D'Brick/the question we've been dodging 2 years..

[Blackout]

i think it's a bit too early to tell

[jetfan718]

with the way Mangini evaluates his players this could be a make or break year for brick...if he plays like crap this year with two pro-bowlers to his left then i'm pretty sure the we'll be looking for a new LT in next years draft!!!

[TNJet]

with the way Mangini evaluates his players this could be a make or break year for brick...if he plays like crap this year with two pro-bowlers to his left then i'm pretty sure the we'll be looking for a new LT in next years draft!!!

well if thats the case he could be a great RT..

[bitonti]

SE you make alot of good responses, but I have to ask if the Jets picked Ngata instead of Brick, who would be the LT right now?

I tend to believe you can find NT, even 3-4 NT. The Jets 'found' Jenkins. but teams don't let LT get to free agent market, let alone trade them. YOu have to draft these players high. and yes there are exceptions like Diehl and Jason Peters but for the most part LT are tough to find, LT that start their first 32 games in 2 years at the position are downright impossible to find.

one last point I would argue that several of Bricks sacks last year were directly due to QB holding on to the ball too long - (chad and clemens both do this). Chad has a deathly slow release. A couple of times Clemens scrambles the wrong way, breaks the pocket and it goes down as a Brick sack. But really if you are on a 3 step drop you can't expect 7 step protection or rollout protection, I think there were some communication or execution issues there, just like how every INT is not the QB's fault, not every sack was due to Brick's screw up. Put it another way Tom Brady knows where the blitz is coming from and gets rid of it, it's easy to say the pats OL is great but a quick release and a good Qb who knows when the pressure is coming is a huge help to a LT.

[glenn212]

If you have really watched Furguson you`have seen tremendous improvement from year one to year two..It's one of the most diificult postions to play in the NFL and it takes some time to be consistly efficient. The addition of Fenaca and Callahan will help Brick,the running game and everything else..The kid will be there for the next twelve years hopefully.

A great book on the history and evolution of the Left Tackle is "Blind Side",standard reading for any football fan.

[Sperm Edwards]

SE you make alot of good responses, but I have to ask if the Jets picked Ngata instead of Brick, who would be the LT right now?

I tend to believe you can find NT, even 3-4 NT. The Jets 'found' Jenkins. but teams don't let LT get to free agent market, let alone trade them. YOu have to draft these players high. and yes there are exceptions like Diehl and Jason Peters but for the most part LT are tough to find, LT that start their first 32 games in 2 years at the position are downright impossible to find.

one last point I would argue that several of Bricks sacks last year were directly due to QB holding on to the ball too long - (chad and clemens both do this). Chad has a deathly slow release. A couple of times Clemens scrambles the wrong way, breaks the pocket and it goes down as a Brick sack. But really if you are on a 3 step drop you can't expect 7 step protection or rollout protection, I think there were some communication or execution issues there, just like how every INT is not the QB's fault, not every sack was due to Brick's screw up. Put it another way Tom Brady knows where the blitz is coming from and gets rid of it, it's easy to say the pats OL is great but a quick release and a good Qb who knows when the pressure is coming is a huge help to a LT.

Fair enough, and considering this was 3 drafts ago & no one on the Jets was asking our opinions at the time anyway, what's done is done.

For the record, I didn't hate the D'Brick selection. As long as we didn't take a LB, DB, S, or a RB I would have been content enough. OL/DL/QB in no particular order was what I was good with.

But to answer your first question, Marcus McNeill was sitting there when we traded down in round 2 (before trading back up again for Clemens). Even though we could have traded down & still traded up enough to grab McNeill, it would be dishonest of me to say I would have done just that. If he was sitting there at #35 I would have grabbed him & not gotten too cute.

So yes, I would have been ecstatic with a 1-2-3 draft of:

#4 Ngata

#29 Mangold

#35 McNeill

And both back then and right now I'd rather have that than

#4 Ferguson

#29 Mangold

#35 (#49) Clemens

(and a 2007 2nd rounder that we more or less used on Thomas Jones; swapping 6th/7th rounders with Washington/Dallas also occurred but is pretty inconsequential unless you were lucky enough to draft Colston).

