D'Brickashaw Ferguson: 2013 and Beyond

D'Brickashaw Ferguson followed up a disappointing 2011 campaign with a strong 2012. Unfortunately, he failed to build on the momentum and regressed again in 2013.

When Brick is at his best, he is a superb pass blocker on the blind side. In 2013, he was responsible for 8 quarterback sacks according to Pro Football Focus. That tied him for tenth most in the league at the tackle position. He was also responsible for 43 quarterback pressures per PFF. That is middle of the pack at tackle. You could say the problem was that the Jets got bad left guard play from Vladimir Ducasse and Brian Winters. That is true, but when I watched things over, I thought Brick was getting beaten too frequently one on one. You could also say Geno Smith held the ball for too long. That is also true, but the Jets are paying Brick a ton of money so that he can sustain blocks for a long time.

Ferguson has never been a great run blocker, but the Jets did have a degree of success running to the left side. PFF has the Jets averaging over 6.5 yards per run over or outside left tackle. Football Outsiders credits the blocking on runs outside to the left, rating the Jets with the third best run blocking in the league on runs to left end. I would argue from watching that the numbers probably inflate Ferguson's performance, but that is something positive to report.

There really isn't a ton of debate about what will happen with Brick. The Jets need him to bounce back. Because the Jets have already restructured his contract multiple times, he will count over $11 million against the cap and actually would cost more to get rid of. Restructuring the deal again wouldn't make much sense because it would take his cap number into the stratsophere in the future. The Jets really need him to elevate his game again.