Monthly Archives: February 2006
Oliver Celestin, who has been with the Jets now for two years after being signed off the Vikings practice squad was waived, likely solidifying Kerry Rhodes role as the starter, and possibly bolstering Andre Maddox, who was drafted last year, but was injured during training camp.
Apparently, Deadspin has heard that Vince Young scored a 6 on his Wonderlic test at the Combine. I am not sure if this is true or not, but apparently the story is that the test was 'improperly given' and he scored a 16 on the next go round…
Whether it's true or not, now he has the stigma that he has poor mechanics AND he is dumb…
The Daily News contacted Joe Gibbs at the Combine to learn about any interest that the Jets might have had in Patrick Ramsey, or might still have. Gibbs was coy about the future, but did admit that the Jets had inquired after Chad went down. Though the price at the time was too high, the Redskins are in a similar situation to the Jets regarding the cap, and are looking to shed salary.
With the Combine well underway, the rumor mongering (we love it!) around the Jets is picking up and according to old friend Randy Lange, the Jets are actively working with the Texans to trade up to the top spot to get Matt Leinart.
In theory, the deal might makes sense… at least for the Texans. The Texans have a better than average RB in Domanick Davis, and look like they want to hold onto David Carr, at least for a while longer. Add to that a new staff might want to do everything they can to build for the future, and stockpiling picks might be an important strategy, thus using the top pick might be unwise for the Texans.
All the same, what do the Jets need to give up to get the top pick… and more importantly would it really be worth it? Just guessing, but would a top-tier Defensive End and the Jets 2007 1st rounder be enough?
Apparently, Leinart might be getting a bit catty, and is taking umbridge with Jay Cutler's meteoric rise up the boards saying:
“I've been a winner my whole career. That's the most important thing. I just win.”
Leinart's statement is certainly true, but it might have helped to play at the premiere school on the west coast, where Cutler was playing at (let's face it) the perennial laughing stock of the SEC…
Berger and most of the rest of the N.Y. press, triangulates the Leinart rumor and also adds that Chad has responded to the Sarasota, FL media about the anonymous comments of his teammates, saying:
“I'm glad I'm down here and not up there. I've heard my teammates don't want me back.”
Not exactly sure what that means, but there it is…
This was posted in the comments section and wanted to make a full post for this…
Support your team and its fans and sign this petition. The Jets just reached a 3 year deal with SportsNet New York… over 230 hours of Jets related content will be on SNY as of March 16th.This petition is to help get Charter Digital Cable reach an agreement with SNY. Even if you don't have Charter Digital Cable, sign it anyway and support Jets fans!
http://www.petitiononline.com/NYMetSNY/petition.html
Thanks to jetsfaninct for posting this in the comments. I wanted to make a whole post to make people aware of this…
We are continuing on in Collegiate Scouting 101, your survey class introducing you to the intricacies of analyzing player talent. This class will be taught by Professor Bent, and will culminate with the 2006 NFL Draft. Performance in the draft will constitute 100% of your final grade…
Whilst the Jets major headache at the moment is probably the quarterback position, they will certainly be looking at how best to “protect their investment” – whoever that may be. Widely considered to be a talented crop, this year's Offensive Tackle pool has several prime candidates for the task.
There are several names here that would represent an immediate upgrade over last year's opening day starter, Jason “I’m old” Fabini. That's why I like the idea of selecting a tackle in the first round. The team will immediately be improved at that position, something that would be less certain if the Jets were to select a quarterback or a running back, because while that would probably be an upgrade over Bollinger and Houston, it would not necessarily be an upgrade over a healthy Pennington and a healthy Martin. Not to mention the fact that the probability of those two being kept healthy will be much greater with an improved line.
Terry Bradway attracted a lot of criticism for neglecting to address this position during last year's draft. It's unfathomable that the Jets will make the same mistake again. Look for the Jets to pick up a tackle in the first or second round. With Fabini looking certain to be released, the Jets will have to decide whether Adrian Jones will be the left tackle, the right tackle or neither (they may even consider moving him to guard).
