AFCE Free Agency...winners and losers

[Joneildu]

Winners:

Patriots: They took some huge chances with little risk and huge rewards. I'm a bit more worried about the Haynesworth pickup than the Ocho pickup, as Albert is generally a piece of **** of a person and only played hard when he was due for a payday. He won't be playing much NT with Wilfork, so maybe they can get some pressure on the QB if he gets in shape.

Losers:

Jets: They've spent the entire offseason doing nothing but putting together a worse 53 man roster than they put on the field last year. Discounting Plaxico, because we don't know what he can do, they're #2 is someone who couldn't make Miami's practice squad. They've lost Edwards, they've lost Cotchery, and they replaced them with someone who has been in prison and out of football for 2 1/2 years. They paid Cro a boatload of money, just 4 mill/yr less than Nnamdi. Brad Smith, they're wildcat ringer and special teams specialist has gone to a division rival. I honestly don't have the slightest damn clue what the Jets were trying to accomplish this offseason.

Remains to be seen:

Dolphins: They've been criticized for adding mediocrity and that's a fair assessment. They did add a good LBer to the defense, and the young secondary should get better. Miami may very well finish the seaon with the league's best defense and no one should be surprised. Miami is really no worse for taking Henne into the season. Are they better (will Henne be better)? That remains to be seen. The running backs will be hard to predict. Ricky's future is still up in the air, Danial Thomas is an unknown, and who knows how Reggie will play. Is the offense better? I don't know, but it's significantly different.

Bills: I think Barnett and Brad Smith were really nice signings for the Bills, but they still have a questionable line and didn't address some of those issues. I think they should probably pick up a vet RB on the cheap in the offseason, because we don't know how Fred Jackson and Spiller are going to hold up, and the third option is who? Johnny White? I don't really know if they got significantly better or worse.

 

[Fuerue]

I think that is pretty fair as a division wrap. Except the sugar coating of the Dolphins offseason. 2 biggest glaring needs still haven't been addressed. TE and QB. Status Quo for the Phins this year. Not going backward, but not at all improving either. Buffalo got better, Patriots didn't do anything of note, but after winning 14 last year, they can afford to drop another game or two and still be in great shape. Jets regressed. Special teams stars Brad Smith, and James Inhedigbo will not be returning. And WR Edwards and 3rd down specialist J. Cotchery are gone with no decent replacements in sight. Just a jail bird and a grandfather.

 

[nyjunc]

How in the World have we been losers? We have had an outstanding offseason so far and it could get even better if we get Mason.

We went into it w/ 3 key FAs and we brought back 2 of them and found a cheap replacement for a 3rd

we locked up David Harris long term

We got Eric Smith AND Brodney Pool back

We re-signed Wayne Hunter


Releasing Cotch takes it down a notch but assuming we get Mason that will be a wash. We have had an outstanding offseason, remember a few weeks ago when people thought we had no cap room and wouldn't even be able to re-sign holmes? We still have $9 mil in cap space(and I believe that was before the Cotch release so it should be more).

I love how not that Brad Smith is gone he was this great player. We have had good KRs for a decade and the wildcat had lost effectiveness. I love Brad but he did nothing as a WR.

What a reach this is.

 

[Joneildu]

You've just proved the point. "This person is back, this person is back, this person resigned". You spend an entire offseason making lateral moves. That's not success. You've lost role players from last season and not done much in the way of replacing them. You replaced two good wideouts with one that hasn't played in over two years and another that's what, 38 years old, and he's not even signed.

 

[nyjunc]

You've just proved the point. "This person is back, this person is back, this person resigned". You spend an entire offseason making lateral moves. That's not success. You've lost role players from last season and not done much in the way of replacing them. You replaced two good wideouts with one that hasn't played in over two years and another that's what, 38 years old, and he's not even signed.

We had one of the best teams in the league last year, continuity is a GOOD thing for a team like that especially in a year like this year w/ no offseason program. The Jets are in excellent shape, the ONLY move that concerns me is releasing Cotchery before we get Mason. We will need another WR, once that happens we'll be all set but let's not forget heading into 2009 we started the season w/ Cotchery and Chansi Stuckey as our WRs so what we have now is much better than that.

 

[Joneildu]

How are you going to make the continuity argument when you lost almost your entire WR corp? You have no idea what you are going to get out of Plax, and as of right now, it looks as if the Mason deal is going to fall through. I'm pretty damn skeptical that this team is as good now as it was at the end of last year, and reading some of TGG, they agree.

 

[nyjunc]

How are you going to make the continuity argument when you lost almost your entire WR corp? You have no idea what you are going to get out of Plax, and as of right now, it looks as if the Mason deal is going to fall through. I'm pretty damn skeptical that this team is as good now as it was at the end of last year, and reading some of TGG, they agree.

