JD’s biggest mistake this past 9 months?

[OtherwiseHappyinLife]

Jeez, there are so many.  One of the toughest questions I’ve had to answer in my life ..

Could any NFL QB score 20 points per game with this offense?

Could they have gotten Rodgers without Hackett .. if JD and Saleh pushed for it?

Which of the 4 idiots in charge thought it was smart to assume Duane Brown and either Max Mitchell or Billy Turner were starting caliber OTs?  (Becton being an afterthought).  Easy to blame JD but I could totally picture Saleh arguing for this (just read about how he talked about Brown and Mitchell this offseason)

Man- could go on forever … 

 

 

 

[BigRy56]

Not attacking a trade for a guy like Brissett is #1 for me. Hindsight is 20/20 but groom Zach idea was one I could get behind initially. Rodgers is a rockstar and it’s worked out for the Packers so far. Worth a shot…. as long as Rodgers could play.

Once that plan was squashed and it was clear that we were stuck in last year all over again, a larger move needed to happen. JD sat on his hands and stuck with his pick. Bad move….

[OtherwiseHappyinLife]

8 minutes ago, BigRy56 said:

Not attacking a trade for a guy like Brissett is #1 for me. Hindsight is 20/20 but groom Zach idea was one I could get behind initially. Rodgers is a rockstar and it’s worked out for the Packers so far. Worth a shot…. as long as Rodgers could play.

Once that plan was squashed and it was clear that we were stuck in last year all over again, a larger move needed to happen. JD sat on his hands and stuck with his pick. Bad move….

I like your logic .. a quick question though:  could Rodgers play behind this OL and with this stable of WRs?

[OtherwiseHappyinLife]

Also interested in your honest answers on what you supported at the time.

1. I wanted a starting OT in Free agency or round 1.  Was shocked at how little movement there was by JD overall in free agency 

2. Once we lost the chance to draft one of the top OTs in the first round, I wanted to draft best available WR

3. I was fine trading for Rodgers and bringing in Hackett as his preferred OC.  Even bit players like Cobb as a 5th WR

4. I strongly wanted a legitimate Backup QB like Minshew AND wanted to draft one mid round to develop for a couple years.  Zach needed to sit for an entire year

5. Was adamant we needed to push for smart trades after Rodgers was injured to improve the offense.  5th to 6th round range

 

[BigRy56]

32 minutes ago, OtherwiseHappyinLife said:

I like your logic .. a quick question though:  could Rodgers play behind this OL and with this stable of WRs?

I think we’d be surprised about how much more competent an OL is when they’ve got a QB that can diagnose a defense, put them in a position to win their matchups, and get the ball out on time.

He’s also played with worse WR corps in his lifetime and done fine. Hell… Lazard got himself paid because of Rodgers 

[joewilly12]

 ✅ All of the above. 

[Bleedin Green]

13 minutes ago, OtherwiseHappyinLife said:

Also interested in your honest answers on what you supported at the time.

1. I wanted a starting OT in Free agency or round 1.  Was shocked at how little movement there was by JD overall in free agency 

2. Once we lost the chance to draft one of the top OTs in the first round, I wanted to draft best available WR

3. I was fine trading for Rodgers and bringing in Hackett as his preferred OC.  Even bit players like Cobb as a 5th WR

4. I strongly wanted a legitimate Backup QB like Minshew AND wanted to draft one mid round to develop for a couple years.  Zach needed to sit for an entire year

5. Was adamant we needed to push for smart trades after Rodgers was injured to improve the offense.  5th to 6th round range

 

1.  The lack of OL moves this offseason was infuriating at the time it happened.  The entire strategy was dependent on a bunch of JAG and/or injury prone players magically staying healthy and improving.

2.  I never liked the Lazard signing and called out what an overrated JAG he was at the time, pointing out how the #1 reason everyone gave for Rodgers drop in productivity in 2022 was how awful GB's WR corps was, and yet the Jets felt the need to pay up for their "top" guy who they let walk without hesitation?  However, I will freely admit the only thing that made me feel ok with the position despite that, as I said all along Lazard was never going to turn out to be a #2 anyway, and that Corey Davis would easily beat him out for that job, health permitting.  Davis' sudden retirement obviously threw that all off, but still doesn't excuse the complete lack of any additional depth on the roster at the time (regardless of a high draft pick or not), nothing done after the retirement to adjust, and instead fully committing to another garbage GB WR in Cobb who has already been washed up for years.

