From Left out, to Left Tackle; Ijalana set to Take over Blind Side

[JetNation]

By Glenn Naughton

 

If you would have told Ben Ijalana way back in April that he would be suiting up as the starting left tackle for the Jets, he would have had every right to treat it like an April Fool’s joke.

Ijalana, a five-year veteran, was a free agent, sitting at home waiting for the phone to ring.  He’d spent the three previous seasons serving as the back-up to iron man D’Brickashaw Ferguson, thus never playing a single snap at left tackle during  his time with Gang Green.  When Ijalana hit free agency, there was nary a word from a single media outlet suggesting a strong interest in having Ijalana back in 2016, but that all changed in the blink of an eye.

Ijalana will step in at left tackle with Ryan Clady on injured reserve.

On April 8th, Ferguson announced his retirement after the Jets reportedly approached him about taking a pay cut.  Whether it was they pay cut itself, the realization that he could no longer perform to his standards, or a combination of the two, Ferguson walked away.

With Ferguson out of the picture, the Jets wasted no time, re-signing Ijalana the very next day. Ijalana would serve as an insurance policy if the team was unable to add another left tackle, which they eventually did when they dealt a 5th round draft choice to the Denver Broncos in exchange for the now-injured Clady.

So now Ijalana, who has platooned with Brent Qvale at right tackle for most of this season, will slide over to the left side where he spent so many seasons as a back-up.

The fact that the Jets had Ijalana under contract and still gave up a draft pick to acquire Clady tells us he’s not the guy they wanted at left tackle, but now they’ve got him.

However unlikely it is…should Ijalana perform at a consistently high level, it would impact how the Jets approach the position in the draft. Should he struggle, life for Ryan Fitzpatrick and, dare I say, Bryce Petty…may have just gotten a bit harder.

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[GSD4ME]

This teams needs are growing. I thought Macagnans strengths was scouting and drafting. It appears that's not the case. I understand that the teams current roster is a hangover from the Idkik regime and his horrid draft classes but I don't know that we have done much better since. Rather disheartening to see this. 

[AFJF]

33 minutes ago, GSD4ME said:

This teams needs are growing. I thought Macagnans strengths was scouting and drafting. It appears that's not the case. I understand that the teams current roster is a hangover from the Idkik regime and his horrid draft classes but I don't know that we have done much better since. Rather disheartening to see this. 

Mike Maccagnan's draft classes and UDFA signings have played a total of 1 1/2 NFL seasons.  Nobody knows what most of these guys are going to be, but we also know that some of them have played well, and others have done what you would expect of a young player...flash the ability to play in the league from time to time as they develop.

 

 

[LIJetsFan]

 

I like Mac, like him a lot but I need to vent: 

I'm getting sick and tired of us paying for injury prone players and or players coming off an injury.  Kiery Robinson and now Clady are prime examples.  Oh, and I'll throw Mo Wilk in there too.  

I know I know, if they come back 100% we get a bargain.  I don't care.  Just stop it with this bargain basement strategy Mac, please.  I'm adding Mo because I didn't want to tag him or pay him his price and his coming off a broken leg made it all the worse.  

So, what happened, we are without a power RB, we've still have a problem to solve at LT, and Mo is dogging it and or injured and or in too much pain.  Not to mention the misplaced cap$ in all three cases.     

[GSD4ME]

11 minutes ago, AFJF said:

Mike Maccagnan's draft classes and UDFA signings have played a total of 1 1/2 NFL seasons.  Nobody knows what most of these guys are going to be, but we also know that some of them have played well, and others have done what you would expect of a young player...flash the ability to play in the league from time to time as they develop.

 

 

I would expect to see some more flashes I guess. I would expect to see at least one late round pick make an impact somewhere. You're right about the timeline being short and it's too soon to tell but I am not seeing us trending the right direction. 

[drsamuel84]

Ijalana has actually looked promising and it would obviously be huge if he could develop into a LT.  A lot to ask out of the guy but Clady was never a long term solution so it's probably a blessing in disguise we get to see Ijalana there.  We do need to start paying more attention to the O-Line but it's not nearly in as bad a shape as we thought going into the season.  Winters has developed well and Carpenter's a good player, Ijalana may at the very least be able to be a starting RT, I think we're pushing our luck with Mangold as he's beginning to become more and more injury prone but Johnson has filled in fine.  We're not the Cowboys, but our O-line has really been more of a pleasant surprise.

[GSD4ME]

3 minutes ago, LIJetsFan said:

 

I like Mac, like him a lot but I need to vent: 

I'm getting sick and tired of us paying for injury prone players and or players coming off an injury.  Kiery Robinson and now Clady are prime examples.  Oh, and I'll throw Mo Wilk in there too.  

