Jets sign TE Conklin

[PS17]

3 minutes ago, Green Ghost said:

You just told @Joe W. Namath, who says “Thank you Joe Douglas! Thank you!!” every other post that he should be thanking Joe Douglas. I was amused.

[Vader]

Needs to be said also — McBride didn’t *really* participate in the combine. So his times and metrics are actually in question. This could have rubbed the Jets wrong and so they have begun to go in a different direction, come what may in terms of McBride’s availability at 35.

This is not implausible. Deep TE draft. McBride not the only dame at the dance and he may not be as special as he seems…

[Green Ghost]

2 minutes ago, PS17 said:

You just told @Joe W. Namath, who says “Thank you Joe Douglas! Thank you!!” every other post that he should be thanking Joe Douglas. I was amused.

Lol that was the point of my post. I was teasing him about his shtick.

i just edited my gif, hoping you’d see that, but you just responded too quickly.

[PS17]

2 minutes ago, Green Ghost said:

Lol that was the point of my post. I was teasing him about his shtick.

i just edited my gif, hoping you’d see that, but you just responded too quickly.

Thank you Green Ghost! Thank you!!!

[Sperm Edwards]

8 minutes ago, Warfish said:

Potential yards.  Not definite yards.

Again, potential.  They've shown themselves elsewhere to be capable of being 400-500 yard a year type players.

In an effective Offense that utilizes the TE's, and with players of their caliber of talent, a net total of ~7-800 yards is somewhat reasonable, or if you prefer, possible.

Sorry you feel it's oversimple, but I wouldn't agree. 

Crowders touches WILL go somewhere else.  To other WR's, or now perhaps to the TE's.  A better WR or TE also makes more catches, and more YAC, than an inferior player, improving yards.  Better WR play draws coverage away from the TE, providing more open looks and more productive gains.

In looking forward, the past is our best guide to the future.  We may have had 3,500 passing yards last year (I'll take your word on it), but I would expect an improved team with improved players to get more, so more yards for our primary WR's and TE's.

What is your objection exactly, apart from being overly simple?  Is a hope on my part for an effective TE combo catching upwards of 800 yards problematic in some way?  Clearly it's just my own hope/estimate, if all goes well (and all rarely goes well), a ceiling if you will.

Looks like a setup — they had 1000 combined yards elsewhere, therefore if they don’t have 1000 yards here, we know whom to blame. I know you, you sneak, lol . 

Their addition should open things up for the offense - as well as open things up in the draft so he’s not forced into drafting a TE in round 2 - even if 800 or 1000 yards don’t specifically go to these two TEs. Maybe they will; maybe it’ll be less; maybe it’ll be more. But it’s not that simple, again especially when you’re talking about two TEs who’ll now be competing with each other for TE targets in a way neither was last year. 

The goal is to make the whole offense (and ultimately the whole team) better, starting with the QB. However that happens, so long as it does happen, I couldn’t care less which targets got however-many yards individually.

[Warfish]

7 minutes ago, Sperm Edwards said:

The goal is to make the whole offense (and ultimately the whole team) better, starting with the QB. However that happens, so long as it does happen, I couldn’t care less which targets got however-many yards individually.

I agree. 

And no, it wasn't intended as a setup, more an expression of pleased optimism.

[Maynard13]

3 hours ago, Untouchable said:

COMPLETE overhaul of the position!

Very nice

Lay those McBride thoughts to rest. If you think we’re going TE before the 4th or 5th round, if at all, then you’re taking crazy pills.

Seems JD is focusing on positions other than TE and OL with those first 4 picks. Nice signings with the guard, safety, cb and not 1 but 2 TE’s. Wowwwwie. What will JD’s  top 4 picks focus on? Will he trade back - trade up ? - 

We need a burner like WR Williams, a LB like Dean, a shut down cb like Sauce, an edge - many available in top 38. 

[Maynard13]

15 minutes ago, Sperm Edwards said:

Looks like a setup — they had 1000 combined yards elsewhere, therefore if they don’t have 1000 yards here, we know whom to blame. I know you, you sneak, lol . 

