Johnson: Rex will be back

[Jetscode1]

Welcome to Florham Park. Basically the entire Jets' organization is run according to the whims of an overgrown spoiled child named Robert Wood Johnson III. Picture Veruka Salt asking Daddy for an Umpa Lumpa.And now picture anyone associated with a real NFL organization like the Jints or the Steelers working like this.

 

Could always start a petition to have the community purchase the Jets under eminent domain then run the club under a non-profit corporation like the Packers...or we can just live in Woody's world...at least Jerry Jones owns the Cowboys.

[Matt39]

Kerley injury hurt. Nelson stepped up. Pace too. Richardson was better than expected too, but not exactly what you're asking.

 

Just saying look around the league and teams with injuries have late draft picks getting into the box score. The Jets backups are other teams cuts.

[SMC]

Cimini pointed out that assistant coaches and free agents dont want to sign on with a lame duck coach, and that makes sense.

Thats the reason why teams give 1 yr extensions.

[Lupz27]

I think Pace played so well in that pass rushing role they will try to bring him back on a one-year vet minimum deal.  But the problem is when you get over 10 sacks, someone could offer him slightly more, even at his age.

 

Kerley was a 5th round pick in 2011 so he is still on that rookie 4 year deal, he will definitely be back.

 

I like Winslow but I actually hope they upgrade the position (new starter) with Cumberland being a backup.

I think if both Pace, and Reed are willing to come on 1 year deals at a fair price both will be back. Reed could have one more good season in him with 7 months to let his hip injury fully recover, there is no way he was at 100%. I'm not saying break the bank, if he want multi year, or big $$$$ adios, and I wouldn't blame him at his age if he heisted another team, same for Pace.

[Lupz27]

Personally I think him and Welker are more than just the system....but good coaching does wonders. Edelman going forward is an asset...he'll get open for whoever he plays for next.

Forget getting open, he is a fearless punt returner, never fair catches it, and somehow always fools the coverage guys where he is catching it, makes them miss on his 1st move, and does this with out risk of fumbles, his punt returns were the difference in our 1st game against the Pats this year 6 returns for 70 yards, and the Jets in 12 punt return chances that game got a grand total of 7 punt return yards, Jets lost 13-10 that game, the advantage in PR's could have been the difference.

[The Troll]

Yay, more cornerbacks!

[Sperm Edwards]

All of that was under Tannenbaum. I do not see the Jets being players in the big name big ticket FAs

Same owner. I think it killed Woody to sit on the sideline and not make any news by picking up FAs in March while others were.

We aren't going to sit on the sideline in FA this year. Idzik did because of multiple reasons:

1. We didn't have a lot of room to do things in March. Eventually, some things were moved around, but with the remaining $10M or so, my impression is he felt it was more prudent to use that the following year when they had a more realistic shot at making some noise than in 2013 when they didn't even have a QB yet (just Sanchez, Garrard, McElroy, and Simms who they cut the prior year).

2. The team had no less than 20 holes, when you include depth spots on the roster. We had a draft coming up and it's my opinion he wanted to see what positions he could get (cheaply) in the draft before committing millions per year on the same position.

3. With so many holes, the season was then thought to be a sure-thing loser before it began. Idzik also was inheriting a HC that wasn't his own choice. He figured to get a mulligan on the season no matter what, so why not do what teams dream of doing but can't for PR reasons: totally tear it down and build using the draft. Find cheap FAs cut from other teams to temporarily fill positions he'd like to ideally upgrade from, and go pure BPA in the draft.

For example, they could have re-signed DeVito; he wasn't THAT expensive at $3M per, he was as home-grown as they come, he loved being a Jet, and the HC loved him. He was also (at the time) our best run-stopper. If we had re-signed him, we wouldn't have had the open slate in the draft, and there would be no way to justify drafting Sheldon Richardson at #13.

When doing a pure rebuild as we were, with (in so many words) pre-determined failure on the horizon for the upcoming season and a wealth of draft picks coming up including 3 in the top 35-ish, taking a FA in March may prevent the team from going pure BPA a month later. Theoretically, they'd have to pass up on who they felt was the truly best player available to them because that position was no longer needed, and they'd have to "settle" for a lower-ranked player.

