Maginini: Chad's The Starter -- MERGED

[Green DNA]

she's got a point boys

She does fail to mention that Chad $hit the bed in the second half against the second worst D in the league. Being good in the first half is only acceptable if the game is 30 minutes long.

[Green DNA]

For those of you going to the stadium this weekend, if Chad sucks, please start up the Clemens chants.....that will do the trick.

I would but GG wouldn't approve

[gg]

She does fail to mention that Chad $hit the bed in the second half against the second worst D in the league. Being good in the first half is only acceptable if the game is 30 minutes long.

i did fail to mention that... but the D sucked the whole game

I would but GG wouldn't approve

cmon dna .. dont be like that you can booo all you want.. i just dont like it...

unless of course you are so concerned about my approval i know ..i can be totally bewitching

[Maxman]

What you didn't like the version that we put on our front page here at 11:30 this morning?

[tparich]

We need pro bowlers. If that first pick gets us a Peyton Manning or a Troy Aikman we would be fools to pass up on it. But if we can drop down to #4 get McFadden and then pick up a stud QB like around #7 I would do that. But it is hard to get two good picks. The Texans couldn't even trade down with all the Bush hype so they just gave up and picked Williams, which was the right decision. I just wonder if our fanbase and media wouldn't have run the FO out of town for it.

We would have run Aikman out of town after his second year if he was here.

[JetCane]

This may have been mentioned -- I didn't read the whole thread. But the Vilma stuff is interesting. Either Cimini or Hutch asked about it in the press conference I forget who.

But Mangini seemed to be going out of his way to say that an injury is impacting Vilma's performance. Vilma wants everyone to believe otherwise.

I would think that would be the other way around. Usually Mangini is the one to say injuries are not an excuse. And the player would say what do you want from me I am not at 100%.

Strange. The joys of a 1 win season!

I heard vilma's interview online. it definitely was interesting. if you want to hear it, I'll look for the link.

[Boozer76]

Great!!!! I thought I had something to look forward to this weekend. Guess not..............

[joebabyny]

She does fail to mention that Chad $hit the bed in the second half against the second worst D in the league. Being good in the first half is only acceptable if the game is 30 minutes long.

How about the oline playing like a bunch of 15 year old girls in a slap fight instead of opening things up for a running game. We can all go back and forth assigning blame, why wasn't the 13 point lead into the half good enough, why didn't that cracker catch the ball that pennington threw at his face mask, lots of excuses.

[tparich]

She does fail to mention that Chad $hit the bed in the second half against the second worst D in the league. Being good in the first half is only acceptable if the game is 30 minutes long.

Chad gets to play against the worst defense in the league in practice though. He must be tearing them up pretty well which would explain him still starting.

[joebabyny]

Chad gets to play against the worst defense in the league in practice though. He must be tearing them up pretty well which would explain him still starting.

HAHA, i bet chad looks like payton manning in practice

[Green DNA]

How about the oline playing like a bunch of 15 year old girls in a slap fight instead of opening things up for a running game. We can all go back and forth assigning blame, why wasn't the 13 point lead into the half good enough, why didn't that cracker catch the ball that pennington threw at his face mask, lots of excuses.

Yes, lots of blame to go around, but it's tough to do anything on offense with 9 defenders lined up within 10 yards of the LOS. Chad cannot keep the D honest and that is exposing the glaring weaknesses on the O line. all it would take is couple of 15 yard outs to make them back up a little and not sell out on every down.

The 13 point lead wasn't good enough because the defense sucks royally, but Chad just doesn't have enough to overcome that. I wish he did, but he just doesn't.

[Green DNA]

Chad gets to play against the worst defense in the league in practice though. He must be tearing them up pretty well which would explain him still starting.

Good point. The step up in class against the Bengals was just too much for him to handle.

[Sperm Edwards]

spermy, you are one of the more educated and well respected posters here, definitely more knowledgable then i. Do me a favor, just because i would like to see this, if you could look at the full starting roster on O, D, and ST and list from most in need to least in need those who need to be changed or benched, and for those who you have no opinion or not enough knowledge of can be labeled don't know. I would like to see who you think is the biggest to least problem on the team. Like I said i am not as knowledgable and i definitely can not get that granular, but my list would maybe start with everyone on the dline, then some players on the rest of the D with a few oline players sprinkled in before i got to CP.

http://www.jetnation.com/?p=1109

[joebabyny]

Yes, lots of blame to go around, but it's tough to do anything on offense with 9 defenders lined up within 10 yards of the LOS. Chad cannot keep the D honest and that is exposing the glaring weaknesses on the O line. all it would take is couple of 15 yard outs to make them back up a little and not sell out on every down.

