Going into this season the most glaring weakness for the NYJ is the OL. Last year they were a decent pass blocking unit, but a poor run blocking unit. Now with the likely loss of Kendall it is further degraded. If Brick or Mangold get hurt, we could have ourselves some real problems. This year we had a golden opportunity to improve our OL and to make it one of the more dominant lines in the league. This draft was deep in OL quality and value. If we had kept our picks we could have easily picked up a couple of the better OL prospect in the draft. Adding 2 OL prospects in the 2nd or 3rd rounds would likely set us up for the next 5-8 years as one of the best OL units in the league. Why is this important? We all know that games are won and lost in the trenches. But more importantly for the NYJ is that our crown Jewels are held behind our OL in Pennington and Jones. With the dominant line we could have crated in this years draft would could have the kind of running game that chews up the clock, wears out the defense and keeps the other teams offense on the sidelines. It would make CPs play action lethal and MOST importantly it would keep him upright and decrease the chances of him getting hurt. If history has taught this team anything, we are not a winning team when CP is on the bench. I have to say that I really love what Tangini has done thus far. And I am not suggesting that they will not coach up our current OL to a respectable level but there is only so much you can do with what you have. I think we missed out on a golden opportunity in this draft to field one of the leagues elite OLs and offenses.
You cant get every position you need in the draft. what if we drafted ed reed? what if we drafted dan marino? what if we drafted Warren sapp?
A lot of people would have been pissed off had we draft O-line heavy again, after spending two firsts on it last year. Would I have liked us to at least gotten some line help? Yes... But I am also pretty stoked that we finally have a #2 cornerback (for now - will eventually be a #1) and an ideal MLB, who will undoubtedly be replacing either Barton or Vilma after this season.
I agree, and it's because of the O line that my expectations are so low this year (combined with a much more difficult schedule). Having an O line that can't run block also hurts Pennington, as his best attribute is likely the play action. Safeties don't have to come into the box to protect against the Jets running attack. They can lay back, which is one reason I believe the Jets throw so many of those short sideline hook patterns. The middle passing lanes are clogged with defenders. I did like the Revis pick a lot, given how Brady was able to pick us apart with those short outs against an injured Dyson and the likes of Poteat and Miller, but I thought the Harris pick was awful, and that was before the Kendall fiasco. We needed a RT or a RG there.... not another LB. The thought of no Kendall, and another year with Clement and Moore on the right side.... this line frankly, sucks as far as run blocking goes. 8-8 is my projection, and it's because this offense won't be able to score very often, and that will be because they can't run and control the clock. Teams will tighten up and take those quick outs away from Pennington... and with no legitimate deep threat at WR..... the D will spend a lot of time on the field. Unless the likes of guys like Blanton can step up.... this O line looks plain awful to me.
I don't have a problem with not going O-line in the first round, but the fact that they traded away most of the draft for 2 defensive players meant that they were planning on holding the fort with the O-line we have now. We could have gotten more than Bender in the 6th to help bolster a unit that will need to improve a lot to make the trade for TJ make sense. I'm not sold on the starting unit, but I'm willing to give the CS a chance to coach them up this year. The problem I have is that our OL depth is utterly pathetic, and it flies in the face of Mangini's doctrine of competitive play in camp.
I am on board with what our CS did. Having a bunch of 1st day pics on our O line doesn't make us a spectacular unit. We also had our chance at a number of guys in FA and passed when we had the means to pursue them, to me that speaks volumes to what was in FA and what we already have here. I think Clement had a great year considering he was a FA in his 1st year with us, and IF we don't like what we see we have enough cap room to bring another solid Lineman the way we brought in Kendall. Our FO must have thought very, VERY highly of Revis and Harris. I like them both too, and although it sucks that we had to trade up to acquire them both if they didn't believe someone worth targeting would fall to us I am ok with pulling the trigger on moving up.
I agree with everything you said, excpet I didn't like the Revis pick. I like Revis as a player and if we had the pick at 16 and we took Revis and retained our other picks, then I would have been ok with it. Brady picked aparat our degraded CBs. I doubt he would have gotten away with what he did had Dyson not been hurt. Personally I think that Barret and Dyson are a respectable duo. I also think that Revis won't contribut much or on a high level at CB until his second year AT LEAST. My opinion is that there will be other CBs that were taken in this draft that will preform similairly or better than Revis will. I think it does not take a talented GM to give away picks to cherry pick the early rounds. I think the talented GM picks the Assate Sameuel in the 4th round and keeps the rest of his picks or trades down and adds picks. Kind of like what we did last year.
I've been upset for a long time about this franchise's refusal to draft OL talent. Last year was truly the lone exception. I'm not sure who in the franchise is so opposed to it, but it seems to be a yearly problem. W/ that said, I do not believe people should be overly upset about the entire OL or any draft picks from this year. We are STILL a rebuilding team, and we now pretty mucch have at least one young player in every category of thee roster to build around. The finishing touches on the OL and other units will come in the next couple years. In the meantime, we retain 4/5's an average OL that helped us get to the playoffs last year, including 2 highly talented 2nd year players who should develop nicely. Things could be ALOT worse.
I'm fine with the o-line because I believe that teamwork and development are the most important factors in the trenches. Accountability and experience in the system will make up for the lack of upgrading bits and pieces. Losing Kendall will hurt be he did his job in helping Mangold and Brick(who are going to play excellent this year) get accustomed to the NFL. Plus Adrienne Clarke seems to be a good replacement. Last year we drafted for offense and this year defense. If those two players can have years like the rookies did last year we are going to be in great shape!
SS, seriously, can you let the whole "we didnt draft an OL so we will have no running game" BS....everytime you post its about the OL.....enough dude. we get the point you dislike the OL and the 'depth' on there. i dont think its a great line, but more than servicable.
I really don't think that many people would have been pissed if we went O-line in the draft again. I know myself as well as a few others were stumping for Blaylock and Grubbs in this years draft class. Besides that, if lightning struck twice we'd have one of the best O-lines in the league for years. I'd rather be talking about the amazing possibilities of our young O-line then worrying about stupid Kendal or whether or not Revez pans out.
If we'd drafted a big guard on the first day the Jets would be seen as a rising power in the AFC. Not at the level of the big boys but moving up quickly. The moves we did make just preserved the status quo of nobody knowing WTF was up with the Jets.
You don't need 5 all-pro, top round picks to have a good O-line. You need chemistry and experience. A little talent is allowed too. The wise man once said 'rookies get better.'
Ok, so our O-line has a little talent. They do not have chemistry and experience. Putting another good rookie on the line would have allowed those 3 to grow and gain chemistry and experience together. I'll take young and athletic over everyone we have barring Kendal, Brick, and Mangold. In other words our O-line has a lot of space for improvement. Rookies don't always get better, by the way.
Kowie, seriously, can you let the whole "i don't think it is a great line, but more than servicable" BS go. Thanks. Your friend, supersonic.
There's a difference between nabbing an all-pro CB prospect that everybody has ranked very highly and nabbing a guy that universally was picked to go between about 12 and 20 and for whom there was some disagreement about whether he was the best CB in the draft. Trading several picks to move up and take Revis was no smarter than trading several picks to move up and take Santana Moss. It was a very troubling decision on the part of the Jet's braintrust and if Revis does not pan out as a topflight player we will look back at the trade as a very sorry move and hopefully just a blip on the scope. I'll get back to you on Harris after we see if he can hold up to the pounding that the NFL environment is full of. Obviously a number of teams decided the answer was probably no, because he slid much farther than was expected.
