At this time the league was in the midst of a labor dispute that threatened to cancel the entire 2011 season. The owners and the union came together at the 11 o clock hour and saved the season. As a result we got a short free agency period and training camp. The Jets were coming off their 2nd AFC Championship game appearance and the moral of the franchise and fanbase was high. Sanchez looked very promising, so they thought they had their QB of the future in place. However the roster was filled with aging vets who all played key roles in the Jets success the year before, and now were all free agents. Players like Damien Woody, Jason Taylor, Trevor Pryce, Tony Richardson etc. Plus key players like Santonio Holmes, Braylon Edwards and Antonio Cromartie were all free agents. We obviously knew how everything transpired. The Jets chased Nnamdi, and he chose to sign with the Eagles. The Jets resigned Holmes and Cromartie and let Edwards walk because they couldn't "afford" to keep both he and Holmes. Without hindsight if you were Tanny and the front office how would you have approached that offseason?
I would have resigned Braylon, Holmes and Cromartie. It could have been done if we didn't over pay Harris. I don't fault them for looking at Nmandi. You have to explore options. To them they were trying to take the next step and win a superbowl. We were losing LT, Brad Smith and Weatherford, regardless. The only other thing I would have done is brought in another RB either via early draft pick or FA. Plax was a waste except in the red zone. I would have also drafted a tackle somewhere in the first 4 rounds.
We didn't lose LT in 2011, he was on a 2 year deal but I would have pursued restructuring. Chasing Nnamdi was a waste - we already had the best corner in football and a 1a. We could have kept Weatherford. We lost to Pitt cause our LBs were slow and we couldn't rush the QB. So I would have pursued an FA that was either an fast LB, a great safety, or a bull for the D-Line. I would have kept Braylon over Holmes if I couldn't keep both and then tried to get a pass catching TE. I would have looked for more depth in the draft. Too much trading away picks. Everything else through the draft - draft back and gain picks for later rounds. Built up OLine prospects, WR, RB, LB.
That's right. For some reason I mixed up 2011 and 2010 with LT. Weatherford wasn't staying, though. He had issues with Westhoff and wanted out. Pursuing Nmandi didn't hurt us at all. Some people say that's why we lost Weatherford, but that's simply not true.
FYI Braylon and Holmes decision happened after 2010 :up: Hindsight, the Tebow signing is one of the worst decisions ever made by the Jets. Terrible distraction; that horde of a fan base for ol' timmy two times is a scary, scary bunch.
I would have pursued Nnamdi, but I wuldn't have waited as long as the Jets did. If he doesn't give us an answer within a day or two we move on. I would have resigned Woody. Tanny thought Hunter was good at RT based on a few good games at the end of 2010. Keep Woody one more year. I would have extended David Harris but not for as much money as they gave him. That extra money could have been split between Holmes, Edwards and Cromartie. I would have never traded Lowery, he and Leonhart would have been the starters at safety. Once we have our core receiving group intact, then I would have signed Plaxico Burress to add depth and be our 4th receiver.
I wouldn't have even looked at Asomugha. That was a waste of time and effort given the Jets strengths and weaknesses. I wouldn't have given Wayne Hunter a starter's contract at RT at his age and with just a few games as the starter to judge him by. Those are the easy calls. I would probably have tried to sign Cromartie to an affordable contract earlier in the off-season, leaving room to try to extend Revis at an affordable contract. Both efforts could well have failed leaving the Jets in the same situation they wound up in with Revis not tied down and Cromartie overpaid. The WR's were a string of iffy decisions and at the time I was more than ok with bringing Holmes back as the major retention. He was expensive though for what he produces and in retrospect the contract was a bad idea. Santonio Holmes is not Percy Harvin, although they have some similarities, and paying him as though he was an elite weapon was a mistake. The draft in 2011 was short again, due to trades for players instead of the bundling strategy the Jets used in 2007, 2008 and 2009. Overall it's not a terrible draft. Any time you get a star caliber player in the 1st round and a couple of other contributors later on you are about par for the course.
