LB.. Lorenzo Mauldin ~ ~ ~

[BurnleyJet]

I like him, they just have not been playing him. He has made plays on very limited snaps again. I blame Bowles, and his obsession with playing his 4 Dlinemen all at once. 

[Powpow]

On 10/5/2016 at 3:17 PM, Sperm Edwards said:

4 down linemen = Harris has to cover too much area

4 LBers = he drops Sheldon back to keep all his best players on the field

Should have gotten what we could for Sheldon before the ink dried on Mo's contract. Or don't extend Mo, trade him for what you can get not what you want to get, keep the much cheaper Sheldon at end. What a waste to keep both of them after drafting Williams. I know they're all mega-talented, but while they may be fast for huge men they're not fast for every NFLer. 4 of these guys across the line is a slow DL. Impossible to run up the gut on, I'll grant you, but they're too slow to all be on the field together (even more so with the slow Harris behind them).

That's why Gurley would have been the better choice. Not that Williams wasn't an elite pick but he was a luxury we really didn't need. 

[Sperm Edwards]

On 11/3/2016 at 2:36 AM, Powpow said:

That's why Gurley would have been the better choice. Not that Williams wasn't an elite pick but he was a luxury we really didn't need. 

Disagree. A RB at #6 is ridiculous to me, on the level with drafting a guard. Their careers are too short, they get injured too easily, and are too much subject to their OLs performance anyway. Unless the player ends up being Adrian Peterson it's a bad pick. Gurley isn't a once-in-a-decade RB like that.

[LIJetsFan]

I'd add Williams was a great pick.  Mac botched the roster though.  I would have let Mo walk for the comp pick and never looked back.   This has been my stance ever since that draft.   

[Powpow]

4 hours ago, Sperm Edwards said:

Disagree. A RB at #6 is ridiculous to me, on the level with drafting a guard. Their careers are too short, they get injured too easily, and are too much subject to their OLs performance anyway. Unless the player ends up being Adrian Peterson it's a bad pick. Gurley isn't a once-in-a-decade RB like that.

Disagree all you like. Drafting yet another DL was overkill.  And the verdict on Gurley is nowhere determined. He's a special talent.  Any great player's worth is contingent on the whole of the team. Throughout history many great players had fair careers due to the talent around them.  Archie Manning being the prime example.  The Jets have a lot of talent but it's lopsided and unbalanced.  A runner like Gurley would have filled one of those key holes. 

[Sperm Edwards]

1 hour ago, LIJetsFan said:

I'd add Williams was a great pick.  Mac botched the roster though.  I would have let Mo walk for the comp pick and never looked back.   This has been my stance ever since that draft.   

Sad thing is it wouldn't have even been necessary. We could have gotten more than pick #100 (a season later at that) back in trade. Just not as high as he was seeking (more than a #1 pick, and as much as a pair of #1s in 2015; or a minimum of some #1 pick in 2016).

[Sperm Edwards]

Just now, Powpow said:

Disagree all you like. Drafting yet another DL was overkill.  And the verdict on Gurley is nowhere determined. He's a special talent.  Any great player's worth is contingent on the whole of the team. Throughout history many great players had fair careers due to the talent around them.  Archie Manning being the prime example.  The Jets have a lot of talent but it's lopsided and unbalanced.  A runner like Gurley would have filled one of those key holes. 

OK, well then we disagree on this. RB is a short-career position, carries high injury risk during those short careers, and Gurley had serious injury concerns even heading into the draft. He got injured last year, he's always going to have injury problems, and he's also not doing much this year (a pathetic 3.0 ypc). He's more talented than anyone we have, but he's clearly not Adrian Peterson II, Barry Sanders II, or the like who performs at a stud level even when things aren't set up perfectly (the type of RB worth taking so high).

Once they had ruled out trading up for a QB, the drafting of Williams was such a problem because of what they didn't do: namely, not immediately parlaying either of the 2 we already had into another higher pick and instead, foolishly keeping all 3. 

There is plenty I can find on MM without tossing in even more. If we were a serious contender with a QB, and the one missing piece was at RB? Fine, but we weren't even sniffing at being such a team in April, 2015.

[Integrity28]

2 hours ago, LIJetsFan said:

I'd add Williams was a great pick.  Mac botched the roster though.  I would have let Mo walk for the comp pick and never looked back.   This has been my stance ever since that draft.   

