Last years core four and this years FA crop

[GREENBEAN]

Remember last year when the big concern was how are the Jets going to sign the core four of Harris, Mangold, Revis, and D'brick? The media talked about how unlikely it would be that we could keep all four. Mangold and Ferguson's deals were done in short order giving our O line it's anchors at C and LT for years to come. While the Revis holdout was painful and ended up lingering through most of the season with his hammy, we ended up signing him. For at least the time being he is happy giving us possibly the best CB in the whole league for the next 4 years or so (barring another holdout of course) Some thought Harris would be the odd man out but yesterday he too was signed to a record deal for an ILB. The front office made good on keeping the four players they deemed the core of our team.

This season we had a list of FA's that was looked at as a potentially devastating hit if we lost a lot of them. We could have lost 3 of our top Wr's, our #2 CB and a lot of depth players including our part time starter at safety in Eric smith. Nabbing our first priority in Santonio Holmes was great to see. Some feel we over paid,some feel we underpaid, but either way he is important to give us that dangerous receiving threat that Sanchez needs. Burress is a question mark at this time, but the talent is obviously there. They only signed him for one year so the commitment is minimal although they are putting a lot of faith in him by most likely letting Edwards go with burress being his replacement.

Signing guys like Robert Turner and Wayne Hunter may prove just as important as some of the bigger named guys as they keep some continuity on our O line , give depth and those two guys in particular have two of the meanest streaks running through them on the whole team. Nasty players. That's important.

Losing guys like Brad Smith and Coleman are tough and personally I would have liked to see them stay, but that is the way of things. You can't keep everyone, and Tanny made the decision on who to lose and who to keep. Signing Cro was big after we lost out on Aso. He was very good for us last year especially in the absence of Revis. All in all it seems that we are keeping exactly the guys we want and losing the one's we see as less important. We have our choice which is a good thing. Tanny has proven once again that he is capable of keeping our team together even when most looking on don't see how we're going to do it. He does it.

I for one am in the "bring Braylon back" camp and am hoping Sean Ellis is playing for us next season as well. But even if those guys are not here, I feel pretty good with the guys we were able to keep and commend Mike T and Rex for picking what I think are the right guys to retain on this Jets team. Let's hope the Rooks cam have an impact and having another year in the system improves the play Wilson, Mcnight and Ducasse. Connor should be fun to see too by the way.

Good job Tanny ! As a long time Jets fan I'm very happy with what we've done so far.