The Ohio State Elephant in the room

Everyone has an opinion these days of the disarray in the Jets organization. I have a feeling that Shottenheimer won't be back, even if Rex Ryan says so. Shotty is one of 3 guys interviewing for the Jags head coaching spot, and if he doesn't get the job, he will be out as coach anyway, sometime in the next 6 weeks. The reason he isn't out now, is because the Jets are keeping things quiet following a disappointing season. The playoffs are still going on, and what direction is this team going? Will it be ground and pound, air it out, or balanced play action, or short west coast?

The answer is they don't know. The front office and owner know things haven't worked, but they are in meetings this week to figure out how to make the offense click. Until they know what they want the offense to be, there is no need to publicly execute the current offensive coordinator. Then you have the playoff teams like the Saints, Packers, and Texans. All these teams have had perennially high powered offenses for at least the last 3 seasons. Again, the Jets may want to inquire as to the availability of some of those coordinators and don't want to make a public splash by firing someone, before privately checking into the availability of these guys. That being said, you can bet that by the Superbowl, there will be a new coach for this offense.

Now lets get to the meat and potatoes here. His name is Santonio Holmes. He is the ugliest thing to happen to the Jets since Dwayne Robertson was drafted to be the nose tackle of the future. At least Robertson had a good attitude. Here is how you fix this situation.

You cut him. Cut Santonio Holmes now. Sooner is better than later. He is owed 7 million and if he is on the roster March 1st he's owed 8 million. The answer. Cut him now. If the Jets get rid of him, even though he signed a 5 year 50 million deal, they don't have to pay that much, or nearly that much towards the cap. If they cut him before March 1st and he is signed by another team, the other teams deal with him is removed from what the Jets would have to pay him. In other words, if he is signed by the Eagles (who aren't going to re-sign Desean Jackson) for 4, 5 , or even 6 million, that would come out of what the Jets have to pay him. Holmes is in his prime, and he will definitely play somewhere this season, even if it's not on the Jets. The Redskins, Eagles, Dolphins, Bills, Seahawks, Cardinals, Bears, Browns, and several other teams could use a play making wide receiver. One of them would jump on him.

The Jets can do what they should have done last season. Resign Braylon Edwards who is coming off a knee injury and a rough season. He had 4 other WR's playing in front of him despite his talent level. His value has been severely depreciated and they can get him back for probably half of what Holmes got this off season. The problem with Holmes is that he was never a #1 WR, and he never will be. He had Hines Ward, then Mike Wallace, then Braylon Edwards to draw the coverages as he ate up the big plays. He's a glorified #2 like Peerless Price when the Bills were throwing to Eric Moulds. This somehow made him the number 1 guy, even though he has never carried a team. If he's a cancer, which he's shown to be this year, and which Pittsburgh gladly unloaded him for, you may as well not wait til tomorrow what you can do today.

It is human to make a mistake (front offices make them all the time). It is stupid to not to admit the mistake and keep the guy on the team to save a few dollars. I live in the south Jersey area, and I hear a lot of Eagles news, as much as the Jets and Giants. The Eagles are in a must win season next year or players and coaches are out, and Desean Jackson has publicly stated he didn't play well because he didn't have a contract. The Eagles aren't going to re-sign a guy that purposely crapped on them, and give him an multi-year extension. Cut Holmes. Sign Jackson. If the Eagles can franchise tag him now, they could do a 1 for 1 swap of disgruntled wide receivers in March, or just before the draft. Money-wise the trade works.

The Jets look like they publicly handled the bad attitude guy, and made an example by shipping him off to another team. It works for the Eagles because they were going to dump Jackson anyway. 2012 is superbowl or Vick, and Andy Reid are out the door. At least they get a veteran play making wide receiver to go with Jeremy Macklin. The Jets than take Jackson's franchise tag and work on a 4 year 30-40 million contract and he's happy, and the 11 million franchise tag is reduced to 6 or 7 million.

Now the draft is rolling around, and the Jets have decided they want to go back to a running offense with more vertical passing since Sanchez is best suited for that. They tab Bill Callahan as the new offensive coordinator. Rex feels confident with him because he knows him, and he's a company man. He'll work on developing the line, and the only major change is a new QB coach for Sanchez.

The Jets can draft a lineman, a linebacker, and a safety no problem. Alabama has 2 safeties, and there's always multiple pass rushing defensive ends that convert to linebackers. This past draft proved that with Ryan Kerrigan 7 sacks, Donte Moch, Brooks Reed 7 sacks, KJ Wright . Jabaal Sheard who had 8.5 sacks this year. They are all over the place in the draft, and you can get them up to the 4th round or so. In 2012 don't worry about Courtney Upshaw, when theres Nick Perry, Vinny Curry, Brandon Jenkins, Bruce Irvin, Keenan Robinson, and Nigel Bradham who can all contribute as pass rushers and coverage OLB's, and they don't all have to be drafted early.

With a new attitude, a new offensive philosophy. A fresh face at QB coach for Sanchez, and the cancer of Holmes gone for the bright attitude of Edwards, and the deep speed of Jackson, the Jets will enter 2012 as younger, faster, hungrier, better coached, and more talented.