The 13 point lead wasn't good enough because the defense sucks royally, but Chad just doesn't have enough to overcome that. I wish he did, but he just doesn't.

We can all say that these teams are stacking up on the los, but really, the sad fact of the matter is that they are not that much. Opposing defenses are rushing us and getting to the qb without really sending much of a blitz at all, and the run is getting shut down with the lines going man on man. It is nice to think that the run is getting shut down because nobody respects CP's long game but in actuality a large amount of the time it is just our oline not able to open anything up, not because we are seeing defenders jamming the los. Look at the repeats, i think you can get them online somewhere. It is truly pathetic.

[joebabyny]

http://www.jetnation.com/?p=1109

I read that a few weeks ago when it came out, nice read. I was just wondering, when you took it to a granular level, player by player, where CP ranked as a need to be changed/benched. Lets take out of the equation the notion of the season being lost and getting KC in there to see what we have for the future. I mean, should all 3 dlinemen be changed first, where in line does CP fit in, should barret be benched before CP, how about vilma? I guess if you were running triage on the jets and started with the biggest bust/underacheiver and worked your way down from there, where would cp be. I would think he wouldn't even be in the top half of adjustments that should be made. Of course this is if you take out of the equation the idea that we should make the change because KC is the future and this season is now meaningless and we should see what we have in KC.

[Sperm Edwards]

We need pro bowlers. If that first pick gets us a Peyton Manning or a Troy Aikman we would be fools to pass up on it. But if we can drop down to #4 get McFadden and then pick up a stud QB like around #7 I would do that. But it is hard to get two good picks. The Texans couldn't even trade down with all the Bush hype so they just gave up and picked Williams, which was the right decision. I just wonder if our fanbase and media wouldn't have run the FO out of town for it.

Actually I think a lot of the reason for that was that the 2006 prospects were TOO good. There were simply so many top players that you weren't going to find teams who wanted to give up so much in a stacked draft for one player.

It's much easier when the "blue-chip" prospects are few & there is a (perceived) sharp dropoff. That's how you get dumbasses like Bradway giving up two #1's to move to the 4 slot.

Also, teams have a lot more cap room now than they did. Successive years (which will continue in '08) with big jumps in the salary cap means some teams may not be as wary about trading up to a top-3 pick and the bloated salary that comes with it.

So I wouldn't rule it out b/c of 2006. There were too many players that no one would have been blown away in shock to see go with even the #1 pick: Mario, Bush, Young, Leinart, Brick, and an outside shot at Cutler. Mario was supposed to go off at ~#4 to #5; he went #1. Leinart easily could have gone #1; he lasted to #10. And so on. And after those "#1 pick" candidates, there were at least 20 players with legit top-10 talent (or were thought to be at the time).

[Blackout]

ok im officially starting to grow tired of mangini. wow. what a ****ing idiot.

what are the Jets going to gain by this? CLEMENS!

[Lil Bit Special]

http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/football/jets/blog/

Mangini also noted that Jonathan Vilma will not practice today and will undergo further tests on his knee, injured during the game. Vilma had denied reports that he was injured, calling his sporadic playing time on Sunday a coach's decision. Mangini agreed, saying he's the coach and he made the decision, but that it was based on the injury impacting Vilma's performance.

Wait... Vilma yesterday said he isnt hurt and Mangini today says he will undergo further tests on his knee????

I dont get it. Who's lying?

[Boozer76]

Our defense stinks. Unfortunately there are so many bad parts there isn't much we can do about it this year.

Our OL is not very good. I don' think they are terrible, but they certainly aren't good either. Again, not much we can do about it at this point.

Our QB is playing terribly for at least 1 half of every game. He has NEVER been a QB to light up the field with points, which unfortunately i what we need right now. That's why you go with Clemens.

[Irish Jet]

Our defense stinks. Unfortunately there are so many bad parts there isn't much we can do about it this year.

Our OL is not very good. I don' think they are terrible, but they certainly aren't good either. Again, not much we can do about it at this point.

Our QB is playing terribly for at least 1 half of every game. He has NEVER been a QB to light up the field with points, which unfortunately i what we need right now. That's why you go with Clemens.

