News: Jets Sign CB Donald Strickland
Hutch reports that the Jets have signed CB Donald Strickland to a three year deal.
The signing fills a need for the Jets, who have been searching for a veteran cornerback since free agency began in February. The team had interest in former Baltimore Ravens cornerback Corey Ivy, who signed with the Cleveland Browns, and brought in Samari Rolle, another former Raven, for a visit last week.
With Strickland in-house, don’t hold your breath waiting for Rolle comes to the Jets. As far as Strickland, Scouts Inc. aren’t that fond of him, basically calling him a tweener.
He is undersized and not quite the tackler you want for safety and lacks the top-end speed for the corner position. He has excellent feet, agility and can make the transition to break on the ball like a corner, but lacks a burst to close quick enough to get to the ball. He fits a man off or zone scheme better than a bump-and-run or tight man scheme.
If he struggles with man coverage as they note, then there’s some questions as to how he’d fit with this scheme … how much better could he be than Lowery? Obviously though, he comes with two recommendations close to the team. Mike Nolan (who worked with Ryan in BAL) and who likely signed him to the Niners in the first place, and then Asst. GM Scott Cohen who had him when he worked for the Eagles.
Over at Cimini’s blog, he seems to think that this is not a good sign for Lowery, but I’m not ready to throw in the towel just yet.
This isn’t a ringing endorsement for second-year CB Dwight Lowery, a starter last season until Ty Law arrived in November. I thought Lowery showed some promise, but Ryan evidently feels Lowery doesn’t have the man-to-man coverage skills to play a significant role in his system.
Not that there was much doubt, but the Strickland signing virtually eliminates the possibility of the Jets picking a cornerback in the first three rounds of the draft. Now they have Strickland to go along with starters Darrelle Revis and Lito Sheppard, who was acquired in a trade with the Eagles.
This reminds of when the Jets signed Jesse Chatman at this time last year. Many said “oh this means they’ll never take Darren McFadden with the No. 6 pick” … in retrospect … it meant nothing … the Jets would have taken DMC if he was there, there’s no question in my mind. This is just overanalyzing the tea leaves with nothing better to do in March.
As far as what it means for Lowery? I disagree, this is a depth move, an insurance policy and more a hit against Drew Coleman than Dwight Lowery … by a long shot. Strickland is a hold-the-fort guy, and a slot corner at best.
While everyone is hypersensitive to the team signing anyone who’s had a cup of coffee in Foxborough, Asst. GM Scott Cohen keeps rolling his former Eagles through the organization. I don’t remember seeing a single beat writer mention this fact over the past year. Has even one of those guys stuck? Not to my knowledge. I know this was a three year deal, but it was probably to push off a bonus of some kind that’s not being reported yet.
Hat tip to Dan N. for sending this on …
UPDATE: Nice memory to mole57 … Strickland did get a D.I.P. last year after falling over running away from cops.
Is Strickland the guy that got drunk, and tripped over his own feet while trying to run away from the police last year?
I think that was a player on the Dolphins, but I could be wrong….If I remember correctly it was Will Allen???
Always add depth. I assume its not a ton of money so he can be cut when needed with in 3 years.
Good, hopefully this means the end of the Drew Coleman experiment.
http://www.profootballtalk.com/2008/04/25/strickland-gets-busted/
Yay we got an idiot.
I have a feeling we will be stocked with a ton of number 3 and 4 corners next season. I have a feeling they are also hoping that these players can fill in at safety next year.
i like competition, still a believer in lowry, but as we saw last year, we need option in the secondary.
with this pick up, are the jets done with addressing the secondary needs
yeah mole that was will allen haha but i dont think this signing is to bad. were not asking much of this guy am i right? whats he going to be our 4th corner? so as long as he steps up for 10-15 plays a game were fine. and i think rex can make him do that
My 49ers source (thanks, Sam!) tells me he is a good guy, a hustler and although he isn’t likely to start, would make a good extra DB.
He also said that Strickland had an incentive clause in his contract whereby he would earn $9m if he blocked 15 punts! That is the very definition of “not likely to be earned”. Obviously he did to help out the Niners’ salary cap position.
i think lito is going to be a stud. playing opposite the 2nd best corner in the NFL in darelle revis..(asomugha)… and with protection like kerry rhodes and jim leonhard up top. as long as hes healthy
http://myespn.go.com/blogs/nflnation/0-6-569/Ryan–Schottenheimer-will-be-a-head-coach-in-2010.html
Rex Ryans says that he expects Schotty to be a head coach by 2010
We shall see about this guy. I am on the fence. He is obviously a bonehead.
Sounds like we have forgotten about the “charecter” guys……..good now maybe we can win some playoff games
Let’s get to the playoffs before we worry about winning there. Brady is back, the Dolphins have a lot of early picks and we usually split with Buffalo.
I wanted Samari Rolle, but I guess that option is now dead. I dont know much about Strickland, but I have to agree with Cimini’s assessment on Lowery, this is not a good sign for him.
WHO>?????? haha i think this is just insurance if lowery doesn’t do much But i cant see him being out of the loop
Maybe samari rolle thought he was worth more than the vet minimum he was set to make over 4 mil this season and wasn’t in our price range
Swizzle81,
lay off Drew Coleman! Mangini made him into a loser by benching him for taller players. Believe me when I say Donald Strickland is NO better than Coleman.
Drew coleman suck imo…..
