What Went Right: Muhammad Wilkerson
While many
aspects of the Jets season were disappointments this year, there were many
things that went right that got lost in the shuffle. One of those things was
the emergence of Muhammad Wilkerson as a disruptive force along the defensive
line. Wilkerson went from being a talented, but raw rookie to a dominating
force through his sophomore season. He is big enough to be a solid run defender
while being quick and athletic enough to be a penetrator and pass-rusher. He
finished the season with five sacks and three forced fumbles, in spite of the
lack of help from the rest of the defensive line and rush linebackers. He also
finished fourth on the team with 70 tackles, showing that he was everywhere on
the field trying to make plays. He’s going to be a big time asset going
forward.
What Went Wrong: Quarterbacks
What else were
you expecting? They brought in a inspirational quarterback who found ways to
make plays in games only to completely mishandle him. They then shuffled
between Mark Sanchez and Greg McIlroy for the season. They finally found out what
I could see four years ago, Sanchez is a gunslinger who doesn’t have the arm to
back up his reads. He’s turned the ball over more times than any other quarterback
the past two years. McIlroy was the product on a good college team around him.
While he could be efficient and could even start in the NFL, he’d have to do it
for a run-first team with a ton of talent around him. He only had mediocre
talent around him this year and it showed. The Jets need to find someone to
bring in and hope they find a franchise quarterback.
Player of the Year: Antonio Cromartie
Another one of
the stories that got buried beneath the joke that was the Jets’ offense was how
well Antonio Cromartie played. While he’s been a solid cornerback for a number of
years, he’s always been playing in the shadow of the best corner in the NFL,
Darrelle Revis. After Revis went down with a serious ACL injury, the Jets turned
to Cromartie to shut down the opponents best receivers. More often than not, he
did that this year. In part because of this, the Jets ranked second in pass
defense this past season (eighth in overall defense). Depending on how Revis recovers
from his knee injury, Cromartie might even be the guy asked to cover the opponent’s
main receiver next year.
Keeper: Dustin Keller
Dustin Keller
is probably the most consistent weapon that the Jets have in the receiving game
right now. While he missed a lot of game this year because of injuries, he’s
shown that he can be dynamic as a receiver and a solid, if not great blocker.
Going forward, the Jets need to provide their new starting quarterback, be he
rookie or free agent, with a security blanket like Keller. The injury plagued season
does give them some leverage in negotiations so I don’t think that they can
come up with the excuse that they can’t afford him.
Goner: Mark Sanchez
This is
obvious. Sanchez’s time in New York is over. He’s salary jumps five million
next year to take up 12.8 million in salary cap. They can’t keep him on. He’s a
turnover machine, his confidence is destroyed and he’s not going to be given
another chance. If they keep him, especially without re-negotiating that contract,
then the Jets can just start preparing the head-bags for the 2013 season.
Should Draft: Quarterback/Rush Linebacker
Obviously the
Jets need a new quarterback and the best way to secure your future at quarterback
is to get one in the draft. Again, with the issues with the depth of the quarterback
class would indicate they should take a second or third round quarterback and
try to build around him with the rest of the draft. In that regard, they should
spend their first round pick on a pass rusher at outside linebacker. They haven’t
had any player exceed ten sacks in seven seasons (John Abraham’s 10.5 in 2005)
and have only broken the 40 sack mark for the whole team once in the last four
years. They need to improve the pass rush desperately.
(Odd extra note: Kliff Kingsbury was recently named the head
coach at his alma mater Texas Tech. Kingsbury threw only two passes in the NFL,
for the Jets in 2005.)
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