I was a fan of the Jets since 1985. Lets examine the pathetic odyssey know as 'the search for a franchise QB', and limit it to just the last 16 years. This covers the entire Woody Johnson era.
I watched them choose Chad Pennington in the first round of an abysmal QB draft in 2000 (and of coarse the Pats stumble upon Brady in the 6th round). That was a ridiculous reach by Bill Parcells, a guy with a legendary drafting record. The Jets have the tendency, no matter who is in charge, to reach for players based on need, and also to ignore the overall strength of the draft.
For example:
In 2014 the Jets has 12 draft picks and were positioned to maneuver themselves to land any WR they wanted. Before the draft every expert said it was the best WR class in a decade or more. So, the Jets don't take one until the 4th round. And they land two real winners, Jalen Saunders and Shaq Evans. Yup. Both are already history. They passed on a ton of studs in the 1st round... then Mathews, Adams, Robinson and Landry in the 2nd... and finally Moncrief, Josh Brown and Martavis Bryant in the mid rounds. There were even undrafted WR's who excelled from this draft. With 12 picks (3 used on WR's) the Jets come up with nothing. But, I'm getting off subject a bit, lets focus on QB's.
After landing Pennington in the first round of the 2000 draft, and then benching him for 2 years, the Jets don't use a draft pick on a QB above the 6th round for SIX seasons. Six. But, in 2006 they decide to go to the "QB bargain bin" of the draft, which is the 2nd round, to take a 'flyer' on Kellen Clemens. He was, and is worthless.
Two years later the Jets take a 'flyer' on Eric Ainge in the 5th round. Also the year they decide to trade for Bret Favre. A year every Jet fan would like to forget. One year later the Favre experiment is over and the Jets are back to the drawing board again.
They trade up in the 2009 to take the "Second Best" QB in the draft. This was the most aggressive we have ever seen the Jets when pursuing a QB. This draft saw 11 QB's selected, including 3 first rounder's. Nine of the eleven were out of the league with in 3 years. Sanchez and Stafford are the only two still on rosters. And Stafford was the only one to be a clear cut franchise QB. The agreed upon view of Sanchez pre-draft was that he was coming out of USC too early, even his HC Pete Carroll said it publicly.
He was known to have an average arm at best, he was way too focused on his image and he was not a strong leader. He had Jets written all over him.
The Jets take a 'flyer' on Greg McElroy late in the 2011 draft. The wheels start to come off with Sanchez in 2011 and 2012... (I am not even going to get into the Tebow debacle)... so in 2013 the Jets take a 'flyer' on a 2nd round draft pick (back to the "QB bargain bin") named Geno Smith. A guy who was projected as an early 1st round pick until a very inconsistent final year in college, a poor combine showing and some infamous private visits with various teams that were interested in hm. He was taken off of many draft boards after those poor visits because of personality concerns.
One of the most memorable 'green room' moments from the past decade of NFL Drafts was watching Geno slip all the way out of the 1st round and have to return Day 2 of the draft to finally hear his name called. He wore a casual sweater vest on day two because he had only brought one suit with him. He had Jets written all over him. Two year starter, worst QB rating of any eligible player over that span. Entire front office, coaching staff and scouting department fired.
The Jets decide to bring in FitzMagic to back up Geno for the 2015 season. Yes, after the worst performance of any player at his position over 29 starts the Jets planned to start Geno for another season. We all know what happened and The Jets accidentally ended up starting Fitz. He wins 10 games, sets franchise record with TD's (31) and helps Decker and Marshall set records. The Jets can't figure out how to resign this guy.
So three days ago they decide to take a 'flyer' with a 2nd round pick (back to the "QB bargain bin") on a QB out of Penn State who had a bad combine showing, a horrible final year in college (actually final 2 years) and has a reputation for not being a good leader.
Are you serious Woody Johnson??? If they ever make a movie about the Jets during the Woody Johnson era it should be called 'Groundhog Day', because it's the same story over and over. He just doesn't get it. Most NFL owners don't make any major personnel decisions and they aren't running the draft. But a good owner needs to set the 'big picture' direction of the team.
Woody should have recognized the situation with Fitz and made it clear that resigning him was their number one priority. Instead the team is caught up with another superstar player that they can't get resigned by placing the franchise tag on him and tying up over 15 million precious salary cap dollars.
Wilkerson is a player the Jets simply do not need. Just like with Revis a few years back the Jets draft an outstanding young prospect, he lives up to the hype and they can't figure out how to sign him long term. So when free agency started we couldn't address the O-line and Linebackers like we should have, and instead we have 3 bluechip 1st round picks at the DE position and Geno Smith as our projected starter at QB.
The Wilkerson fiasco speaks to the dysfunctional culture that has surrounded this franchise during Woddy's reign. He was a great value as a late 1st rounder, he has produced on the field, started every game for 4 seasons and he's a choir boy off the field. You HAVE to resign those guys and send a message to your locker room. Instead the Jets draft 4 more players at this exact same position over the next 5 years (only 3 remain on the roster) and the best of the group is being shopped as trade bait. It's absurd.