I know I know, if they come back 100% we get a bargain.  I don't care.  Just stop it with this bargain basement strategy Mac, please.  I'm adding Mo because I didn't want to tag him or pay him his price and his coming off a broken leg made it all the worse.  

So, what happened, we are without a power RB, we've still have a problem to solve at LT, and Mo is dogging it and or injured and or in too much pain.  Not to mention the misplaced cap$ in all three cases.     

The power HB has been a real problem in the RZ this year. 

[drsamuel84]

4 minutes ago, LIJetsFan said:

 

I like Mac, like him a lot but I need to vent: 

I'm getting sick and tired of us paying for injury prone players and or players coming off an injury.  Kiery Robinson and now Clady are prime examples.  Oh, and I'll throw Mo Wilk in there too.  

I know I know, if they come back 100% we get a bargain.  I don't care.  Just stop it with this bargain basement strategy Mac, please.  I'm adding Mo because I didn't want to tag him or pay him his price and his coming off a broken leg made it all the worse.  

So, what happened, we are without a power RB, we've still have a problem to solve at LT, and Mo is dogging it and or injured and or in too much pain.  Not to mention the misplaced cap$ in all three cases.     

This is what happens when you draft poorly and need to fill in holes. There's only so much cap space to go around so you have to take risks on injury prone players cause their cheaper.  Good teams have 4th, 5th, 6th rders making significant contributions and they're doing it on minimum salarieS we don't have many of those guys other than Enunwa and Winters.  We don't have that late round RB that's stepped in as the starter which makes us have to go to the free agent well.  

[Ex-Rex]

15 minutes ago, drsamuel84 said:

Ijalana has actually looked promising and it would obviously be huge if he could develop into a LT.  A lot to ask out of the guy but Clady was never a long term solution so it's probably a blessing in disguise we get to see Ijalana there.  We do need to start paying more attention to the O-Line but it's not nearly in as bad a shape as we thought going into the season.  Winters has developed well and Carpenter's a good player, Ijalana may at the very least be able to be a starting RT, I think we're pushing our luck with Mangold as he's beginning to become more and more injury prone but Johnson has filled in fine.  We're not the Cowboys, but our O-line has really been more of a pleasant surprise.

He has looked pretty good on the right side, even though he has gotten some dumb penalties. The left side is an entirely different beast and against this Rams front four whoever the Jets QB is he is going to be in for a long day. Jets better run the ball until they run the legs off Forte and Powell because passing downs are going to be scary.

[LIJetsFan]

Well at least if Fitz starts I won't feel as bad about our OL deficits.  His quick, one read, inaccurate passing game will keep him relatively safe.    

[drsamuel84]

10 minutes ago, Ex-Rex said:

He has looked pretty good on the right side, even though he has gotten some dumb penalties. The left side is an entirely different beast and against this Rams front four whoever the Jets QB is he is going to be in for a long day. Jets better run the ball until they run the legs off Forte and Powell because passing downs are going to be scary.

Agreed it's night and day and he's really getting baptism by fire against a good D-Line but again, let's see what we got.  Clady was more of a placeholder anyway and with this latest injury he's just proven to be way too injury prone to keep around.

[AFJF]

15 minutes ago, GSD4ME said:

I would expect to see some more flashes I guess. I would expect to see at least one late round pick make an impact somewhere. You're right about the timeline being short and it's too soon to tell but I am not seeing us trending the right direction. 

Two drafts, five players taken in rounds 5-7:

Jarvis Harrison who was cut but worth the risk IMO.  Widely considered a potential late-round steal that didn't work out..it happens.

Deon Simon: Made the roster after a season on the PS and hasn't played often enough to say just how good he is or will be, but for  a small school 7th rounder on a team with a bunch of first rounders on the DL, nobody can say it was a good or bad pick as of yet.

Brandon Shell: Looked bad in the PS and viewed as a developmental guy.  We might see him as the season continues to spiral out of control and the O-line keeps getting banged up.  

Lac Edwards: Finally solved our years-long issues at P

Charone Peake: Has looked absolutely fine for a 7th round WR who gets limited targets because of the glut of talent at WR and absence of talent at QB.

Also, if not for Fitz having the worst season of his career, Robby Anderson would be having a monster year, and Jalin Marshall has come along just fine as a receiver.  Not bad for a pair of UDFA's.

If you want to include Petty and Burris as his 4th rounders, one has looked good in limited reps, and the other was their best QB in the pre-season but is still nothing more than a huge question mark at this point.

