Trusting The System: The NFL Scout
With the 29th pick in the 2010 NFL draft, the New York Jets select...............
Seven rounds pass and then it's back to square one. The life of a pro football scout, they don't have time to sit back and marvel in their work. Once the recommendation has been communicated, the big board set, the selections made, those players are handed over to the coaching staff. The scout, who you very rarely hear about, retires to his hotel room, grabs a map and gets ready to start his journey all over again. Tens of thousands of miles travelling, accumulating to the grand finale of the selection. General Managers will get the credit, they will take the fall, if a player turns into a star, people will say "the Jets did a good job there", the scout is Mr/Mrs anonymous. Only those who choose to dig deep will ever find the name of the person who recommended Jerricho Cotchery in the fourth round.
Pollution of the draft process is rife everywhere. You have opposite forces arriving at the same destinations, on the back of taking two very different journeys. On one hand you have the scouts and Joey Clinkscales, the Jets vice president of college scouting. One the other you have the General Manager, and the current coaches on the staff. Sometimes they will reach the same conclusions, a lot of times it takes some considerable persuasion one way or the other. Usually coming from the scouting side to the management side. Sometimes for the best, other times not so much.
Every now and again you will hear of a war room story. An office that is busier than the Presidents on draft day. We heard how Mark Sanchez became a Jet, all the individual aspects that needed to come together to complete a first round jigsaw. We also heard of the Shonn Greene war room story. Greene ranked 19th on the Jets big board was still sitting there at the end of day one, much to the surprise of a lot of people. The Jets had already pulled off a big trade, and you can understand the reluctance of the General Manager to want to make another move.
This is where the persuasion of hard work comes in........
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Jets Flight Connections 020910
The Jets have 25/1 odds to win it all next year.
NBC New York: Oddsmakers have no high expectations for Jets.
Sporting News looks at the Jets off-season.
JetNation.com writes about salary cap and contract issues.
NewYorkJets.com: Prospect of an uncapped 2010 looms.
NewYorkJets.com: Some points to ponder for the Jets.
DeseretNews.com: Listen to Jets QB Mark Sanchez.
Steve Serby: Jets dreams depend on The Sanchise.
Sanchez talks about adjusting to New York.
This gossip column writes about who Mark parties with.
More connections after the jump.
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Kellen Clemens: Stay or Go?
He was supposed to be the next franchise quarterback. He never even came close. Kellen Clemens never once asserted himself as the best quarterback on the roster in his four years with the Jets. Over the past two years, his complete lack of progress led the Jets to trade for Brett Favre and draft Mark Sanchez.
Numbers don't always tell the whole story with quarterbacks, but that's not really the case with Clemens. He's been as bad as the stats have looked. His completion percentage is only 51.1%, and he has 5 touchdowns against 11 career interceptions.
You might think he would have shown some sort of improvement through the years. It never happened. Kellen entered camp this year with three years in the system under his belt. Yes, he was an underdog to Mark Sanchez to take the starting job, but he never even made things competitive against the rookie. Sanchez more or less took the starting job by default.
Things didn't get better when a Sanchez knee injury forced Kellen into action late in the game against Buffalo and at Tampa Bay a week later. He looked like a guy who couldn't read a defense, was totally flustered, and lacked any sort of fundamentals.
How much more patience can the team show? If he hasn't taken even baby steps forward in four years, why would anybody believe it will happen now? Clemens is a restricted free agent in an uncapped year. No team is going to bite on a tender that would cost a first or a second rounder. If the Jets don't tender him, he'll become an unrestricted free agent. Maybe some team will bite, and the Jets will have a chance to sign a free agent in his place.
Kellen is one of the best people in the game, but it doesn't look like he can play quarterback in this league. Having a guy like this a snap away from starting at the most important position is scary for a team with Super Bowl ambitions.
I vote to let him walk.
How do you vote?
