Why the Jets Don't Have to Go Running Back Early
by John B on Mar 3, 2010 9:00 AM EST
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PrintI've seen a lot of Jets fans (both here and on other sites) say the Jets need to make taking a running back to replace Thomas Jones early in the Draft a priority. The rationales vary. Some say Shonn Greene and Leon Washington's injury concerns make it a necessity. Others say the team needs to have three backs because it relies so heavily on the run game. These are valid concerns, but I have to disagree with those who say the team absolutely has to go with a running back with one of its first two picks in the Draft. My reason? This list.
Le'ron McClain
What do those guys have in common? All have at least one 900 yard season since 2007. None of them went in the first two rounds. Earnest Graham missed by 2 yards. If Jerome Harrison had another game, he probably would have made it also. It doesn't include talented backs who split carries like Pierre Thomas and Ahmad Bradshaw. It's not hard to find a quality back later in the Draft. Considering the needs on this team, adding a back would almost be a waste. The current stable of backs and run blocking on the offensive line are excellent.
I could live with a guy like C.J. Spiller. I wouldn't necessarily agree with the pick, but he's a gamebreaker. Can never have too many of those. Short of that, I think the Jets should go in another direction.
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But what if Spiller snores and doesn't do dishes?
Could you live with him then?
See, first you let it slide because, yeah, he’s a world-class athlete and all, playing for your favorite team, yadda yadda.
But then he asks you to cover rent once. Then every month. Your girlfriend comes over all the time… when you’re not home. Strange foreign men start showing up at your apartment around 3 in the morning with cockfighting roosters in cages.
Be careful when choosing roommates, John.
We are gonna shock them with 5,000 mega watts of raw ROO POWER.
by psuwxman on Mar 3, 2010 9:47 AM EST reply actions 3 recs
Funny stuff
Rec’d
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Not to say that CJ Spiller sucks because he doesn't obviously, but if we were gonna go early with an RB
then we should be looking at Ben Tate.
+1
Ben Tate is a monster and with his speed and size defenses would not get a break between him and Greene’s bruising style. Does anyone know how he catches out of the backfield?
Decent enough, 20 receptions for 105 yards in 2009, 15 for 90 in 2008, 16 for 144 in 2007. Not exactly ground breaking numbers, but he can catch.
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Subtract Gore, Turner, and Westbrook and that list is not very good. If Leon isn’t what he used to be and Greene can’t stay healthy, we’re in a very tough bind. There are no real other needs to fill. It can be said we need to replace Lito, but Lito missed nearly half the games last year and we still managed to have the best pass D.
With the heavy emphasis we place on the running game, RB is the last place we can afford to have question marks. If we had a 3rd and 4th round pick, I might be content in waiting past the first 2 rounds. But since we don’t, we can’t afford to wait and hope that talent falls into our laps in the later rounds.
It depends on what you mean by not very good. Not all pros, but plenty of productive guys, which is what we need in a third string back.
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I pretty sure my thinking on this differs from most. But hear me out. I think 3rd stringer is the wrong description for what we need. I think we should have a 1A/1B approach, with Leon as the 2nd option. A tag-team approach where we pound the ball 30+ times a game and the backs split the carries unless one gets hot. And i think that Greene is better suited to be the 1B back (ie gets slightly less carries, but more likely to break off big runs). So what i’m looking for is a 1A: a guy who can absorb a lot of carries and give us a lot of production (5 yard chunks). I also think thats part of the reason that TJ was cut, that after all the mileage from last season he couldnt be trusted to absorb a lot of the punishment thats required.
but we were fine with having only 2 back in Thomas Jones and Leon before we drafted Shonne. Nobody was screaming to take a back first. I think its a safe risk to trust who we drafted especially since the guy had great results, and address another need. Like it says above, that 6th or 7th could net us a Brandon Jacobs.
I think its more important to give the defense more options. Rex is a genius, but he shouldn’t have to send everyone at the QB every down just to get a pass rush.
I agree. And I think that Hughes should be the unquestionable first pick if available. And if Sanchez was ready to take on 60% of the offense I wouldnt have a problem passing on a back either. But Sanchez is still developing, and there’s too much uncertainty surrounding the guys we have at RB right now. So 1 of our top 2 picks should be a back, especially since our offense is so heavily predicated on getting a lot of production from the run-game right now.
Im not opposed to getting a corner either, but we showed last year we can do just fine with what we have, especially if we add a good edge rusher.
Like i said, we could wait until round 3 or possibly 4 to get our RB, but as it stands we don’t have a 3rd and 4th round pick, so it kind of forces us to pick our guy at in the first 2 rounds.
I think we end up at about 54/46 run/pass this year.
For whatever thats worth.
"Relax, all right? Don't try to strike everybody out. Strikeouts are boring; besides that, they're fascist. Throw some ground balls. It's more democratic."
- CRASH DAVIS
All he said was that if we were a 60 percent passing team
running back would be much less of an issue. He didn’t say we were going to pass 60 percent.
And by the way John B, Jamaal Charles is a STUD. Crazy speed. Watching him at the end of the year was like watching Reggie Bush at USC.
"Relax, all right? Don't try to strike everybody out. Strikeouts are boring; besides that, they're fascist. Throw some ground balls. It's more democratic."
- CRASH DAVIS
Jamaal Charles was pretty consistent last year once they got rid of LJ. From what I remember, Jacobs and Parker were also pretty good before their injuries (Barber and Smith too). I don’t think we need to grab a back early just because we should focus on upgrading our base offense/defense. It would be great to have an awesome back as our third back, but I think upgrading either our pass rush or our second CB early is more important since they will be seeing more action.
Draft for defense! If we must use a pick on an RB, wait until the second round. Toby Gerhart or someone else viable may still be around then. All we need from our new back, whomever he is, is decent, consistent production and a reliable pair of hands. Gerhart should fit that bill. Chester Taylor would too – any shot at signing him?
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Rec'd
Good story idea and great timing with the recent TJ news.
Agree that the FA market for RB’s is excellent this year.
(CB’s not so much)
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