The Ten Biggest Names (Day One Picks?)
For most of the year, it was considered that there were four tackles worthy of a first round draft selection. Dubbed “the big four” by certain sections of the media, you had D'Brickashaw Ferguson, Marcus McNeil, Eric Winston and Jonathan Scott. The early entry of Winston Justice has added to this group. There are then a group of players who were widely considered to be a notch below this top group but still good value as day one picks, namely Andrew Whitworth, Jeremy Trueblood, Darren Colledge and Ryan O'Callahan. Finally, you have Joe Toledo who some sites have predicted will go higher than expected.
Barring a pre-draft day trade (which I am not ruling out, by the way), the media in New York will be asking “Is D'Brick the pick?” in the run-up to the draft. Ferguson has been touted as the top tackle in the draft all year long (as well as, by some, the best player overall) and his performance at the Senior Bowl only served to consolidate his position. Ferguson possesses tremendous mobility but his main strength is pass protection, where his footwork and technique is considered flawless.
There are some concerns: Can he add weight to his 295lb frame? (Probably). Can he improve his run blocking? (I believe he already has and he is powerful enough to continue to develop in this area). There was also concern that he was beaten on an inside move by Darryl Tapp against Virginia and then by the same move by Mark Anderson with “the world” watching at the Senior Bowl, but these were errors that a player with the technical ability of Ferguson should be able to eliminate in future with a bit of work. I was also impressed by his interview, he has a laid-back, but focused demeanour, somewhat reminiscent of Jonathan Vilma.
Will D'Brickashaw be available at number four anyway, and if he is, do the Jets select him, or trade down to select one of the other top tackle prospects? I felt Ferguson was indeed the most impressive lineman I saw this year, but there are plenty of other options that would be an upgrade over Fabini.
McNeil’s stock seems to have slipped since last year, when he toyed with the idea of coming out early. At 6’9″ and 340 lbs, he has ideal size, but is considered somewhat raw. He has good mobility for his size (which he best displayed with a pass reception on a tipped ball at the senior bowl) and decent footwork. Auburn employs a zonal blocking system, similar to the one the Jets tried to implement last year, and it produced good numbers for Cadillac Williams and Kenny Irons over the last few years. Concerns over the state of his back may be responsible for his apparent slide into the latter part of the first round. McNeil has good character though, which may pique the interest of the new regime.
Winston is a pass blocking specialist, who came off a serious knee injury in 2004. Miami’s offense struggled in the early part of the season, giving up a lot of sacks (although few came from Winston’s side). The former TE opens holes and lanes in the running game, but it is in pass protection where he is most comfortable. One of his best performances of the year came against one of the country’s best pass rushers in Darryl Tapp, although Tapp still had some success when he was not directly matched up with Winston.
Jonathan Scott also impressed me with his pass protection. He seemed to be virtually immovable. Texas had Justin Blalock at the other tackle who excels in the running game (and will move to guard in 2006), so Scott’s main job was to give Vince Young time to work. His Father used to play for the Jets and he doubles as a long snapper (although the Jets already have two of those in Dearth and Dreessen).
Winston Justice sounds like the sort of name they should have given to Robocop (much better than “Murphy”). With Matt Leinart being a southpaw, he played RT last year to protect Leinart’s blind side. Will he immediately be as comfortable on the left (as he will more than likely play for a team that has a “northpaw” at QB), or should he stick to the right side? He’s a mobile 300 lber and excels in pass protection. He even scored a TD (on a fumble recovery) against Washington State. Here is another test for the USC-Indy theory though…did Justice look better than he actually was due to all the weapons on the field?
Colledge is the first of the guys from the second tier. He was the most impressive of the linemen from the high powered offense that played on the “Smurf Turf” at Boise State. However, his stock may be falling after an uninspiring week at the Senior Bowl. He did not give up a sack from his sophomore season onwards, but he was beaten by Elvis Dumervil in the Senior Bowl and struggled with Mathius Kiwanuka at the MPC Computers Bowl. He seems to get overpowered by elite linemen.
