So, I've been giving this supposedly desperate need for OLB a lock and I'm not sure I get it. - With Pace we have the "Suggs" of the D...the guy who can get pressure, get sacks, make players in the backfield, but also play OLB. Suggs hasn't had a double digit sack since '04 (Rex became Baltimore DC in '05, no?). - After Pace we have Thomas...basically the equivalent of Jarrett Johnson on the Ravens D. Solid player, does his job, won't blow you away with sack totals but can get pressure when he wants. Then there's the depth guys we've been developing...Gholston and Westerman. I know I'm talking crazy here, but does anyone here actually believe that if Gholston got more snaps behind this D he'd be a 0 sack guy? Would Westerman be a one sack guy then? So there's depth at OLB, and since Gholston was the 6 pick that depth is somewhat expensive. - Then there's this whole...Rex Ryan's D. Rex's D generates pressure just in it's design. You saw what I mean this year, where our sack totals were spread throughout. The Ravens sack totals are like that under Rex too. The nature of the D is that the pressure generated from the front 7 and the "exotic" blitzes will disguise the coverages so that the QB doesn't know what he's looking at the whole time. Having a guy designated as "pass rusher" kind of blows that whole element of surprise. - NOW, since we can't have a guy who is simply "Pass rusher"....we can get that guy later and not even develop him to be a starter like the Ravens do with Antwan Barnes...we'd have to make any early draftee a true OLB in Rex's D. That would take time, time to Jets fans almost guarantees the guy being labeled a bust. Finally, what would improve our pass rush in a way that would allow Rex to free up the other 8 guys on the field to blitz, cover, contain...whatever...is a starting quality 3-4 DE. Douglas is a solid player, but he's older and not much of a pass rusher. If we had someone to go with Jenkins and Ellis that could help collapse the pocket without any extra rushers, then our LBers sack numbers would go up and so would the success of our blitzes. If I had to rank our needs right now look like this: CB 3-4 DE And, as Kurt pointed out on the main forum...Tanny rarely lets us go into the draft with any obvious needs, and if he does it's because he knows he can get what he wants anyway. I expect to be able to go BPA on draft day, but AT BEST I expect to use a pick on a DE/OLB late (Witten, Willie Young, Worilds, Schofield, etc)...if we go early it's because someone we absolutely cannot resist is there. We'd bring in a DE/OLB to develop him within the D, because it's highly doubtful some rookie will just come in and save our supposedly dead pass rush. Rex, like our old coach Mangini, is smart enough to realize that EVERYONE being a pass rusher means you don't have to rely on ONE guy to be a pass rusher. It makes so much more sense if you understand the need to disguise coverages as best as possible nowadays...
I have to disagree. We need one more offensive threat first. Offensive skill players take a couple years to fully develop, and it would be beneficial to get one in there with Sanchez right now. Someone with hands, that can make plays in the slot, and be a non-stop go to guy. Should Jones be gone after next season, Greene is not an option to catch out of the backfield. and bringing Washington in for that purpose is a tell. After that CB, Dline...
It is not quite a need, it is a luxury which would be nice. Just because we have another skilled pass rusher doesn't blow the element of surprise, it just allows us to get more pressure using less rushers allowing us to put more people in coverage. For blitzing by far more than anyone in the league last year, by FAR, we were 18th (18th!!!) in the NFL in sacks last year. That is quite a low number for how much we blitz, and Peyton Manning showed us what happens when you don't get to the QB quite in time.
Although we had a low amount of sacks, we certainly had many many qb pressures that lead to incompletions. Our blitzes don't always result in sacks because it is so obvious when 7 guys come rushing towards the qb that he needs to get the ball out as quick as he can. The defense doesn't rely on sacks-it relies on pressure. Peyton Manning is another story...