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Myself And David Vill (dvdvill) Q&A Only Good Movies
A little off topic here, but recently, yours truly and our very own staff writer and Jets Flight Connections contributor David Vill took time out of our very busy schedules :-D to answer some questions for a excellent movie website entitled Only Good Movies. You can find the interview by clicking on the above link, and I encourage all of you to check the website out. If anything is muttered about any film, your likely to read about it there. Interviews, features, reviews, movie countdowns, you name it they have it. A must read for any movie fan. Anyway enjoy myself and David talking about some of the movies that rock our world and some that don't.
2009/2010 New York Jets Starters, Draft Status
I started thinking about the importance of the draft. Having spent quite some time this week on scouting reports for the first round, it got me thinking about the current Jets team, and their draft status coming out of college. Maybe something that will only interest a few. I put together some tables for the Jets starting line-up's in 2009/10, just to get a good idea of how much it can benefit a team to get it right early. So take a look for yourselves, I put down some conclusions at the end, but I just found it interesting to really see the draft status of our starters from last year.
*I added Braylon Edwards in as a starter even though he joined mid-season.
Click the comments section to open up full story, and cleaner table.
Offensive Starters
| Position | Player | Round Selected | Selected by Jets (Y/N) |
| QB | Mark Sanchez | 1 | Y |
| RB | Thomas Jones | 1 | N |
| FB | Tony Richardson | UDFA | N |
| TE | Dustin Keller | 1 | Y |
| WR(1) | Braylon Edwards | 1 | N |
| WR(2) | Jerricho Cotchery | 4 | Y |
| C | Nick Mangold | 1 | Y |
| LT | D'Brickashaw Ferguson | 1 | Y |
| LG | Alan Faneca | 1 | N |
| RT | Damien Woody | 1 | N |
| RG | Brandon Moore | UDFA | Y |
Defensive Starters
| Position | Player | Round Selected | Drafted By Jets (Y/N) |
| NT | Kris Jenkins | 2 | N |
| DE(1) | Shaun Ellis | 1 | Y |
| DE(2) | Marques Douglas | UDFA | N |
| ILB(1) | David Harris | 2 | Y |
| ILB(2) | Bart Scott | UDFA | N |
| OLB(1) | Calvin Pace | 1 | N |
| OLB(2) | Bryan Thomas | 1 | Y |
| CB(1) | Darrelle Revis | 1 | Y |
| CB(2) | Lito Sheppard | 1 | N |
| SS | Jim Leonhard | UDFA | N |
| FS | Kerry Rhodes | 4 | Y |
Conclusions:
- Of the 22 main starters for the 2009/10 New York Jets, 11 were selected from the draft or the un-drafted pool by the New York Jets. (6/11 on offense, 5/11 on defense)
- The starting Jets consisted of twelve 1st round draft choices. 6 of which the Jets selected themselves (3 on the offensive side of the ball, 3 on the defensive side)
- The Starting Jets consisted of two 2nd round draft choices. Both on the defensive side of the ball.
- The Starting Jets consisted of no 3rd round draft choices.
- The Starting Jets consisted of two 4th round draft choices. One on the offensive side of the ball, one of the defensive side of the ball.
- The Starting Jets consisted of no 5th/6th or 7th draft choices.
- The Starting Jets consisted of five UDFA players. Two on the offensive side of the ball, three on the defensive side of the ball
- Of the five UDFA players, only one was scouted and signed by the Jets (Moore). Three were scouted and signed by the Ravens (Douglas, Scott and Leonhard) , and one was scouted and signed by the Cowboys (Richardson)
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Tales Of A Super Bowl: How Super Bowl XLIV Became My Most Memorable Super Bowl Ever
Super Bowl Sunday and I awoke like a kid at Christmas time. I didn't have a pony in this race but the prospect of witnessing a shoot out between two incredible quarterbacks like Peyton Manning and Drew Brees was one I had been relishing from the moment it became a reality.
