The Breakout Five
Instead of the five draft busts, the good ol’ bloggers at Bleacher Report have now set their sights on determining which Jets players will have their big season in 2009. These five in the eyes of Gary G. will be the Breakout Class of 09′ or ‘10….
Here are the candidates in no particular order:
Calvin Pace, Vernon Gholston, David Clowney, Dustin Keller and Leon Washington.
I was surprised to see Leon on here myself considering he has done so much for the Jets as it is but we also need to remember that Mangini used him for Special Teams purposes and if Ryan is willing to give Leon some actual playing time he will no doubt breakout. Gholston and Clowney weren’t surprising choices, Ryan has been working with both during the offseason and we have been getting good reports.
Clavin Pace is also not shocking because he will no doubt thrive under Ryan’s defense after having a successful 1st season with New York. Dustin Keller [although needs to work on blocking] should be able to become a key part of the offense after having a good rookie season.
Who do you think will breakout this season? Will it be this top five or another set of five?
Filed under: Main Page, Opinion
after reading this and thinking about our team and our defense i cant wait for the season to start….
I wanna add Dwight Lowery in the mix. He’s gonna shine if he gets to play in nickel or dime packages. Esp if they let him sit in zone coverage.
Agreed with seeing Leon there. I kinda thought he already busted out.
And agree with Dwight Lowery. he looks like he can grow into a good CB.
As for another name, I’d kinda like it if Sione Pouha showed a little growth.
Chansi Stuckey and dont be surprised if Eric Smith has a breakout year. You see what Rex Ryan did for Jim Leonhard. Eric smith has alot more talent than Leonhard had before ryan made him into the player he is. Smith was also the OTA mvp.
C. Stuckey
K. Clemens
M. Douglas
Leon going to bust out? Sounds like a Larry King prediction. “Listen up, gang: run, don’t walk, to see Leon Washington. He’s good.”
Also Dbrickashaw Ferguson should have a pro bowl type season this year he’s been steadily improving since he’s been in the league and he had a good year last year. I look for him to emerge as one of the elite LTs in the league within the next 2 years
Harris will be a BEAST…
Depending on use, Shonne Greene is going to have a surprising season, Keller will be used much more and I can see him become more than a second option. Washington should get more touches this year as a pass catching threat, more than RB. He is extremely dangerous in the open field. Sanchez IMHO will have an impressive first season. This will also be a time for Cotchery to come out of the shadows of Coles and establish himself as a legitimate threat and go to receiver.
I’m a little leery about predicting what Eric Smith may do. The past few summers, he has “flashed” at training camp, but when the bullets start flying for real, he’s been a little less impressive.
Obviously, you hope he will grow and excel, but until he does it on the field during the actual season …
gholston,Rhodes,Lowery,E.Smith & Stuckey.
I agree with R in CT about E. Smith. He has looked great in training camp only to get injured. My breakout guy: Lito Sheppard. Freed from having to cover the opposing team’s no. 1 WR and being disgruntled on the Eagles, Lito could revert to his Pro Bowl form. If Lito is a second lockdown corner, then the Jets defense really could be the best in the NFL.
It better be D Keller. With the way we can run the ball and our QB situation. D Keller should be our biggest weapon moving the ball down the filed.
I think an underrated guy is D Strickland. He is perfect for the nickel and will allow Lowery to play a little saftey.
Take off Clowney and put on Stuckey. Take off Leon Washington and how can we not PUT ON MARK SANCHEZ?
If Sanchez starts (and I hope he does), I expect his second season to be his “breakout” year. For his rookie year, I’d be happy with a Flacco or Big Ben type of season…a Matt Ryan-type of season happens once every 20-30 years (only Marino’s rookie season really compares).
I like the list. Lowery would be nice to break out. i think seeing Stuckey do it would be most beneficial.
Keller is a beast and should be on the field as much as possible. I do not care if he can block or not…… all this WR talk and we have a stud pass catching TE on our team right now.
Keller gets more targets and Leon gets more carries……we don’t even know what this offense is capable of yet. FORGET PLAX !
J E T S .. Defense will be the best .. We better put a whoppin on them dolphins … Chanler chrowling whatever he is . Ape/ preditor lookin alien .. Let’s run that ball and hit em hard . Division champs .. Couple years .. Superbowl champs ! Letssss goo
QB Kellen Clemens
TE Dustin Keller
LB Calvin Pace
When I think about the potential of our defense under Rex Ryan, I can’t help but think about that line from that Jerry Lewis movie “That’s My Boy” (I know, I know, go ahead and laugh!)
You hit ‘em HARD…you hit ‘em LOW…and you hit ‘em FAST…and if they get up? You hit ‘em again! “
A player that people kind of consider “good” already but really hasn’t even reached his potential at all that can really have a huge year is David Harris.
A lot of people kind of forgot about Harris with what happened last year, with him coming in with an injury and missing a good chunk of the year due to injury. But during his rookie season, he outplayed both Patrick Willis and Jon Beason(two guys that have a TON of hype now after their second years) but it went under the radar because Harris didn’t become a starter until halfway through the year.
Now he enters a system where Rex Ryan has developed superstar LBs out of nobodies, and Harris is definitely one of the most talented inside LBs(outside of Lewis of course) that Rex Ryan has the chance to mold a superstar into.
Harris is going to shine in Rex’s attack style defense.
Gholston? MWWWAAAAAAAAHHHAAHHAAAA
Good one needed a laugh. ;-)
Gholston’s going to be fine. He’s just not going to be what Mangini tried to drill him into being(an every down complete player) until his third or fourth year.
Gholston is getting a hell of a lot of time in camp working as a nickel end, which is where he should have been last year but was rarely seen for god knows what reason. This is where he should be right now, and it’s where he can actually help the team.
I’ve seen him in camp. He’s flowing to the ball much better. He’s clearly not thinking as much out there, and he looks a lot less rigid than he did last year. He’s going to be a pretty important piece of the Jets defense this year, I feel.
Dave…
Thank you. Thats what i mean to say when I said he would be a BEAST earlier in the posts. The guy was our leading tackler for a while there. Hes been hurt. If he is healthy this year…. watch out.
With all that Leon has done, imagine if he hasn’t even “broken out” yet. That is scary and really excites me. If Gholston could break out, that would be a huge bonus for us. I’m really looking forward to see what Kerry and Lito could do in this defense. Also interested to see which WR, other than Keller, will step up. I’m expecting big things from Keller. Chansi and Clowney are the question marks.
could be a big year for Mike DeVito with Coleman gone, also watch out for Trusnik, Murrell (LB’s) & Smith @ safety
Stuckey, Clemens, Harris, Murrell, De Vito.
Gholston is a bust, Sanchez will ride the pine like his USC predecessors Leinart and Booty, the latter of which he could not beat out for a starting job in college.
Mr. T should be fired.
Wise, what do you base your firing of Mr T on? It is very clear the talent on this team is much better than before he took over. I love his aggressiveness in the draft when he likes a player. Revis, Harris, Keller, have been great picks. Let’s hope Sanchez is as well. Gholston is the only pick to complain about but let’s remember 2 things: He could turn out to be a great player under Ryan, and Mr T didn’t have much choice in the pick. He would’ve traded down if he had a willing partner. He was in a tough spot.
Also love the fact that he fired his friend Mangini as soon as the season ended. No hesitation. He knew it needed to be done and he wasted no time.
So what’s your beef with him? And please list the GM’s that you think are better.