Potential Jets: Dwight Lowery
by John B on Feb 3, 2012 12:04 PM EST
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Of all the moves Mike Tannebaum made in 2011, one could argue the trading of Dwight Lowery right before the start of the season made the least sense. The team got only a late round pick in return. The move destroyed the safety depth. Instead of having what looked like a solid rotation of a strong pass defender in Lowery, a versatile guy in Brodney Pool, and run stoppers in Jim Leonhard and Eric Smith, the team traded Lowery, buried Pool on the bench, and rolled with Smith and Leonhard. The rest is history.
Lowery was the converted cornerback the Jets moved to safety due to injuries near the end of 2010. He was excellent at the position in college. He showed some really good signs at the end of that year for the Jets. Dwight's strength was never man to man coverage, but most tight ends are easier to cover than wide receivers so he had a leg up there. Where he is really good was playing centerfield. He has adequate range and excellent instincts. He is something of a ballhawk.
Dwight is small for the safety position at 5'11" and 198 pounds. He is not overly physical as a run stopper. With the league geared more and more to the passing game with athletic tight ends, the ability to play the run has become more of a luxury and the ability to play the pass more of a necessity when it comes to the safety position. Even if his average athleticism will prevent him from ever being a star, Dwight is solid against the pass.
He is probably going to be affordable and surely an upgrade over what the Jets had at safety in 2011. He also knows the system. The question is whether the Jets can get over whatever problem they had with him that made the team inexplicably trade him. My guess is whatever the problem was has not gone away, and I am not sure the egos involved would be willing to admit a mistake.
I do not think Dwight Lowery would be the greatest signing in the history of mankind, but I think he would be a definite upgrade so I would not have an issue with the Jets bringing him back. Would you?
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Rex mentioned in a couple of press conferences
That he did the trade to give dwight a chance to get more playing time, and that he wouldn’t have been starting over brodney pool, eric smith, or Jim Leonhard anyway…odd
yes
that is odd.
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yes, let's get him
he will be cheap and he knows the system. i still think we would need to add 2 more saftey’s if we are going to cut smith, draft one and maybe one of the better saftey’s on the market
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Right now we have NO safeties.
So we need to bring in bodies and keep the best ones out of that pool. Unless there was some behind the scenes stuff we know nothing about, he’s warm and he’s breathing, which is more than can be sad for Eric Smith.
BRING HIM BACK ASAP
Trading him was stupid to begin with. Is he the answer to our safety needs…? No, but he is part of the solution not part of the problem. E. Smith part of the problem. Lowery is not a weak link in the secondary. The best safety in the NFL no… The best option the Jets could have as a cover guy in “rotational situations” YES.
BRING HIM BACK NOW…
when we traded him
i was pretty bummed. i always liked Lowery and thought he did well when he got his safety playing time and i think he has pretty good instincts as he had 2 pick-six’s in 2010. i def think we should bring him back, im sure he was well liked in the locker room by his teammates and coaches.
I'm with you...
I was pretty bummed too. When we drafted him I didn’t really know anything about him and everything I read said he might be better suited at Safety. Then when we were having all those Safety issues and he stepped he played really well and was excited because we finally had something to be excited about. We had a guy develop in house to a pretty good player entering a contract year. Then we inexplicably traded him. He read QB’s so well and he knew what do with it when he picked it.
by RevisIsland&Alcrotraz on Feb 3, 2012 4:28 PM EST up reply actions
Bring him back. Absolutely.
That move was so arrogant, and smells like a coach’s decision to me. I hope Rex eats his humble pie and realizes that not even he is smart enough to coach around the absence of talent and meets with Lowery with hat in hand.
I still think a Pool-Lowery tandem could be dynamite. Both are athletic and rangey. And Pool can thump. And both have a knack for play-making. The upside would be tremendous, the downside is nil, and the cost would be minimal. Then we could draft a guy to groom for a year or two.
by Crackback on Feb 3, 2012 12:58 PM EST via mobile reply actions
This.
I would LOVE to see a Pool-Lowery duo. Both of them make plays when you give them playing time. Eric Smith does not, although Jim Leonhard does to a much lesser degree.
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by bobdolethesnapplelady on Feb 3, 2012 1:21 PM EST up reply actions
Yup
I think Jim Leonhard is very good as a Starter but he can’t be your best guy back there. He’s got to be a compliment to somebody. I think Pool and Leonhard should be our starters against base personal and Lowery coming in and being the Third Safety on Passing downs.
by RevisIsland&Alcrotraz on Feb 3, 2012 4:33 PM EST up reply actions
Agree
I said this a few months ago. This move had Rex written all over it. It’s stubbornness plain and simple. I see this trade as Tannenbaum’s acknowledgement that Lowery is a player, could or should start and thus he has value. So if Rex was not going to use Dwight, Tannenbaum was going to get something out of him. Whether the trade has actually materialized in value for the Jets is another question. Do we know what we got for him at this point?
These are the moves that make my tolerance for Rex so low.
soo the question is...
Why was pool not made the starter from day one, and Smith given the nod. For that matter why was pool not named the starter at say week 3-4. I like the Pool Lowery tandem also but its the lack of vision…the inability for the coach/FO to not see what us as fans can see that give me doubts.
