Imagine the Jets could sign an experienced starting right tackle. Imagine the guy is 6'8" 315 pounds. Imagine Tony Sparano helped develop him into a quality player. Imagine this player was available. You have Marc Colombo, who spent 2011 with the Dolphins.
Colombo sounds more attractive on paper than he is in reality. Upon arriving in Dallas in 2006, Sparano got him to play far better than he had in the past with the Bears. Colombo locked down the right tackle spot in Dallas for a few years.
Then in 2010 Colombo started playing badly. He was not just kind of bad. You can make a case he has been worse than Wayne Hunter the last two years. Crunching stats from Pro Football Focus, Hunter allowed a disruption in the form of pressure, a hit, or a sack on 8.3% of plays he passed blocked, an extremely high number. Since 2010, Colombo has allowed 9.3% of plays in which he has been in pass protection to be disrupted.
It is always difficult to say how much of a role an individual lineman has in run blocking, but Colombo's two teams have run for under 4 yards a carry the last two years running it to his side. This at least suggests he is not dominating as a run blocker.
The potential for Colombo to come to the Jets scares me. Sparano brought Marc along last year when he needed a right tackle even coming off a bad 2010. Everybody expects the Jets to be in the market for a new tackle. Will Sparano convince the front office to go with a familiar guy he coached in two different spots? I sure hope not, but it is certainly possible.