In spite of some blunders, I believe we have done the best overall job in the NFL of acquiring talent in the past two off seasons. I include the draft, FA's, and trades. Who has done better than us? Your thoughts?
yes we have: 1) Parcells is the finest football mind in the NFL & has assembled a proven group that work well together, agreeing on both basic philosophy & the blueprint of reconstruction by which they build. 2) year one the FrontOffices basically gutted the franchise right down to the the scouts. they began the project by replacing the planks of the platform w/ second tier & mostly special teams talent, then set about building the trenches. this drew some initial criticism but was the right way to go. 3) year two they began to finish filling in the many holes (left after gutting so many key players) within the guise of there already established philosophy of play & blueprint for reconstruction. 4) we currently have the trenches basically established, the running stable complete, a franchise QB & our defensive BF established 5) we need a PlayMaker @ILB & WR, a RedZone threat @ TE , a second NT to guarantee the rotation & another Guard, w/some coaching up to do. everything doable in 2010 We will Contend in 2010!
Not many I can think of. You can put the Vikings up there, but they really are in a different situation than us.
Texans had a hell of a draft Starters: Antoine Caldwell, Brian Cushing, Glover Quin Play a lot: James Casey, Connor Barwin, Brice McCain And that's just from last years draft. But your really can't tell in just two years.
I wouldn't say better by any means, but I actually think (please hear me out) the Jets have acquired some nice talent in the last couple years. They haven't done much with it, and one could argue they gave up entirely too much to get it, but they got some nice players nonetheless. Good thing for us, they are the Jets.
It's a mixed bag, to be honest. The draft has been hit or miss, considering Merling has underwhelmed, Murphy is off the team, Pat White certainly hasn't lived up to his pick, Pat Turner can't see the field, and Nalbone is invisible. I think having Long, Davis, Langford, Smith and Hartline pretty much evens it out. FA is also a mixed bag. They picked up Starks and Wake, but there's Eric Green, Ernest Wilford, Jakes Smiley and Grove (both paid and injury prone) and they got rid of Holliday. I don't know about Wilson yet, as he picked it up towards the end of the year and may be starting over Bell next year. There's the Kory Sheets pickup to look at too, as I don't feel the door is closed on that one. As far as trades are concerned, McDaniels was a good pickup, as was Thigpen. Fasano and Akin looked good at first, but both fell off in a major way last year. That trade was the right one at the time, but it looks like both players will be off the team next year. So, in summary, we've had some good pickups and some bad ones. Compared to the completely disgusting ineptitude of prior regimes, however, this front office looks great.
parity is a word that comes to mind only right thinking & a blueprint for success can overcome it the jets have neither, we have both takes some time & the right ingredients to bake a cake
Yeah, the Vikes are up there, the Saints as well. As you say, both were in a different situation of fitting in players with surrounding talent around them. We have like 4-5 starters left, a total demo job. Many of our young guys were thrown into the water, not knowing if they could swim. They have held up better than anyone could have believed. JMO
Can't forget Davone Bess, and also getting contributions out of Donald Thomas and Nate Garner has been huge.
I think Thomas is performing about as well as he can, but Berger and Garner have been huge for us with the injuries we had on the line. If you ask me, they should be the ones earning the multi-million dollar contracts instead of Grove and Smiley. Bess is amazing and once he got out of his funk played exceptionally.
Texans did well in the draft. I am including FA's and trades for an over all grade. It is early but, whose draft would you trade for ours for the last two years?
Bess certainly, Polite definitely. Henne, not yet. Roth leaving is also a negative, potentially a huge one.
I agree on Roth but, for the purpose of this thread, was not acquired in the past two years. I am sold on Henne.
I have to believe that between his picking up 16 of 16 first downs in short yardage, and his blocking, that he was responsible for two wins. Amazing that no one wanted the guy other than us.
I bring up Roth because Roth leaving highlights the issue with the lack of talent brought in behind him. The LB corps as a whole is filled with substandard guys.
To be honest, he wasn't setting anyone's world on fire, not even when he first started with us. It's awesome that he's become what he's become.
