Jets Look for Veteran Additions to Boost Offense Once Again

[JetNation]

By Glenn Naughton

 

There’s no way of getting around it.  The close of the 2015 season for the New York Jets and their fans was a tough one to stomach as the team fell to former Head Coach Rex Ryan’s Buffalo Bills in week 17.  The loss did eliminate them from playoff contention, but from a progression standpoint, the season had to be considered a success in going from 4-12, to 10-6 under a first-year General Manager  and Head Coach in Mike Maccagnan and Todd Bowles.

The Jets 11th ranked scoring offense was their best since placing 9th in 2008 with Brett Favre under center.

Much of the reason for Gang Green’s vast improvement fell squarely on the shoulders of a pair of off-season veteran additions in wide receiver Brandon Marshall and quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, both of whom did their fair share of re-writing the team record books. Marshall set the franchise mark for receptions and yards at 109 and 1,502 respectively, while Fitzpatrick tossed 31 touchdown passes, also a team record.

With the start of the 2016 season just around the corner, the Jets could once again rely heavily on a pair of veterans who were brought in to propel the Jets offense to a top-10 unit.

The addition of offensive tackle Ryan Clady, acquired in a trade with the Denver Broncos, and running back Matt Forte, addresses two key needs that Maccagnan hopes will provide similar results.

While the retirement of D’Brickashaw Ferguson struck a nerve for a fan base who had grown accustomed to his presence along the offensive line for a decade, Ferguson himself acknowledged in his farewell letter to the fans that his play had slipped in recent years.  So while he was clearly more durable than his replacement, Clady is the better player at this stage.

Clady’s addition should mean more time to work with for whoever is under center for the Jets on September 11th when the face the Cincinnati Bengals, which should present offensive coordinator Chan Gaily with more play-calling options on game day.

Then there’s Forte, who will be a downgrade from Chris Ivory purely from a running standpoint, but whose hands and pass-protection are a significantly better, making him an all-around upgrade.

Pairing Forte with Bilal Powell in Gailey’s offense gives the Jets a pair of fundamentally sound running backs that lack elite speed, bu who

Bilal Powell caught a career-high 47 passes in 2015.

can do whatever is asked of them and do it well.  Whether it’s splitting out wide as a receiver to take advantage of any possible mismatches on defense or to stay in and block a blitzing linebacker.

While Powell displayed excellent pass-catching skills late last season when he hauled in 25 receptions for 225 yards and a pair of scores over a four-game span from weeks 13-16, Forte is in class all by himself as the only running back to ever catch 100 passes when he pulled in 104 receptions two seasons ago with the Bears.

Sorely lacking a third target for much of last season, Forte and Powell’s presence not only brings an end to that issue, but should make it easier for one of the Jets’ young receivers catch on as Forte will have to be accounted for on passing downs.

Explosive former seventh-round draft choice Quincy Enunwa, who made a pair of critical plays in wins against the Dallas Cowboys and New England Patriots late in the season is one receiver who could be ready to make the leap in year three.  Then of course there’s former second-round pick Jace Amaro who the Jets planned to use in Enunwa’s H-Back role before suffering a season-ending injury, and the speedy Devin Smith who will be entering his second pro campaign after his rookie year was cut short with a torn ACL.

Even without considering any of the rookie receivers who may wind up on the final 53-man roster  such as seventh-round choice Charone Peake or undrafted free agents Bobby Anderson or Jalin Marshall, the presence of Forte and Clady will make the Jets a more difficult offense to defend, and with a seemingly more difficult schedule in 2016, they’ll need all the help they can get.

While Maccagan and the Jets wait to watch it all unfold, they can only hope that the impact felt by the two veteran additions comes close to that of the Marshall/Fitzpatrick tandem that made the Jets the 11th highest scoring team in the NFL in 2016 after placing in the bottom-five in each of the previous three seasons with Mark Sanchez and Geno Smith under center.

 

Click here to read the full story...

[Ex-Rex]

I like the addition of Forte who I hope has more left than LT did when he joined us. Powell is the wild card. If he stays healthy the Jets run game will be solid. Same for Clady, because if he goes down it will be like toppling over dominoes and that won't be good at all.