4. Same goes for re-signing our own UFAs, but a team with this many needs could use as many picks as we can instead of older and/or more expensive ones. We chose compensatory picks over re-signing Keller, Landry, DeVito, and Greene to new contracts for millions per season.

5. The other half of the compensatory pick coin is not signing other teams' UFAs. Or at a minimum, to let go of at least 4 more than we signed so we could max out on the number of compensatory picks (4) we could get in 2014.

Now all that is good in theory, but you can't keep doing that year after year because the fans won't tolerate it, the players will be disgruntled, and the media will eat you alive (particularly here in NY). So just because it was done in year 1, when there wasn't a lot of cap space, doesn't mean it's going to be commonplace after year 1, when we have LOADS of cap space and fewer question-marks on the roster.

If you think we're going to sit on the sideline because "Idzik doesn't do it that way" you're going to be mistaken. There were only so many FAs this past off season and a couple of higher-priced ones to be had were Jets (Landry & Keller) in the first place.

Signing a CB in free agency means we couldn't sign someone thought to be better as well as younger and cheaper, leaving more space to use elsewhere. And then we wouldn't have been able to justify drafting Milliner! lol. But seriously, what it would have done is deep-6'd any chance we'd have at getting a 1st round pick for Revis since there was no bluffing Tampa when we already had Cromartie and another brand new FA CB on the roster locked into guaranteed big bucks.

What got us into trouble (despite the success we did have 4+ years ago) was having TOO many ultra-high-priced guys. So we had these mega-contracts for Revis, Sanchez, Ferguson, Mangold, Holmes, Harris, Cromartie, Scott, Pace, Woody, and Jenkins. Great for those positions, but what it also means is after those $5M+/year players the next guys are $1-2M (backup level) veterans or draft picks. Further consider that from trades for veterans (Favre, Cromartie, Braylon, Woody, Jones, etc.) and trades to move up (Sanchez, Revis, Harris, etc.), we didn't have as many of those either and the margin for error in the draft is that much less. So when we did draft busts (or even relative busts) they stung that much more because there was more than a full draft worth of prospects that Tannenbaum traded away over a span of just a few years.

But I expect spending in FA, and I wouldn't be surprised to see at least one draft pick traded away to move up here or there (or trade for a pick a round higher in '15). We have 12 draft picks and it's unlikely we make 12 selections in this draft since the chances of even 10 of them making the roster is small.

Let me know when you're ready (and bored enough) to read chapter 2 and I'll write it.

[Rex Lives]

It was never in doubt.

[Sperm Edwards]

Yay, more cornerbacks!

WHOA! Look who's here!

How the hell are you, buddy?

[The Troll]

WHOA! Look who's here!

How the hell are you, buddy?

Disgruntled, as per usual. Surprised to see you on the other side of the Rex fence. You do make some good points and now I've stopped kicking my cat. I just can't give Rex a pass for the personnel. He's been the coach for five years. It's his team much more so than it's Idzik's. Funny how our drafting kinda went to sh*t when Mangini got fired. I think the head coach had far more influence over Tannenbaum than people realize.

[MexiRoll6]

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results. I guess I know the mental status of the NY Jets ownership and GM. Bringing Rex back only sets rebuilding back and only delays the inevitable. We will be having these 'fire Rex' discussions well into next year as well when we see the SOJ on the field once more. The only thing Woody bought with this decision is more years of mediocrity.

[Sperm Edwards]

Disgruntled, as per usual. Surprised to see you on the other side of the Rex fence. You do make some good points and now I've stopped kicking my cat. I just can't give Rex a pass for the personnel. He's been the coach for five years. It's his team much more so than it's Idzik's. Funny how our drafting kinda went to sh*t when Mangini got fired. I think the head coach had far more influence over Tannenbaum than people realize.

 

I'm not giving him a pass, as he's infuriated me plenty over the years.  I'm saying he was not the GM as much as the GM was.  Also saying it's hard to win without a top QB on the roster, and hard to pick up another one after said GM tied his job to the bad one in the draft and then double-downed on him 3 years later with yet another guaranteed contract. 