That is not the reason to go to Clemens, not even close.

The reason to make the switch is simple, there is nothing to lose. The season is dead. We might as well see what the kid can do ASAP and evaluate then whether or not he is indeed the future. At most he will only get half a season which IMO is not enough to evaluate whether a young QB can consistently play at a high level in this league.

You say that we need a QB who can light up the field with points, we have no idea whether Clemens can do that or not. Thats what we need to find out before its too late.

He could be a total bust, Im not having kittens over his 2nd half performance vs Baltimore like some, he is still a potential bust. Even Grossman, Losman and Harrington etc have had their moments in this league so unless we see him play on at least a 10 game stretch we cant evaluate his ability as a QB in this league IMO. He needs a fair chance, the time was 2 weeks ago IMO, there is no point leaving Chad in through this lost season, its not benifiting anyone. We need to find out what he has to offer before its too late.

[Lady Jet]

it is totally maddening when they lose... and it seems like that is ALL they are good at this year..

Yeah! A bright side!

I was trying to think of something they were good at this year.

[Damaged89]

This is absurd. Here I was preaching "give Mangini at least a couple of years." He is starting to make me rethink that position. Clemens CAN'T be worse than Chad. Chad ****ed up a two minute drill against the BENGALS. What could the reasoning possibly be, short of gross stupidity?

[Lady Jet]

The reason to make the switch is simple, there is nothing to lose. The season is dead. We might as well see what the kid can do ASAP and evaluate then whether or not he is indeed the future.

But, is this really in the best interest of Clemens or Mangini? If we put the rookie out there, behind this O-line, with hardly no running game, and no defense to protect any points he does score, will it really be fair to judge if he's the future. Unless he's superman, he'll most likely struggle under these circumstances, and then how do you sell him as the future? Knowing the Jets fans, they will have zero patience.

[GimmeShelter]

Yeah! A bright side!

I was trying to think of something they were good at this year.

Kick-off returns.

I think we need to give Mangini the time we pretty much all said we would when he signed.

Last Sunday Pennington may have been behind only Coles and Nugent in performance....yes, the TEAM was that bad.

[BP]

I just heard the presser on the radio.

Mangini said that after watching the film, that 3rd down scramble by Chad was ''classic Chad''?

He should have been sacked on that play, the Bengals guy whiffed. THAT'S the reason why he should start?

[Irish Jet]

But, is this really in the best interest of Clemens or Mangini? If we put the rookie out there, behind this O-line, with hardly no running game, and no defense to protect any points he does score, will it really be fair to judge if he's the future. Unless he's superman, he'll most likely struggle under these circumstances, and then how do you sell him as the future? Knowing the Jets fans, they will have zero patience.

I think it is fair, we need to see how he will react to these circumstances. If its fair to judge Chad by these then surely its fair to judge Clemens. These are the circumstances in which Chad is being ripped apart, that means Clemens must endure the same circumstances. Good or bad, time to see what he's got.

[ECURB]

I just heard the presser on the radio.

Mangini said that after watching the film, that 3rd down scramble by Chad was ''classic Chad''?

He should have been sacked on that play, the Bengals guy whiffed. THAT'S the reason why he should start?

He has some sweet juke moves BP...

Fire Mangini now.

[NJ]

you are both absolutely right... you have the right to boo..

but i also have the right to be disgusted at the people who boo

i just dont think boo-ing does anything to help the players. lol.. must be the teacher in me

although if you are tired of spending money on a broken product .. you usually turn it in and try a different brand... jet fans are gluttons for punishment...

if you are worried about getting the most out of your money.. you would just follow the most successful team each year.

fandom is about heartache and happiness... we just dont get to see that happiness very often! OY!

I respectfully disagree with you my dear on the fact that booing doesn't accomplish anyting positive. I'm a boo'er from way back and have done some 5 star booing at the home of the only other sports franchise as hapless as the Jets - Wrigley Field. I stood and booed bums like Sammy Sosa and Dusty Baker well before it was popular to do so. It wasn't popular because there were still many fans who thought those individuals were good for the team. Or if they were less informed followers - they maybe just kinda liked the guys for various reasons. After awhile and enough people have seen others express dis-satisfaction and the targeted individuals continued to detract from the success of the team - the boo-birds grew in number and intensity until the message was very clear to those who were financially responsible for the franchise that it might be wise to look at other options.