It was this growing feeling of anticipation for what was hopefully to be a great game that lead me to want to post about some of my favorite Super Bowl memories. I was really hoping Super Bowl XLIV would prove to be a worthy candidate.
"No good! Wide right!" I'll never forget Al Michaels' words during Super Bowl XXV when Buffalo Bills kicker Scott Norwood muffed what should have been a game winning 47 yard field goal. Instead he propelled the New York Giants to World Champions. How big was that missed field goal? Big enough to inspire a movie. His missed kick inspired the plot idea for the 1994 Jim Carrey film Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. The "Ray Finkle" character is loosely based on Norwood. Talk about memorable.
Who will forget the final play of Super Bowl XXXIV and 'The Tackle'? St. Louis Rams' linebacker Mike Jones hits Titans receiver Kevin Dyson just one yard short of the goal line stopping a beautiful last second drive by late Steve 'Air' McNair.
Of course, you can't mention great Super Bowl Moments without mentioning Super Bowl XLII and the incredible "The Helmet Catch". After a miraculous escape from what seemed like an inevitable (and possibly game ending) sack, New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning would toss a pass to wide receiver David Tyree, who ended up using his helmet to help catch the ball while being harassed by Patriots defender Rodney Harrison. The play would lead to the upset of the ages, as the Giants would go on to beat the mighty New England Patriots 17-14, spoiling the Patriots shot at NFL immortality with a perfect 19-0 season. Best part of that memory for me is that the Patriots were taken down, in part, by a guy who had been used primarily on special teams and had only 4 receptions for 35 yards and no touchdowns during the 2007 regular season.
Insert evil grin here.
It's Saturday and I want to have something ready in time for pre-game Sunday. I get started on a rough draft. It's ok but I'm not in love with it and decide it needs some work before it gets posted.
Laziness ensues.
7:00 a.m. Sunday and I have a schedule to keep. Church, shopping, prep, guests, game time....and now I need to find time to get this post finished and up. I'm running late and I make a quick attempt to do something about my post and realize I need to wait to get back home so I can do this right and not rushed. I hit the showers and I head out.
Church lets out and I hit the ground running. My wife woke up not feeling well and skipped church so I had no one to slow me down. Good start.
10 a.m. Party City for some football themed party stuff. Grocery store for the eats and drinks. Things are rolling along splendidly. I'm going to make it home with plenty of time to finish and post my article well before game time.
11:00 a.m. It's time for my final errand before I can go home, a 6 foot sub for me and the guys. I get to the deli and the guy tells me my sub won't be ready until 1 p.m.! I'm not happy but I know can still pull this off so I don't panic. It's about 30 minutes each way from my house to town so I decide to save the gas and just kill time in town until the sub is ready.
12:15 p.m. I get a call from the deli. The sub is ready and I can finally go home.
12:45 p.m. I'm on the home stretch. One more mile and I can unpack, get the wife up and going and get that article fixed and posted. Suddenly from a driveway ahead I see a pickup truck flying down the drive in reverse and as I stomp on my brakes to avoid the collision I watch it careen across the road and slam into the utility pole across the street. The pole made a horrendous cracking sound, shaking violently and snapping several of the lines attached to it.
I'm sitting there in a kind of shock at what just happened, when a 9 year old boy climbs out of the driver's seat of this pick up. The kid doesn't have a scratch on him and is laughing like he just got off a ride at 6 Flags. His parents came running down the hill nothing but pure terror and relief in their faces.
Apparently, the little boy was going to town with his dad when his dad realized he had forgotten his wallet. He strapped the boy into his car seat, started the car and ran inside to find the wallet.
The boy immediately climbed out of his safety seat and into the drivers seat where end resulted in what is now a matter between the Eisner family, the municipality and the state police.
1:30 p.m. I'm home and we have no cable. The wires I saw snap turned out to be the cable line and a telephone land line. I have no idea what time the cable will be back so I start calling the guys and breaking the news.
