NYPOST: Jets top 25

Must be something in the water we drink down here in West by God Virginia

 

Love Muhammad Wilkerson. At worst, he is #4. I looked back in the draft forum prior to 2011 draft and saw how desperate this team was for D-line help.
Totally different today, - Wilkerson & Coples, - the possibility of a full season from Kenrick Ellis & the rookie Sheldon Richardson.

 

so we what appears to be an emerging star in wilkerson, a guy who didnt play a ton in coples, a guy who played even less in ellis and a guy who has never played at all in richardson.

i think there is potential in that d line, i dont see why everyone is so giddy about it before we even really see it perform.

 

I'm with ya specifically about Sheldon Richardson. People expecting him to be a major contributor & pro bowler right off the bat are gonna be in for a disappointment. It's pretty clear on his college tape that he isn't the greatest anchor in the world & could use some work on his pad level. I expect him to struggle 2 gapping against the run his rookie year. He's a great athlete & 1 gapper so he'll make some plays collapsing the pocket but there's gonna be a learning curve.I wouldn't even be surprised if he doesn't start early.

The DL as a whole has to prove their worth. That said I think they will be up to the challenge. When Wilk,Coples & Ellis have been on the field together including in TC..the pass rush has looked awfully good. Hard to imagine a drastic change in performance moving forward.

 

This is a Rex defense question. In his fronts I think Wilkerson, Richardson and Coples could be quite good even this season. In other systems they are very possibly misfit toys when packaged together.

You can make a strong argument that all 3 of them are 3T defensive tackles playing out of position at the moment. Wilkerson comes the closest to being very good across a wide range of fronts but really even he is not going to be as good as he could be just lined up opposite the left guard and dominating him.

Only Rex is likely to find a way to make three dissimilar 3T's work in the same front.

I'm uncertain about anything Kenrick Ellis related at this point. If he works out this year and becomes an impact player we profit. If he doesn't, well the NFL is harsh and he's going to be on the short end of his career at that point.

 

^Agreed. RR uses a lot of one-gap 34 alignments (Bum Phillips version), not just traditional 2-gap. I can see Sheldon Richardson used in the mold of a Jay Ratliff.

 

I think there is certainly reason for optimism on the Dline.
Wilk is a complete and versatile player....a star in the making really.
Coples and Richardson have the right NFL skill sets, especially rushing the passer. How exactly they fit in, and whether they can be effective in run support, still remains unknown however.

But still that is 3 premier talents placed in the creative hands of Dunbar, Thurman and Ryan. I like the possibilities.

Ellis is really an unknown. Is he a starting NT in this league or not? We'll find out this year.
Also, i expect Barnes to be single blocked due to the other lineman. Will he provide that edge rush we desperately need?

Granted lots of questions, so i'm not quite giddy yet. But i am more excited to see this defensive front in action than anything else.

 

I'm just hoping they're good enough to need a nickname. If they sack Brady a half dozen times we could call them The Green Monsters and really get the rub in. Pats fans would hate hearing that for the next few years.

 

(In no specific order). Only because it's hard for me to rank player vs. player when we're dealing with many of different positions. But as overall football players, I'd like to believe these are our strongest 25 players within our roster.

Santonio Holmes (when healthy).
Jeremy Kerley.
Kellen Winslow Jr. (when healthy).
Nick Mangold.
D'Brickashaw Ferguson.
Muhammad Wilkerson.
Quinton Coples.
David Harris.
Calvin Pace (getting older).
Antwan Barnes (when healthy).
Antonio Cromartie.
Kyle Wilson.
Dawan Landry.

Those to me, are our top 13 players.

Chris Ivory.
Mike Goodson.
Joe McKnight.
Bilal Powell.
Stephen Hill.
Jeff Cumberland (when healthy).
Vladimir Ducasse (potentially speaking).
Kenrick Ellis.
Antwan Barnes.
DeMario Davis.
Ellis Lankster.
Nick Folk.

Those players to me, although lots of untapped potential do round out my top 25.

I also like the potential of Dee Milliner and Sheldon Richardson. Believe they can become players from day one. Same goes for Geno Smith but due to being unknown rookies, couldn't list them as a top 25.

I'm not against Sanchez either, but two AFC Championship games or not I just can't believe in him any longer until proven otherwise. If he starts he does get my full support, but I'm just not confident in Sanchez as of right now (and hope I'm wrong).

Lastly from what I've read, heard, seen and watched I believe that the likes of Brian Winters, Antonio Allen and Joe Bush can all become players in this league while cracking our list of top 25 heading into next season (but only time will tell ala this up coming season).

 

Make sure you remember that about 4 months from now. That's gold.

 

At the beginning of the year our 3-4 fronts will probably be Garay, Ellis, Wilkerson, and LB's Coples, Davis, Harris, Barnes. Richardson will be used sparingly at first I'd imagine. Probably we'll run a pass-rush specialist 4-3 front of Coples, Richardson, Wilkerson, and Barnes. Garay is much more a 3-4 DE than Richardson, so who really knows who will be "starters." I do expect Milliner and Winters to start as rookies though.

 

ahhhh, that's so rich i can taste it..

considering a playoff appearance is a long shot, making Brady's life miserable when he plays the Jets is a top priority of mine in gauging success this year.
Rinse and repeat for Tannehill and the Bills QB de jour.

 

interesting thought on Garay.
i think he'll potentially start as the base D NT.

however, if Ellis steps up, and Richardson not ready for 2 gap run stuffing out of the gate, i guess it is possible we could see Garay playing some End.

 

Mangold at 3. I'm not sure I feel D'Brick is Top 2, even after a non-dominant year for Mangold.

 

For overall value a LT is worth more than a C.

So Mangold could be the better player but D'Brick the more valuable.

 

but that puts cro at 1 or 2 and we just learned the value of a cb isnt great.

 

A shutdown CB is very valuable.

But a CB regardless of skill isn't worth $16m a year.

 

is mm's offense a zone blocking scheme or man-man?