Comments on: Audbile: What Do You Think?

By: Idiot Parade

Idiot Parade — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 18:39:55 +0000

Pound/ramble – would you play Kelly or Thomas as an H-back, or 2nd TE… of course not. They’d be on the outside, or maybe the slot – always covered by a DB. They are faster than Keller, but will be covered by faster defensive players. Keller’s advantage comes from the fact that he will be too fast for any LB to handle, and if they other team brings in a DB to cover him, then you run at that DB. I realize that his blocking is poor (vs D-line or LB), but at 240+ lbs he will have 40-50 lbs on any DB his is assigned to block.
Of course I was shocked by the pick – I expected Devin Thomas or Brian Brohm – but this does give the vanilla Jets offense a much needed change of pace. I’m not sure if it was a reach or not — no way of knowing what the FO knew or heard — probably would have preferred they stay at #36 – and then drfit down from there…

By: pound4pound

pound4pound — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 17:04:44 +0000

Agreed – I may not have loved the pick, but he’s one of ours now, and I’ll be rooting for him as hard as anyone!

By: ramble914

ramble914 — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 16:52:42 +0000

Pound,

Let’s hope he turns out to be a stud, and we love him in the end. Go Jets!

By: pound4pound

pound4pound — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 16:49:46 +0000

Ramble, the fact that some mocks had Keller going at 28 or 30 doesn’t really hurt my case, since a lot of mocks had D Thomas going 11 or 13. You’re right that if we were so locked in on Keller, we had to trade up to be sure to get him. My beef is with Keller being the choice in the first place, given the number of guys who were on the board who were more talented and more accomplished.

By: ramble914

ramble914 — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 16:05:15 +0000

pound4pound,

Sorry, I have to seriously disagree. It was no accident that D. Thomas and M. Kelly went middle to end of 2nd round. In fact, no WR was choosen in the first round.

I saw mocks that had Keller going to the Packers and Seahawks in the first round, so it was not exactaly a reach. Also see my post above this one for the reason the Jets traded up. Keller will be an awesome weapon for our offense.

By: jcam_44

jcam_44 — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 16:02:23 +0000

I would love to see us get Josh Johnson. I know we have Kellen but i think a 4th on an athlete like Johnson to learn the game from Chad and take over in the future would be sweet. (I’m not a fan of Kellen at all)

By: pound4pound

pound4pound — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 15:48:51 +0000

I like the Gholston pick – there just wasn’t a better alternative, and I trust that Mangini felt he could harness VG’s raw potential and end up with a monster pass-rusher.

At first, I hated the Keller pick. After thinking about it more… I hate it even more. Here’s why:

- Everyone knew the real value of this draft was going to be in the 30-60 range. Why trade up just a few spots and lose a 4th rounder (which we’ve had great success with) instead of seeing who falls to you at 36?
- Keller isn’t a good blocker, so he’s pretty much limited to a slot / H-Back role. So we can hope his upside is Dallas Clark, right? Except that Clark’s college career kills Keller’s. Clark was a first-team All-American and won the Mackey Award. Keller didn’t even make First-Team All-Big Ten, and wasn’t even a finalist for the Mackey. For someone with his credentials to become a top-30 pick screams “workout warrior” to me.
- If we wanted someone to stretch the field so badly, why not take D Thomas or M Kelly? They’re faster than Keller, Kelly is actually even taller, and they both had far, far better production in college than Keller. Look at tape of those two guys and compare it to tape of Keller. Does anyone think we snagged the best pro prospect of the three?

The teams that draft the best – the Pats, Packers, Ravens and Chargers come to mind – don’t get too caught up in perceived need or measurables. The first thing they seem to look for is this: is this guy a great football player? Check out the names who went after #36 – esp in the 49-56 range. Those guys are all better football players than the guy we took at 30. I think sometimes it’s really just that simple.

By: ramble914

ramble914 — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 15:23:12 +0000

From what I’ve read, heard and understand, the Giants were in serious negotiations with the Saints to trade Shockey for 2nd and 5th round picks. The Giants didn’t think it was enough, and broke off talks Friday afternoon. The talks resumed again yesterday at around the 25th pick when the Saints upped the offer to 2nd and 4th round picks, the Giants were going to accept but wait until their pick at 32 to select Keller as a pass catching replacement for Shockey, but the Jets caught wind of it and jumped in front of them to snag Keller for themselves. Nice move!

By: ramble914

ramble914 — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 15:21:51 +0000

I for one, am excited as hell about the season. I think we have the makings for a pretty good team (I say this every preseason), but this year is a little different. Our additions in FA addressed the glaring needs, and our additions in the draft (2006 – 2008) added quality players. Yes, there are still some concerns like the other CB spot, right tackle, and QB, but I think we are going places this year. Foe all the talk about the lack of offensive weapons, I think we will have 3 good ones in Leon Washington, Brad Smith, and Dustin Keller, not to mention LC, JC, and T. Jones. In the last couple of years we added some real studs on defense, Rhodes, Revis, Harris, Jenkins, Gholston, and even Coleman.

Yup, I think this year will be special.

By: MB927LI

MB927LI — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 15:06:59 +0000

Since Keller is a converted WR to TE, and his blocking skills arent very good, then I don’t see why he can’t line up as a slot WR, maybe we drafted him to be a WR? Marcus Colston was a TE at Hofstra and he turned out to be a pretty damn good WR for the Saints.