I do agree that Fitz's contract demands are not reasonable. But, frankly he should have been resigned around thanksgiving of last year. When he started to emerge as a guy who could get the job done The Jets should have pulled the trigger. The ideal time to sign him would have been the week leading into the final game vs. Buffalo. The Jets had the most leverage then. Instead they have let this drag into the month of May. BUT, that would have been OK if the Jets would have made a definitive decision in the beginning of April that they were taking a bluechip prospect at QB considering that they wanted to avoid overpaying Fitz.
This draft will resonate for a long time. Here are the most important factors...
- First off, the next 2 QB draft classes are looking very weak. That's ultra important.
- Second, this years draft class had two, clear cut, bluechip QB prospects.
- Third, the two teams with the top two picks were very motivated to trade down.
- Forth, the Jets were one of only 4 teams with major holes at QB, which is a pretty low number compared to most offseasons.
Everything was clear that the team with the biggest hole at QB, that also plays in the biggest media market in the league, that hasn't made the playoffs in 5 years, NEEDED to make a move and land #GoffOrWentz in this draft. Instead the Jets take an undersized LB who can't tackle... a QB with major issues with his throwing accuracy, a terrible track record and leadership concerns from the 'QB bargain bin' 2nd round... and a bunch of other mid round players who may or may not even be on the roster in 12 months. And we still have a 15 million dollar Albatross hanging around our necks on the D-line.
Why are those players I just mentioned in the draft more valuable than a bluechip prospect at the most important position on the field? (where you have a gaping hole)
Why was it so hard to sign Fitz before free agency? Any respectable team would have had a second year option in that contract as soon as Geno's jaw was broken and Fitz was the obvious starter.
Why was it more important to franchise tag a player who plays a position that you already have two of the best young studs in the league occupying, instead of spending that money on the LB's and O-line where it is desperately needed?
Why was it so hard to have found a way to get an extension done with Wilkerson in the first place? It would have avoided wasting another 1st round pick on D-line last year, and I'm sure the cap number would have been much less than 15 million.
Everyone in Jets land, and frankly around the whole league, have been enamored with Mike Maccagnan. He won executive of the year after his first time at bat as an NFL GM for God's sake. But I think he's been a disaster. I said from the day Idzik and Rex were fired that Eric DeCosta from the Ravens was the guy for the job. He turned down an interview with Woody, as did Duke Tobin from Cincinnati, my #2 choice. Woody is one of the wealthiest NFL owners and he has a team from New York. NO ONE should be unobtainable, and NO ONE should be turning down interviews.
Those guys knew that Woody is cheap. Our last 4 GM's... rookies. Our last 4 HC's... rookies. Why??? Because they are cheaper than established guys. Period. Again we are using the words "bargain bin".
Maccagnan comes from a losing culture in Houston. One of the worst run franchises in pro sports. He was the head of the scouting department that took Clowney #1 overall LOL. A team that didn't make the playoffs for the first decade they existed (Mac was there the entire time BTW).
- He gave Revis a ridiculous contract last year that is already making our roster less talented because of how it's immense size suffocates our salary cap.
- He stumbled into the Fitzpatrick thing and has already botched that gift.
- He fielded an offense that had NO viable Tight End, which is mindboggling in this day and age.
- He hasn't addressed our glaring need for a game changing edge rusher.
- He was blindsided by one of his top players retiring, leaving his below average O-line even weaker and more vulnerable.
- And most importantly, for the second year in a row... it looks like Geno Smith will be his starting QB going into training camp.
That's a losing mentality and a guy who simply isn't qualified.
- He should have made signing Mo the priority from the day he was hired.
- He shouldn't have given Revis that ill-advised/ heavily guaranteed contract.
- He should have made a move to lock up Fitz before free agency started.... OR...
- Had the guts to move up for one of the top 2 QB's.
If all of this had happened, we would have had WAY more cap room this year and could have addressed the O-line and Pass rush. We also could have chosen a different player with the #6 overall last year.
Imagine a team with Erik Flowers or Todd Gurley on offense instead of Leonard Williams. We still have Sheldon and Mo at DE if an extension had been worked out.
Imagine our offense with Wentz passing the ball and having Flowers, Carpenter, Mangold, Alex Boone and Ryan Clady blocking. How about Ladarius Green and Mohamed Sanu joining Marshall, Decker and Forte?
How about Bruce Irvin and Shane Ray rushing from the outside with Sheldon and Mo inside? And maybe Sean Smith joining Revis as the perfect bookends at CB?
All of this would have been possible if Mo had been locked up in 2015 and we had drafted a little bit differently. Instead it's Geno Smith at QB, Jace Amaro at TE, Quincy Enunwa in the slot, Winters and Giacomini on the right side of the line (the turnstile twins). On defense we have a soon to be 31 year old CB (coming off surgery) with no viable option at #2 CB, a 15 million dollar disgruntled D-linemen, and Bruce carter and Lorenzo Mauldin as our big 'threats' as edge rushers. Oh and our top offensive weapon is 32 years old (Marshall).
Sounds like a winner to me Jets fans!!!!
-Jay Wagner