I'm not logistically situated to attend many Jet games - but if I was I wouldn't even waste the money, time, or effort to go boo Pennington and Mangini on Sunday. Unless Kellen Clemens has some form of recurrent palsey we don't know about - it makes ZERO sense to me to let a guy QB our team any longer whose small % shot at an upside - is mediocrity.

I'm glad they told us today so I can make other plans. I'll only look at the stats and be hoping that Chad continues to be Chad. If the long term plan for Mangini is mediocrity - he will ultimately get booed away too.

[#27TheDominator]

I can't believe you are all so shocked. We have heard that he is splitting first team reps between them. Mangini is probably making sure the kid had enough first team reps. It's a sensible approach. I also can't understand why everybody is saying he doesn't have balls. He may be an idiot, but at this point it takes way more balls to stick with Chad than to bench him. Hell, even Irish Jet and ecurb are ready to bench him at this point.

Chad gets to play against the worst defense in the league in practice though. He must be tearing them up pretty well which would explain him still starting.

I thought the same thing. I'm interested to know if Thomas Jones can run against those stiffs.

[DMaynard]

look at positive side!!!

1-15 is in reach and jets will get 1st overall pick;)

DRob ...

D'Brick ...

I just hope we don't draft another D something.

[ECURB]

DRob ...

D'Brick ...

I just hope we don't draft another D something.

D'Awful

[Sperm Edwards]

I read that a few weeks ago when it came out, nice read. I was just wondering, when you took it to a granular level, player by player, where CP ranked as a need to be changed/benched. Lets take out of the equation the notion of the season being lost and getting KC in there to see what we have for the future. I mean, should all 3 dlinemen be changed first, where in line does CP fit in, should barret be benched before CP, how about vilma? I guess if you were running triage on the jets and started with the biggest bust/underacheiver and worked your way down from there, where would cp be. I would think he wouldn't even be in the top half of adjustments that should be made. Of course this is if you take out of the equation the idea that we should make the change because KC is the future and this season is now meaningless and we should see what we have in KC.

lol. It was quicker for me to just paste the link...

Keep in mind a couple of things. I'm overly critical of some players. Second, I don't know nearly as much as I think I do & not as much as many others here. But I can pretty-up the wording so it may hide subtle ignorances.

That being said:

QB

Dump Pennington. Get him off the team. Give him a plaque & a gold watch & send him on his merry way. You want to go with a young kid & make sure everyone's totally behind him, then you don't want him looking over his shoulder at the guy all the other veterans have been friends with for years, or having that fat-head from the NYPost chiming in with 'put Chad back in' articles with each growing pain. Plus you simply don't carry a backup QB with a $7.8M cap number. I doubt he'd take a straight pay-cut from his $4.8M base salary & have no interest in renegotiating to put off an even bigger eventual cap hit later. He still thinks he's starting material & would probably rather take his "last shot" somewhere else instead of holding a clipboard for Kellen Clemens. If we can get a draft pick for him - and I mean ANY draft pick - all the better. We'll save a couple million on the '08 cap (which will be whittled down a little bit with the addition of another backup), but after that he'll be of the cap forever. If we can't find a trade partner pre-draft, then we can split the $6M cap hit evenly over 2008-2009 instead. That depends on what (if anything) we're offered for him and how aggressive we are in free agency. If we lay another egg in FA, might as well take the full hit now & be done with it.

Have to see what we have in Kellen this year. If we only see him for a couple of games & he's not too good, we may give up on him prematurely. If he was in right now & was God-awful for >8 games, then we know we need to either draft someone high or make a play for the only high-profile UFA (if he's not locked up by then) in Tony Romo & then KC rides out the balance of his rookie contract holding a clipboard.

HB:

Personally I wouldn't do too much. We need a 3rd HB. One can easily make an argument that we could use an upgrade to a superstar over Jones, but personally I don't think it will have such a ridiculous impact without drastic improvement in the OL's run-blocking. Jones may not be the second coming of Jim Brown, but c'mon he really has nowhere to run. He doesn't help it with all his stutter-stepping & gives up a full yard quite often with his hesitance, but he's not the worst piece of crap in the league by a long shot. Leon I've liked from day one. I'd like a 3rd HB here for short-yardage. Someone with real power who may be unimpressive if given a healthy portion of the every-down carries. A TJ Duckett type. Nothing flashy. But someone who won't give Schott the bright idea to do the zero rushing attempts on 3rd & 1 and then again on 4th & 1 immediately thereafter.