3.  I was fine with the Rodgers trade, particularly given that by then it was either him or Wilson.  I did have concerns about the assumptions that 2022 wasn't a sign of the beginning of his decline, but at minimum he still seemed to be a massive upgrade at the position, health permitting.  I was not a fan of the Hackett hire when it was made, but accepted it when it was clearly a move for Rodgers, knowing that they at least worked well together.

4.  This goes back to my reason behind being ok with the Rodgers trade was the team having done absolutely nothing at the position before then, which was just wildly irresponsible.  The Wilson "sit for a year" narrative was a myth from the very beginning, the team needed to move on from Wilson entirely, he's an all-time bust.  The only reason he even stuck on this team is because of JD's constant refusal to admit his continual stream of failures.  That's how you end up wasting a roster spot on a guy like Mims for 2 years who never even gets activated.  The team absolutely needed to bring on some reasonable depth back in March, to not only be less committed to Wilson but avoid being over a barrel when Rodgers was the only option left.

5.  Other teams got players for next to nothing that would have been easily upgrades for the Jets.  I suspect the only reason it didn't happen is JD was convinced he had successfully hamstrung this team enough with the Rodgers & Friends situation that it would allow him to undeservedly keep his job.  That plus, once again JD would have needed to admit some degree of failure in his other moves for that to happen, and there has never been an NFL GM more horrifically guilty of the sunk cost fallacy than JD.

 

As much of a disaster this was from top-to-bottom, the OL is probably the worst of all the sins for no other reason than it was a situation that's been clear as day of being a major issue for years, and yet still nothing meaningful was ever really done about it, and the circumstances that came from it were very easily predictable.  As much as you can try to make some excuses for other of the positions, as invalid as many of those excuses may be, there are none that even exist for the OL situation.

[slimjasi]

not having a backup QB better than Zach Wilson on the roster. 

 

Hence, I voted for the last two options. If you didn't want to sign someone during the offseason, you needed to trade for someone on September 12. 

[Beerfish]

No Rodgers and the Jets have:

No lazard, no cook, no cobb, no turner, no hackett, no boyle

3 more draft picks one of which would have been used last year on a high quality tackle.

And lots of cap room.

The Rodgers move was the big bungle, not because of the lone player and the fact he got hurt but becasue of every thing that went with getting him.

[Hex]

Was Hackett a JD move or a Saleh move?

[rangerous]

Zach has done well enough as the back up. No one expected Rodgers to be out from day one but it was logical to think the qb would be injured for multiple games at some point in the season.  Things collapsed when the oline started dropping and the back ups weren’t playing well.  Add to that a paucity of reliable receivers and you see a sub 500 team.

[rex-n-effect]

15 minutes ago, Beerfish said:

No Rodgers and the Jets have:

No lazard, no cook, no cobb, no turner, no hackett, no boyle

3 more draft picks one of which would have been used last year on a high quality tackle.

And lots of cap room.

The Rodgers move was the big bungle, not because of the lone player and the fact he got hurt but becasue of every thing that went with getting him.

The Jets still needed to fill most of those positions and they could have been just as bad of players with no attachment to Rodgers. 

I don't entirely believe Hackett was exclusively brought in as Rodgers bait and even if he was, the Jets could have been stuck with him and no Rodgers. I suspect Saleh wanted to replace LaFleur with somebody else familiar with the same offensive system. Hackett worked under the other LaFleur in GB, so he was familiar with the same strategy and mindset as Saleh's best friend.

[K_O_Brien]

Two biggest mistakes from JD were....

1. Overpaying for and then indulging, Rodgers - hugely uncharacteristic for Douglas to lose a trade so badly. A sign of weakness and panic, which Rodgers seized upon, demanding all of his buddies (and prior to that, Hackett too). 

2. But then having signed Rodgers, Douglas needed to aggressively fix the o-line. The season would only go as far as Rodgers did. Rolling out Brown in week one, who hardly played in pre-season, was gross malpractice. 

