Any of the old timers have an opinion on Johnny Sample. I know he had a hell of a SB, but didn't get to see him play myself.
Joe Klecko. Gastineau got a lot of his sacks because Klecko was the guy drawing double-teams consistently. Aaron Glenn would make my top 5 also, although I'm not sure I'd rank him any higher than that
Sure we actually got him from Colts who had cut him. He was a short timer & when he came to us he consider like Moss to be a "cancer". I think he was one of the most happiest of the NYJ that evening of 01/12/69 & said so on the post game show how much stronger the AFL was & taunting Rozelle about it while eating a orange. To me it was terrific stuff by Sample
this would be a bit better if broken down into units...... for example - the defensive front four - it has got to be klecko by a hair over gastineau, abraham and philbin. it would be more lopsided than that if he didn't get injured all the damn time. IMO the continuous injuries to that front four in the early and mid eighties was the primary reason we did not get to SB. other causes of course include walton, hess, and the draft day beauties starting with 1983 and basically continuing into the 90's linebackers - gotta give some love to mehl, clifton, jones and lewis. my vote goes to clifton by a hair over lewis. stayed healthy. again would have been mehl but injuries cut him short. a guy that easily could have been the best LB on this team was bob crable. also got hurt secondary - tough one but i pick aaron glenn. there are some present day players that will be candidates for this list someday. rhodes, ?vilma, and maybe even the 2 guys just drafted. jil
Good question...I agree with a lot of others. I think it has to be Joe Klecko. Gastineau was by far the best "playmaker" we have ever had on Defense.
If your Honorable Mentions plus Rhodes/Lott could only play as a unit, they would be totally devastating. Klecko......enough said.
by Free Agent do you mean his career or the time spent with the Jets? If it's time spent with the Jets I would say the best was Bryan Cox. I love the impact he had when he was here.
As champ said, Sample really enjoyed that Super Bowl (although there were quite a few Colts connections on the Jets, with Weeb being the most obvious), and he was good for them, but he wasn't anything like an elite player for the Jets. The Jets' secondary was okay, but the real defensive strength was the front 7 of Philbin, Rochester, Elliott, Biggs, Baker, Atkinson, and Grantham.
First off, Klecko, obviously. Secondly though, I'm intrigued by the number of you guys supporting Gastineau. I had thought the baggage and the decline of his career had buried his image, but it appears I was wrong. I agree with his critics that he was one dimensional and he clearly was a head case but as a Jets fan that lived through the lean years of the mid to late seventies, his contribution cannot be overlooked. I know his sack dance came to represent a symbol of self-centered ego gone wild, but when he first did it, it wasn’t anything like that. It wasn’t about him. It was about the Jets and how they weren’t going to lie down like a dog anymore. He told the whole league the Jets were for real and if they didn’t like it, it was too damn bad. As a Jet fan he eventually embarassed me, but I have to give him his due for what he did for us. I'm glad to see I'm not alone. Thirdly, Abraham? Wake up Dude.
ANY post that mentions Wahoo McDaniel deserves a BUMP. Klecko wins this in a landslide... I'm a little surprsied there is no love for Dennis Byrd. In his short career he was one of the better DT's in the game.
That's not true. For most of their time together they played on opposite sides of the line. Even when Klecko played tackle he played right tackle and Gastineau left end. I think when Klecko played the nose Gastineau was already gone.
