Your spot on MJ,
This just reaks of 2011 in which we had a very solid team yet our RT position was handled very poorly with Wayne Hunter starting at that spot. Not saying that Qvale or Ijalana dont have potential, but it's evident that with the talent we have on the offense that the FO over looked a position that can hinder what Chan is trying to accomplish. Heck, we all definetly dont want to see Geno in there if FItz goes down.
Gotta believe that management has got to be thinking about some sort of an upgrade via trade of awaiting a RT with legit game time experience to be released by later today.
Yes it very much does feel reminiscent of 2011. It seems to me that Mac and Bowles have not read their Jets history books. Tanny's plan back in 2010 was to draft Vlad Ducasse as the heir apparent to Damien Woody. However, Vlad Ducasse was a disaster from the very second he was picked. When it became apparent that Vlad Ducasse would never be talented enough to play RT, they panicked and put Wayne Hunter in as a stopgap. The rest of the story is far too sad to even mention.
In this case, I am not so willing to blame Mac for not addressing this problem long ago. This is only Mac's 2nd year in town. However, there is some blame that should be handed to Mac for this. Any educated Jets fan knew last season that this team desperately needed a youth infusion along the OL. It was obvious.
Our biggest need, Mac opted to ignore and that to me is a big problem. Especially when you consider he picked a tiny little linebacker that looked overwhelmed playing against 3rd and 4th stringers just the other night. Or when you consider he blew our 2nd round draft choice on 3 or 4 year project.
Both the 1st and 2nd round draft choices will have so very little impact on this season in a good way. Darron Lee might be able to contribute, but at best you're looking at a 2 down, situational and extremely undersized linebacker. Meanwhile, the Jets absolutely needed an every down player out of the draft due to the fact that they did not have any money to spend in FA.
IMHO, Mac had every intention of taking an OL and figured one would be there at 20. When that didn't happen, Mac did not have a backup plan and he panicked. The end result being Darron Lee.
In regards to RT, Mac can still make this team competitive this season, but the only way that happens is if he is willing to mortgage the future. Even a decent stopgap I doubt will come in an even trade for Geno Smith?! He will have to give up future draft choices......