My feeling is if you need a QB and want to draft a QB, and there are premiere QB prospects available, don't dick around with it. Grab your man at #4 when your very first choice is on the board, or go with a FA and/or Chad for another year & address it after you have a line in place that can protect him (if that's the philosophy instead, which is also ok). So for me (and I don't know if he was Mangini's first choice) I'd have taken Cutler or go with the OL/DL but don't look at QB until the middle rounds.

Hopefully Ferguson & Clemens make me eat my words because we invested a lot in Ferguson and Chad sucks.

[#27TheDominator]

He haven't lived up to his expectations just yet, as of now I'll list him as a bust.

Not living up to expectations is not being a bust. Being out of the league in 2 or 3 years is a bust. I think Jets fans have unrealistic expectations from draft picks which cause us to label some good players as "busts". Like the myth about the Jets drafting TEs. Brady is not a bust. Not the next Mark Bavaro and maybe there were better selections on the board, but a bust? He's been a starting TE in the league for something like 12 years. Same for Becht, only less years. There are great picks, good picks, bad picks and busts. Ron Faurot is a bust a starting LT is NEVER a bust.

well if thats the case he could be a great RT..

Aren't RTs supposed to be bruising run blockers? Seems like he'd be worse at RT than LT.

If you have really watched Furguson you`have seen tremendous improvement from year one to year two..It's one of the most diificult postions to play in the NFL and it takes some time to be consistly efficient. The addition of Fenaca and Callahan will help Brick,the running game and everything else..The kid will be there for the next twelve years hopefully.

A great book on the history and evolution of the Left Tackle is "Blind Side",standard reading for any football fan.

I've watched him and I didn't see improvement from year one to year two, let alone "tremendous improvement". You can make excuses, (worse QB, no LG) but you can't sell me that he played better.

[glenn212]

your not watching close enough

[#27TheDominator]

your not watching close enough

Sorry, but Mr Magoo could see there was no great leap forward by Ferguson in '07. You can blame that on the black hole next to him or claim that his footwork improved or something, but I saw more guys blow by him and just plain seem to outclass him in '07 than '06. What did you see that was so tremendous?

[flgreen]

Sorry, but Mr Magoo could see there was no great leap forward by Ferguson in '07. You can blame that on the black hole next to him or claim that his footwork improved or something, but I saw more guys blow by him and just plain seem to outclass him in '07 than '06. What did you see that was so tremendous?

I think you are going to see it this year.

D-Brick has not been a bust, he just hasn't been what we had hoped he would be. I didn't want D-Brick in that draft, but we have him now, and I'm not terribly disappointed.

D-Brick has had one major downfall. His body hasn't matured as yet. He has in the last two years had a problem maintaining his weight as the season wears on. He doesn't so much get beat by the elite pass rushers to the outside, but as the season progresses, he has lost weight, and strength, and guys beat him with power to the inside.

I think, hope he has overcome that. Look at the avatar Max has of the OL. D-Brick looks huge. I heard a radio interview with him during the Mini camps, and he said he has gained a lot of weight, thru an intensive work out regime. He looks it.

My prediction is, if he can keep his weight on during the season, it will be a break out year for him, and he will hit his potential. His technique is excellent, it has been his strength, and inability to maintain weight.

[bitonti]

My feeling is if you need a QB and want to draft a QB, and there are premiere QB prospects available, don't dick around with it. Grab your man at #4 when your very first choice is on the board, or go with a FA and/or Chad for another year & address it after you have a line in place that can protect him (if that's the philosophy instead, which is also ok). So for me (and I don't know if he was Mangini's first choice) I'd have taken Cutler or go with the OL/DL but don't look at QB until the middle rounds.

Hopefully Ferguson & Clemens make me eat my words because we invested a lot in Ferguson and Chad sucks.

agree with that - if we are throwing CLemens in the equation then it becomes more questionable. not a huge fan of Clemmy. I think he's too short and doesn't have 'it' - I desperately hope he proves me wrong.

note Cutler was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, not a huge deal but it was untreated last year and he lost about 30 pounds. Again I was a big Cutler fan too but given the chance in an expert mock draft I took Brick over Cutler. Brick was just more established as a prospect.

Put it another way there's a guy at Virginia right now Eugene Monroe who they called the 'next Brick' when he was a freshman. Anytime you get a player who others can say he's the next "that guy" that's a good thing.