Tangini Got Sucker-Punched in RD 3?

[Green Jets & Ham]

I don't know that, we'll never know that for sure, but that was my initial suspecion and Randy Lange {NOT A JET HATER} touched on that theme in his tuesday column

Jets had Chris Gocong in for two visits and just prior to the draft Gocong expressed his belief that the Jets were preparing to draft him, perhaps as early as RD 2 ... after losing Abe and with the switch to the 34, it made sense too me ... Gocong was a small school pass rushing phenom who registered a staggering 42 Sacks in 23 Games and Gocong was considered an ideal fit as an edge rushing 34 OLB

Gil Brandt even rated Gocong ahead of Mathias Kiwanuka, and Gil Brandt is not some hump Draft Guru or wannabe like the rest of us {myself included} ... Brandt was the chief architect of "doomsday" and he forgot more about player evaluations than Tangini {or just about any man alive} will ever know ... so I don't wanna hear about how I'm over-rating Gocong, over-rated small school guy, blah blah blah ... if he was good enough for Gil Brandt to rank obscenely high for a small school phenom, he would have been good enough for me in RD 3

Brandt said, and I Quote ... he can't remember anyone who ever registered 42 Sacks in 23 Games

And again, this is a kid the Jets brought in for two visits, another HIGH CHARACTER GUY as well, only HIGH CHARACTER plus OBSCENE STATS as a pass rusher ... so I do believe Gocong was speaking the truth when he expressed his belief that the Jets were very interested

So with that in mind, here's an excerpt from Randy Lange's tuesday column

The Jets may have even committed a gaffe that cost them one of the swift end/linebackers they liked and even visited with last week -- Chris Gocong of Cal Poly, who racked up 42 sacks in two seasons at the Division I-AA level.

With their 71st overall selection coming up, the Jets decided to swap third-round picks with Philadelphia, dropping to No. 76 and picking up an extra seventh-rounder

The Eagles, who had shown no pre-draft interest in Gocong, grabbed him with their new pick.

"I was talking to my agent and we actually expected the Jets to draft us with the 71st pick," Gocong said, "but we didn't really know if it was going to happen."

I don't think the Jets figured on the Eagles drafting Gocong ... not only because they showed no interest as Lange detailed above, but also because Gocong was universally projected as a 34 edge rushing OLB, Good fit for the 34, but did not seem to carry the same value as a 43 DE or OLB, and the Eagles are a 43 team ... as are the teams that drafted 72, 73, 74 and 75 {Cards, Bears, Lions, Packers} .... all 43 teams

So I'm thinking perhaps Tangini Got a little too cute when they traded down from 71 to 76 {for a lousy 7th RD Pick, mind you }, thinking they could still snatch Gocong a few picks down the board

But the Eagles had other ideas ... BAM, RIGHT IN THE KISSER!! ... and from the looks of RD 3, how it went following that sucker-punch {Schlegel and Eric Smith, but way moreso Eric Smith}, I think maybe that sucker-punch landed dead sqaure on the button, sent Tangini for a whirl, and they didn't fully recover from that blow until day two, after they had a day to regroup and regain their equalibrium

Classic example is Buffalo reaching for Donte Whitner at #8 Overall after Michael Huff went one pick ahead of them ... I'm sure they saw Huff being there at #8, but when Matt Leinart slid past #8 it opened the door for Huff to crack the TOP 7 ... so the Bills likely got sent for a loop, and instead of taking the BAP at another position they went and reached for the next highest safety on their board

I can see some of the same with the Schlegel Pick, though he's an ILB and not an OLB, it looks like Tangini simply went to their next highest rated linebacker in that spot, much like Buffalo went to their next highest rated safety ... but the pick that told me Tangini may have lost their focus after botching the Gocong projection, actually trading that pick for a measley 7 to the team that went and took Gocong {Ouch!!!!!!!}, was that Eric Smith pick at the end of RD 3

After miscalculating so badly on Gocong, maybe the Jets felt it was better to reach for a player they really wanted than to risk making the same mistake ... and I think they reached badly, but it all started with Gocong ... till then Tangini played the board like river-boat gamblers and won {bigtime} in RD 2 when they snagged Clemens AND added a 2nd RD Pick in 2007 ... that perhaps emboldened them to Get cute in RD 3, then the opposite happened when that move blew up in their faces, with the final pick in RD 3 they went the other way, played it safe to a fault and reached for a safety they had no business taking that high {IMHO}, especially with some of the players who were still on the board at positions of greater need