I agree but, looked at who was available. It was not a pretty sight. Roth was my favorite player, and I have no idea what happened between him and the team.
For the moment, back to the point of my thread. Is there anyone out there who believes that another team did better than us, in the last two years, in acquiring talent? Is there anyone out there who believes that Tuna, Ireland, and Sparano did NOT do an ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS JOB in the talent they acquired over the last two years?
If we look at it in terms of new players that are good and that other teams would take off us given a chance, players who are merely warm bodies filling a roster spot, and failures. First group: Lou Polite Jake Long Davon Bess Wil Allen Justin Grove Brian Hartline Randy Starks Second Group Justin Smiley Gibril Wilson Tyler Thigpen Fasano Nate Garner Third Group Ernest Wilford Eric Green Jury Still out. Chad Henne (I know there are positive signs, but you wouldn't mortgage you future to pry him away from the Dolphins yet) Cam Wake Donald Thomas Pat Turner Pat White
hard to defend this line of thinking too much there to even begin to evaluate in a post the simple truth is we need more talent & will acquire it in 2010 usually takes four years to rebuild a team from scratch I believe we are well ahead of schedule & will be a perrenial contender beginning next season
You know what though? If Smiley and Grove are healthy they are both very good. So I wouldn't say they are bad pickups at all. Bad luck with the injuries but if they both can stay healthy our offensive line is going to be great.
I agree that they're pretty good, but they're both always hurt. Neither has finished a 16 game season in the last three years. Doesn't matter how good someone is if they can't see the field.
the Orca-5 have made their bones & are already among the best in the NFL injuries in the trenches are to be expected, they normally play every snap that is why they are currently developing seven starters, so they can rotate the offensive line has been the most successful element in our reconstruction to date
That is how feel about ronnie brown in playing only 1 full season in his career.I thought they should have tried harder to sign jason brown at center than sign another injuryprone lineman like jake grove who has never played a full season.We have one the highest paid offensive lines in the league and 2 of the guys are hurt evey year.The problem i have is they knew these guys are injury prone but they stuill signed them.Jason brown by the way played in all 16 games for the rams.
The only thing that saved the line this season is the fact that Berger and Garner are pretty freaking good. If this were the days of Joe Toledo we'd be in serious trouble when Smiley or Grove inevitably went down. I give the front office credit for making sure we've got decent depth at least. I used to think that Ronnie Brown was unlucky - a finger getting caught in a guys helmet is a bad break. But, that was an ACL and a broken foot ago, and the FO has to be concerned with how much he'll want to get paid vs. how often he'll be on the field for us.
i think our FO does a good job, spectacular - no ..... name one superstar we've brought in in the last 2 years .... you can't count Long with the 1st pick in the draft. Pennington was a gift .... not some calculated play the FO made. the FA pick-ups have been questionable .... the road gets tougher though to go from good to championship caliber ..... there is little room for error - so the choices they make at OLB, ILB, WR, NT, S are so very important - and they can't afford mistakes at this point. if they get it right this year or next year and bring home a championship, THEN i would give them the accolades they would then deserve. they only deserve an 'atta boy' right now.
I believe that Long can be counted. There have been #1's who have not fared as well. Name a team who has done better?
Off the top of my head, I'd say the Eagles and Vikings and Colts have also done very well. Long certainly counts. Also, the trifectas first year was better than their second.
there are teams who have done better ... look at our last off season, in all honesty - show me the superior job ..... outside of Grove, we settled for a lot of plan Bs and did not have a great draft (at least to this point). an easier comparison is to just compare our defense to the JESTS, which of course is the reason they are in the playoffs ..... who did they add last offseason. where they get props is from year 1 .... where there was broadscale changes required ... and the success (schedule or not) they were able to achieve from it. albeit, a large portion of that success was Pennington - and that was without a doubt, luck how that situation played out up in NY. as i stated, its easy to make sweeping changes - its hard to make the small ones that bring you from good to great. the biggest change they have brought to the organization is a change in culture and philosophy that i heartily endorse .... other than that - i'm sticking with my 'attaboy'