We have Leon, Keller, Edwards, Cotchery, Greene, and Jones already...Keller, Edwards, Leon, and Greene are still fairly new to the Sanchez run offense...why confuse him by forcing him to get to know another guy? Let him get comfortable with the people he has already and get a full offseason with them. Let Sanchez learn to spread the ball around before finding a Welker-type player for him to lock onto unless he's going deep. It makes him a better QB. Also, developing any chemistry with new guy probably won't happen this year anyway...It's highly doubtful that that one more guy makes Sanchez a better QB next year.
Bullshit, Pace is a decent blitzer but thats all. I don't care that we "pressure the QB" a lot. Sacks count too, there is no way we should be 18th in sacks, thats terrible for Ryan's D. I'm also sick of hearing about the slot receiver. When has that ever made a difference? Does have having a good slot receiver get teams to the superbowl? NO! Actually, this is the first time I have ever heard people say that a slot receiver is so important. It just boggles my mind.
Wes Welker is one of the best receivers in the league, and he's a slot guy. The Saints and Colts both have talented plays in the slot. Steve Breaston does very well behind two of the best WRs in the game. Rookies like Percy Harvin and Mike Wallace were very important in their team's offenses. However, all of these teams have experienced quarterbacks.
This is a passing league. The Jets are one of the few teams that still man up and run the football, and I love it...but in order to take that next step, Sanchez is going to have to become a gunslinger. He's the future of this team, and I believe the offense should be built around him. I agree with the OP, that we already have a good amount of talent on this offense, but after Cotchery and Edwards, we have absolutely nothing at receiver. I'd rather go defense in the first round, and take a receiver at the end of the second or in the fifth. Either way, I'd like to see a receiver taken in this draft.
I can't help but going back to the Giants Super Bowl run from 2 years ago where their pass rush on Favre and Brady helped hide the glaring holes in their secondary. If you give an opposing offense too much to handle in the base defense, imagine how effective the blitzes would be. Guys like Brady and Manning need to be pressured out of a base defense so the secondary can have that extra player out there to make a play on the ball. And let's face it, those two guys aren't going anywhere so we better find a way to defeat them if we ever want to make it to the Super Bowl. A pass rushing DE would make a very good defense f'n great.
A WR is a need CB and WR are the two needs going in to the draft IMO B. Smith is a gadget player, Clowney were not high on and pretty much runs like 1 route, Woodhead is nothing special, Wallace Wright is nothing special. WR, CB, 3-4 DE/OLB. Those are the 3 needs
Defensive ends in the 3-4 aren't supposed to be pass rushers. It's their job to take up blockers so 3-4 OLBs can get to the QB.
Why? And what's the difference between this big sack guy and a big DE that would allow our LBs more freedom? The difference between Pace and Suggs is hype...Suggs was a top 10 pick that produced right away as a rookie in a top D...since then his sack numbers have "fallen off" but both Rex and Pettine have said he's improved as a player...Pace outsacked Suggs this year despite missing the first 4 games. What makes Suggs so much better in your opinion? Who's the Ravens big sack guy that they rely on? There isn't one. That's not what Rex's D is built on...it's built on being able to pressure from anywhere at anytime with any one...While a pass rusher would obviously be nice...it's highly doubtful we get it from a rookie. Very unlikely...it's far more likely we have this mythical being on the roster already.
A pure pass rusher would help but I much prefer we beef up the DL. We are mediocre on the front 3 and we have medioce back ups. Jenkins is a beast but he is coming off a major surgery and is going to be a part time player at best next year. Love to see a guy like Peppers on the line. I also would love to get another good young DB who can play the slot and develop into a solid No. 2. You can't have enough good CB in this league. On O we need to draft another running back and a slot reciever. Both can probably be day two guys. DL and CB first.
I think this is a very accurate statement, the passing aspect of this offense will only get better when MS gets better, not when we add 1 more skilled receiver, it helps but only if he can actually make the right read, if he can't make the right decision on the field we can have all the skilled receivers in the world and it wont make a difference. What the Jets need is DB help and an OLB that can get to the qb, so that we don't need to blitz so much, even though I think Rex will still blitz more than most teams, it would be nice to get pressure on the qb without having to send the house every time.