When Rodgers went down, that was the season. And everyone knew it. 

 

 

 

[chirorob]

#1 Zach as backup

#2 drafting an undersized DE in the 1st instead of a player who could actually help

[The Crusher]

1 hour ago, OtherwiseHappyinLife said:

Jeez, there are so many.  One of the toughest questions I’ve had to answer in my life ..

Could any NFL QB score 20 points per game with this offense?

Could they have gotten Rodgers without Hackett .. if JD and Saleh pushed for it?

Which of the 4 idiots in charge thought it was smart to assume Duane Brown and either Max Mitchell or Billy Turner were starting caliber OTs?  (Becton being an afterthought).  Easy to blame JD but I could totally picture Saleh arguing for this (just read about how he talked about Brown and Mitchell this offseason)

Man- could go on forever … 

 

 

 

Not beating the living piss out of @kevinc855 when he had the chance? Season kind of went downhill right after that. 

[Jetsfan80]

Zach as primary backup getting a leading 35 % of the vote.

So proud of you, JN.  That is the correct answer, regardless of what you think of Zach Wilson.

[FidelioJet]

1 hour ago, OtherwiseHappyinLife said:

I like your logic .. a quick question though:  could Rodgers play behind this OL and with this stable of WRs?

No. He would look awful. 

[FidelioJet]

This will and should go down in the history of the NFL as an all-time bad off-season.  
 

[kevinc855]

8 minutes ago, The Crusher said:

Not beating the living piss out of @kevinc855 when he had the chance? Season kind of went downhill right after that. 

Yo yo yo......if Big Bro wants to roll......lets ******* roll

[Beerfish]

26 minutes ago, rex-n-effect said:

The Jets still needed to fill most of those positions and they could have been just as bad of players with no attachment to Rodgers. 

I don't entirely believe Hackett was exclusively brought in as Rodgers bait and even if he was, the Jets could have been stuck with him and no Rodgers. I suspect Saleh wanted to replace LaFleur with somebody else familiar with the same offensive system. Hackett worked under the other LaFleur in GB, so he was familiar with the same strategy and mindset as Saleh's best friend.

Nope.

Those crap players would not be on the jets.  It affected our whole fa stratedgy and are whole draft stratedgy.

[Hex]

26 minutes ago, Jetsfan80 said:

Zach as primary backup getting a leading 35 % of the vote.

So proud of you, JN.  That is the correct answer, regardless of what you think of Zach Wilson.

I would argue the fact that he didn't get an actual backup instead of Zach Wilson is a bigger mistake. It wouldn't have been much better if Tim Boyle was the primary backup.

Zach getting backup is definitely top 2 though.

[OtherwiseHappyinLife]

1 hour ago, Bleedin Green said:

1.  The lack of OL moves this offseason was infuriating at the time it happened.  The entire strategy was dependent on a bunch of JAG and/or injury prone players magically staying healthy and improving.

2.  I never liked the Lazard signing and called out what an overrated JAG he was at the time, pointing out how the #1 reason everyone gave for Rodgers drop in productivity in 2022 was how awful GB's WR corps was, and yet the Jets felt the need to pay up for their "top" guy who they let walk without hesitation?  However, I will freely admit the only thing that made me feel ok with the position despite that, as I said all along Lazard was never going to turn out to be a #2 anyway, and that Corey Davis would easily beat him out for that job, health permitting.  Davis' sudden retirement obviously threw that all off, but still doesn't excuse the complete lack of any additional depth on the roster at the time (regardless of a high draft pick or not), nothing done after the retirement to adjust, and instead fully committing to another garbage GB WR in Cobb who has already been washed up for years.

3.  I was fine with the Rodgers trade, particularly given that by then it was either him or Wilson.  I did have concerns about the assumptions that 2022 wasn't a sign of the beginning of his decline, but at minimum he still seemed to be a massive upgrade at the position, health permitting.  I was not a fan of the Hackett hire when it was made, but accepted it when it was clearly a move for Rodgers, knowing that they at least worked well together.