 

You shouldn't be too disgruntled over this year.  Despite the "Oh, we weren't that bad on paper" claims now, we finished better than everyone expected.  The team still has some serious talent gaps on offense in particular.  It's easy to point to how much more our opponents scored than we did without looking at why.  A rookie QB who was totally unready to start from game 1 (and quite possibly all of season 1), thrown onto the field with a bunch of has-been or never-gonna-be receivers at WR and TE and the only healthy RB on the roster early on was the ok but clearly not-beastly Bilal Powell.  That is a deadly combination.  Now throw in a shaky offensive line (particularly at LG and LT).  Then after the rookie QB gets some games under his belt, one starting WR disappears (Hill), then another sits out for over a month (Holmes) before returning to drop perfect passes, and the only really good one on the team (Kerley) also misses a month.  And a suspect secondary (no matter what they were expected to be) to add pressure to the offense and make it that much harder.

 

What would one expect the results to be? So I'm not sour on the season, as difficult as it was to watch at times while it was ongoing.  Every HC makes in-game mistakes.  The ones with players who get them out of it don't have to answer to them.

 

I don't at all think that Tannenbaum did everything without input from Rex, but I also don't think Rex understood the implications of the moves the way Tannenbaum did.  For example, extending Sanchez.  Even the media and most of the people here made it out like it was no big deal because Sanchez was going to be on the roster anyway.  I'm quite sure it was explained that way from Tannenbaum to Rex.  What went UNsaid in all of Jetdom over that time is how the extension - not to mention the addition of Tim Tebow - prevented the drafting of any QBs that year, and there were a couple that were very gettable despite not having a top 10 pick.  For WEEKS people here (and in the media) argued how the extension was no big deal; even that the extension was a SMART move. That the net difference was like $1M over 2 years.  Clearly this was very wrong.  Rex (IMO) didn't realize the implications any better than that majority of others, and it's a fault, but it was probably only presented as not changing anything other than clearing extra cap room in 2012.

 

Other things need to be looked at given the situation.  Holmes + Edwards + Brad Smith all hit free agency at the same time.  Rex had little (if anything) to do with that, as that is decidedly a GM's job.  So they all hit FA and the only one left on the roster is a borderline #2 WR in Cotchery and a meh TE in Keller.  The Jets were coming off an AFCCG appearance and weren't remotely in "build for the future" mode where they take a WR in the draft and leave no room for error that said WR won't start (as they did a year later with Hill, clearly done by Tannenbaum over Rex's strong objections).  So they re-signed Holmes, the top WR in free agency that year, who was already on the team and who played the part of the good soldier in his contract year.  Looks like a far simpler decision in hindsight, given what a disaster he's been since the ink dried on his contract, than it was at the time.

 

There were other reasons for a lot of moves, good and bad.  Taken as a whole, it just comes across as a bunch of excuse-making (and it probably is to an extent). But with each instance, there were credible reasons things happened at the time beyond simplistic "Rex is an idiot who doesn't think we need to score points" reasons.  I'm quite sure every step along the way Tannenbaum reassured him, "Don't worry about the future; there are always things I can to to fit everyone on the roster and get anyone we want," just as he still claimed (after being fired) that the Jets weren't in bad cap shape in 2013.  Yeah, they were in ok cap shape IF the players he drafted (like Sanchez & Hill in particular) were far better than they are and were.  But they're not, so we were in bad shape.

 

What was your question again? I still do that meandering babbling thing.

[Bugg]

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results. I guess I know the mental status of the NY Jets ownership and GM. Bringing Rex back only sets rebuilding back and only delays the inevitable. We will be having these 'fire Rex' discussions well into next year as well when we see the SOJ on the field once more. The only thing Woody bought with this decision is more years of mediocrity.

Yup.

[slats]

It won't happen this way but here is how I would budget all of the Jets free agent money.

98% goes to the offense

2% goes to charity

Completely agree. It'll be much easier to swallow another defensive player taken in the first round of the draft if they've already grabbed a TE and WR in free agency.

[Jetsfan80]

The locker room video of Rex being retained:  http://www.newyorkjets.com/videos/videos/Jets-Locker-Room-Exclusive---Rex-Retained-as-Coach/ac9d869a-d78d-410a-b819-055f06ccf75c

[JohnnyLV]

Same owner. I think it killed Woody to sit on the sideline and not make any news by picking up FAs in March while others were.