Lowery was traded; we all know that was a mistake. Got it. The problem is not the trade the problem is after it was a known failure REX/FO was to stuborn to fix the problem…even though we were loosing games.
This could probably be the best tandem that never was
I agree.
It wasn’t even like it was just star TEs that were chewing us up. It was the nobodies that were having career days on us too. And what did we do? We kept trotting Eric Smith out there to give up some huge chunk play. And where was the genius player-coach Leonard? Off in center field some where, a day late and a dollar short every… single… time. Did Jimmy EVERY quickly diagnose personnel and say, “Yo Smitty, they’re gonna come after you on this one, lets switch it up.” Nope. Probably because he knows he’s an even worse match-up when covering TEs.
We need to cut Smith and let Leonard go. They suck.
At the time he said that
Brodney Poole and Jim Leonhard had played pretty well. Jim was injured, but had played well during the season, and Eric Smith was meant to play as a backup all over the field and on special teams. I think they thought they could get by without him.
I think he’s a better player than Poole, and he’s made more plays every year he was a Jet. There’s no reason he couldn’t start at FS when JIm Leonhard is starting and he’s 5’9 and 185 or so. Ed Reed is only 5’10 and he’s pretty good. Re-sign Dwight and John Abraham and draft another safety and another pass rusher.
Abraham's only value is as a designated pass rusher in a 4-3 alignment.
He is not a DE or OLB in a 3-4, and he’s going to want starting DE money. We need to get younger, not try to compound the mistakes of the past by bringing in players we let go hoping they can be the same player at the end of their careers that they became after we let them go the first time.
by Traveling Man on Feb 3, 2012 1:12 PM EST up reply actions
should have never let him go in the
first place. he was an improving player at the safety position.I hate to say it but the jets have so many holes right now. we need two safeties, a couple of linebackers, a couple of O lineman and a wr and TE.
i wonder would lowery want to come back?
if i’m lowery i’m not coming back to a team who didn’t think i was better than eric smith unless they give me a guarantee that i would be made starter or else they were giving me a massive contract . i don’t see either happening so i wouldn’t expect lowery back because he would start elsewhere
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Or...
We get rid of Eric Shit…oh I mean Smith
by RevisIsland&Alcrotraz on Feb 3, 2012 4:37 PM EST up reply actions
I STILL can't believe we let him go
Traded technically, but still. The reasoning made no sense then and it still makes no sense now. Hopefully the FO sees that too.
by Exystence on Feb 3, 2012 2:08 PM EST via mobile reply actions
Bring him Back
I said it from the beginning we should have never let him go. He sealed a couple of games for us with key interceptions. I don’t know what they were thinking but bring him back if he is willing as a starter at safety.
What's With All the Love for Poole
His first year with the Jets he was lazy and didn’t even work to learn the D until Leonard went down with an injury. This year, he just plain loafed and dogged it at times, waving at receivers or RBs as they went by him. I mean really, what’s he done since he’s been here that makes you guys like him so much? What big plays has he made? I just don’t see it. If I was GM, he’d be the first player gone.
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The safety from San fran is available
D. Goldson. i don’t know if he is a free or strong safety, but he can hit.
Short simple and fair assessment of Lowery
Can Lowery start…NO.
Can lowery play coverage better than any second string safety in the NFL…I will go out on a limb and say hes in the top 5…YES
Can he deliver sledge hamer hits NO..
Good tackle technique YES.
Contribute from day one…HELL YEAH immediate positive impact
Play the run NO
Play the pass Hell YEAH
Upgrade from Smith?… in the run game…Barely, almost no. In the pass game 100000% upgrade
Lowery is not the answer, but he is part of the solution
He is like the arron Maybin of the secondary he deserves a spot would strugle as a starter but excell big time as a situational rotational guy
Bummed
Lowery is the best FS we had, the problem is we played him at 4 positions in 4 years. Do we see a trend? can you say VLAD, anyone? Some players particularly from small schools cannot bounce around, it takes them time to get up to speed for the NFL game. Lowery is a tough, mature and crafty li’l player, he just can’t run with all these receivers.
Get FA Safety like Lowery and maybe Tyvonn Branch, although branch might not be affordable. Top tier safety’s are going for 6-8MM/ year. Weddle from SD got 8MM. And to those loving Goldson, he can’t cover. Our Front Seven can handle the RUN, this year was an anomaly, no way REX will have a middle of the pack run defense 2 years in a row. Much of that was due to Wilky and Westerman not protecting the edge. Wilky got better as year went on and thus so did our run D. With a full camp and off season, our run D will be top 5, no doubt. However our issue is how do we stop TE’s and backs out of the backfield. We can defend 1& 2 and slot receivers. We need help with a no 4. CB and TE’s and RB’s out of the backfield. IF Barron falls to 2nd r I’d like to add him as well.
I still have a really gut feeling that we're gonna take Barron
Think about it like this. As average as our outside linebackers are, we at least have players at that position. We really don’t have anything in terms of safety, so i guess the FO would see it as a more pressing need. That being said, I don’t want Barron unless we trade back around 8 spots.
By the way
Even though Brandon Meriweather kinda sucks, do you think he’d be an upgrade over what we have? He’s a free agent.
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