To be fair, while Milliner did have multiple injuries/surgeries while in college, I am pretty sure that he never missed a game.
6 Things to Know About the Jets' RT Situation
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Mainejet
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If memory serves me correctly, and not actually looking, Idzik had 8 selections in 2013 and 13 selections in 2014, making his total 22 picks. That would comprise 3 normal drafts.........
You are correct. But it's still a relatively small sample size.
And my point is this - having a fourth rounder be a bust is not good, but it's also pretty common. A case could be made for Milliner being Idzik's biggest mistake, but I don't see one for Saunders. In my opinion, you can't just consider who the worse player is, but also the resources invested in that person, whether it be in cap space, draft pick, or overall team philosophy.
So while Saunders was a worse player than either Milliner or Giacomini, I am arguing he wasn't the biggest mistake, because the investment in him was low by comparison.
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Mainejet
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Giacomini was never meant to be anything other than a stopgap. A suitable guy until you find your long term answer. I believe Breno was exactly that. And the money invested is relative. His salary was likely equal to or lower to any starting RT. In other words, it's the going rate for a starting veteran RT.
The NYJ got exactly what they paid for, but the NYJ have also neglected finding a replacement. That's on them - not on Breno. Replacing Breno should have been Mac's first order of business during the offseason. If the RT spot fails the offense this season it will be because the NYJ did not properly plan for the OL. That is something they have done before.
Maybe. I don't see it quite that much, since it was Idzik's one big splash, as it were.
As a neophyte GM with limited experience in the areas of scouting, pro personnel and process, Idzik clearly didn't understand how free agency works, how the best FA's come flying off the board in rapid fire, you don't have time to be deliberate, you need to isolate your top targets prior to free agency, be prepared with dead serious offers designed to close the deal, then act with extreme aggression the moment that opening bell rings, if not before!
That year there were a handful of quality OT's on the board and Idzik whiffed on all of them. Before he could blink they were flying off the grill like hotcakes, while Idzik twiddled his thumbs. So he got caught holding the bag, a bag of money and no quality OT's to spend it on, so he turned to an OT he was familiar with from Seattle and winds up overpaying for JAG (Just Another Guy). He winds up giving quality starter money to a classic HTFG (Hold The Fort Guy), which is to say, the kind of player who can start in this league if he must (i.e. hold down the fort in a pinch), thus buying you some time to upgrade at the position, but you NEVER lock yourself into a longterm deal at quality starter money for an HTFG. If an HTFG is your starter, by definition you are in need of an upgrade at the position, ASAP.
In short, Breno, more than any other player, highlights Idzik's inexperience and incompetence as a GM.
Breno is the byproduct of having a GM who simply did not understand how the FA process works.
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This is very much what I have been trying, and failing, to express.
Thanks Sack, I remember it so well because it drove me crazy at the time. We had a gaping hole at RT, a blind man could see it, and a limited amount of FA OT's who could adequately fill it with genuine quality. Then I watched in horror as those OT's went flying off the board the moment the FA bell rang. In rapid fire; BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, they went off the shelf like there was no tomorrow. Meanwhile Idzik did not even get a visit with any of them, did not even speak to any of them, he thought he could take his sweetass time, like free agency was a deliberative process. Well he quickly found out its anything but, its a free for all, a feeding frenzy, the early bird gets the worm, otherwise you get Breno Giacomini.
So here we are still looking for a solution at RT and a future LT. Almost inconceivable that Mac didn't address this area with considerably more urgency. Shell? A few years away. Harrison at guard? Haven't heard a peep about him all camp. He must know something about potential cuts because going into a season with reasonable hope with this OL doesn't make much sense to me.
Did I actually hear Bowles say Winters had a great camp? Who, Brian Winters who played (basketball) guard for the Bucks? I know it wasn't Brian Winters who plays guard for the Jets!
Did I actually hear Bowles say Winters had a great camp? Who, Brian Winters who played (basketball) guard for the Bucks? I know it wasn't Brian Winters who plays guard for the Jets!
It made absolutely no sense at the time. Idzik preached building through the draft. He refused to overpay at positions like DT and CB, offering below-market contracts to free agents. He lets the solid, young RT walk (though the Oakland contract was a bit excessive).
But he turns around and overpays for Giacomini? By doing that, he demonstrated that RT was a position of priority, but he chose to overpay a lesser player than overpay a better in-house option? That made no sense. The Giacomini signing was just totally contradictory to every other move he made, every bit of the culture he tried to create in Florham Park.
If you are going to choose to break from your own philosophy, at least do it for an extraordinary move - like a team being opposed philosophically to trading up in the first round, but moving up to take a once-in-a-generation QB. I can see that. But to deviate from your entire culture to bring in Giacomini? Really?
Well, we don't know, because very few of the practices were open. So it's entirely possible that Winters did have a good camp. For that matter, most beat writers (and honestly, the vast majority of fans) wouldn't be able to tell if a guard had a good camp or not.
He had a really bad game against the Skins. He was called for a penalty and gave up a sack.
Agreed. Certainly not necessarily indicative of the entirety of camp, but he had a pretty poor game against Washington.
I certainly hope you're right about him having a good camp but that game did not raise my hopes!
That's understandable. And I don't know if he is having a good camp or not. Truthfully, we have very little information on which to base it.
That's not the way I remember it going down. Austin Howard bolted for the Raiders despite a competitive offer from John Idzik. Oakland gave him crazy money, and Idzik took the next best player available in free agency, who was Giacomini. (Giacomini, until that point in time, had a pretty good track record with Seattle ). Obviously, you can take issue with Idzik for not spending the ridiculous money that flies around free agency every off-season, but let's not distort history. Idzik had his flaws, but he also made quite a few good moves too. Eric Decker, Chris Ivory, Sheldon Richardson, and Q Enunwa come to mind just off the top of my mind.