[Savage69]

19 minutes ago, Ex-Rex said:

I like the addition of Forte who I hope has more left than LT did when he joined us. Powell is the wild card. If he stays healthy the Jets run game will be solid. Same for Clady, because if he goes down it will be like toppling over dominoes and that won't be good at all.

When LT came to the Jets he had 2,880 carries Forte has 2035..

[32EBoozer]

1 hour ago, Savage69 said:

When LT came to the Jets he had 2,880 carries Forte has 2035..

That's the equivalent of 3-4 seasons worth of carries. 

900 yds last season in 13 games. Easily would have broken 1,000 yds (surpassing Ivory) and also had 44 receptions.

Anyway you look at it, we upgraded the RB position with Forte.

[T0mShane]

Jets Desperately Relying On Waiver Wire Pickups To Placate Season Ticket Holders

[T0mShane]

FTFY

[RutgersJetFan]

At best Forte is a little bit of an upgrade over Ivory, especially from a health standpoint, but whatever extra he brings to the table is probably going to be undone when defenses are just going to dare Geno to beat them all game.

Clady, I dunno. Pretty much a lateral move, and who knows if he stays healthy.

[Shadetree]

I loved Ivory, but I think forte is a SIGNIFICANT upgrade.

 

[NYs Stepchild]

1 hour ago, Shadetree said:

I loved Ivory, but I think forte is a SIGNIFICANT upgrade.

 

Ivory is very good when he's good. Unfortunately he gets hurt a lot, and is almost always slowed for one reason or another.  

[TuscanyTile2]

3 hours ago, Shadetree said:

I loved Ivory, but I think forte is a SIGNIFICANT upgrade.

 

 

I'm more intrigued by Khiry Robinson who Parcells loves (and IIRC compared him to Curtis Martin).

[Shadetree]

1 minute ago, TuscanyTile2 said:

 

I'm more intrigued by Khiry Robinson who Parcells loves (and IIRC compared him to Curtis Martin).

I don't know enough about him. 

Fortes gonna have some really big all-purpose numbers, IMO.

whats the RB depth chart looking like right now? Is khirby the #2?

[Freemanm]

7 hours ago, JetNation said:

By Glenn Naughton

 

There’s no way of getting around it.  The close of the 2015 season for the New York Jets and their fans was a tough one to stomach as the team fell to former Head Coach Rex Ryan’s Buffalo Bills in week 17.  The loss did eliminate them from playoff contention, but from a progression standpoint, the season had to be considered a success in going from 4-12, to 10-6 under a first-year General Manager  and Head Coach in Mike Maccagnan and Todd Bowles.

The Jets 11th ranked scoring offense was their best since placing 9th in 2008 with Brett Favre under center.

Much of the reason for Gang Green’s vast improvement fell squarely on the shoulders of a pair of off-season veteran additions in wide receiver Brandon Marshall and quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, both of whom did their fair share of re-writing the team record books. Marshall set the franchise mark for receptions and yards at 109 and 1,502 respectively, while Fitzpatrick tossed 31 touchdown passes, also a team record.

With the start of the 2016 season just around the corner, the Jets could once again rely heavily on a pair of veterans who were brought in to propel the Jets offense to a top-10 unit.

The addition of offensive tackle Ryan Clady, acquired in a trade with the Denver Broncos, and running back Matt Forte, addresses two key needs that Maccagnan hopes will provide similar results.

While the retirement of D’Brickashaw Ferguson struck a nerve for a fan base who had grown accustomed to his presence along the offensive line for a decade, Ferguson himself acknowledged in his farewell letter to the fans that his play had slipped in recent years.  So while he was clearly more durable than his replacement, Clady is the better player at this stage.

Clady’s addition should mean more time to work with for whoever is under center for the Jets on September 11th when the face the Cincinnati Bengals, which should present offensive coordinator Chan Gaily with more play-calling options on game day.

Then there’s Forte, who will be a downgrade from Chris Ivory purely from a running standpoint, but whose hands and pass-protection are a significantly better, making him an all-around upgrade.