Their addition should open things up for the offense - as well as open things up in the draft so he’s not forced into drafting a TE in round 2 - even if 800 or 1000 yards don’t specifically go to these two TEs. Maybe they will; maybe it’ll be less; maybe it’ll be more. But it’s not that simple, again especially when you’re talking about two TEs who’ll now be competing with each other for TE targets in a way neither was last year. 

The goal is to make the whole offense (and ultimately the whole team) better, starting with the QB. However that happens, so long as it does happen, I couldn’t care less which targets got however-many yards individually.

2 heads are better than 1

 

[Joe Willie White Shoes]

2 hours ago, Sperm Edwards said:

The rumor - or the rumor his agent wants circulated - was that he wasn’t giving his best because he was pissed about being tagged.

Randy Moss was horrid in Oakland. 553 yds and 3 TDs. A year later in NE he becomes the (still-reigning) record holder for TD receptions in a season. Goes from 42 receptions to 23 TDs.

He’s still under 30 and wasn’t especially injured, so far as I’m aware. He missed a few games around Thanksgiving but his season was well deep in the sh**house already.

So who knows. But if he was pissed about the tag, then what he was after was a contract that few will look to give him now. Then again, all it takes is one. 

Robinson is a pass. Let someone else spend the money.  There are two huge red flags here. First, he's 29.  That's old for a WR in the current NFL.  Only one WR at age 29 or older had a top 25 season in 2021 - Keenan Allen. And he was 29.  Robinson is old for a WR

The second is the terrible season he had last year.  He was just awful.  

Put the two together and it signals stay away.  

[Sperm Edwards]

49 minutes ago, Warfish said:

I agree. 

And no, it wasn't intended as a setup, more an expression of pleased optimism.

Optimism? You??

Quoted you here so you can’t change it later.  

[Sperm Edwards]

12 minutes ago, Joe Willie White Shoes said:

Robinson is a pass. Let someone else spend the money.  There are two huge red flags here. First, he's 29.  That's old for a WR in the current NFL.  Only one WR at age 29 or older had a top 25 season in 2021 - Keenan Allen. And he was 29.  Robinson is old for a WR

The second is the terrible season he had last year.  He was just awful.  

Put the two together and it signals stay away.  

29 isn’t old. And he’s 28. He turns 29 like a week before the season. His fully-guaranteed seasons would be his age 29 and age 30 seasons. That’d still be in his prime. 

That stat for 2021 is a one-year outlier. If you demonstrated that as a thing every year, year after year, that’d be something else. Otherwise it’s a statistical outlier and nothing more.

He had a terrible season and yeah it’d scare me out of guaranteeing him multiple seasons, too. But it has nothing to do with the guy being too old when he’s still 5 months away from his 29th birthday. 

If you want to make the argument that, if Devante Adams was 6 months older this past year that he’d be too old - 28 and a half instead of 29 - you’d be alone in that assessment. Because at 28 and a half he was either the #1 or #2 WR on earth. Tyler Lockett was 29 this past season and just had his career high for receiving yards.

It depends on the individual. Some guys get too banged up cumulatively; others just lose the fire to do the prep work like crazy; still others made the money move to go to a lousy situation and their stats suffer in a way they otherwise wouldn’t have; and others suffered individual career-altering injuries and they’re never the same after that.

But saying WRs hit the wall at 29 is nuts. The best of the best ones are still in their prime then, particularly with modern-day conditioning and sports medicine.

[JohnnyLV]

4 hours ago, derp said:

I think this kind of confirms what I've thought about why the Jets haven't hit the WR position that hard. They're not going to have three or more wide receivers on the field as much as last year.

Even with as terrible as the Jets' tight ends were last year they ran a lot of two tight end sets. Going to be lots more 21 and 12 personnel groupings and less 11, probably some 22 at points honestly. Not as important to get a third wide receiver when they won't be on the field as often, and I'm sure Douglas (right or wrong) expects a bounce back from Davis.