FB

To be honest, I have no idea what Barnes is worth. I haven't seen him do anything. It's a bit confusing, given our sorry OL, that we don't employ our hand-picked FA blocking FB. Even more so since Schott came from SD where Lorenzo Neal gave him a serious showing of what a good one can do for you. It may just be that Barnes stinks. If that's the case, I'd like to see one drafted, drop Barnes, and pick up Tony Richardson for his final year or two. He's old but is still solid. I like a mauling FB but if we're not going to use one then we shouldn't expend too many resources on one.

WR

We really need a 3rd WR. Stuckey might have been that player, but who knows how fast he'll be next year. Brad Smith either isn't showing enough improvement or Pennington won't throw him the ball or Schott doesn't call his number enough. I have to believe, since he's clearly #3 right now, that we'd be hearing his name more if he was improving so well.

Doesn't have to be a superstar. I'm perfectly happy with Coles/Cotchery & feel they're a lot better weapons than we realize. But someone who's a burner with some experience might be ok, like a Drew Carter. There are too many other holes on the team to burn a day-one pick on a WR who won't see more than 30 passes at most thrown his way as a rookie (two per game). Late round picks I'd rather try out linebackers & linemen & see if one sticks. I really wanted Shaun McDonald this past off-season & he was dirt-cheap also. He would have been perfect.

TE

Stick with our current crew. Not a position that's going to get us over the hump by upgrading over Baker/Ryan anyway. They're not special talents, but they're not killing us either.

OT

Well we're definitely going to need a backup left tackle as this is Adrian Jones' final season under his rookie deal. D'Brick still has to add another 10 lbs of mass & needs some serious work on his run-blocking technique. He's still a talent & this is our guy for a couple more years at least, for better or for worse.

At RT I'd like to see Bender get in there this year. He's supposedly got some skills but is light on pass-blocking experience. Well, get his ass in there. Clement sure as hell isn't the answer. Otherwise there seem to be some fine RT prospects coming out this year. Max Starks is a UFA but I think he lost his starting job. That may be good or bad, depending on our interest. He'll be cheaper, but if his demotion was due to his underachieving instead of Willie Colon's stellar development, then we don't need Anthony Clement II with 5x the salary. If he's reasonable, the advantage is that he can step right in & we don't have to wait for rookie development.

OG

This is seriously not even in need of discussion. We don't merely need an "upgrade" at LG; we need a superman. Alan Faneca, a future HOF'er still playing at a VERY high level, is that superman and is a UFA. If we go cheap on this, I don't know what else to say. None of the other UFA's are good enough to even sniff Faneca's balls after summer two-a-day's.

Draft one in the middle rounds unless value screams out to take one earlier. But we just locked up Moore & the thought of sticking a rookie in between D'Brick & Mangold is unappealing. I'd rather have Faneca lock up the position before the ink's dry on his contract & let a rookie compete with Moore.

DL

Ellis is still too expensive to cut. We renegotiated his contract before the '06 season when we were in major cap trouble and the result is that cutting him doesn't do dick other than opening up a roster spot. If they decide to move him I'd look to the draft, and early. Haynesworth might be a fit here as well. Would be nice to have a lineman with a nasty streak for a change, and that dirtbag's got that in spades.

Coleman I think is adequate to start opposite him, assuming we stick with the 3-4 as our base scheme next year.

DRob is gone. There is no question. Crappy play, miscast in his role, and a $9M cap number says he's the first to go unless we're merely waiting until after June 1st to move $2M of the accelerated cap hit from '08 to '09. Pouha hardly looks like a cornerstone NT to rely on. I'd get what we can when we can. The candidates are 35 year-old Grady Jackson right now, 35 year-old Pat Williams next year (though he's probably more of a 4-3 NT), and a few draft prospects I know next to nothing about other than their listed size (BJ Raji, Frank Morton, maybe a couple others who likely won't make an NFL roster).

OLB

Thomas is here by virtue of his contract. Hopefully Bowens picks up the position to at least use situationally if 2008 starts to look more like 2007 than 2006 from BT.

Hobson is playing much suckier than he was in the past & his contract is up after this year. He's a bit too slow to get to the passer & too short with no ups to cover a TE. He's probably gone.