Pairing Forte with Bilal Powell in Gailey’s offense gives the Jets a pair of fundamentally sound running backs that lack elite speed, bu who

Bilal Powell caught a career-high 47 passes in 2015.

can do whatever is asked of them and do it well.  Whether it’s splitting out wide as a receiver to take advantage of any possible mismatches on defense or to stay in and block a blitzing linebacker.

While Powell displayed excellent pass-catching skills late last season when he hauled in 25 receptions for 225 yards and a pair of scores over a four-game span from weeks 13-16, Forte is in class all by himself as the only running back to ever catch 100 passes when he pulled in 104 receptions two seasons ago with the Bears.

Sorely lacking a third target for much of last season, Forte and Powell’s presence not only brings an end to that issue, but should make it easier for one of the Jets’ young receivers catch on as Forte will have to be accounted for on passing downs.

Explosive former seventh-round draft choice Quincy Enunwa, who made a pair of critical plays in wins against the Dallas Cowboys and New England Patriots late in the season is one receiver who could be ready to make the leap in year three.  Then of course there’s former second-round pick Jace Amaro who the Jets planned to use in Enunwa’s H-Back role before suffering a season-ending injury, and the speedy Devin Smith who will be entering his second pro campaign after his rookie year was cut short with a torn ACL.

Even without considering any of the rookie receivers who may wind up on the final 53-man roster  such as seventh-round choice Charone Peake or undrafted free agents Bobby Anderson or Jalin Marshall, the presence of Forte and Clady will make the Jets a more difficult offense to defend, and with a seemingly more difficult schedule in 2016, they’ll need all the help they can get.

While Maccagan and the Jets wait to watch it all unfold, they can only hope that the impact felt by the two veteran additions comes close to that of the Marshall/Fitzpatrick tandem that made the Jets the 11th highest scoring team in the NFL in 2016 after placing in the bottom-five in each of the previous three seasons with Mark Sanchez and Geno Smith under center.

 

Click here to read the full story...

Tired of reading about how great Fitz supposedly is. In my memory of the season, Fitz lobbed the ball in the general direction of Brandon Marshall, who would make him look like a superstar.

bring on Geno

[TuscanyTile2]

1 hour ago, Shadetree said:

I don't know enough about him. 

Fortes gonna have some really big all-purpose numbers, IMO.

whats the RB depth chart looking like right now? Is khirby the #2?

Not sure how the depth chart looks.  I would imagine there's going to be a roughly even split between Khiry, Forte and Bilal.  We have 3 capable RBs on this roster.

[ljr]

6 hours ago, 32EBoozer said:

That's the equivalent of 3-4 seasons worth of carries. 

900 yds last season in 13 games. Easily would have broken 1,000 yds (surpassing Ivory) and also had 44 receptions.

Anyway you look at it, we upgraded the RB position with Forte.

THIS!

Forte is a definite upgrade at #1 RB

i take exception to the article stating carry-wise is a downgrade ... Couldn't disagree more.  At worst it's an even-swap if receptions are not brought into the equation.

[jetfan39]

the problem with Ivory was that he was always playing dinged up due to his type running.  the game we really needed him {buf} he was on the side lines

[AFJF]

2 hours ago, Freemanm said:

Tired of reading about how great Fitz supposedly is. In my memory of the season, Fitz lobbed the ball in the general direction of Brandon Marshall, who would make him look like a superstar.

bring on Geno

Looks like Maccagnan, Bowles, Decker, Marshall, Forte and Colon disagree with your assessment FWIW.

[BUM-KNEE]

I think Clady and Forte are both upgrades from Brick and Ivory.

Cant wait to see how this season plays out.

[CrazyCarl40]

10 hours ago, TuscanyTile2 said:

Not sure how the depth chart looks.  I would imagine there's going to be a roughly even split between Khiry, Forte and Bilal.  We have 3 capable RBs on this roster.

I don't expect that at all. I expect Forte to get even splits with Powell and Robinson to be the short yardage and goal line back not much more. Only way Khiry gets elevated is by injury I'd bet. 