JMO, all I'm doing is speculating ... we'll never know for sure ... nobody at hofstra will ever cop to misplaying their hand on Gocong even if its true, and if its not, well, then I'm wrong ... won't be the first time

[JetCane]

[so I'm thinking perhaps Tangini Got a little too cute when they traded down from 71 to 76 {for a lousy 7th RD Pick, mind you }, thinking they could still snatch Gocong a few picks down the board/QUOTE]

Well, if that's the way it went down, it shows poor judgment in that spot.

[harts724]

hey ,sh*t happens

[bitonti]

why is there such a difference between a converted NT to DE to LB 6th round Cocong and slow but crazy 6th round Schlegel? One guy's got better measurables the other guy's got big game experience and hey at least he's a linebacker... Cocong played DE at the E/W shrine

both are reaches after the first two rounds ive got no problems with those guys taking who they wanted because by about pick 8 of the draft all ideas of pre-draft value were thrown out the window - at least the Jets reached at 76 not 8 ... or 4.

[mudcat21]

Bit - I think we would have been better off picking as follows based on needs rather than what we did.

3a - TE Pope instead of LB Schegel

3b - OG Gilles instead of S Eric Smith

4a - NT Watson instead of Brad Smith

[Cyberjet]

Maybe the Jets played the Eagles. It's no secret that teams are calling players that they say they are going to draft. I think that happened to one of the Jets who was picked up by the Jets in FA. I believe he was called by Tennesse, but never got picked.

A good example was the supposed story of Matt Light on the phone with the Jets , followed immediately by BB who asked who he talked to and he told them the Jets just called. BB immediately traded up to get Light just before the Jets pick and the Jets picked Jordan.

This calling of players before they're picked could be part of the poker game of misinformation. Suppose the Jets truly wanted to trade down to get an extra pick they lost in a previous trade - why not lay down a little misinformation by making a few phone calls to discuss possibly picking a player or find out who has been talking with him. Just a thought. Personally, if i really wanted a player I wouldn't call anybody.

[SoFlaJets]

what they did was draft a player at every position OL QB RB TE WR DL LBer and DB-pretty smart IMO

[bitonti]

time will tell. For one reason or another those guys were all passed on by the jets and the program they were trying to build - it's not a choice between Schlegel and Leonard Pope - it never was -

3a - TE Pope instead of LB Schegel - DUMB he tested low intel

3b - OG Gilles instead of S Eric Smith - NOT AGILE enough to pull didn't fit the system, also motivation concerns

4a - NT Watson instead of Brad Smith - motivation concerns as well

personally yeah i would have picked those players by my board. But the thing is if the team had a program, an identity and 45 other high character guys maybe they could have made those risky picks. Mangini is pretty much working from scratch.

Schlegel and Smith - while not amazing athletes - have more football smarts than all of those players - and there fore are more likely to contribute earlier. I can see the logic. It's not my personal preference but i can see the logic. IF they didn't take Schlegel or Smith they would have taken 2 other guys off the radar - not the guys you listed.

[Green Jets & Ham]

Just to be clear, I like Schlegel ... if the Jets drafted Gocong at 71 and Schlegel at 97 I would be ecstatic, and I believe that was a realistic possibility had we remained at 71 and taken Gocong ... that would have made day one a Grand Slam HR in my view ... Brick, Mangold, Clemens, Gocong and Schlegel ... GRAND SALAMI

The Pick that saddens me is Eric Smith, and IMO there's a GOOD CHANCE that Pick never happens on day one if we had snatched Gocong at 71 ... in that case I'm inclined to believe the above scenario unfolds ... LT Brick, C Mangold, QB Clemens, OLB Gocong and ILB Schlegel

[Green Jets & Ham]

Just caught wind of this ...

Gil Brandt on Sirius actually said that the Jets Were on the phone with Gocong when the eagles picked him. They were going to take him a few picks later and got burned on the trade.