When I got Tom Moore here, i would have piped him into Rexs headset, and told rex Schotty was not to call plays. I also would have pursued someone to replace Woody. Not a draftee, but a B tier FA. Hunter should have remained a 6th OL, TE player.
1. Resigned Cromartie and Braylon early in the off-season. Resign Lowery also. 2. Sign Holmes to a lesser deal - if he bolts to the skins then so be it 3. Begged Tom Moore to come in as a full time OC 4. Drafted linebackers because we all knew the linebackers were slow as dirt.
1. I would have tried to deal Santonio Holmes. There are teams that would draft the likes of Titus Young and Greg Little with 2nd round pick. As much as I hate Santonio, he's better than either of the two fools. [And some other retard WR picks at Rd 3 suggests Santonio, if offered, could garner some interest. Coming off with AFCCG appearance, his stock is as high as it could get.] My preference is Santonio to Cleveland, for 2nd and 4th. [They had two picks in 2nd and 4th rounds each so, it makes sense for both Jets and Cleveland.] Personal dislike aside, my reasoning is that, Kerley was available in that draft; i.e. good slot WRs could be had in the low rounds. Jets did not need a marquee slot receiver. On top of that, Santonio is better than whatever Cleveland could have gotten with their two picks. 2. With Cleveland's 2nd, I would have added an RT to the mix. Also, I would have tried to bring Damien Woody for a vet min or anywhere close. This would have helped the transition a lot better. 3. I would have used Asomugha situation as an ammunition to extend Cro; what I mean is, instead of jumping into the bidding war, I would have given Cro cold cash up front, and tell him [We value you - and we want you here. We will not chase Aso - but we would like to see some discount from your end as well.] I would have tried to resolve the situation ASAP, at slightly lower figure than what Jets had to offer at the end. 4. Same with Braylon; I would have extended him instead. With Braylon, Cotchery and Kerley, WR corp is solid. Moreover, to my mind, this is better extension than Santonio extension in that, Braylon provides the outside deep threat (1) and is a good physical blocker in run game (2). 5. With Cleveland 4th, I would have drafted OLB prospect. Finally, a pass rushing prospect from the outside. 6. Put a gun against Tom Moore's head. Either he's becoming a Jet OC or he's not leaving the building alive. Once he takes the job, Brian is shitcanned. ----------------------------------------- As you can see, I always hated trading picks away - a Tannenbaum penchant. I would have tried to recoup some of the picks lost if I could have it my way. That's all there is to it.
The Edwards/Holmes thing ended up not really being true - remember Braylon ended up signing with SF for pennies that offseason anyway, so they could conceivably have kept the "Big 4" financially. I'm glad we ended up with Cro over Nnamdi, but I'd be lying if I said that like everyone else I wasn't salivating over the possibility of Revis-Nnamdi and hanging on every last post in that crazy Nnamdi thread.
It's well documented on this message board. Take a look at old threads I would have re signed Braylon over Holmes and wouldn't have wasted time and energy on Nnamdi. I would have re signed Cro. Wouldn't have drafted Ducasse or Wilson.
Why don't you just go look at the threads in 2011? The big mistakes were the Sanchez and Harris contracts. I understand the hate for Holmes and now he's injured, but I still think Holmes is a hell of a player and a much better player than Jets fans give him credit for.
not have a shortsighted philosophy. realize that sanchez was NOT on a huge high, understand that he was an average qb who may or may not become good and simply not do anything with him. speed at lb, maybe a safety that could cover somebody. draft better. i think 101 ganggreen 101 really said it well as did br4d
Wait do you mean with hindsight? If you do mean without hindsight it doesn't make a lot of sense to ask the question now.
With the advantage of hindsight I don't know why people aren't looking more at the draft where we can get players like Justin Houston and Cecil Shorts in later rounds. I'd consider Kaepernick but not if we can get Russell Wilson next year. Chris Harris went undrafted and he's a solid player. Taking it further we may not have had to draft Milliner and that gives us another first rounder in 2013. Building through the draft is better than through free agency.