My personal thought is that he wanted to trade Mo, but wasn't getting absolute shyte offers. So, it forced him to retain him, then in the effort to get Fitz back, because Geno looked awful again and the notion that they could pick up on where they left off last year, they gave Mo his contract and structured it to make sure it allowed us to sign Fitz this year. 

Ultimately, Mo's broken leg is just the kind of luck the Jets have. No leg-break, then we probably trade him, and everything else affected is different. Except maybe the outcome of this season.

[kelly]

OLB  Lorenzo Mauldin  is seizing his opportunity with more playing time and continued to do so in the Jets’ 9-6 loss to the Rams Sunday at MetLife Stadium.

Midway through the second quarter, Mauldin and DT  Steve McLendon  found their way into the backfield, splitting a sack on third down to force the Rams to punt. The second-year player busted through the middle of the line, beating Rams RG Cody Wichmann before making his way to Rams QB Case Keenum.“As much time as I play, I’m going to produce,” Mauldin told me following the game. “It’s just a factor of me getting on the field, into the game and getting my motor going. I don’t give up on plays. I got a half sack today and that’s just the outcome of me getting my motor going.”

Coming into this year, the coaching staff said they expected Mauldin to take a leap in his sophomore campaign. After a rather quiet first half of the season, Mauldin has been given more responsibility over the last three weeks, playing an average of 74% of defensive snaps. In that span, he’s racked up eight total tackles, seven QBH, 2.0 sacks and two passes defended. He also recorded his first career interception in Week 8 against the Browns, which led to the decisive points of the game in a 31-28 Jets victory.  

In the third quarter of Sunday’s contest with the Jets on top 6-3, the 6’4”, 259-pound Mauldin almost came away with his second career pick, tipping a pass intended for speedster Tavon Austin."I saw the ball in the air and I knew I was getting into my drop. He threw it right in my area and it went over my head,” Mauldin said. “I got a tip on the ball and I was just upset that I didn’t get a couple more steps in to jump and get the pick. I just know when I got that first pick, everybody kept saying they’re going to come in bunches, so I’m just looking for my next pick.”

Despite the hunger to get his hands on the rock again, chances are his next sack will come before that. Mauldin now has 2.5 sacks on the season, 1.5 shy of his 2015 total and ranks second on the team with 16 QBH, one short of DL  Leonard Williams . Mauldin was part of a pass rush that accounted for 3.0 sacks and eight QBH against L.A., tying the second most of the season.

>      http://www.newyorkjets.com/news/article-7/Mauldin-‘I’m-Going-to-Produce’-/12836251-1e3b-4363-b4f9-91569a009cda

[kelly]

Mauldin Shows Growth Despite Shortened Year

Posted Jan 3, 2017

Ethan GreenbergNewyorkjets.com Contributor

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Second-Year OLB Won’t Need Surgery, Wants to Play with Speed in ‘17

As injuries crept their way throughout the Jets’ roster in 2016, outside linebacker Lorenzo Mauldin was forced to the sideline down the stretch. After suffering an ankle injury in a Week 12 contest against the Cheaters, Mauldin missed five consecutive games to close his second season.“It’s a high ankle sprain. I have a partially torn ligament,” said Mauldin, who said he does not require offseason surgery. “It was hard for me just to realize. Being in the training room, constantly day in and day out and then actually going to practice and messing it up even more. So I just told myself to relax and wait for next season.”

Mauldin was forced to wait early in 2016. The 2015 third-round pick did not receive a lot of reps at the season’s onset, fought his way into the starting lineup and then went down with the ankle sprain three weeks later. After playing an average of 27% of the total defensive snaps in Weeks 1-6, the second-year ‘backer saw a spike in play time to 76% through Week 12.

The Louisville product responded well to his increased workload, racking up 19 tackles and 13 quarterback hits. Mauldin finished the season second on the team with 18 QBH, six shy of Team MVP Leonard Williams.

“Coach really started believing in me around Week 6. I went out and did what I was supposed to do,” he said. “That became a starting role for me and with the ankle injury, I thought I could fight through it. I couldn’t and it hurt me a little more being in the training room, constantly having to deal with the ankle injury. I was telling myself I could fight through it, but I’d go out there for practice and make it even worse.”

Before his year ended, Mauldin registered his first interception since his sophomore season at Atlanta (GA) HS.“Last year as everybody was saying, I had a lot of trouble dropping into coverage. Of course my interception this year was not a drop into coverage situation,” Mauldin said of his INT against the Browns in Week 8. “But I just know that I’m in the right places at the right time. I plan on doing that a lot more next year, being able to get the coaches’ trust and go out there and do what I’m supposed to do at the right time.”