Think it takes a little pressure off the draft in that they can bring in someone who needs to develop a little more without worrying about them starting.

No. 11 and 10 personnel are still core and more important than 12 even if we try and win games with 12 And we are lacking WR talent still. WR is still close to the most important need the Jets have. Nothing has changed in terms of prioritizing Zach first.

[derp]

5 minutes ago, johnnysd said:

No. 11 and 10 personnel are still core and more important than 12 even if we try and win games with 12 And we are lacking WR talent still. WR is still close to the most important need the Jets have. Nothing has changed in terms of prioritizing Zach first.

How do you know 11 and 10 personnel are still core? The Jets were out running 12 personnel a good chunk of the time with Tyler Kroft and Trevon Wesco before they realized it didn’t work at all with the horrific tight end group and started running more 11 personnel to get better players on the field. They then went out and spent $15M AAV on tight ends, and have only lost wide receivers.

Attacking wide receiver may be the route you think they need to take, but barring a major twist, their actions are telling us they’re not going to have as many wide receivers on the field as they did last year…after their actions last year during the season telling us they didn’t really want wide receivers on the field. 

I’ll add that the SF offense LaFleur came from and GB where his brother is both run 3+ WR packages at some of the lowest rates in the league. It was a surprise that they ran as much three wise as they did last year, made sense to maximize the personnel and it was good they didn’t force it. But thus far their actions are not those of a team that wants to flood the field with receivers.

[Untouchable]

2 hours ago, Maynard13 said:

Seems JD is focusing on positions other than TE and OL with those first 4 picks. Nice signings with the guard, safety, cb and not 1 but 2 TE’s. Wowwwwie. What will JD’s  top 4 picks focus on? Will he trade back - trade up ? - 

We need a burner like WR Williams, a LB like Dean, a shut down cb like Sauce, an edge - many available in top 38. 

My guess is the first four picks will be some combination of EDGE, WR, IDL and OL/CB.

But it sure as hell won’t include McBride or any other TE.

This fascination that so many Jets fans have developed with McBride is just weird at this point.

Deepest TE class in recent memory, and even after dishing out 3 years, $24 million for Uzomah and 3 years, $21 million for Conklin…they’re still determined to spend a Top 38 pick on this guy…

Plus we still have Yeboah as a developmental TE.

Maybe the Jets take a dude like Cade Otton or somebody if they’re still hanging around in the 4th round, but we have waaaaay more pressing needs than TE at the moment.

[mrcoops]

Just wait until JD trades Griffin and Wesco to the Bengals and Vikings for picks...

[WestCoastMole]

As I see it the purpose behind acquiring both Uzomah and Conklin is so the Jets do not get tied to the strategy of landing one particular player in the Draft, namely McBride. It strikes my as wishful the way people project McBride to be on the board when the Jets come up for Pick 35. Many of the Big Analyst types project McBride going at the end of Round1. (Right where Cincinnati is sitting. BTW) So the odds of McBride being on the board for the Jets in Round 2 is less than 50/50. Without Conklin the Jets are forced to execute a Pick Swap to move up. That is where a team gets hosed. With Conklin the Jets can say if McBride is on the board at 35 we will grab him. If he isn't we w.ill move on to other priorities and take a guy like Ruckert later. (3rd or 4th Round) The acquisition of Conklin gives the Jets that flexibility

[The Troll]

I’m not reading through this entire thread to see if anyone has called him Gronklin yet.

[rangerous]

10 hours ago, Untouchable said:

In as little words as possible…yes.

not sure if that's the case.  douglas is sitting on those 4 high draft picks and he's already closed some holes with the free agents thus far.  where will he use them?  i can see wr/edge with the 4 and 10 but the following rounds easily pull in a te.  sounds like griffen and vesko are goners.

[kmnj]

I would rather one very good or great te vs two very avg ones 

[JustInFudge]

12 hours ago, Tranquilo said:

So is 60 catches for nearly 600 yards good enough for the Uzomah isn’t good enough snobs?