[Jetster]

Forte is a huge upgrade over Ivory. Did any DC look at Ivory as a pass catcher out of the backfield? Hell no, which allowed the defense to shade more into other areas of concern. Now the defense HAS TO PLAY HONEST with Forte out there. This spreads the field even more as a LB usually has to follow him. Look at the success Powell had last year in this offense.

Forte really isn't replacing Ivory, Robinson is. Very excited about Robinson because he'll be our hammer and Bill Parcells was incredibly impressed when he watched him practice live. Said he reminded him of Curtis Martin (that's some high praise coming from Parcells, a guy who's famous line was, "don't put him in Canton just yet".)

If Geno has to start Jets will be a move the chains, take some shots, play great defense type of team. The difference though is that unlike Marty M & his 1st down, 2nd down, runs up the middle, Chan definitely takes more shots on 1st down to loosen up the D. Chan also likes seam routes which Genos arm is much stronger than Fitz so those routes will be deeper, which means if Geno doesn't see it & checks down to Forte or Powell, they'll have a lot more space to work than they had with Fitz.

While Jet fans are clamoring for Fitz back, I'd love to know how Chan Gailey sees it, since he's the guy that always gets the most out of Fitz. For all we know he could be the reason Fitz has gone unsigned by the Jets. He could be talking into Macc & Bowles ears that we need a stronger arm & more big plays. We needed 1 big play in that final game in Buffalo, but all we got all game long were weak wobbly passes way off target & Rex squeezing the field around him playing underneath all of the short stuff. Rex knew Fitz couldn't take advantage & stretch the field. 

[Mainejet]

This is absurd. This team went backwards during this offseason. They may have improved a little on offense at the RB spot on paper, they clearly got worse at the OL just purely on age and poor, suspect play to begin with. So the entire running game and the offense overall will suffer as a result. face it, this teams sucks this season. 6 wins is their ceiling.

[fltflo]

This is absurd. This team went backwards during this offseason. They may have improved a little on offense at the RB spot on paper, they clearly got worse at the OL just purely on age and poor, suspect play to begin with. So the entire running game and the offense overall will suffer as a result. face it, this teams sucks this season. 6 wins is their ceiling.

Come on Maine, when did you become such a pessimist. So much negativity lately, it's too early to say we are going to be a 6 win sucks team. As tough as the schedule will be this year we have to see how it all comes together. You have to remember Rex is gone and we have CS that actually believes in teaching and working on improving players skills. Give it a chance my friend, personally I think we are going to surprise quite a few so called "experts" and this is with Geno as the starter.

[jetfan39]

10 hours ago, Mainejet said:

This is absurd. This team went backwards during this offseason. They may have improved a little on offense at the RB spot on paper, they clearly got worse at the OL just purely on age and poor, suspect play to begin with. So the entire running game and the offense overall will suffer as a result. face it, this teams sucks this season. 6 wins is their ceiling.

again I need to ask, does the sun ever shine in your world and if so when?

[Mainejet]

2 hours ago, fltflo said:

Come on Maine, when did you become such a pessimist. So much negativity lately, it's too early to say we are going to be a 6 win sucks team. As tough as the schedule will be this year we have to see how it all comes together. You have to remember Rex is gone and we have CS that actually believes in teaching and working on improving players skills. Give it a chance my friend, personally I think we are going to surprise quite a few so called "experts" and this is with Geno as the starter.

This is a message board fltflo. We make predictions and discuss what the team should do on a message board. If you don't like what I am posting, don't read it. Based on what I am evaluating from the offseason, moves/cuts/retirements/acquisitions, I see a team that went backward and that is NOT doing the job that Mac was hired for. He is failing Jets fans right NOW.

[Lizard King]

I like Forte but if he fumbles like twice its going to be equivalent to Ivory who really didn't have bad hands last year if I recall. I think the ivory hands thing is overblown. Forte is just a more complete back. 

[Tinstar]

This Jets roster has about 27 players who are over the age of 25 not including Fitzpatrick .    Of those 27, 13 are full time starters either on offense or defense  . Of those 13, 8 are over the age of 30 or at 30 . Of those 8, about 4 will probably not be on the team in 2017  .  So then my good friends, how exactly is this a veteran team ?