Coming into Year 2, Mauldin’s goal was to bulk up and improve his coverage skills as the coaching staff was looking for Mauldin to make a leap his sophomore campaign. Looking ahead to 2017, the 6’4” 258-pounder wants to learn how to play with his speed.“I’m good at 255-258. That’s the weight I want to play at,” he said. “Definitely won’t put on any more weight. Might as well put me at defensive line if I do. I want to play with my speed.”
 

 

 

>    http://www.newyorkjets.com/news/article-7/Mauldin-Shows-Growth-Despite-Shortened-Year/baa4d6fd-ccc5-440c-a4bf-914e29af60ec

[joewilly12]

Mauldin was entering the beast mode at the LB position I thought and then all of a sudden Mauldin was MIA 

Is it the players fault or the coaching staffs fault? 

[DMan77]

I feel they couldn't decide what they wanted to do with Mauldin, so he became a tweener' this year... 

It's like he/they had a plan for him to bulk up to play stronger and maybe cover the short ball more, but only to a certien point because they didn't want to sacrifice all his speed off the edge and in persuit... So he got sort of stuck at a weight and playing a bit out of the position he was used too.. Eh. Coaching...

Hoping they have a better plan for him this next year... Or just leave him alone and let him do what he did year 1, but at this weight... 

[j4jets]

Boy we really hit home run there. 

[joewilly12]

The entire defense this season was a mess, players playing out of position, defensive scheme that were horrible, no adjustments. 

Tell me again why Kacy Rodgers still has a damn job. 

[ASH1962]

On ‎11‎/‎4‎/‎2016 at 7:25 AM, Sperm Edwards said:

Disagree. A RB at #6 is ridiculous to me, on the level with drafting a guard. Their careers are too short, they get injured too easily, and are too much subject to their OLs performance anyway. Unless the player ends up being Adrian Peterson it's a bad pick. Gurley isn't a once-in-a-decade RB like that.

 

How about Ezekiel Elliot?  What would he have added to our offense if we would have been able to get him? Wait our HC is Todd Bowltite, he would have tried to play Elliot as the 5th DL man....

[DMan77]

32 minutes ago, ASH1962 said:

 

How about Ezekiel Elliot?  What would he have added to our offense if we would have been able to get him? Wait our HC is Todd Bowltite, he would have tried to play Elliot as the 5th DL man....

Honestly EE is awesome, but he made the most sense for Dallas because they have an amazing OL and they know it and knew they could take advantage of it this year

.The Jets don't at this juncture... Maybe they solve that in the offseason but for now a RB would just get lost in the shuffle next season... And the front office would get killed in the media (and here) for that. 

[#27TheDominator]

2 hours ago, joewilly12 said:

Mauldin was entering the beast mode at the LB position I thought and then all of a sudden Mauldin was MIA 

Is it the players fault or the coaching staffs fault? 

When did you think he was entering beast mode?  He missed the last 5 with his ankle, but he didn't do much before that anyway.

[joewilly12]

2 minutes ago, #27TheDominator said:

When did you think he was entering beast mode?  He missed the last 5 with his ankle, but he didn't do much before that anyway.

Last season he showed some toughness I expected a lot more from this kid. 

[j4jets]

3 minutes ago, #27TheDominator said:

When did you think he was entering beast mode?  He missed the last 5 with his ankle, but he didn't do much before that anyway.

He was going to be in a beast in those last 5 games. Before that, he was just a JAG. The light was about to go off. 

[Sperm Edwards]

1 hour ago, ASH1962 said:

 

How about Ezekiel Elliot?  What would he have added to our offense if we would have been able to get him? Wait our HC is Todd Bowltite, he would have tried to play Elliot as the 5th DL man....

Hard to say right now how much it's because of him and how much it's because he's playing behind a superior line and an excellent passing game. With a solid OL and a comparatively weak passing game, even Thomas Jones put up pro bowl numbers for us. I'm not saying the kid isn't really talented or anything, because he is. Just that he's being looked at through the lens of one rookie season so it's not a slam dunk that he was more worthy of the 4th overall pick than someone else (Buckner, etc.). RBs careers are notoriously short, where an equivalent-level DLman could still be deservedly going to pro bowls into his mid-30s.

That said, if Dallas ends up winning the SB this year behind Elliots legs, and then Elliot is a big zero for the rest of his career while Buckner is a HOFer, it was still justifiably the correct move in hindsight. SB wins are hard to come by.