Well the draft is over and a lot of people are boo wooing our picks. Hey, it is what it is. It’s not like they had a draft like the ones that brought us John Avery, Eddie Moore, Jamar Fletcher, and trading for AJ Feely. Who cares what Kiper thinks. You have to look at what people are actually saying and their context. Kiper isn’t saying White sucks, he just doesn’t like the number he was drafted at. In fact Kiper uses that methodology for all of his comments. One thing Kiper forgets is the impact a player will have on the team he plays for. Also, Kiper has no freaking idea how a player interviewed. Everybody is wowing the Jets draft. But the fact is, anytime a teams moves up to draft a highly rated player the team is applauded for a great move. How often does that actually pan out? Nobody talks about that. People who rate players like to feel vindicated because a team gave up a bucket load of picks or players to move up and select a guy they (Kiper and the rest) thought had talent. Have you read any articles about how the experts were wrong about Alex Smith or Ryan Leaf? No, all you see are articles saying what a draft blunder the 49ers and Chargers made. Selective memory is great isn’t. If Sanchez sucks the Jets are screwed for many years. That’s a big gamble, even bigger when you give away picks and players. Looking at past history, odds are Sanchez is not going to be anything special.
Let’s get back to our draft.
I didn’t think we would draft an ILB or OLB. It just didn’t make any sense. We had more pressing needs else were. What was our biggest weakness last year and heading into this draft? DBs, WRs, and Special Teams. Everybody would love to have more pressure on the QB, but overall it wasn’t as big of a need as the other areas. We resigned a lot of our own players and signed an OLB-Wake, S-Wilson, C-Grove and CB-Greene. This is why I thought we would draft a WR first. I did know that we would draft in pairs again. The regime always hedges the bet when it comes to filling a need.
Why didn’t we draft other positions?
One of the reasons comes from Ireland’s answer regarding JT. Signing a player can limit the development of other players. Simply put, the regime feels the current players we have on the roster at certain positions were better or just as good as anybody available to them in the draft. All things being some what equal, you go with the guy you know. Why do you think we waited until after the combine and interviews to sign our own free agents? They watched the film, combine workouts and assessed the players (through interviews) they thought they would have a legitimate shot at drafting and decided resigning our guys was the safest route to go. Why draft a player if he isn’t going to be any better then what you already have; especially if you can draft a different position that covers and area of need on your team. You have to give the regime the benefit of the doubt; they know what they are doing.
Our draft picks.
I bet most people would be happy if we had drafted either Smith or Davis in the first two rounds. What the hell, we got both. Talk about filling a need. If these pan out and we sign them to 4 or 5 years deals we are set for a long time at a cheap price. That is way better then paying big money to one high priced free agent CB.
I’m not fond of drafting White were we did, but it makes a lot of sense. Yes White will be very effective in the Wild Cat. It lost some of its effectiveness last year because teams started to load up against the run and Brown became very predictable on his choice of places to run including which side of the line. Hind sight is always 20/20, but go back and look at some of the plays Brown was held to short yard gains. If he goes to the right, he has one man to beat and then it’s off to the races. Plus Chad is not a threat the run down field or to even run the ball. Direct snap to White and have Ricky come across one way with Ronnie already set in the back field heading the opposite way. I remember everybody getting fired up about having RW and RB on the field at the same time. Well now we do and it may not even be a run. It creates match up problems and allows us to dictate to the opposing defense. It also creates more room on our roster by having a third string QB that can actually play in the game instead have just standing around.
I can’t say much about the WRs drafted. I do know that Nicks and Britt both had different negatives being said about them. Neither one were thought of as a sure thing. We do know that the regime wants a tall red zone WR, so much so that they signed Wilford last year. Hartline has Special Teams written all over him. Some teams think of special teams as an after thought. Parcells, sees special teams as a very important part of any game. They have been trying to up grade our special teams since they got here, and they still are not satisfied. Again Hartline will free up a roster spot because he will be a special teams demon that can also be a pretty good WR in a limited role.
