Draft By Draft Analysis of Mike Tannenbaum - Pt. 5, 2010

Would trader Mike decide that 2010 was the year to recoup some draft picks to make up for 1 three-player draft in 2009, six-player draft in 2008 and a four-player draft in 2007? No. They had nine picks and traded 5 of them away, leaving them with only 4. Since this was a pretty weak draft, trading up and trading picks wasn't so bad, since many of the players they "missed" out on aren't very good. The jury is still out on Ducasse. Wilson is improving. There are big hopes for McKnight and Conner. While I think Tanny could have done better in this draft, I can't be too critical of him as this was a very weak year for the draft.

2010 Off Season

This was a very active offseason. The Jets seemingly left no stone unturned trying to find talent. They signed 6 players to futures contracts: WR Larry Taylor, P T.J. Conley, LB Josh Mauga, LB Ezra Butler, CB Bo Smith, and WR S.J. Green.

FA: They signed a slew of cheaper FAs to fill holes. Of course, the point can be made that if they had done a better job in the draft and not traded away so many draft picks, they may not have needed to sign all these FAs. They signed LS Tanner Purdum, K Nick Folk, OT Mike Turkovich, S Brodney Pool, RB Ladanian Tomlinson, DL Rodrique Wright, LB Lance Laury, K Clint Stitser, and LB Jason Taylor. There was a long list of FA Safeties that year. Surely the Jets could have found someone better than Pool, Eric Smith and Emmanuel Cook. Among the higher rated FAs that year were AJ Otogwe and Antoine Bethea.

Following the draft, they signed the following UDFAs: DT Mick Williams, CB Donovan Warren (whom they hoped to convert to S), OG Charlie Tanner, WR Philip Kirkland, DE/OLB Kevin Basped, SS Cory Reamer, TE Jeff Cumberland and S Marcus Ezoff.

Later, in May through August, the Jets signed many more FAs and brought in players for tryouts. They included: Keith Buckman, Jason Lamb, Broderick Stewart, Matt Stommes, Ernest Williams, LB Brashton Satele, OG Marlon Davis, C Robby Felix, OT Aaron Kia, DT/DE Simi Toeaina, P/K Jared Ballman, NT Martin Tevaseau, QB Mark Brunell, S Emmanuel Cook, WR Vic Hall, OL Adam Tadisch, LB Tim Knicky, OG Chet Teofilo, LB Boris Lee, WR Brooks Foster, S Keith Fitzhugh, DE Ricky Foley, and Trevor Pryce. They also claimed WR Patrick Turner, OL Patrick Brown, and DL Marcus Dixon.

The Jets re-signed FAs Kellen Clemens, Drew Coleman, Braylon Edwards, Ben Hartsock, Wayne Hunter, James Ihedigbo, Tony Richardson, Eric Smith, and Brad Smith. They chose not to re-sign James Dearth, Marques Douglas, Alan Faneca, Jay Feely, Ryan Fowler, Howard Green, Larry Izzo, Marques Murrell, and Wallace Wright. They released Lito Sheppard, Thomas Jones and Justin Miller.

The Jets wound up with Cody Brown OLB, Shawn Crable OLB, Robby Felix C, Matt Kroul DL, Dennis Landolt G, Logan Payne WR and Brashton Satele ILB on the PS.

Trades: The Jets traded a conditional draft pick (3rd round that could escalate to the 2nd) in the 2011 Draft for Antonio Cromartie. They also traded their 5th round pick in the 2010 draft for Santonio Holmes. They traded Kerry Rhodes to the AZ Cardinals for a 4th round pick in 2010 and a 7th round pick in 2011. They traded Leon Washington and their 2010 7th round pick to Seattle for their 5th round pick.

The Jets traded their 3rd and 5th round picks along with Chansi Stuckey and Jason Trusnick to Cleveland for Braylon Edwards. They traded the 4th round pick they got from AZ along with their 6th round pick to Carolina for Carolina's 4th round pick, which was used to take Joe McKnight.

Draft: Kyle Wilson (1st), Vlad Ducasse (2nd), Joe McKnight (4th), John Conner (5th)

Many Jets fans wanted Taylor Mays. I give credit to Tanny for not trading up or down and taking Mays. The thing that is disconcerting is that Ducasse was a project and was taken in the 2nd round. Tanny said that if Wilson hadn't unexpectedly fallen into their laps that they were prepared to take Ducasse in the first round. That would have been insane. All four players could wind up developing into solid role players or even starters on the team, or Ducasse could wind up being a total bust. Knight could wind up being only a good KR or could wind up being a good playmaker on offense.

What they left on the table: In this case, it doesn't appear to be much aside from a couple of players. Overall, it was a weak draft, but those players they missed are huge. How different would things for the Jets be with Gronkowski and Keller at TE, and NE didn't have Gronk? Even though he may not have the physical ability of Ducasse, what difference would it have made to have Brown at RT instead of Hunter last year? What made trading up and trading picks bad in this draft is that the Jets had had such few picks in the 3 previous drafts. Had the Jets kept some or all of their picks or even acquired additional picks in those drafts, this draft wouldn't be so bad.

Players they bypassed/missed in taking Kyle Wilson: Rob Gronkowski, Sergio Kindle, Koa Misi

Players they bypassed/missed in taking Vlad Ducasse: Charles Brown (RT Saints)

Players they bypassed/missed in trading for Braylon Edwards: Jimmy Graham (TE Saints), Jacoby Ford,

Players they bypassed/missed in trading up for Joe McKnight: Kam Chancellor (SS Seattle),

There may be other players who would be solid depth or role players, but I didn't recognize most of the names.