I think the jets feel like they have enough talent at wide receiver………cotch in the 1 spot cycle clowney and henry in the number 2 spot and stuckey at slot……marcus henry was injured early in camp and so was clowney….and mangini didnt give them a shot after that…..the jets wide receiver coach attended every major receivers pro day this year…..dhb, nix, maclin, crabtree, britt……….if you look at the teams picking right after the jets theres alot of teams looking for wide receivers…..the jets might very well be setting themselves up for a trade back….same thing with the quarterbacks…..i think they are showing all this interest in sanchez and freeman just to scare teams behind them that they might select them……ryan has said he’s comfortable with the qbs on the roster and i cant recall him saying anything about the receivers…..if they felt they had a need at wr then they would have signed torry holt or not let coles go because 1st year productive wr’s are few and far apart…….. the jets select moreno or wells or if they trade back they take next best back or 3-4 DE…….GO JETS!!!!!!
sorry about the offense babble on a defensive signing post……just had it on my mind……….strickland looks like what we already have in lowery……but depth is good….it would be nice to see an OL depth signing though
Well, my source (who would know more about him than any of us) said he’s a good guy, so I’d say his character is unlikely to be an issue.
Didn’t Miller have issues with running from the cops too? After he accidentally punched that aide? I think he took some heat because he was unable to run a cop, which we all naturally assumed had a Chief Wiggum physique.
Strickland only got a one year 800K deal last year, so I doubt he received more than 3M overall.
Maybe we can trade drew for.a blocking te ?
ok i was on the 49ers blog and them guys are pissed that they didn’t contain him so take that for what it’s worth.
Swizzle this guy got cut by three teams. His scouting report is lousy — especially for a team not playing cover 2 zone.
He sounds like a more expensive Drew Coleman and Eric Smith. Smart enough to know where to go but slow enough to not get there in time.
I am not thrilled with this move. All the other moves have had some logical sense to them. I would like to see the pictures that Strickland has of Woody or someone in our FO. They must be winners.
h
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skeCR6nVFFU
I would say hes is a good addition, if not only adding depth.
how bout trading revis and a number one to get Cutler! We need a franchise qb or we will never win a super bowl.
Never again mention Revis’s name in the same sentence with the word “TRADE”. Are you crazy?
Strickland was sick in Pop Warner…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQnq_iXRl4w&NR=1
Crazy no. we will never win with a terrible qb. We will never get Culter if we don’t trade something of value. Jets suck at drafting qb’s.
Rich Cimini notes on his blog: Strickland’s specialty is covering the slot in nickel and dime packages, and that’s what the Jets were looking for.
That is a good point! Thats what we got hurt on last year too. So he will be filling a specific role of covering the slot in nickel and dime! I wasnt too happy with coleman or poteats coverage on the slot last year.
chris R like IBG said never say revis and trade in the same sentence again forget cutler i think we got a starting QB on the jets roster and thats Kellen clemens we just have t give him a chance damn it
The day they trade Revis is the day I become a Giants fan. To RK; If you watched Revis and Asumugha play side by side in the Probowl it was evident that Revis was the better CB.
ratliff is going to be the qb so there’s no need for cutler.
whoever suggested trading revis for cutler is an idiot.. we have one of THE best corners in the league, if not THE best.. and u wanna trade him? listen, if we do get the best outta gholston we can afford to dump bryan thomas.. and especialy cause at this point the broncos r gonna need more than picks especially when theyr gettin somewhere with cutler… if i’m tannenbaum im gonna make a serious offer to broncos before end of meetings and have woody johnson get involved to make this the real deal.. trade 1st rd pick (17th), 2010 1st rd pick, 2010 3rd rd pick, bryan thomas… or 1st rd pick to denver, 2010 3rd pick to denver, bryan thomas to denver, 3rd rd pick to cleveland and brad smith to cleveland (i hear mangini is high on brad smith and thats betr than giving up more draft picks.. regardless if we DO end up trading for cutler we most likely wont b in a spot to get a good WR… if jarron gilbert is around in the 2nd rd i think ryan will wanna take him and then we gotta go ahead and sign WR like torry holt…. IS THERE A POSSIBILITY WE CAN LAND BOTH CUTLER AND BRAYLON EDWARDS IN THE SAME TRADE?
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Jay,
I have to say that I think a lot of people would say two 1st round picks, a 3rd round pick, and a starting OLB is a little much for Cutler. Now if the Jets do trade him, I’m positive Tanny will get him for the best value to the Jets, and there is no way with Rex coming in for his first year that they would take his first 2 1st round picks away from him. That’s mortgaging the future for one player and I don’t see them doing it.
Chris R -….REALLY? ….REALLY?
He is more of like a Hank Poteat type of player. Crafty veteran, used for depth. He is more of like a replacement for Poteat in my eyes
I am very familiar with Strickland.
He is an excellent special teams tackler, and is especially good at covering the slot in nickel and dime packages. That is what KILLED us last year. He is coming in to fill a specific void.
Great signing.
Jay,
That would be nice, but unfortunately it would be practically impossible to fit them both under the salary cap.
The Niners secondary all benefitted from having Nate Clements as a teammate. Most of their young DBs saw an improvement and (as noted above) there were Niners fans who wanted to keep him, so to view him as the same guy who was cut by three teams may be inaccurate.
For what it’s worth, he saw significant playing time in the Niners win over the Jets this season, recording 4 tackles, as he stopped Coles for a 5 yard gain on first down, Stuckey a yard shy of a first down on third and nine and Jones in the backfield for a loss. He added a late tackle on Cotchery in the prevent and obviously contributed to Favre’s 137yds passing that day.
He is also an excellent special teamer, which already makes him better than Drew Coleman or Eric Smith. Don’t be so sure he’ll be that much more expensive either…last year he earned just $800K. Smith and Coleman are officially set to earn $673K and $523K respectively this year, but Jason from nyjetscap.com said in a recent e-mail to me that this Smith’s base salary is set to escalate to $1.01M in the next few weeks. We will have to wait for the details of the deal, but I’ll be surprised if Strickland gets as much as $3m over the three years.
The Jets better cut Eric Smith and Drew Coleman