4th year in, never caught over 20 passes before this year and was the ultimate check down option for Cousins (9.7 ypc and 3 TD's) in a wide open systems with 2 pure studs WR's on the outside.  It's reasonable to assume that was an anomaly of a year and he'll never come close to that again.  That said, I dont know what he provides in the run game.

I was one of those who called Uzomah meh but in all honestly, he's better than Conklin.  Personally, I'd rather have 1 stud than 2 meh's but at least these 2 are more viable than what's been here and hopefully they still plan to address this in the draft.  

Obviously, I'm not upset with either signing, they're both upgrades but I wouldnt set your expectations high for either.

[sec101row23]

10 minutes ago, JiFapono said:

4th year in, never caught over 20 passes before this year and was the ultimate check down option for Cousins (9.7 ypc and 3 TD's) in a wide open systems with 2 pure studs WR's on the outside.  It's reasonable to assume that was an anomaly of a year and he'll never come close to that again.  That said, I dont know what he provides in the run game.

I was one of those who called Uzomah meh but in all honestly, he's better than Conklin.  Personally, I'd rather have 1 stud than 2 meh's but at least these 2 are more viable than what's been here and hopefully they still plan to address this in the draft.  

Obviously, I'm not upset with either signing, they're both upgrades but I wouldnt set your expectations high for either.

Agreed.   The bar was so incredibly low for the TE position that these signings, while decent, are getting kinda overblown.   This notion that the Jets are all of sudden out of the TE market in the draft because Uzomah and Conklin are here is kinda shortsighted.   It’s a pretty good TE class and there is still a need for an athletic move TE.  

[Nixhead]

28 minutes ago, JiFapono said:

4th year in, never caught over 20 passes before this year and was the ultimate check down option for Cousins (9.7 ypc and 3 TD's) in a wide open systems with 2 pure studs WR's on the outside.  It's reasonable to assume that was an anomaly of a year and he'll never come close to that again.  That said, I dont know what he provides in the run game.

I was one of those who called Uzomah meh but in all honestly, he's better than Conklin.  Personally, I'd rather have 1 stud than 2 meh's but at least these 2 are more viable than what's been here and hopefully they still plan to address this in the draft.  

Obviously, I'm not upset with either signing, they're both upgrades but I wouldnt set your expectations high for either.

I'm not impressed with Conklin. Cant break tackles. No apparent speed. Consistently comes up short of a 1st down on a lot of his catches. Not much power. Looks like he can catch though. Thats the difference maker.

[Tranquilo]

32 minutes ago, JiFapono said:

4th year in, never caught over 20 passes before this year and was the ultimate check down option for Cousins (9.7 ypc and 3 TD's) in a wide open systems with 2 pure studs WR's on the outside.  It's reasonable to assume that was an anomaly of a year and he'll never come close to that again.  That said, I dont know what he provides in the run game.

I was one of those who called Uzomah meh but in all honestly, he's better than Conklin.  Personally, I'd rather have 1 stud than 2 meh's but at least these 2 are more viable than what's been here and hopefully they still plan to address this in the draft.  

Obviously, I'm not upset with either signing, they're both upgrades but I wouldnt set your expectations high for either.

Tbf he played behind Rudolph and Irv Smith, but he came through for them. 

[Tranquilo]

3 minutes ago, Nixhead said:

I'm not impressed with Conklin. Cant break tackles. No apparent speed. Consistently comes up short of a 1st down on a lot of his catches. Not much power. Looks like he can catch though. Thats the difference maker.

PFF (so however you feel about them) had him drop just 1 of 64 catchable balls.

[Sperm Edwards]

32 minutes ago, Nixhead said:

I'm not impressed with Conklin. Cant break tackles. No apparent speed. Consistently comes up short of a 1st down on a lot of his catches. Not much power. Looks like he can catch though. Thats the difference maker.

It’d appear they had him running sub-5-yard routes on average. Whatever they are, Cin had their reasons.

I don’t expect him to be top 5 in TE yds or anything, but I can’t knock a guy too much for not gaining 5 yac so close to the LOS.