There is a playmaker FA option here in Terrell Suggs. Not quite the player that Adalius Thomas is/was, and he'll carry a higher pricetag as well since he only just turned 24 two weeks ago. Not the economical move, but you can't go from 0 to 60 in under 6-7 seconds with a Prius.

I'd be ok with taking a DE/OLB hybrid here also, but it depends on the ILB situation. If we're putting even one rookie in at ILB, then go with the veteran; otherwise we can roll the dice on a playmaker rookie with a high pick. I just don't want to see two rookie LB'ers on the field at the same time.

ILB

I think everyone wants to see Harris in the starting lineup, certainly next year. You trade multiple day-one picks to move up to grab a guy, then you have to play him.

Barton & Vilma both look like garbage. If we somehow go after (and get) Suggs in March, then I'd look to fill this spot in the draft, but not too early.

I prefer trading Vilma, who doesn't fit & it sure seems like he doesn't want to be here. When you can move someone like that & actually get something of value in return, I think you do it.

CB

I'm really at a loss opposite Revis. Dyson should have been the perfect complement to him. Capable, reasonably-priced, and experienced in the "system" here. And just like that, he went from clearly the best CB on the team to utter refuse. With so much work needed in the trenches, we'll have to roll with Poteat/Dyson/Miller for another year. If we can get any semblance of a pass-rush, that's probably adequate

S

Rhodes has taken a step back, and since we're going nowhere anyway, that may not be all that terrible. He'll need a contract extension before the '08 season begins and another stellar season could have doubled his pricetag. I think in addition to just having a little-bit of a down season, the rest of it is the mess in front of him making it even worse.

Eric Smith sure isn't looking like such a smart use of a day-one pick, right along with Schlegel. Maybe it's due to missing most of camp with an injury & maybe it's just that he looks good in camp b/c he's playing against the Jets offense. Who knows really. Erik Coleman is a UFA after this year & it doesn't look like we're going to lock him up unless no one else wants him & he comes back with his tail between his legs like Baker did. If the situation presents itself in the draft (read: we're not reaching or burning a 1st/2nd round pick) I'd take a flyer on a bigger DB with coverage skills. Otherwise go with Smith/Elam for another year & hope the light goes on with one or both. I just don't consider free safety to be a cornerstone position unless you've got a truly great one.

ST

Nuge is here & not going anywhere at least through the '08 season. He was money with FG's last year but couldn't bury kickoffs. This year it's the opposite. Hopefully next year he learns to do the placekicking equivalent of walking & chewing gum at the same time. The guy has one friggin' job, as they say.

Graham is going to need some real competition in camp, no matter how much I liked the guy. Tremendous leg, but he's just so inconsistent.

Hope you find this insightful. Now I have to read a bunch of responses telling me how much people disagree, lol.

[Kentucky Jet]

UNF###INBELIEVABLE.

I am out of this forum, done posting, until Chad is out as starter.

F this team. F Chad. F this franchise. Typical Jets - NO BALLS!!!!

I understand how you feel. I told a friend recently that I will not watch any Jets games until CHADWICK is benched. MANGREENI is starting to remind me of DUH HERM! Deja vu! Go with the vets too long but never shake up the team! F Mangreeni!

[Scott Dierking]

One other point to consider here is that it is far, far, far easier for a back-up quarterback to assume the duty in a RELIEF role, than it is as a named STARTER.

It is possible that Mangini is thinking of it in those terms, as well as making the Bill game plan that much more difficult, should he pull the relief trigger.

[DMaynard]

lol. It was quicker for me to just paste the link...

Keep in mind a couple of things. I'm overly critical of some players. Second, I don't know nearly as much as I think I do & not as much as many others here. But I can pretty-up the wording so it may hide subtle ignorances.

That being said:

QB

Dump Pennington. Get him off the team. Give him a plaque & a gold watch & send him on his merry way. You want to go with a young kid & make sure everyone's totally behind him, then you don't want him looking over his shoulder at the guy all the other veterans have been friends with for years, or having that fat-head from the NYPost chiming in with 'put Chad back in' articles with each growing pain. Plus you simply don't carry a backup QB with a $7.8M cap number. I doubt he'd take a straight pay-cut from his $4.8M base salary & have no interest in renegotiating to put off an even bigger eventual cap hit later. He still thinks he's starting material & would probably rather take his "last shot" somewhere else instead of holding a clipboard for Kellen Clemens. If we can get a draft pick for him - and I mean ANY draft pick - all the better. We'll save a couple million on the '08 cap (which will be whittled down a little bit with the addition of another backup), but after that he'll be of the cap forever. If we can't find a trade partner pre-draft, then we can split the $6M cap hit evenly over 2008-2009 instead. That depends on what (if anything) we're offered for him and how aggressive we are in free agency. If we lay another egg in FA, might as well take the full hit now & be done with it.