We will easily find a few more players from other teams. Again the regime is great at finding players that fit their scheme and system.
Parcells has always been able to find QBs that can play for him. Ray Lucas, Quincy Carter, and even Tony Romo. Pat White will be a good player if needed.
In one off season we have totally rebuilt our secondary for the next 4 to 5 years. Bottom line; ask your self if we are a better team now then at the start of free agency. I think the team has improved more then most people realize. The Patriots may still have better players, but we have a better coaching staff. The NFL is one sport that coaching still matters more then anything else. Bring on the season.
Let’s get back to our draft.
I didn’t think we would draft an ILB or OLB. It just didn’t make any sense. We had more pressing needs else were. What was our biggest weakness last year and heading into this draft? DBs, WRs, and Special Teams. Everybody would love to have more pressure on the QB, but overall it wasn’t as big of a need as the other areas. We resigned a lot of our own players and signed an OLB-Wake, S-Wilson, C-Grove and CB-Greene. This is why I thought we would draft a WR first. I did know that we would draft in pairs again. The regime always hedges the bet when it comes to filling a need.
Why didn’t we draft other positions?
One of the reasons comes from Ireland’s answer regarding JT. Signing a player can limit the development of other players. Simply put, the regime feels the current players we have on the roster at certain positions were better or just as good as anybody available to them in the draft. All things being some what equal, you go with the guy you know. Why do you think we waited until after the combine and interviews to sign our own free agents? They watched the film, combine workouts and assessed the players (through interviews) they thought they would have a legitimate shot at drafting and decided resigning our guys was the safest route to go. Why draft a player if he isn’t going to be any better then what you already have; especially if you can draft a different position that covers and area of need on your team. You have to give the regime the benefit of the doubt; they know what they are doing.
Our draft picks.
I bet most people would be happy if we had drafted either Smith or Davis in the first two rounds. What the hell, we got both. Talk about filling a need. If these pan out and we sign them to 4 or 5 years deals we are set for a long time at a cheap price. That is way better then paying big money to one high priced free agent CB.
I’m not fond of drafting White were we did, but it makes a lot of sense. Yes White will be very effective in the Wild Cat. It lost some of its effectiveness last year because teams started to load up against the run and Brown became very predictable on his choice of places to run including which side of the line. Hind sight is always 20/20, but go back and look at some of the plays Brown was held to short yard gains. If he goes to the right, he has one man to beat and then it’s off to the races. Plus Chad is not a threat the run down field or to even run the ball. Direct snap to White and have Ricky come across one way with Ronnie already set in the back field heading the opposite way. I remember everybody getting fired up about having RW and RB on the field at the same time. Well now we do and it may not even be a run. It creates match up problems and allows us to dictate to the opposing defense. It also creates more room on our roster by having a third string QB that can actually play in the game instead have just standing around.
I can’t say much about the WRs drafted. I do know that Nicks and Britt both had different negatives being said about them. Neither one were thought of as a sure thing. We do know that the regime wants a tall red zone WR, so much so that they signed Wilford last year. Hartline has Special Teams written all over him. Some teams think of special teams as an after thought. Parcells, sees special teams as a very important part of any game. They have been trying to up grade our special teams since they got here, and they still are not satisfied. Again Hartline will free up a roster spot because he will be a special teams demon that can also be a pretty good WR in a limited role.
We will easily find a few more players from other teams. Again the regime is great at finding players that fit their scheme and system.
Parcells has always been able to find QBs that can play for him. Ray Lucas, Quincy Carter, and even Tony Romo. Pat White will be a good player if needed.
In one off season we have totally rebuilt our secondary for the next 4 to 5 years. Bottom line; ask your self if we are a better team now then at the start of free agency. I think the team has improved more then most people realize. The Patriots may still have better players, but we have a better coaching staff. The NFL is one sport that coaching still matters more then anything else. Bring on the season.