[Joe Willie White Shoes]

9 hours ago, Sperm Edwards said:

29 isn’t old. And he’s 28. He turns 29 like a week before the season. His fully-guaranteed seasons would be his age 29 and age 30 seasons. That’d still be in his prime. 

That stat for 2021 is a one-year outlier. If you demonstrated that as a thing every year, year after year, that’d be something else. Otherwise it’s a statistical outlier and nothing more.

He had a terrible season and yeah it’d scare me out of guaranteeing him multiple seasons, too. But it has nothing to do with the guy being too old when he’s still 5 months away from his 29th birthday. 

If you want to make the argument that, if Devante Adams was 6 months older this past year that he’d be too old - 28 and a half instead of 29 - you’d be alone in that assessment. Because at 28 and a half he was either the #1 or #2 WR on earth. Tyler Lockett was 29 this past season and just had his career high for receiving yards.

It depends on the individual. Some guys get too banged up cumulatively; others just lose the fire to do the prep work like crazy; still others made the money move to go to a lousy situation and their stats suffer in a way they otherwise wouldn’t have; and others suffered individual career-altering injuries and they’re never the same after that.

But saying WRs hit the wall at 29 is nuts. The best of the best ones are still in their prime then, particularly with modern-day conditioning and sports medicine.

It is simply not true that receivers are in their prime at age 29.  In 2020, only 2 of the top 25 were 29 or older - Marvin Jones and Theilen.  Prime age for receivers is 25-27.  Look at some of the receivers who fell off this season - Hopkins for instance.  He is now 29.  Giving Robinson a big contract is just foolish.  He is declining in terms of both age and in performance. Let him be somebody else's headache.  He's not right for a team like the Jets.  The Jets went through a similar issue with Marshall and Decker. They were both great for one season in 2015 and both fell off a cliff in 2016. The Jets are not a team with a fast approaching closing window. The window is just opening.  But the production window for Robinson is either closing or has closed.  I would be shocked if the Jets were even talking to him at this point let alone signing him.  And that is a good move.  It appears pretty clear that the Jets will be drafting a WR with one of the 1st 4 picks.  

[Adoni Beast]

6 minutes ago, Joe Willie White Shoes said:

It is simply not true that receivers are in their prime at age 29.  In 2020, only 2 of the top 25 were 29 or older - Marvin Jones and Theilen.  Prime age for receivers is 25-27.  Look at some of the receivers who fell off this season - Hopkins for instance.  He is now 29.  Giving Robinson a big contract is just foolish.  He is declining in terms of both age and in performance. Let him be somebody else's headache.  He's not right for a team like the Jets.  The Jets went through a similar issue with Marshall and Decker. They were both great for one season in 2015 and both fell off a cliff in 2016. The Jets are not a team with a fast approaching closing window. The window is just opening.  But the production window for Robinson is either closing or has closed.  I would be shocked if the Jets were even talking to him at this point let alone signing him.  And that is a good move.  It appears pretty clear that the Jets will be drafting a WR with one of the 1st 4 picks.  

Completely agree here. We went down this road before and it doesn't = success. Now if Allen Robinson or Julio Jones etc want to come here on a 1 year deal (for WR depth) sure, why not?

But we definitely should be looking to draft a WR in the 1st or 2nd round this year. Let our difference makers be drafted homegrown young talent.

[Joe W. Namath]

11 hours ago, GangGreen Machine said:

Can we all please just make it official. Tyler Conklin is hear-by named “Conky” from hence forth. “ muah! ?” 

 

Agree.  With no Krofty, there must be a Conky.

[JustInFudge]

2 hours ago, Tranquilo said:

Tbf he played behind Rudolph and Irv Smith, but he came through for them. 

True.  He did.  Again, I'm happy with these signings because at @sec101row23 said, the bar was set very low and they're both upgrades but I agree that we shouldnt be "set" at TE.  Drafting and developing a potential stud should still be a priority.  Now, they just have the luxury to bring that player along, which is a wonderful thing.  I think it's also important to recognize they brought Bawden back rather quickly, so maybe the sum of parts will be the goal this season, while the search for the stud continues. 

