One last thing I want to add. I think a lot of Tanny's track record hinges on Sanchez. Finding a franchise QB is the most important piece to the puzzle for a GM. He has found the right coach, I think he has found the right mix of ancillary players but has he found the franchise QB that can win a SB? That is that 64K question If he has, than yes he is a true top 5 GM. If he has not, than I do think it is quite disingenuous to logically consider him a top 5 GM. Again if, a big if, Sanchez improves and becomes an upper tier franchise QB, it validates all the drafts 2006-2009 inclusive. Funny how it rests on that one pic.
Garner may start for the Fins or at the very least is their "Turner", jack of all trades back up Olineman. I totally missed Ainge, ugh. Gholston is on that list............Clemens will be in the league a few more years as every club will take a shot on a back up. Edited my list: Thank you for pointing out Ainge, I looked at him knew he was done and still didn't put him on the list.....oh well.
You absolutely have to count the players converted from draft pick trades when evaluating a GM's drafts. Tannenbaum works much like Brian Cashman of the Yankees. The both flip picks (in the case of Cashman, minor league prospects) for established players at positions of need. You never know what you're going to get from a draft pick. Let's all remember that Vince Young, Matt Leinart, and Reggie Bush were all top draft picks. In the same draft. None have panned out anywhere near their draft status. When you turn a pick into Santonio Holmes or Antonio Cromartie, you've done your job as GM. You may have sacrificed a couple of years of longevity, but you've returned far more talent than those picks warranted. Yes, I know. We could have drafted an OL with one of those picks. Look at the guys we have drafted lately. I'll happily take Holmes over any of them. Tanny's "drafts" have been some of the best in the history of the organization. Strictly because he hasn't actually picked in every round.
It's possible, the talking heads down here keeps saying it. He is used like Turner though........... now watch him get cut. lol
Maynard Well said. Every single GM has had a number of less than stellar selections. But all we need to do is look at Tanny's body of work, including a number of very critical re-negotiations to keep this team viable and clearly see he is by far one of the best. It does not even warrant a discussion. Tanny is an asset, not a liability for Pete's sake. Considering Wilson a bust is moronic, and as for Clemens, he was totally screwed over by Mangini. He could have been a solid back-up. If I had to tag Tanny for one mistake, was to agree with Mangini and bring Favre for a year of significant digression in the Jet"s plans.
Good point about Sanchez. I would only add the net result might end up being somewhere in the middle.
This is to the point. You also have to remember that Cromartie could have been a 3rd round pick if he didn't meet expectations, and that is a solid incentive reinforcing the move. The fact is that Tanny has done an AMAZING job on the picks (excluding last year from the discussion since it's too soon to tell) and he is using picks as currency for a reason. He has done so well the team is basically built for right now, but there were also a whole lot of areas of need. Swings some mid round picks to meet those needs...and has gotten more value for those moves than you could dream of (Cro, Tone). Now that nearly all of our areas of need have been addressed to the point that you only need to add depth to the normal amount of areas for a top ball club, we'll see Tanny hold onto his draft picks and start adding depth for the future. In the meantime he can do whatever the fuck he wants with his picks in my book. Whatever it takes to bring home the first Lombardi and we'll work with what we've got after. It's a self-regulating system. You trade picks for a couple years then you break your strategy back to holding picks before it bites you in the ass. It's a very tight rope and so far Tanny is walking it perfect. Anyone that thinks different is clueless, and the results speak for themselves. Sanchez is our franchise Qb. It's still unclear whether he's going to be the franchise QB that we're stuck with that's pretty good but always going to leave us wanting more...or he's the real deal. I think he's the real deal but obviously it can't be proven without time. There was a huge area of need...Tanny threw the chips in and gambled on the best guy he could find when he needed to find him. His success everywhere else (picks and FA) is the true test...but if Sanchez really hits that's just icing on the cake. We're past bust talk and that's the biggest issue. As to Vlad and Cameron...Vlad is persecuted on this thread [with some good reason but overall people are too quick to dismiss him like everything else on here] and I envision him lying in Cameron's bed with his legs reaching across the room singing the pain away.
Actually, this I do not agree with. Finding a franchise QB depends as much on the GM as the prospect himself. You just cannot tag that up on the success of the GM because he could find that golden boy with winning attributes. We all know Bill Polian is a good GM, but not necessarily because he had an eye to pick Jim Kelly or Peyton Manning. Last but not the least, remember what Walsh had to say about Joe Montana; he had to custom-tailor the offense to suit the strength of Montana, as Joe didn't have that prototypical arm strength of a pocket passer. That is more than what a GM can do, really. (Schotty, please get your fucking head out of your ass. Time is ticking!) All in all, regardless of Sanchez's success, you cannot deny Tannenbaum is quite possibly top 5 in GM brass.
On the boom-bust scale, with Gholston at 1 and Darrelle Revis at 10, he's right around a 3 so far. I only give him that much because he's a raw physical talent. But mentally, he's just as slow at the game as Vernon was.
I'm pretty much done on the pro's and cons of Vlad, but I find his tweets amusing. He retweets someone's criticism of him ... On how he sees this season... Seeking divine intervention... Stevie Wonder is his greatest fan ... You too can follow VD here http://twitter.com/#!/vducasse1987
vducasse1987 Vladimir “@BLACKADAM001: @vducasse1987 Dude NY JETS AND FANS WE NEED YOU DUDE, YOU ARE THE BEST IN ALL O.LINE POSITIONS...” That says it all....
Guys - he is a beast who needs to keep improving, he has had 1 yr as a pro football player. He has played well and he has played poorly - but as long as he keeps developing that is a positive.
Everyone has bad plays/streaks of them(bad plays) at times; its how u learn.... It just sucks when ur under a microscope let the kid grow up, this takes some time. Ya ya 2nd pick blah blah how many 1st or 2nd round picks come right in a perform WELL at their position I'd say under 25% of all picks just fans are always in the WIN NOW. Let the kid fall down and get up a couple of times in the REGULAR season before we all lose our minds over a back up OL. I'm surprised we don't have active tweets on him wiping his ass and missing on the block. I think this is all a little overblown