State of the Union : The WRs

I've been thinking a lot lately, as I'm sure many of you have, about various problems on the Jet's roster and what could be done to help going into next season. This should be the first of several posts about different positons and their current status verse potential offseason upgrades. I'm starting off with the WRs since the recent release of our good friend Braylon Edwards in addition to Santonio Holmes recent meltdown/temper tantrums has brought the state of the WR corps to the forefront.

Surprisingly enough, I actually believe we need very little tinkering, for a change, at the WR spot. One of the Jet's biggest problems during the Mark Sanchez era is the lack of consistency at arguably the most vital position for a young QBs development. It seems like as soon as Mark gets comfortable with any particular WR the team either demotes (Cotchery from 09-10) or jettisons them completely (Edwards/Cotchery 10-11). The only change I would suggest in this offseason is bringing back Edwards. I understand the injury concerns, but he's still young and resilient, and his production in 2010 can't be overstated - 53 receptions for 904 yards (17.1 ypc) and 7 TDs, not to mention his stellar blocking abilities. Oh, and he only had one drop all season, so for all of you who continue to criticize his "bad hands," stop living in the freakin' past! The most important aspect of bringing Bray back though is his chemistry with Sanchez and Mark trusting that when the game is on the line he can throw up that deep ball that was so sorely lacking from our offense this year.

The rest of our WR group should be essentially left intact. Yeah, I'm as pissed as anyone at Holmes' ridiculous antics throughout the season, but most "star" receivers in this league - and whether he is or not, we certainly gave him the contract of one - are divas and can't handle losing. Calvin Johnson and Andre Johnson are the exceptions, not the rule. With Bray drawing deep coverage and opening up space for Tone, I really believe he'll fall back in line. Remember, before the offensive meltdown this year, he was generally considered a hard worker who stayed after practice and tried to help the younger receivers. Even with all the problems, his production wasn't terrible - 51 rec 654 yds 8 TDs, compared to 52 rec 746 yds and 6 TDs in 2010. I think reuniting him with his old pal Braylon is the perfect cure for what ails Holmes, not to mention I'm not quite ready to take a 7+ million dollar dump on the cap. I think some of you guys are underestimating just how detrimental that would be to adding the pieces the Jets need for a real championship run next year.

The rest of our WR corps is solid, at worst no less effective than the 3,4,5 guys we've had in the previous three seasons, and at best more talented and with a higher reward potential. Let me elaborate. We bring back Plax with a short term, low base, high incentive contract for one or two seasons. He's near the end, but had a decent enough season - 45 rec 612 yds 8 TDs - ironically almost identical to Santonio's stat line. The biggest mistake we made with Plax is the same mistake we made with LDT last season. In having him play over %80 of our offensive snaps, we took an aging star who can still produce situationally and wore him down so that by the end of the season there was almost nothing left in the tank. Look how much more effective and spry Tomlinson was late in the season, specifically against Miami, when not asked to carry the load of a starter. Plax would make a great option in 3 or 4 receiver sets and alternating time with Kerley in the slot.

Kerley was probably the brightest spot amongst our WRs and really made his 5th round selection look like a great decision. His 29 rec for 314 yds and 1 TD may not seem like much, but considering he didn't start until Week 5 and missed another two games due to injury they're pretty solid numbers. Cotchery put up 41 rec for 433 yds and 2 TDs in 2010 and I think we can expect at leat as much from Kerley next year, minus the injuries and plus the ability to be a dangerous punt returner if he can figure out how to hold onto the ball! And whether the numbers back it up or not, it just felt like he had a knack for being in the right place at the right time, something that can't necessarily be quantified but was, I thought, one of Cotchery's biggest assets as well. I still remember JCo on a critical third down play last season coming up gimpy only to realize Sanchez was looking his way and proceed to go full on horizontol to make the conversion before limping off the field in considerable groin - related pain - awww, memories. Anyway, Kerley seems to have a similar skillset and made great strides in making making me forget my initial outrage at releasing JCo.

The X - factor is that fifth receiver slot. I fully agree with the rest of you that drafting a tall, fast WR is important, but I just don't know that it's particularly vital to our immediate success. our needs at S, RT, and LB seem more pressing. I think we can wait until the third round and pick up a guy like Nick Toon out of Wisconsin - at 6'3" 220lbs, he has the size to fight for the ball and is rumored to have sub 4.5 40 speed. If he's willing to throw those blocks like us Jets fans love to see out of our receivers I'm thinking we've got a Braylon Edwards junior on our hands. Mid - third might be a stretch, but he's ranked as the 7th or 8th best WR in the draft and with the 2 to 4 compensatory picks we're slated to receive, we could probably trade up to the early second, late third to grab him without sacrificing any of our base picks. I don't want to completely discount Patrick Turner either. After spending most of the season as I can only imagine a practice field tackling dummy, he showed some signs of what the Jets saw in him when they acquired him in 2010. Over the last six games of the season, he had 8 rec for 96 yds and a big TD against Miami that gave us a shot at coming back before Sanchez's last pick. And he's not a burner (4.65 40), but at 6'5" 220lbs has the size to fight for balls and let his presence be felt underneath. I suppose I should at least mention Eron Riley, who is on his fourth team since being signed as a UDFA last year and has yet to see the field on game day. In a word, useless.

Well, that about sums it up. Sorry to go on for so long - it seems to be a problem I have whenever I write one of these things. I start off with a short, concise idea, and 1000+ words later realize it's probably time to shut up. I'm sure it doen't help that I generally decide to post at some random hour of the night when I'm half - asleep, considering I have the attention span of a guppy even when well rested! Anyway, let me know what you guys think below. This is the first piece I've done in a while that was researched and not just an off the cuff opinion, so I hope it's helpful.