I get it, the team is losing so fans want blood and just about everyone in the organization is viewed as incompetent, but in all reality, it's wayyyyy too early to determine how good Macc's young acquisitions will be.

 

 

[section314]

21 minutes ago, LIJetsFan said:

Well at least if Fitz starts I won't feel as bad about our OL deficits.  His quick, one read, inaccurate passing game with keep him relatively safe.    

And keep the offense off the field for most of the game.

[AFJF]

1 hour ago, drsamuel84 said:

Ijalana has actually looked promising and it would obviously be huge if he could develop into a LT.  A lot to ask out of the guy but Clady was never a long term solution so it's probably a blessing in disguise we get to see Ijalana there.  We do need to start paying more attention to the O-Line but it's not nearly in as bad a shape as we thought going into the season.  Winters has developed well and Carpenter's a good player, Ijalana may at the very least be able to be a starting RT, I think we're pushing our luck with Mangold as he's beginning to become more and more injury prone but Johnson has filled in fine.  We're not the Cowboys, but our O-line has really been more of a pleasant surprise.

If Ijalana steps up it would be huge for the Jets because they already have enough work to do this off-season to re-stock this roster.

[Beerfish]

He'll get killed out there.  Petty will be the starter by the 4th quarter.

[SickJetFan]

I wanted Petty to start but now think it better Fitz starts and helps break in new OL..they should add Shell as RT too...let Fitz earn his 12 million hard way...no point in risking our QB of the possible future and let him get killed like he did in preseason with Shell

 

[CrazyCarl40]

1 hour ago, Beerfish said:

He'll get killed out there.  Petty will be the starter by the 4th quarter.

It honestly looked like he and Breno were having a contest of who could let Fitz get hit quicker.

[JohnnyLV]

4 hours ago, AFJF said:

Two drafts, five players taken in rounds 5-7:

Jarvis Harrison who was cut but worth the risk IMO.  Widely considered a potential late-round steal that didn't work out..it happens.

Deon Simon: Made the roster after a season on the PS and hasn't played often enough to say just how good he is or will be, but for  a small school 7th rounder on a team with a bunch of first rounders on the DL, nobody can say it was a good or bad pick as of yet.

Brandon Shell: Looked bad in the PS and viewed as a developmental guy.  We might see him as the season continues to spiral out of control and the O-line keeps getting banged up.  

Lac Edwards: Finally solved our years-long issues at P

Charone Peake: Has looked absolutely fine for a 7th round WR who gets limited targets because of the glut of talent at WR and absence of talent at QB.

Also, if not for Fitz having the worst season of his career, Robby Anderson would be having a monster year, and Jalin Marshall has come along just fine as a receiver.  Not bad for a pair of UDFA's.

If you want to include Petty and Burris as his 4th rounders, one has looked good in limited reps, and the other was their best QB in the pre-season but is still nothing more than a huge question mark at this point.

I get it, the team is losing so fans want blood and just about everyone in the organization is viewed as incompetent, but in all reality, it's wayyyyy too early to determine how good Macc's young acquisitions will be.

 

 

I have no issue so far with Macs drafting. It is his free agency use that has been frankly awful.

[jamesr]

38 minutes ago, johnnysd said:

I have no issue so far with Macs drafting. It is his free agency use that has been frankly awful.

I'd rather it was that way round - a great FA player and a poor drafter would not be a good situation.

[PepPep]

5 hours ago, AFJF said:

Two drafts, five players taken in rounds 5-7:

Jarvis Harrison who was cut but worth the risk IMO.  Widely considered a potential late-round steal that didn't work out..it happens.

Deon Simon: Made the roster after a season on the PS and hasn't played often enough to say just how good he is or will be, but for  a small school 7th rounder on a team with a bunch of first rounders on the DL, nobody can say it was a good or bad pick as of yet.

Brandon Shell: Looked bad in the PS and viewed as a developmental guy.  We might see him as the season continues to spiral out of control and the O-line keeps getting banged up.  

Lac Edwards: Finally solved our years-long issues at P

Charone Peake: Has looked absolutely fine for a 7th round WR who gets limited targets because of the glut of talent at WR and absence of talent at QB.

Also, if not for Fitz having the worst season of his career, Robby Anderson would be having a monster year, and Jalin Marshall has come along just fine as a receiver.  Not bad for a pair of UDFA's.

If you want to include Petty and Burris as his 4th rounders, one has looked good in limited reps, and the other was their best QB in the pre-season but is still nothing more than a huge question mark at this point.

