and Luck carrying the team while the front office makes dumb ass move over dumb ass move. I mean they do make a solid move every once in a while, but if a team that didn't have an elite QB made the moves they make, they would suck something fierce.
He could have brought in a few vets weeks ago and gave then time to learn the playbook, want me to do his job for him? He's the GM and we have a LB converted to safety converted to CB that was starting, cmon man.
Flowers wasn't available until after the draft, at which point we had zero injuries to the CB's and Patterson was still in line to start. Not to mention he sucked major dick in a system very similar to Rex's last year. Why the fuck would we have signed Flowers? Signing Revis probably wouldn't have been a great move either, since the chance we were drafting a CB was very high. We'd have had to drop $12 million on Revis... and maybe he's worth that kind of money but I wouldn't really want to spend that kind of cash when we didn't know what we had in Geno. It would have basically been wasted, since we can roll over the cash we didn't spend.