Have to see what we have in Kellen this year. If we only see him for a couple of games & he's not too good, we may give up on him prematurely. If he was in right now & was God-awful for >8 games, then we know we need to either draft someone high or make a play for the only high-profile UFA (if he's not locked up by then) in Tony Romo & then KC rides out the balance of his rookie contract holding a clipboard.

HB:

Personally I wouldn't do too much. We need a 3rd HB. One can easily make an argument that we could use an upgrade to a superstar over Jones, but personally I don't think it will have such a ridiculous impact without drastic improvement in the OL's run-blocking. Jones may not be the second coming of Jim Brown, but c'mon he really has nowhere to run. He doesn't help it with all his stutter-stepping & gives up a full yard quite often with his hesitance, but he's not the worst piece of crap in the league by a long shot. Leon I've liked from day one. I'd like a 3rd HB here for short-yardage. Someone with real power who may be unimpressive if given a healthy portion of the every-down carries. A TJ Duckett type. Nothing flashy. But someone who won't give Schott the bright idea to do the zero rushing attempts on 3rd & 1 and then again on 4th & 1 immediately thereafter.

FB

To be honest, I have no idea what Barnes is worth. I haven't seen him do anything. It's a bit confusing, given our sorry OL, that we don't employ our hand-picked FA blocking FB. Even more so since Schott came from SD where Lorenzo Neal gave him a serious showing of what a good one can do for you. It may just be that Barnes stinks. If that's the case, I'd like to see one drafted, drop Barnes, and pick up Tony Richardson for his final year or two. He's old but is still solid. I like a mauling FB but if we're not going to use one then we shouldn't expend too many resources on one.

WR

We really need a 3rd WR. Stuckey might have been that player, but who knows how fast he'll be next year. Brad Smith either isn't showing enough improvement or Pennington won't throw him the ball or Schott doesn't call his number enough. I have to believe, since he's clearly #3 right now, that we'd be hearing his name more if he was improving so well.

Doesn't have to be a superstar. I'm perfectly happy with Coles/Cotchery & feel they're a lot better weapons than we realize. But someone who's a burner with some experience might be ok, like a Drew Carter. There are too many other holes on the team to burn a day-one pick on a WR who won't see more than 30 passes at most thrown his way as a rookie (two per game). Late round picks I'd rather try out linebackers & linemen & see if one sticks. I really wanted Shaun McDonald this past off-season & he was dirt-cheap also. He would have been perfect.

TE

Stick with our current crew. Not a position that's going to get us over the hump by upgrading over Baker/Ryan anyway. They're not special talents, but they're not killing us either.

OT

Well we're definitely going to need a backup left tackle as this is Adrian Jones' final season under his rookie deal. D'Brick still has to add another 10 lbs of mass & needs some serious work on his run-blocking technique. He's still a talent & this is our guy for a couple more years at least, for better or for worse.

At RT I'd like to see Bender get in there this year. He's supposedly got some skills but is light on pass-blocking experience. Well, get his ass in there. Clement sure as hell isn't the answer. Otherwise there seem to be some fine RT prospects coming out this year. Max Starks is a UFA but I think he lost his starting job. That may be good or bad, depending on our interest. He'll be cheaper, but if his demotion was due to his underachieving instead of Willie Colon's stellar development, then we don't need Anthony Clement II with 5x the salary. If he's reasonable, the advantage is that he can step right in & we don't have to wait for rookie development.

OG

This is seriously not even in need of discussion. We don't merely need an "upgrade" at LG; we need a superman. Alan Faneca, a future HOF'er still playing at a VERY high level, is that superman and is a UFA. If we go cheap on this, I don't know what else to say. None of the other UFA's are good enough to even sniff Faneca's balls after summer two-a-day's.

Draft one in the middle rounds unless value screams out to take one earlier. But we just locked up Moore & the thought of sticking a rookie in between D'Brick & Mangold is unappealing. I'd rather have Faneca lock up the position before the ink's dry on his contract & let a rookie compete with Moore.