I get it, the team is losing so fans want blood and just about everyone in the organization is viewed as incompetent, but in all reality, it's wayyyyy too early to determine how good Macc's young acquisitions will be.

 

 

I agree 100%. Especially about the draft picks. 

Simon has actually looked good when given opportunities. He is a true NT and is really only effective against the run. But when given the reps, he's looked good. 

If you include guys taken earlier than 5th-7th round- Macc drafted a potential franchise QB (Hack- yeah, laugh all you want, but Hack has the potential and we have yet to see if he will be  a bust or the Jets savior or somewhere in between), a hybrid LB (Lee) who looked good up until he got hurt and flashes unlimited potential, Jenkins- who played well enough to get a starting spot on the roster, L.Williams- I think we can all agree he is a future star, D.Smith (a much needed deep threat who got hurt before he could really show what he is capable of (now that he is healthy, we will see a bit more of his abilities and development) and Mauldin- pass rush OLB who had a promising rookie year but struggled this year, still a ? if you ask me.   

[Beerfish]

5 hours ago, AFJF said:

Two drafts, five players taken in rounds 5-7:

Jarvis Harrison who was cut but worth the risk IMO.  Widely considered a potential late-round steal that didn't work out..it happens.

Deon Simon: Made the roster after a season on the PS and hasn't played often enough to say just how good he is or will be, but for  a small school 7th rounder on a team with a bunch of first rounders on the DL, nobody can say it was a good or bad pick as of yet.

Brandon Shell: Looked bad in the PS and viewed as a developmental guy.  We might see him as the season continues to spiral out of control and the O-line keeps getting banged up.  

Lac Edwards: Finally solved our years-long issues at P

Charone Peake: Has looked absolutely fine for a 7th round WR who gets limited targets because of the glut of talent at WR and absence of talent at QB.

Also, if not for Fitz having the worst season of his career, Robby Anderson would be having a monster year, and Jalin Marshall has come along just fine as a receiver.  Not bad for a pair of UDFA's.

If you want to include Petty and Burris as his 4th rounders, one has looked good in limited reps, and the other was their best QB in the pre-season but is still nothing more than a huge question mark at this point.

I get it, the team is losing so fans want blood and just about everyone in the organization is viewed as incompetent, but in all reality, it's wayyyyy too early to determine how good Macc's young acquisitions will be.

 

 

I was not happy with Macs statement when he traded up to get shell, 'he could be a good backup and maybe even start at some point in time.' or words to that effect.

WTF?  You are trading up for a guy you make that statement about?

His late rounders have been okay as with his udfas, his earlier picks are highly suspect at this point in time and that is your bread and butter. 

My biggest fear right now is that a disconnect between coach and gm seems to be showing, Mac is drafting potentially good players that the coach is making poor use of.  Sooner or later those players fail and go elsewhere to perhaps be good.

 

[drdetroit]

6 hours ago, Beerfish said:

He'll get killed out there.  Petty will be the starter by the 4th quarter.

And that's bad how?

[drdetroit]

Ijalana has looked capable so far let's give him a shot

[fltflo]

BTW, I still don't believe our future QB is on this team yet.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[UnknownJetFan]

Guys,

GM Mac has added what seems to be some very good to great players shown below in hist time thus far:

WR Anderson - UDFA (very good player/prospect)

WR/KR/PR Marshall - UDFA (good player/prospect at all positions playing)

WR Peake - 7th round (good player/prospect)

WR Smith - 2nd round (good prospect-need to see more due to injury hopefully now that he's back)

DL Williams - 1st round (great Player)

LB Mauldin - 3rd round (good player/prospect)

LB Lee - 1st round (good player/prospect)

CB Burris - 4th round (good player/prospect-need to see more)

QB Petty - 4th round (good prospect-need to see more)

QB Hackenberg - 2nd round (potentially good prospect-need to see more)

Above is mainly draft picks and UDFA, but this list doesn't look bad. I left out Oline since non drafted have played. Probably Mac needs to do a bit better with FA(DT Mclendon is only one I think was a good hit), but money had to be spent the 1st year due to the ceiling issue and it just coincided with putting a team out on the field to be made more competitive while the players stated above start to build a young core. I have watched over the last 1 1/2 years and it hasn't been much better he could have done in these areas. Paid too much for Revis and Mo, but they seemed like good moves at the time. He was smart to only give Fitz the 1yr deal since everyone would have questioned it had he none done it and the season still spun out of control, like it would have with any of the 4 QBs we currently have more than likely. If Petty can come in and just even smartly manage games over the foreseeable future Mac can just draft in the secondary and Online and we should be OK. 

