Charley Casserly: Deon Simon Is the Next Damon Harrison

The Jets lost nose tackle Damon Harrison in free agency yesterday. Mike Maccagnan mentor and former NFL executive Charley Casserly is not too worried, though.

Casserly on NFL Network says #Jets fans need to look out for 2nd-year NT Deon Simon (a 7th-rounder). "He's Damon Harrison"

— Dennis Waszak Jr. (@DWAZ73) March 9, 2016

It is unclear whether Casserly got that view from Maccagnan really liking Simon. In any event, it is very generous praise for the young player. My guess is it is far too generous. Harrison leaves some big shoes to fill. I am not sure how fair it is to expect an unproven second year player to fill them.

With that said, this is the test of the front office and coaching staff. Every good team loses quality players. One of the things that makes the good teams good is they can find and develop less expensive young replacements. I don't think the Jets need Simon to be as good as Harrison. I do think that Simon becoming some sort of contributor can really help the team overcome the loss of Harrison.