O’Callahan is absolutely huge (6’7″, 363 lbs) and also sound in pass protection. He sometimes mowed people over at the NCAA level. There is some talk about him maybe switching to guard at the next level, but he is currently projected as a tackle. He played RT last season and currently looks like could sneak into the second round.
Andrew Whitworth has been described as “king-sized”. I hope that doesn’t mean he is seven inches tall! He displays solid footwork to stay in front of pass rushers and gets downfield in the running game. He should easily be off the board by the end of the first day.
Trueblood is an interesting case. He also stands at 6’9″, but is just 320 lbs. He looks extremely impressive when pulling to make a block and battles hard. At first look, I was wowed by this guy. On closer inspection, there are apparent weaknesses. This was best illustrated in his match up with Tapp earlier on in the season. Tapp often blows by people with speed, but Trueblood was able to stay in front of him in the first half with good footwork, effort and technique. Towards the end of the game, Tapp stepped up the pressure in the second half, eventually using a bull-rush to overpower Trueblood, leading to a key defensive score. From this, we can summarise that while Trueblood is mobile, he maybe lacks strength – at 6’9″ it is difficult to get leverage against smaller, more powerful guys like Tapp – and stamina could be an issue too. He has potential though, if he can overcome these issues.
Toledo slid under the radar for much of the year because he has only recently converted to tackle from the tight end position. He struggled with a few ankle problems last year. From having seen him at the East West Shrine Game, I can report that he is extremely adept at “holding his f**king water”.
The New Guard
There are a few top quality prospects that are projected to be guards in the NFL, but also played tackle in college. I will discuss these in more detail when I look at interior linemen, but they all represent sensible picks for a team looking to improve their depth on the offensive line, due to their versatility.
These guys are as follows (in no particular order):
· Charles Spencer
· Troy Reddick
· Max Jean-Gilles
· Robbie Sims
· Davin Joseph
· Albert Toeaina
Of course, there’s every chance that some of the other guys on this list will eventually move to guard, but for the time being, they are all mainly projected as tackles.
Best of the Rest
- Rashad Butler – Miami’s line got better over the course of the season, but Butler had his struggles earlier in the year. Not to be confused with Rasual Butler who played basketball in Miami until this season.
- Na’shan Goddard – Especially good in the running game. Pulls a lot, with impressive mobility. OK in pass protection.
- Willie Hall – Early entry candidate from Middle Tennessee. 6’6″ and 305 lbs. May go undrafted.
Jami Hightower – With a name like Hightower, he has to be an imposing figure. Unfortunately, he was hurt and missed the only Texas A&M game broadcast in the UK this year. However, I can report that the rest of the A&M line was made up of a guy who makes sound effects, a timid woman with a squeaky voice, a gun obsessed weirdo and Steve Guttenburg.- Travis Leffew – Destined to be nicknamed “Pepe” – if he is not already. I’d love to be able to tell you that (a) he stinks and (b) he “whiffed” on a few blocks when I saw him play, but sadly, he did OK. Plays both tackle postions and is solid in both the running and passing game.
- Jabari Levey – “The Hutt” – as he should be called (if he is not already), is not as mobile as his teammate Goddard, but has good footwork, battles well and protects soundly. With Goddard banged up at the end of the season, he was equally impressive at both tackle positions.
- Jimmy Martin – A durable guy, who made over 40 straight starts for Virginia Tech despite not being a big name recruit out of high school. He is OK, but is occasionally beaten for speed by fast DEs. Hoping to be a late round selection.
- Derek Morris – Highly rated junior entering the draft early. Mammoth 330-pounder, not to be confused with Derek Morris, the 200 lb Phoenix Coyotes defenseman.
- Terrence Pennington – Crafty marketing ploy by the Jets to pick this guy in the seventh round and stick him on the active roster. Then everyone with a Pennington replica jersey will have to get another that says “C. Pennington” on the back. Or perhaps not.
- Tre Stallings – Played right tackle for Ole Miss and they ran behind him a lot. Does a decent job of protecting the QB. Good size and strength.