We have 4/5th of our OL back(all 5 from late in the year and 2 of the 3 postseason games), our RBs are back, our QB is back, our TE is back, our top WR is back. Working in 2-3 new WRs isn't ideal but our O is mostly in place from last year and we don't have a new OC and new system w/o an offseason.


I think on paper we are better but we'll see.

 

[ganggreen617]

how are the jets losers?

they brought back almost all the key free agents and added some much needed youth to the d line

if anything miami is the biggest loser since they did nothing to improve the qb situation and traded for an overrated rb who cant run anywhere inside the numbers

 

[The New Guy]

how are the jets losers?

they brought back almost all the key free agents and added some much needed youth to the d line

if anything miami is the biggest loser since they did nothing to improve the qb situation and traded for an overrated rb who cant run anywhere inside the numbers

Because they have lost more good players than they have signed. Looking specifically at the WR position, it is a major question mark for me. I think a lot of Jets fans are underestimating how important Edwards and Cotchery were to the Jets. Did you know that both Edwards and Cotchery had more receptions and yards in the playoffs than Holmes did? Did you know that 37% of passes in the playoffs were aimed at Edwards and Cotchery?

If you include the playoffs, the Jets have lost 115 receptions for 1647 yards and 11tds. At this point the only WR the Jets have signed to replace those numbers is Plaxico Burress.

Who knows, maybe the Jets will have other guys that step up and make the offense better. But strictly from a free agency standpoint, the Jets have to be considered losers.

 

[Jetsfan0099]

If this board wasn't funny to read, I would never come here. Before FA all the Fin fans were probably saying there is noway the Jets can re-sign their guys, that they were over the cap and screwed. So when they re-sign almost everyone they are called losers? LMAO corners always get top dollar on the open market, I am happy with what we got Cro for because it could have been more. He signed for less than Nnamdi and Joseph, he was the 3rd best CB on the market.

Saying that Burress wouldn't even be a practice squad member on the Dolphins is dumb, we will find out what kind of shape he is in but sports science tested him and says he matches up with other NFL WRs right now. If Burress is in shape, lets be honest he would be the Dolphins #2 WR as well.

J-Co had little production last season, Mason might be an upgrade, even at age 37. J-Co I think had the highest drop rate in the league last season, hes usually a sure handed guy but for whatever reason he dropped a lot of passes last season.

The Jets really didn't lose much and they got bigger, younger, and more athletic on the DL. They also have Pace back to 100%, last season he was playing injured all season with his foot injury. The only significant player they lost was Edwards, who was not a reliable route runner and most of Mark's INTs were balls thrown towards him they last 2 years. He was really talented and a good vertical threat, along with being a good blocker. But the WRs are still a quality group, especially if Kerley continues to impress. Sanchez should be better this season being that its his 3rd season, also played strong down the stretch. The defense will be better IMO, they were 7th in PPG last year, I think they will be top 5 this year. They struggled on 3rd downs at points of the year, a lot of it had to do with Revis being injured. Also think Wilson will be better. Football outsiders had an article how the Jets were the best defense in the league on 1st and 2nd downs, but struggled on 3rd downs. They said that usually when that happens the next season you can predict that the defense will be better.

 

[LAjetsfan]

This thread is more than a joke. The biggest losers in all of football is the Dolphins. Let's see, no QB, their star wideout declaring he has BP, no rb (ooops, my bad, hello reggie bush), a coach and gm with one foot out the door...I could go on but you get the point.

I was litening to Howard David on Sirrus NFL radio yesterday afternoon and he was even saying how much of a mess the Dolphins are in.

The Jets did get older at wideout with Burress and Mason. But the team is a very young team especially its core/nucleus. If the Jets parted ways with Pryce, LT, Burress and Mason they would probably have the youngest roster in all of football. I love the direction the Jets are going and have gone the past few years. While Miami was done be November, the Jets were playing deep into January. The Fins could only wish they enjoyed that success.

 

[jcb92387]

So according to this guy, the Jets are losers, because they made lateral moves, and cheaper moves, but the Dolphins aren't either, yet they brought in Matt Moore to compete with Chad Henne. Makes sense... LOL

 

[Jetsfan89]

LMFAO discounting Plaxico? How can you just discount Plaxico lol? I'm pretty sure regardless of how long he has been away he will contribute to the team. And as of right now (I know this thread was made before Mason signed) we just signed Derrick Mason who will be a solid rental player for our team this year.

They lost Edwards but they replaced him with Plax who at the very least has the potential to be just as good for us as Edwards was. They lost Cotchery but replaced him with Mason who for one year should be fine (Cotchery didnt make a huge contribution for us last year anyway), Sanchez is growing at QB and should build off of last year, and we brought back Cro and Holmes. Brad Smith only hurts us on Special Teams. He was not a big contributor on Offense outside of the Wild Cat which while he did run it well he can be replaced possibly by somebody like Kerley who we drafted.