[Joe Willie White Shoes]

48 minutes ago, Adoni Beast said:

Completely agree here. We went down this road before and it doesn't = success. Now if Allen Robinson or Julio Jones etc want to come here on a 1 year deal (for WR depth) sure, why not?

But we definitely should be looking to draft a WR in the 1st or 2nd round this year. Let our difference makers be drafted homegrown young talent.

Julio Jones is completely done.  I would not be surprised if he never played again.  Somebody will give Robinson a multi-year deal. Just not the Jets. He's going to a team with an established QB after playing his entire career with horrible QBs.  

[Nixhead]

So how much is Conklin's contract? I just heard Jake Assman say it was 3 years 13.5 mil? I like that a lot better than 3 yrs 24 mil? 

[Sperm Edwards]

2 hours ago, Joe Willie White Shoes said:

It is simply not true that receivers are in their prime at age 29.  In 2020, only 2 of the top 25 were 29 or older - Marvin Jones and Theilen.  Prime age for receivers is 25-27.  Look at some of the receivers who fell off this season - Hopkins for instance.  He is now 29.  Giving Robinson a big contract is just foolish.  He is declining in terms of both age and in performance. Let him be somebody else's headache.  He's not right for a team like the Jets.  The Jets went through a similar issue with Marshall and Decker. They were both great for one season in 2015 and both fell off a cliff in 2016. The Jets are not a team with a fast approaching closing window. The window is just opening.  But the production window for Robinson is either closing or has closed.  I would be shocked if the Jets were even talking to him at this point let alone signing him.  And that is a good move.  It appears pretty clear that the Jets will be drafting a WR with one of the 1st 4 picks.  

Again, you're just isolating 1 season and extrapolating that as the norm every year in the past & future. Many of the best WRs are still in their prime production years at 29, 30, and some even beyond. Depends on the individual, and depends on the reasons why they get less productive.

If it's a player who turns 29 in August, and there are just 2 guaranteed seasons, then it'd be inaccurate to say a WR is generically "over the hill" -- depends on the guy. A lot of the reason for many of them is they just lose the fire to put in all they can to be just as great as they were, now that their final payday is guaranteed. Even more so if they go to a team with no serious SB chances. For some, sure it can be that cumulative injuries. Others cashed in even if it meant going to a team where their numbers won't be the same, because better teams with better QBs feel they can get by just fine with the next guy up, letting a bigger name vet get paid elsewhere. 

Regardless, you're not signing a trend or an average; you're signing a person. Also there's no requirement that the team goes through no changes. If they sign a WR's 29+30 years and then they let him go as a drafted WR starts emerging, that's not a flawed outcome. Certainly not when you're trying to get immediate help for a QB who's struggled so much as a rookie. 

So it depends on the player.

• I'd love it if we brought in someone who had Julio Jones's age 29+30 seasons of ~1700 and 1400 yards. Even his age-31 season, if it wasn't cut in half by injury, on a per-game/snap basis he was on pace for 1500 yards again in the (full) games he did play.
• Fitz was a ~1200-yard WR into his age 32-34 seasons.
• Antonio Brown was great until he went mental, not because his body suddenly gave out. Even missing 2+ games he still led the league in rec yards at 29 and then had a 1300-yd/15-TD season at 30. 
• You mentioned Marshall tapering off, as everyone eventually does, but what you conspicuously left out is his best season here was at age 31, not 28. 

Some of the special ones are still good. Some aren't, and frankly few are that special in the first place. But there's no rule that says receivers are past their prime at 29 when plenty are still in it. And anyway, there's no need to guarantee 3 seasons or more to a guy that age. 

My own reluctance with someone like Robinson was his production this past season, not because of his age in and of itself. It would hardly shock the world if he had another ~1200-yard season this year. It'd also shock no one if he finished with half that. Depends on the player, and also it depends where he ends up.

