Well obviously you've all heard, the lockout is over. Yay Football is back! I have to admit it's ruhl ruhl tough to keep focus when all you have to watch is a miserable baseball team just waiting to trade its best players. But fear no more, because the best sport in all of sports has returned. The next two to three weeks are going to be crazier than big ben's bachelor party. So I'm going to give you my list of must-do's of the off-season when it comes to Mr. T and the New York Jets:
1. Re-sign Shaun Ellis. This may come as a surprise because he's about 40, but he's the longest tenured Jet and an anchor to the shaky defensive line. Big Katt always steps up in huge spots and is a leader on the front. Especially with the lockout Ellis is an extremely valuable vet with knowledge of the system who can mentor the rookies and provide added depth along with perhaps Jason Taylor and/or Trevor Price.
2. Sign 2 of the the 3 "skill" guys. It's too tall an order cap-wise to re-sign Holmes, Edwards, and Cromartie. I want Santonio Holmes and Antonio "Baby's Daddy" Cromartie back in the green and white. First of all the Jets can't afford to lose Cromartie because the drop-off from him to 2nd year player Kyle Wilson or even veteran Drew Coleman (assuming he's re-signed) is far too significant. And we all know Rex's defense is completely reliant on stellar cornerback play - so why weaken a vital area to remain status quo at another. And if I have to choose a WR I'm taking the game-changer Holmes. I love Edwards, he's been great in NY but I feel his skill-set is far more replaceable than the other two.
3. Lock up the "little guys." The Jets need to bring back one of the two safeties between Ihedigbo and Eric Smith. My preference is James Ihedigbo because their skill set is similar (great run stoppers, below average in coverage) and Ihedigbo is a stellar special teams player. Re-sign Digs. Also lock up either Robert Turner or Wayne Hunter to provide OL depth. Which brings me to...
4. Get Woody back. The Jets released veteran right tackle Damien Woody after last season with the hope that they can re-sign him under a lesser contract. This is a great idea as Vlad Ducasse has not shown he is ready to take the reigns and Wayne Hunter may not be back. Damien has alluded to the fact that he loves Rex and playing for the Jets and may give them a discount to come back. Get it done.
5. Finally let Brad Smith walk. It pains me to say this because I'm a huge Brad Smith fan, but the money he will demand is not worth it and can be allocated elsewhere. Brad Smith is a top 3 return guy in the AFC and his intangibles on offense and special teams are significant, however, in order to re-sign many of our other players (Pool, Digs, Woody, T-Rich, etc) it's necessary to let Brad go. The Jets drafted Jeremy Kerley who has a similar skill-set, along with both McKnights who can be useful in the return game and on Special Teams.
This sums up just a small amount of work that needs to be done over the next couple weeks. I'm sure Mr. T has his plan and back-up plans all set up ready to go, let's hope he makes the right decisions.
P.S. - Giants offseason to-do list coming soon Courtesy of Dick
No comments:
Post a Comment