[nyjets782]

22 hours ago, Mainejet said:

This is absurd. This team went backwards during this offseason. They may have improved a little on offense at the RB spot on paper, they clearly got worse at the OL just purely on age and poor, suspect play to begin with. So the entire running game and the offense overall will suffer as a result. face it, this teams sucks this season. 6 wins is their ceiling.

While I continue to disagree with just about everything you post on here, it's not so much your pessimism that strikes a raw nerve as it is the certainty with which you state your sky is falling predictions as well as the misguided confidence with which you state them.  The GM has had 1 year to grade and he improved the win total by 6 and you state that he is failing us and we should believe you because you know better than all how the next season will turn out.  You know for sure that all they guys they drafted suck.  You know for sure that we passed on the next Dan Marino in Lynch.  

I will state that I know 1 thing for sure, I will trust the guy who has made a career out of evaluating players because I know for sure that he will do a better job than a guy with no NFL background sitting on his couch.   

[Mainejet]

1 hour ago, nyjets782 said:

While I continue to disagree with just about everything you post on here, it's not so much your pessimism that strikes a raw nerve as it is the certainty with which you state your sky is falling predictions as well as the misguided confidence with which you state them.  The GM has had 1 year to grade and he improved the win total by 6 and you state that he is failing us and we should believe you because you know better than all how the next season will turn out.  You know for sure that all they guys they drafted suck.  You know for sure that we passed on the next Dan Marino in Lynch.  

I will state that I know 1 thing for sure, I will trust the guy who has made a career out of evaluating players because I know for sure that he will do a better job than a guy with no NFL background sitting on his couch.   

I am not asking you to believe me. This is a message board. We state our opinion of the team. You're welcome to have yours, even though it is wrong and I'm sure you probably feel the way about my opinions/observations of the team. So if you really do not want to read it, then.......don't read it.

For me this draft was pathetically bad. Darron Lee is WAY too small to be playing insides and outside in a 3-4 defense. Eventually, I can see Bowles/ Mac figuring out how f*cked up they are and realizing that Lee is a Safety and NEVER will be a linebacker. They will eventually change him to Safety, but the problem at linebacker is still there. Everyone else in the draft are depth players at best. No, this draft was terrible. It was almost as bad as an Idzik draft. This team also went backward as a result of another very bad draft. This season is most definitely not working out in the Jets favor. This all results in a 6 win season at best.

[nyjets782]

42 minutes ago, Mainejet said:

I am not asking you to believe me. This is a message board. We state our opinion of the team. You're welcome to have yours, even though it is wrong and I'm sure you probably feel the way about my opinions/observations of the team. So if you really do not want to read it, then.......don't read it.

For me this draft was pathetically bad. Darron Lee is WAY too small to be playing insides and outside in a 3-4 defense. Eventually, I can see Bowles/ Mac figuring out how f*cked up they are and realizing that Lee is a Safety and NEVER will be a linebacker. They will eventually change him to Safety, but the problem at linebacker is still there. Everyone else in the draft are depth players at best. No, this draft was terrible. It was almost as bad as an Idzik draft. This team also went backward as a result of another very bad draft. This season is most definitely not working out in the Jets favor. This all results in a 6 win season at best.

I refer you back to my last post.  You are entitled to your opinion, as absurd as it may be.  Everyone has an opinion about the draft, the offseason, etc.  Reasonable minds can certainly differ.  Where you sound like a lunatic is when you definitively state things like the team drafted only depth players when none of the 2016 draftees have even taken a training camp rep....  Or that Darron Lee will NEVER be a linebacker.... Or that Paxton Lynch is definitely the next Dan Marino.  Maybe....MAYBE....this draft will be terrible...maybe it will be great.  Bottom line, you are not Nostradamus, you are not Gil Brandt, you have never cashed an NFL or Division 1 collegiate paycheck.  You are a guy on a couch.  Feel free to state your opinion, hey, feel free to state it as fact, but then don't whine when you get the extreme negative reaction you have properly received.