Getting Young Players Reps

The goal of the season is no longer making the Playoffs. The goal is now doing whatever possible to cultivate young talent to get ready for 2013. With that in mind, I suggest the following lineup changes for the Jets the rest of the year.

Greg McElroy in for Mark Sanchez

By this point, the Jets know what they have in Mark Sanchez. It isn't good at all. I also think they know what they have in Tim Tebow. We saw what Tebow could and more importantly couldn't do at the end of last season in Denver. A few weeks ago, I would have been good with transitioning to a defense and running team under Tebow to try and save the season. The season is now lost. McElroy is the unknown. Watching him, it seems clear he lacks the arm strength to be successful in the NFL, but there's only one way to find out for sure. Maybe he can make up for it with pinpoint accuracy like Chad Pennington. Maybe he is good enough to be a long term solution as a backup quarterback to hold the fort for a few games. It's unlikely he could be worse than what the Jets are getting from the quarterback position now. Even if he is, the games would at least be easier to take because we would be learning that McElroy isn't part of the solution. The games now are just watching lousy quarterback play for no reason. It would also send the long overdue and far too late message that you can lose your job for poor play.

Bilal Powell, Joe McKnight, and Kahlil Bell for Shonn Greene

Greene is a free agent to be, and there's no reason the Jets should make any kind of an offer to bring him back. He looked like a young Michael Turner his rookie year. Now he doesn't really bring anything to the table. He doesn't have good hands. He's lost the second gear. He doesn't break tackles. He has terrible vision. He fumbles. The Jets might as well see whether the backs they have on the roster are good enough. McKnight might fumble too much like Greene, but he at least has a chance to make big plays.

Demario Davis for Bart Scott

Scott's biggest contribution this year has been his media boycott. He's in steep decline. The Jets drafted Davis to replace Scott. With Bart not getting the job done, it's time to throw Davis into the lineup and get him started. Thankfully we seem to be headed in the right direction here based on Thursday's snap totals. Then again, Rex Ryan inexplicably said Bart should play more.

Vladimir Ducasse for Matt Slauson

The Jets claim Vlad is improving. They keep giving him time. It's time for him to sink or swim and show once and for all whether he can be a player in the NFL.