We aren't going to sit on the sideline in FA this year. Idzik did because of multiple reasons:

1. We didn't have a lot of room to do things in March. Eventually, some things were moved around, but with the remaining $10M or so, my impression is he felt it was more prudent to use that the following year when they had a more realistic shot at making some noise than in 2013 when they didn't even have a QB yet (just Sanchez, Garrard, McElroy, and Simms who they cut the prior year).

2. The team had no less than 20 holes, when you include depth spots on the roster. We had a draft coming up and it's my opinion he wanted to see what positions he could get (cheaply) in the draft before committing millions per year on the same position.

3. With so many holes, the season was then thought to be a sure-thing loser before it began. Idzik also was inheriting a HC that wasn't his own choice. He figured to get a mulligan on the season no matter what, so why not do what teams dream of doing but can't for PR reasons: totally tear it down and build using the draft. Find cheap FAs cut from other teams to temporarily fill positions he'd like to ideally upgrade from, and go pure BPA in the draft.

For example, they could have re-signed DeVito; he wasn't THAT expensive at $3M per, he was as home-grown as they come, he loved being a Jet, and the HC loved him. He was also (at the time) our best run-stopper. If we had re-signed him, we wouldn't have had the open slate in the draft, and there would be no way to justify drafting Sheldon Richardson at #13.

When doing a pure rebuild as we were, with (in so many words) pre-determined failure on the horizon for the upcoming season and a wealth of draft picks coming up including 3 in the top 35-ish, taking a FA in March may prevent the team from going pure BPA a month later. Theoretically, they'd have to pass up on who they felt was the truly best player available to them because that position was no longer needed, and they'd have to "settle" for a lower-ranked player.

4. Same goes for re-signing our own UFAs, but a team with this many needs could use as many picks as we can instead of older and/or more expensive ones. We chose compensatory picks over re-signing Keller, Landry, DeVito, and Greene to new contracts for millions per season.

5. The other half of the compensatory pick coin is not signing other teams' UFAs. Or at a minimum, to let go of at least 4 more than we signed so we could max out on the number of compensatory picks (4) we could get in 2014.

Now all that is good in theory, but you can't keep doing that year after year because the fans won't tolerate it, the players will be disgruntled, and the media will eat you alive (particularly here in NY). So just because it was done in year 1, when there wasn't a lot of cap space, doesn't mean it's going to be commonplace after year 1, when we have LOADS of cap space and fewer question-marks on the roster.

If you think we're going to sit on the sideline because "Idzik doesn't do it that way" you're going to be mistaken. There were only so many FAs this past off season and a couple of higher-priced ones to be had were Jets (Landry & Keller) in the first place.

Signing a CB in free agency means we couldn't sign someone thought to be better as well as younger and cheaper, leaving more space to use elsewhere. And then we wouldn't have been able to justify drafting Milliner! lol. But seriously, what it would have done is deep-6'd any chance we'd have at getting a 1st round pick for Revis since there was no bluffing Tampa when we already had Cromartie and another brand new FA CB on the roster locked into guaranteed big bucks.

What got us into trouble (despite the success we did have 4+ years ago) was having TOO many ultra-high-priced guys. So we had these mega-contracts for Revis, Sanchez, Ferguson, Mangold, Holmes, Harris, Cromartie, Scott, Pace, Woody, and Jenkins. Great for those positions, but what it also means is after those $5M+/year players the next guys are $1-2M (backup level) veterans or draft picks. Further consider that from trades for veterans (Favre, Cromartie, Braylon, Woody, Jones, etc.) and trades to move up (Sanchez, Revis, Harris, etc.), we didn't have as many of those either and the margin for error in the draft is that much less. So when we did draft busts (or even relative busts) they stung that much more because there was more than a full draft worth of prospects that Tannenbaum traded away over a span of just a few years.

But I expect spending in FA, and I wouldn't be surprised to see at least one draft pick traded away to move up here or there (or trade for a pick a round higher in '15). We have 12 draft picks and it's unlikely we make 12 selections in this draft since the chances of even 10 of them making the roster is small.

Let me know when you're ready (and bored enough) to read chapter 2 and I'll write it.