DL

Ellis is still too expensive to cut. We renegotiated his contract before the '06 season when we were in major cap trouble and the result is that cutting him doesn't do dick other than opening up a roster spot. If they decide to move him I'd look to the draft, and early. Haynesworth might be a fit here as well. Would be nice to have a lineman with a nasty streak for a change, and that dirtbag's got that in spades.

Coleman I think is adequate to start opposite him, assuming we stick with the 3-4 as our base scheme next year.

DRob is gone. There is no question. Crappy play, miscast in his role, and a $9M cap number says he's the first to go unless we're merely waiting until after June 1st to move $2M of the accelerated cap hit from '08 to '09. Pouha hardly looks like a cornerstone NT to rely on. I'd get what we can when we can. The candidates are 35 year-old Grady Jackson right now, 35 year-old Pat Williams next year (though he's probably more of a 4-3 NT), and a few draft prospects I know next to nothing about other than their listed size (BJ Raji, Frank Morton, maybe a couple others who likely won't make an NFL roster).

OLB

Thomas is here by virtue of his contract. Hopefully Bowens picks up the position to at least use situationally if 2008 starts to look more like 2007 than 2006 from BT.

Hobson is playing much suckier than he was in the past & his contract is up after this year. He's a bit too slow to get to the passer & too short with no ups to cover a TE. He's probably gone.

There is a playmaker FA option here in Terrell Suggs. Not quite the player that Adalius Thomas is/was, and he'll carry a higher pricetag as well since he only just turned 24 two weeks ago. Not the economical move, but you can't go from 0 to 60 in under 6-7 seconds with a Prius.

I'd be ok with taking a DE/OLB hybrid here also, but it depends on the ILB situation. If we're putting even one rookie in at ILB, then go with the veteran; otherwise we can roll the dice on a playmaker rookie with a high pick. I just don't want to see two rookie LB'ers on the field at the same time.

ILB

I think everyone wants to see Harris in the starting lineup, certainly next year. You trade multiple day-one picks to move up to grab a guy, then you have to play him.

Barton & Vilma both look like garbage. If we somehow go after (and get) Suggs in March, then I'd look to fill this spot in the draft, but not too early.

I prefer trading Vilma, who doesn't fit & it sure seems like he doesn't want to be here. When you can move someone like that & actually get something of value in return, I think you do it.

CB

I'm really at a loss opposite Revis. Dyson should have been the perfect complement to him. Capable, reasonably-priced, and experienced in the "system" here. And just like that, he went from clearly the best CB on the team to utter refuse. With so much work needed in the trenches, we'll have to roll with Poteat/Dyson/Miller for another year. If we can get any semblance of a pass-rush, that's probably adequate

S

Rhodes has taken a step back, and since we're going nowhere anyway, that may not be all that terrible. He'll need a contract extension before the '08 season begins and another stellar season could have doubled his pricetag. I think in addition to just having a little-bit of a down season, the rest of it is the mess in front of him making it even worse.

Eric Smith sure isn't looking like such a smart use of a day-one pick, right along with Schlegel. Maybe it's due to missing most of camp with an injury & maybe it's just that he looks good in camp b/c he's playing against the Jets offense. Who knows really. Erik Coleman is a UFA after this year & it doesn't look like we're going to lock him up unless no one else wants him & he comes back with his tail between his legs like Baker did. If the situation presents itself in the draft (read: we're not reaching or burning a 1st/2nd round pick) I'd take a flyer on a bigger DB with coverage skills. Otherwise go with Smith/Elam for another year & hope the light goes on with one or both. I just don't consider free safety to be a cornerstone position unless you've got a truly great one.

ST

Nuge is here & not going anywhere at least through the '08 season. He was money with FG's last year but couldn't bury kickoffs. This year it's the opposite. Hopefully next year he learns to do the placekicking equivalent of walking & chewing gum at the same time. The guy has one friggin' job, as they say.

Graham is going to need some real competition in camp, no matter how much I liked the guy. Tremendous leg, but he's just so inconsistent.

Hope you find this insightful. Now I have to read a bunch of responses telling me how much people disagree, lol.

Excellent analysis. I believe Brad Smith's underutilization is due to a lot of things - lack of talent not being one of them. Coach this guy's talent or someone else will, which will bring back memories of Terrence Mathis and Tony Martin.