So now I have a house full of food and drink for a party that wasn't happening and no TV or internet to watch the game on or updates from. I'm not afraid to admit it...I almost cried.
The cable didn't come back on until well after the game had ended. After all that had happened, my wife and I just stayed home. I could have gone to one of my buddies homes to watch but my wife would have opted out because she wasn't feeling well to begin with. My wife watches all the games with me and after all she did to get this party going; cooking, cleaning and decorating, I didn't feel right leaving her behind.
Yeah I know, I know. What can I say? I love my wife...that and the Jets weren't in it so whatever.
We watched Zombieland with Woody Harrelson and ate as much of that monster sub, baked ziti, potato salad, smoked venison and various dips, chips, cookies and cake that we could.
I didn't see a second of Super Bowl XLIV and yet it will always be the most memorable Super Bowl of my life.
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Jets Flight Connections 020810
Former Jets LB Jonathan Vilma wins the Super Bowl in Miami.
OC Brian Schottenheimer is very happy for Saints QB Drew Brees.
USA Today: Colts HC Jim Caldwell's perfect ending proves elusive, too.
Sun Sentinel: Ankle injury catches up with DE Dwight Freeney in the second half.
New York Newsday: It was a clean telecast for CBS.
Miami Herald: Super Bowl III lifted the game from the grips of irrelevance.
Dave Barry: The Super Bowl was great, and so was the game.
Gary Myers: Jets will be in next year's Super Bowl.
NBC New York: Super Bowl lessons for the Jets.
Mike Lupica: Season is never over for HC Rex Ryan.
More connections after the jump.
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Scouting The Draft: Ricky Sapp OLB, Clemson
Finally getting around to Ricky Sapp. I know a few people here are very high on him, and his stock seems to continue to rise on a weekly basis. I didn't see much of him in 2009, mainly because the ACC is not a conference I really enjoy watching outside of the two Tech teams and occasionally Miami. Saying that, ever since people started raving about him, I have been researching him, and he does look like quite an exciting prospect.
I try and bring you some quotes on the player in each of these scouting reports, but Ricky Sapp actually wrote a few articles as part of his training for the combine and this gives us a look at his mentality and also explains the reason why he chose not to participate in the Senior Bowl which was heavily criticized by some. So I thought I would change it up here, and post some thoughts directly from the former Clemson Tiger:
The Senior Bowl was (Saturday), and I decided not to participate. I know a lot of people were wondering about that. And the reason why I didn’t play is because I felt like I have a lot more work to do to get my knee stronger and ready for the combine, and I just did not want to take any chances. Yes, I missed out on a great opportunity to play with all the great seniors from this season, but I felt like that was the best decision for me.
Sapp missed some time towards the end of the 2008 season after tearing his ACL in his right knee, although he looked strong and unaffected during his 2009 season. So it's interesting to hear him say that he feels like he needs to get his knee stronger, heading in to the combine. Some have speculated that because his coverage skills are questionable, transitioning from a 4-3 DE, to a 3-4 OLB, he didn't want to hurt his stock in the coverage drills at the Senior Bowl. I don't know how truthful that is though, and it seems reasonable to me that he wouldn't want to risk injury on a knee weeks before the biggest few days of his life with the combine and NFL draft. Also his coverage skills are going to be tested pre-draft anyway on his pro day, so I think people may be reaching with criticism.
Career Stats
2006- 13 games played, 20 tackles, 6 tackles for a loss, 4 sacks
2007- 12 games played, 44 tackles, 9.5 for a loss, 6 sacks, 1 forced fumble
2008- 10 games, 25 tackles, 9.5 for a loss, 2.5 sacks
2009- 14 games played, 60 tackles, 15 tackles for a loss, 5 sacks, 1 forced fumble
Career Awards & Achievements
2005 High School All-American (USA Today)
2006 Freshman All-American Honourable Mention (Scout)
2009 Second Team All ACC
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