 

 

I completely disagree with you. I have always felt that many of the big ticket signings were because of Tannenbaums ego as much as Woody's. We WILL sign FA but we are not going to compete for the sweepstakes guys in general. It is just not Idzik's way to build a team.

[bitonti]

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results. I guess I know the mental status of the NY Jets ownership and GM. Bringing Rex back only sets rebuilding back and only delays the inevitable. We will be having these 'fire Rex' discussions well into next year as well when we see the SOJ on the field once more. The only thing Woody bought with this decision is more years of mediocrity.

 

mediocrity means it could always be worse.

[Jetsfan80]

mediocrity means it could always be worse.

 

One could also argue bottoming out is better than mediocrity.  See:  2011 Indianapolis Colts.  Also see (conversely):  New York Jets from 1999-present.

[LionelRichie]

 

What would one expect the results to be? So I'm not sour on the season, as difficult as it was to watch at times while it was ongoing.  Every HC makes in-game mistakes.  The ones with players who get them out of it don't have to answer to them.

 

 

 

I am ok with Rex coming back and I certainly understand all of the challenges that this team faced this season.    While the 8 wins was fine for this level of talent, 7 of 8 losses were basically all blowouts.    The Jets lost by an average of almost 20pts / game.   You'd have to look it up but that is about as bad as any Jets team that I can remember.   

 

So...what does that mean?   Was the roster so bad that Rex + the Jets 'stole' 8 wins?  

 

I don't think so.   I think the reality is that the Jets were overmatched a couple of games  but at least 4 or 5 times they played comparable teams and either didn't show up or showed up with a putrid game plan.   Both of those are squarely on the coach.      While I understand losing to Cincy and Carolina on the road, there is really no excuse to be blown out by non-playoff teams (Ten, Buf, Mia, Pit,Balt).   

[slats]

I completely disagree with you. I have always felt that many of the big ticket signings were because of Tannenbaums ego as much as Woody's. We WILL sign FA but we are not going to compete for the sweepstakes guys in general. It is just not Idzik's way to build a team.

What is Idzik's way to build a team?

[Sperm Edwards]

I completely disagree with you. I have always felt that many of the big ticket signings were because of Tannenbaums ego as much as Woody's. We WILL sign FA but we are not going to compete for the sweepstakes guys in general. It is just not Idzik's way to build a team.

 

It is everyone's guess that Idzik's ideal way to build a team would be to draft and draft and draft, and then when there are a few remaining pieces to then fill them through free agency.  I like that idea, except it's convenient for me to want to do that since I am not a GM and don't have his job and therefore can't lose his job.  He doesn't have the luxury of building slowly over the next 3-4 years.   And even still, this is only a guess.

 

Also no one knows what "Idzik's way" is; only what beliefs of ours we project onto him.  He has been the GM for one offseason, and not an offseason with only few holes to fill nor many resources in which to fill them.  

 

This is New York (ok, New Jersey).  The fans and media will eat him alive before he slowly but surely builds the team over 4 years.  In other words, he won't make it that far.  GM jobs are too hard to get and the likelihood of getting one after being fired from one is not good.  He'll want to build the team "properly" - whatever he deems that to be - but more than that, if he has any brains, he'll want to stay employed first and foremost.  A GM entering a freebie/mulligan season doesn't need to throw away draft picks or cap space that will be of immense use when he's no longer in that mulligan season.  The way the Jets perform this season will be more of a reflection of the job he's done than 2013 was, as there were far too many holes to fill in 1 resource-poor offseason.

 

There is no credible reason to think the Jets will sit on the sideline this offseason and only get a few more stopgap players.  But it will also depend upon which FAs are still available.  If they're expensive players who figure to be playing at a high level in 5 years, I think we'll make a strong play for them.  If they're expensive players who will already be on the downswing in 3 years, I think we'll stay away.  This year, we're continuing a rebuild that started with last season's draft; we're not putting the finishing touches on a team with only a few remaining holes.

[Integrity28]

The locker room video of Rex being retained:  http://www.newyorkjets.com/videos/videos/Jets-Locker-Room-Exclusive---Rex-Retained-as-Coach/ac9d869a-d78d-410a-b819-055f06ccf75c

 

LOOK. AT. ALL. THOSE. HUGS.

 

I can hear you fapping from here...