[JohnnyLV]

7 hours ago, WestCoastMole said:

As I see it the purpose behind acquiring both Uzomah and Conklin is so the Jets do not get tied to the strategy of landing one particular player in the Draft, namely McBride. It strikes my as wishful the way people project McBride to be on the board when the Jets come up for Pick 35. Many of the Big Analyst types project McBride going at the end of Round1. (Right where Cincinnati is sitting. BTW) So the odds of McBride being on the board for the Jets in Round 2 is less than 50/50. Without Conklin the Jets are forced to execute a Pick Swap to move up. That is where a team gets hosed. With Conklin the Jets can say if McBride is on the board at 35 we will grab him. If he isn't we w.ill move on to other priorities and take a guy like Ruckert later. (3rd or 4th Round) The acquisition of Conklin gives the Jets that flexibility

I like McBride but I also like Ruckert, Lively and Dolcich a lot too. Have no issue going TE in RD2. I do agree McBride to Cincy makes a ton of sense. That said jumping just ahead of them from 35 would not be all that expensive.

[JohnnyLV]

16 hours ago, maury77 said:

This time I agree, I can't see TE on the first 2 days now. 

Depends on how players are graded. Say we get to pick 28 or so and McBride is the last player we have in the 1st round tier. We would possibly even trade up to get ahead of Cincinatti. Need and positional value are rolled into JDs grades so he does generally pick BPA. Now if we get to 35 and say a LB or DT is in same tier as McBride we likely go for one of the others.

[JohnnyLV]

13 hours ago, derp said:

How do you know 11 and 10 personnel are still core? The Jets were out running 12 personnel a good chunk of the time with Tyler Kroft and Trevon Wesco before they realized it didn’t work at all with the horrific tight end group and started running more 11 personnel to get better players on the field. They then went out and spent $15M AAV on tight ends, and have only lost wide receivers.

Attacking wide receiver may be the route you think they need to take, but barring a major twist, their actions are telling us they’re not going to have as many wide receivers on the field as they did last year…after their actions last year during the season telling us they didn’t really want wide receivers on the field. 

I’ll add that the SF offense LaFleur came from and GB where his brother is both run 3+ WR packages at some of the lowest rates in the league. It was a surprise that they ran as much three wise as they did last year, made sense to maximize the personnel and it was good they didn’t force it. But thus far their actions are not those of a team that wants to flood the field with receivers.

https://www.sharpfootballanalysis.com/nfl-stats/personnel-groupings/offense/offensive-personnel-grouping-frequency-2021/

San Francisco used 11 Personnel 48% of the time. They used 12 personnel only 10% of the time. 

They ran 21 personnel 34% of the time but much of that was stealth 11 personnel with Deebo Samuel initially lining up at running back.

So even SF really has 11 personnel as their core alignment. If we say that 30% of 21 personnel became 11 after the snap then SF was running 11 like 58% of the time (which actually aligns with the Jets pure percentage at running 11) 

Now on your side of the argument, they essentially ran almost no plays without at least 1 TE in the mix.  So no 4 or 5 wide pretty much ever. Side note that I personally hate 5 wide.

The Jets for comparison ran 11 61% of the time, and despite not having TEs actually ran 12 personnel more than SF at 20%. The biggest difference is we ran 21 only 5% but ran 10 personnel (4 wide) 8% of the time. I thought the Jets ran 10 a lot more than that actually. Seemed Zach had 4 WR alignments pretty often on 3rd down but as we see perceptions are not necessarily reality.

But the fact remains that even for SF pure 11 is half of their offensive snaps and 21 was really disguised 11 for the most part.

The Jets need to build around 11 personnel. It IS their core.

Now having said all of this there is no question that 11 personnel is slightly less emphasized in the "Shanahan" system. The Rams ran it 86% of the time! Cincinnati, Pittsburgh Washington and the Bills were all over 70% as well. with TB and JAX just below 70%

The above is why someone like Burks is so attractive as a scheme fit to the Jets it would allow them to run that 21 personnel package which is really difficult to defend especially in hurry up.