The Jets have used a ton of draft picks on defensive players during the Ryan era. This is a league that is driven by offense. And at the very least I think you have to use balance when drafting, especially in the 1st couple rounds.
Pre-Ryan era we took Revis and Harris with our 1st 2 picks in 2007. Gholston with a very high pick in 2008. Ryan arrives in 2009 and we obviously took a QB with the #5 overall pick. But after that... Wilson (2010), Wilkerson/ Ellis first two (2011), Coples (2012), Milliner/ Richardson both top 15 picks (2013). Since 2007 we have had 2 different HC's and 2 different GM's. But there has been the same pattern of focusing on defense. Sadly our defense is not elite and still has major holes heading into the 2014 offseason.
The reason I am pointing this out is because we just simply can not continue to draft defense early. My fear is that Clowney and a bunch of other potential impactful pass rushers will be available with the 18th overall pick, and we need help at LB and with our overall pass rush. It will be tempting for Idzik, especially with Rex in his ear, to pull the trigger and try to give Coples a book end pass rushing OLB to complete our front 7. But on principle alone we need to create balance. The amount of WR's and TE's who will be available at 18 and who can have a huge impact on our offense is crazy. We need to focus our 1st four picks on offense. As the months progress I will analyze who to draft and who to stay away from, but the overall philosophy this offseason should be filling our 2 major holes on defense with free agents. Those 2 holes are Pass rushing OLB and FS BTW.
I have a very interesting idea for how to complete Rex's defense. Terrell Suggs will most likely be a cap causality in Baltimore. His history with Rex and our bounty of cap money makes the Jets the logical landing spot for him, if Newsome can't find a way to keep him. Suggs, combined with Coples and our outstanding defensive linemen would be a nightmare for QB's across the league. Harris and Davis at ILB are a solid way to complete our front 7. That leaves us the hole at FS.
My thinking is this... If we brought back Reed, signed Suggs and dropped Harris (which frees up 5 million in cap room) why oh why would Ray Lewis not seriously consider coming back for a year, reuniting with his comrades and helping his former coach finish what he started here in New York?
In an interview on MSG I once heard Ryan say that if he could pick only one person to be in a fox hole with he would chose Ray Lewis. And he didn't have to think for one second. That's the guy you need to win a super bowl. I know he's old, I know that ESPN is paying him a ton of cash and he seems to like TV. But every week this guy is on the air complaining about how defenses in this league are soft, how the rules aren't fair, and he looks like he wants to jump off the set and into a uniform.
I'm sure his conditioning is stellar and with a guy like Davis as the other ILB you could even limit Lewis's snaps. Reed, Suggs and Lewis as individuals are all old defensive players in a young man's game. But united, I think you get one magical year out of them. Our defense is very young overall, these 3 veterans would be the perfect addition to our locker room and they know what it takes to win it all. If we are going to be stuck with Rex Ryan why not use his influence to our advantage? I'd play Allen at SS, move reed to FS and the defense is complete. We spend a portion of our FA money on these three former Ravens and focus the rest of the cash and at least 5 or 6 of our draft picks on offense.
We would be building for the future and set to win today as well.