4.  This goes back to my reason behind being ok with the Rodgers trade was the team having done absolutely nothing at the position before then, which was just wildly irresponsible.  The Wilson "sit for a year" narrative was a myth from the very beginning, the team needed to move on from Wilson entirely, he's an all-time bust.  The only reason he even stuck on this team is because of JD's constant refusal to admit his continual stream of failures.  That's how you end up wasting a roster spot on a guy like Mims for 2 years who never even gets activated.  The team absolutely needed to bring on some reasonable depth back in March, to not only be less committed to Wilson but avoid being over a barrel when Rodgers was the only option left.

5.  Other teams got players for next to nothing that would have been easily upgrades for the Jets.  I suspect the only reason it didn't happen is JD was convinced he had successfully hamstrung this team enough with the Rodgers & Friends situation that it would allow him to undeservedly keep his job.  That plus, once again JD would have needed to admit some degree of failure in his other moves for that to happen, and there has never been an NFL GM more horrifically guilty of the sunk cost fallacy than JD.

 

As much of a disaster this was from top-to-bottom, the OL is probably the worst of all the sins for no other reason than it was a situation that's been clear as day of being a major issue for years, and yet still nothing meaningful was ever really done about it, and the circumstances that came from it were very easily predictable.  As much as you can try to make some excuses for other of the positions, as invalid as many of those excuses may be, there are none that even exist for the OL situation.

Great post.  I struggled between choosing OL, back-up QB (Zach), or failing to make a trade between Rodgers injury and the trade deadline.

The reason I chose OL was I consider it a 2:1 mistake and really wonder if a guy like MInshew could have been successful here post Giants game after the injuries mounted.  So if you believe that the top back-ups wouldn't have been successful running this offense since that point in the season, then you have to consider the root cause of that.

IMO, the biggest issue was missing horrendously on the OT evaluation. 

Correct reads, the job of the HC and GM, should have been:

1. Brown - no longer starting caliber, poor play last year was as much about his age as his injury

2. Mitchell - doesn't have the core, lower body strength to be an effective NFL blocker, let alone starter

3. Turner - no longer an NFL player

The reason the OT was a 2:1 mistake was because it ultimately cost us AVT, who was injured playing OT for the 2nd year in a row.  

So now, instead of having 2 quality starters, we have 2 subpar starters to go along with Becton, who actually outperformed JD's expectations of him, Tomlinson (who stinks) and a rookie Center.

Introducing the worst OL in football>>>  3 crappy starters, an injury prone LT who has given up the 7rd most sacks and 4th most penalties for an OT, and a rookie Center (our best OL).

Shame, Shame, Shame...  

 

[Cut Jet Penalty Makers]

Not drafting Hendon Hooker and Jalin Hyatt in the year's draft. They were there for the taking.

[Plen T]

hiring Nate Hackett

retaining Bob Saleh

[Integrity28]

Aaron Rodgers. Here is the definitive “why?”

He took forever to decide, held our org hostage and negatively impacted our negotiating position. Thus, we paid too much + all quality UFA backups were off the market before we secured our starting QB… leaving us with Zach.

He was an instant jolt of confirmation bias that simply fed the hubris of these goons who felt they were a QB away. Thus, we didn’t spend any capital on truly impactful improvements to OL or WR. Instead, we gave up valuable roster spots to scrubs that are friends of AR.

Further expanding on the hubris and arrogance of believing we’re a “QB away” … we drafted depth at EDGE as a luxury pick, rather than investing where we needed to OL and WR… also stopping us from locking up Huff long-term before his breakout season.

In order to lure Rodgers, we had to hire Hackett. Ugh.

As you can see, this guy sucks.

[#27TheDominator]

17 minutes ago, Cut Jet Penalty Makers said:

Not drafting Hendon Hooker and Jalin Hyatt in the year's draft. They were there for the taking.

Yes.  This is like one of those posts saying the Jets should have taken Trevor Lawrence, Lawrence Taylor, or Peyton Manning.  They were there for the taking!  You wanted to take Hyatt and Hooker with #15 and 43?  Cause those were the only picks the Jets had before those guys went at #68 and 73.  They both went in the 3rd.  I get that McDonald was a luxury but where would this team be without Tippman?  

The Jets lost their 3rd traded with Moore for the Browns 2nd which the Jets traded for Rodgers.  You are upset that the Jets made these trades?  Well their actual 3rd was #74, after your two crushes went.  The Browns used that pick on weapnz and took Cedric Tillman 

[Sperm Edwards]

2 hours ago, OtherwiseHappyinLife said:

Also interested in your honest answers on what you supported at the time.

