Idzik is a really smart guy who has been around this league his whole life. He believes in fiscal discipline and building through the draft. He came from a championship program and he is in many ways the exact opposite of Mike Tannenbaum. I also thought he made chicken soup out of chicken shit in 2013. That's why I liked him.
What changed? Well, I thought we were a 6 win team back in the beginning of the season. So, the fact that we are not going to make the playoffs and are in the running for the #1 overall pick in the 2015 draft is not why I am so down on Idzik. I knew we were in year 2 of a 3 year rebuild. I think I am a fan that has pretty realistic expectations, at least as real as any true fan can be. Having rose colored glasses is not a defect of a fan, its what makes you a fan. And there is a difference between wearing those glasses and wearing blinders. I always try to think positive, but I also call it as a see it on the field.
Unfortunately a lot of fans don't really follow or understand the NFL very well. Most of them only know we went 8-8 last season, so they expect 9-7 or 10-6 as a minimum expectation this year. Not taking into consideration the actual schedule or the fact that every hole isn't going to be filled from one year to the next. If there was no salary cap maybe a well run NFL team wouldn't have to rely on the draft so heavily and take time to develop players in house. But there is a cap, and spending just to spend never has and never will work.
Idzik really rolled the dice on our secondary and I addressed that before the season started. I said that they would look bad, but that they would hopefully be gaining invaluable experience. Well our 3rd overall pick went on IR before the preseason even started, and Milliner barely played at all, missing time being sandwiched between two different injuries.
Sadly Idzik had zero back up plan. When Idzik passed on Revis I said I thought the Pats way overpaid for him. I also thought it would mess up their locker room. With the information that I had, including Wilfork demanding his release right after the Revis signing, it looked like a desperate move. I also didn't care that we didn't pursue him because it was the first week of free agency. I never thought that we wouldn't bring in at least one high quality veteran CB to help run Rex's defense.
Well 9 months later the Pats are tied for best record in the AFC and Revis has looked good. He's not Revis Island anymore, but he has done a solid job for Belichick. Meanwhile our secondary is easily the worst in the entire league. Hindsight being 20/20 I must ask how an NFL GM didn't see how important it would have been to at least make a major run at this guy.
Essentially, if we resigned Revis, it would have not changed our overall situation. We would have won 6 or 7 games instead of 2 or 3... either way no playoffs. Revis can't play QB, just like Geno Smith can't. Revis can't pass block, just like three 5ths of or O-line can't. Revis can't stretch the field and catch TD passes, just like our WR corps can't. BUT, this is NY sports, not Seattle. Perception is reality, and perception is manipulated by the venomous NY Sports Media. Any executive running a NY sports franchise needs to understand how to spin public perception like a savvy expert.
Signing Revis would have meant:
- We traded a semi-popular player for a high 1st round pick
- We drafted the DROY with that pick
- We resign that same player back less than 12 months later
- We would not sit on over 20 million in unused cap room
- No one can claim the front office is sabotaging the head coach (because he gets his favorite player back)
- We have a quality veteran who knows the defense like the back of his hand to help us be competitive
- Every idiot with a Revis jersey in his closet busts a nut in his pants
- We keep a player, who fits our division rival perfectly, away from them
All of these things considered, there is no way you pass on Revis. You, at the very least, fight for him. If you lose an aggressive bidding war then Revis becomes the bad guy. Instead, Idzik left himself out to dry and has become a well deserved lightning rod for all of our short comings in 2014.
I made the decision to support Idzik being removed as GM when he had his weird mid-season press conference. This guy was so lost and off-putting it hit me like a ton of bricks that there is no way he has what it takes to run a NY NFL Team. End of discussion.
I'm not against him stepping down into a salary cap management position, similar to what he did in Seattle, but he needs to be out of the decision making department. He's a complete failure as the face of our front office.
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