[joewilly]

pretty amazing analogy which now looks to be accurate ham. but you know what? though I like your selection scenerio I don't think it's the end of the world

[LionelRichie]

this is great insight Ham and may even be true. i would love to get a look at the jets draft board to see how it looked. i am sure a lot of the "big name" players didn't even appear on the jets board. guys like jean-giles, lendale, and watson.

[RSJ]

If that's true it is too bad. But this will happen to the most seasoned GM. First year GM I guess you can expect a mistake in his first draft with 10 picks to deal with. It was quite a sly move what he did in the second which makes up for it. Overall, the ten picks plus a 2nd next year is a success, imo.

[Cyberjet]

Just caught wind of this ...

Gil Brandt on Sirius actually said that the Jets Were on the phone with Gocong when the eagles picked him. They were going to take him a few picks later and got burned on the trade.

The story also went that Gocong was sure the Jets were going to pick him at #71 by a previous contact. Explain this to me - why would a GM notify a player 5 picks in advance that they were going to take him? This gives almost 30 minutes for other teams to snoop around and trade ahead of the Jets. Something doesn't sound right here.

[Jetsfanjan]

Excellent post.

[PeterNorth09]

Bit - I think we would have been better off picking as follows based on needs rather than what we did.

3a - TE Pope instead of LB Schegel

3b - OG Gilles instead of S Eric Smith

4a - NT Watson instead of Brad Smith

That would have almost made up for the first three picks. I like Pope a lot and Gilles and Watson are the kind of late-round big O and D linemen that can help you win.

[Sharrow]

At least they learned a lesson if they did screw up, won't happen again next year.

[Maxman]

I really wanted to see this kid (Gocong) land here. He is a 1AA player so maybe he won't be able to play on this level. But I don't care if they are playing against tackling dummies. He had a lot of sacks! Was really worth the shot.

To lose out on him by trying to get extra value and a later pick....that is a bad move. Hopefully they learn from it.

[bitonti]

I really wanted to see this kid (Gocong) land here. He is a 1AA player so maybe he won't be able to play on this level. But I don't care if they are playing against tackling dummies. He had a lot of sacks! Was really worth the shot.

To lose out on him by trying to get extra value and a later pick....that is a bad move. Hopefully they learn from it.

yeah i mean who would want a guy from the best linebacking corp in college football over a cal poly DE who needs to be taught the position

Schlegel could be Lance Mehl all over again... the Jets got a good football player and he's not a project.

[ThunderbirdJet]

I think you called it right, hammer..... the Eagles cut block the Jets on that one. For two guys that say they are prepared, what's worse is that the Eagles pick seemed to have sent them reeling. Even so, the recovery time.... geeze, I hate that Smith pick.... they should have gotten their act back together before that. I think you nailed it. The trade down with Washington made them just a bit too ****y.

Well, like bit said, at least they got their lumps in the third round, not the first or second.

[Green Jets & Ham]

I think you called it right, hammer..... the Eagles cut block the Jets on that one. For two guys that say they are prepared, what's worse is that the Eagles pick seemed to have sent them reeling. Even so, the recovery time.... geeze, I hate that Smith pick.... they should have gotten their act back together before that. I think you nailed it. The trade down with Washington made them just a bit too ****y.

Wanna read something really sad ... I mean gut wrenching?

Here's how the Eagles VP of Player Personnel characterized that move

"He {Gocong} was still on the board and was by far the highest-rated guy there. We're going to play him at linebacker, but we thought we may have a need at 'Sam' (strong-side) linebacker and also with someone to help us as a pass rusher.

He was so highly rated that we thought we had to go up and get up and try to get him. We did not think he was going to be there at our pick, so we said, 'We'd hate to sit there and lose him,' because he was sticking out like a sore thumb on our board."

So they traded up from 76 to 71 with the Jets

[Shadetree]

The thing that eats at me is that I think we need a playmaking OLB with the 3-4 as our base look. The SAM, in general, is not necessarily considered as much as a playmaker as the WILL, but, this day and age, the WILL and SAM need to be effective in both roles.

I see Barton as the WILL. I have alot of trouble trusting him to be as smart as Mangini wants or to stay healthy, though.

So..there's Barton @ the WILL. Who's the strong side backer?

[Sharrow]

It would have been nice to get both of them.