1. I wanted a starting OT in Free agency or round 1.  Was shocked at how little movement there was by JD overall in free agency 

2. Once we lost the chance to draft one of the top OTs in the first round, I wanted to draft best available WR

3. I was fine trading for Rodgers and bringing in Hackett as his preferred OC.  Even bit players like Cobb as a 5th WR

4. I strongly wanted a legitimate Backup QB like Minshew AND wanted to draft one mid round to develop for a couple years.  Zach needed to sit for an entire year

5. Was adamant we needed to push for smart trades after Rodgers was injured to improve the offense.  5th to 6th round range

 

What was surprising was how much he went for Orlando Brown, and than after the player took less money elsewhere he really didn't make a major effort for anyone else, so far as we're aware.

Chiefs offered Jawaan Taylor $20MM/year to play RT - admittedly, I thought that was crazy - and got Donovan Smith for $3MM for 1 season, but then have to revisit the position again in 2024. Mahomes makes both look better than they are, as a FQB is supposed to do, but also if Smith is getting away with holding calls all season long like he pulled on JJII, don't figure he'd have gotten away with them blocking for Zach (though he might have for Rodgers).

Anyway the point is more that they headed into the '23 offseason needing two starting tackles, and didn't draft one until the bottom of round 3. Also they don't have any WRs (Rice looks ok, but honestly just ok, though he's a rookie). Even in what's for them a down season, as likely as not they're going to the Super Bowl again. It's not to excuse any (let alone all) of the Jets' missteps, but even with all the players who did return and the expert coaching, I still don't think KC is even a .500 team without Mahomes this year. But for a late Zach turnover, they could easily be looking at 7-5 with him. 

Also the Jets suck.

[New York Mick]

The OL has to be the biggest one. Half the board was saying it. The Rodgers injury is what it is. I’m not sure what other vet they could have brought in before the season. 

[Ron Rico]

[Larz]

If this truly was a “redshirt” year for Zach to sit and learn than I think he would’ve agreed to be the 3rd string QB , especially if the backup was someone like Flacco , whom he knows

no guarantee Zach agrees to that but putting him one play from the field if you are truly trying to rebuild him was a foolhardy , naive decision 

[JohnnyLV]

Easily the Rodgers trade. Completely idiotic in so many many ways and I said so long before we had even made the trade.

[Spoot-Face]

The easy answer is going with Zach as the primary backup, but I think after all is said and done, it'll be clear that trading for Aaron Rodgers was the first domino that fell the had at least some influence on the rest of the poor decisions.

Need another OT? Sign Aaron's guy, Billy Turner.

Need a legit #2 WR? What for? We have Allen Lazard.

OC? Hackett, brah!

Should we have another veteran backup QB on the roster? Why? Aaron's got this. Plus, he'll hand the keys off to Zach and personally believes in the kid.

The guy is a good QB, but he f*cking sucks.

[hmhertz]

It was going after Rodgers, I'm not sure who pushed it Woody or Baldie everything

springs from that. I would have gone with Geno, a perfect three year bridge

for the QB we draft this year by a new GM and his offensive minded HC.

Then I'd fill in with a young coaching staff  to go with Olbrich and Olden.

The two bald incompetents brothers with all their platitudes would be

on the next train out of town

 

 

[Rich Thornburgh]

3 critical mistakes:

1. handing Zachenberg QB2 when a bunch of capable veterans like Wentz were available 

2. Signing Dalvin Cook and Allen Lazard over Deandre Hopkins

3.  Bringing back Duane Brown

[Rich Thornburgh]

9 hours ago, hmhertz said:

It was going after Rodgers, I'm not sure who pushed it Woody or Baldie everything

springs from that. I would have gone with Geno, a perfect three year bridge

for the QB we draft this year by a new GM and his offensive minded HC.

Then I'd fill in with a young coaching staff  to go with Olbrich and Olden.

The two bald incompetents brothers with all their platitudes would be

on the next train out of town

 

 

Going after Aaron was a no brainer.  Problem was not also getting a Veteran Backup