- Adam Stenavich – Saw his stock slide a bit this year after a difficult 2005 campaign that saw him banged up for much of the season. No longer considered a likely first day pick, he is strong in the running game and picks up blitzers well.
Chris Neubauer from Pro Football Weekly is keeping a blog about the NFL Combine, and wrote yesterday about D'Brickashaw Ferguson, and his desire to return to New York. Neubauer writes:
Ferguson, a native New Yorker, told the awestruck media contingent that he molded his game after former Giants OT Lomas Brown. Ferguson also said that he would love to return to the Big Apple.
Somewhere the Jets are smiling.
It's hard to tell what the Jets are doing these days, regarding their first round pick… I will go out on a limb and say this, it's likely they won't trade it to get a questionable Tight End from Oakland.
To quote Fred Williard in A Mighty Wind:
“Hey wha'
happen?!?!”
Apologies for not posting since last week. I
went to visit family and was unable to access the Internets. It looks like I
picked the wrong weekend to not pay attention to this stuff, and to stop
sniffing glue…
So, since I left you in the proverbial
lurch… here's wha' happen…
1) Suprise! John Abraham has received the franchise tag, with which he
ain't happy. If Abraham really wants to screw
the Jets, he might want to consider signing his tag today (they need to have
$8.3 million available for him).
2) Mangini hasn't given us much on the whole Pennington thing (which must
infuriate the media).
2) As the front office set the charges to demolish
the offense, it's clear that Pennington's only leverage, dead money, won't
really phase the Jets… as proved by their preparation to jettison many players familiar to
Pennington.
3) It seems that the cap pogroms have begun as the Jets have cut seven players from
the roster, including CB Ty Law, RT Jason Fabini, QB Jay Fiedler, FB Jerald
Sowell, backup LB Barry Gardner, backup DT Lance Legree and backup WR Harry
Williams Jr.
4) The Jets also announced it has restructured the contract of running back Curtis Martin.
5) Our friend Tony from the Salary Page (now jetscap.com) has the Jets'
number at about $8 million over, but some reporters have stated that this number
is in the low teens.
So what do you think of the 2006 Jets so far? I think of it this way:
it's like a feces pie… no matter how you slice it, when you take a bite, you
are still eating s#!t….
AJ Vaynerchuk of jetstv.com has put out a rumor that the Jets will release Jerald Sowell this coming Tuesday. The Star Ledger has mentioned this in an article today, but AJ had posted this as of last night.
For a link to his video blog (vlog) post click here.
A check to the cap page shows that the charge would be less if the team cuts him after June 1st… by over $200K. So if this plays out, this would be quite a scoop. I will reserve judgement until Tuesday. Thanks for the information AJ, and good luck with the vlog, we will be tuning in!
The Star Ledger reports that John Abraham will likely receive the franchise tag again… which would guarantee him $8.3 million if he signs the paper.
I truly believe that you can't let Abe walk, and although I would love to see the team get some draft picks for him, I consider it fairly unlikely that another team would . The problem is how likely is a team willing to give up two #1s and pay the dude $8 million a year?
Also, can someone please tell him to update and/or get a new website since it is predator94.com and that's not even his number, coupled with the fact that he still has his apology smack at the top from 2003 up on his site.
Here's today's game.
Mark Cannizzarro contacted members of the Jets offense and got the following responses on Pennington's status with the team:
Player A: “I think we should release him; he's too injury-prone.”Player B: “He's like an egg back there. I mean, look at the ways he's gotten hurt. He hasn't even been hit that hard. The injuries have come from awkward hits and falls. I think we should just cut him.”
Who do you think the two players are that made these statements? Why?
Not suprisingly, Pennington and his agent Tom Condon, are sticking to their guns and at least at this point, are holding the team's cap for ransom, basically the only leverage that the pair have at this point.
The other players getting the screws put to them are Martin, Kendall, Fabini, Coles and Mawae. It appears that the veteran center has asked the team to cut him rather than restructure.
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