 

[LIJetsFan]

You forgot Simon, the late round nose tackle from the 2015 draft who spend a year on the PS and made the 53 man roster this year.  He's gotten some minimal playing time and should get more, esp if we go back to more of a 3-4 look for the second half of the season.  

[detectivekimble]

Meet the guy who will be responsible for ruining Bryce Petty.

I would NOT put Petty behind an offensive line starting Ijalana and Giacomini.  They will get this kid killed.

[detectivekimble]

16 hours ago, drsamuel84 said:

Ijalana has actually looked promising and it would obviously be huge if he could develop into a LT.  A lot to ask out of the guy but Clady was never a long term solution so it's probably a blessing in disguise we get to see Ijalana there.  We do need to start paying more attention to the O-Line but it's not nearly in as bad a shape as we thought going into the season.  Winters has developed well and Carpenter's a good player, Ijalana may at the very least be able to be a starting RT, I think we're pushing our luck with Mangold as he's beginning to become more and more injury prone but Johnson has filled in fine.  We're not the Cowboys, but our O-line has really been more of a pleasant surprise.

He whiffs too much in pass protection.  He's the one who got beaten like a rented mule on the play that Geno tore his ACL.  He'll get Petty destroyed, too.  

[detectivekimble]

16 hours ago, drsamuel84 said:

Ijalana has actually looked promising and it would obviously be huge if he could develop into a LT.  A lot to ask out of the guy but Clady was never a long term solution so it's probably a blessing in disguise we get to see Ijalana there.  We do need to start paying more attention to the O-Line but it's not nearly in as bad a shape as we thought going into the season.  Winters has developed well and Carpenter's a good player, Ijalana may at the very least be able to be a starting RT, I think we're pushing our luck with Mangold as he's beginning to become more and more injury prone but Johnson has filled in fine.  We're not the Cowboys, but our O-line has really been more of a pleasant surprise.

He whiffs too much in pass protection.  He's the one who got beaten like a rented mule on the play that Geno tore his ACL.  He'll get Petty destroyed, too.  

[detectivekimble]

16 hours ago, drsamuel84 said:

Ijalana has actually looked promising and it would obviously be huge if he could develop into a LT.  A lot to ask out of the guy but Clady was never a long term solution so it's probably a blessing in disguise we get to see Ijalana there.  We do need to start paying more attention to the O-Line but it's not nearly in as bad a shape as we thought going into the season.  Winters has developed well and Carpenter's a good player, Ijalana may at the very least be able to be a starting RT, I think we're pushing our luck with Mangold as he's beginning to become more and more injury prone but Johnson has filled in fine.  We're not the Cowboys, but our O-line has really been more of a pleasant surprise.

He whiffs too much in pass protection.  He's the one who got beaten like a rented mule on the play that Geno tore his ACL.  He'll get Petty destroyed, too.  

[maury77]

Part of the reason we are here is the timing of Brick's decision to retire (not that I blame the guy). Had Brick retired at the end of last season (rather than towards the end of free agency), the Jets could have pursued his replacement more aggressively last off season. If you remember last year, the Jets tried to sign Kelvin Beachum, presumably to replace Brick. By the time Brick announced his decision, Clady was about the only option available. I can't kill Macc for the Clady signing, sometimes you get stuck in a bad situation and you try to make the best decision you can. 

[drsamuel84]

7 hours ago, detectivekimble said:

He whiffs too much in pass protection.  He's the one who got beaten like a rented mule on the play that Geno tore his ACL.  He'll get Petty destroyed, too.  

Oh he definitely has to get better but I think he's showed some promise.  Can't have Pro Bowlers at every position on the line but he's been good enough to warrant cutting Breno in the offseason.  BTW yes, I agree on the Geno play but Geno also has to know enough at this point to get rid of the ball not trying to pile on the guy but Geno should've known better at this point in his career.

[southtown24th]

Fellow Villanova Alum

[jamesr]

1 hour ago, drsamuel84 said:

Oh he definitely has to get better but I think he's showed some promise.  Can't have Pro Bowlers at every position on the line but he's been good enough to warrant cutting Breno in the offseason.  BTW yes, I agree on the Geno play but Geno also has to know enough at this point to get rid of the ball not trying to pile on the guy but Geno should've known better at this point in his career.

Agree on Geno ... the O line's job is to give the QB enough time to make a throw, run for it, or get rid of it. If the QB takes too long, that's not the O line's fault.

[peebag]

On 11/10/2016 at 8:01 AM, drsamuel84 said:

  A lot to ask out of the guy but Fitztragic was never a long term solution so it's probably a blessing in disguise we get to see Petty in there.  

Yep.