When Rex Ryan became the head coach of The New York Jets in 2009, he wanted to bring a winning culture to the team. In Ryan’s first season, The Jets went 9-7 as they ascended to The AFC Championship Game before bowing out to The Indianapolis Colts. Ryan did this with a team that wasn’t expected to contend. Fresh off of the momentum created in 2009, The Jets came into 2010 and they were expected to contend. The Jets finished the regular season with a record of 11-5, but they were unable to win The AFC East as that honor went to The New England Patriots. In spite of that, The Jets made it back to The AFC Championship Game before losing to The Pittsburgh Steelers. When The Jets walked off of the field in Pittsburgh on a cold day in January 2011, they left their chances of winning a Super Bowl in The Steel City as well.
When Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum drafted quarterback Mark Sanchez in 2009, he swapped first-round draft picks with The Cleveland Browns as well as giving them a third-round round pick. The Jets also gave The Detroit Lions multiple draft picks to moved up 12 spots in the third round in 2009 to draft Iowa Hawkeyes running back Shonn Greene. During the 2009 season, Tannenbaum acquired wide receiver Braylon Edwards from The Browns in exchange for a third and fifth-round pick in The 2010 National Football League Draft. In March 2010, Tannenbaum made a trade with The San Diego Chargers to acquire cornerback Antonio Cromartie in exchange for a third-round pick in The 2011 NFL Draft. In April 2010, Tannenbaum acquired wide receiver Santonio Holmes from The Pittsburgh Steelers for a fifth-round pick. The Jets also signed veteran running back LaDainian Tomlinson and outside linebacker Jason Taylor to gear up for a title run. Holmes, Cromartie, and Edwards came to The Jets with character issues, but each player was in the last year of his respective contract which meant that they would be model citizens while Taylor and Tomlinson were in the twilight of their potential Hall of Fame careers.
After the season in 2010, Tannenbaum gave Cromartie and Holmes new contracts while Edwards left as a free-agent to join The San Francisco 49ers. Tomlinson showed his age in 2011 while Taylor finished his career last season as a member of The Miami Dolphins.
In the process of acquiring players, The Jets only had three picks for The 2009 NFL Draft and four in 2010. In The NFL teams are built through drafting. The last two Super Bowl Champions, The Green Bay Packers and New York Giants were ravaged by injuries during their respective Super Bowl runs, but they found a way to hoist up The Lombardi Trophy because Packers general manager Ted Thompson and Giants general manager Jerry Reese have each done an exceptional job of drafting. Most NFL general managers will tell you that the sexy picks are taken in the first round, but you build your team in rounds three through seven.
Now with Holmes out for the season after suffering a Lisfranc foot injury, The Jets depth will be tested at the wide receiver position. The same case can be made for The Jets secondary as Pro Bowl cornerback Darelle Revis is out for season after suffering a torn ACL in Week 3 against The Dolphins.
The Jets are lacking the depth that is needed to contend for a playoff spot and they are staring down the barrel of starting over in next April’s NFL Draft. Besides Revis, only center Nick Mangold and offensive tackle D’Brickashaw Ferguson have become impact players for The Jets that were drafted by Tannenbaum. Two of The Jets 2012 draft picks didn’t make the team’s final 53-man roster which makes me question the team’s draft analysis. Generally when a team drafts a player, he will at least have a season to prove himself whether it is on special teams or as a member of the practice squad.
As a quarterback, Sanchez has questions about his ability which goes back to the lack of impact players that The Jets currently have around him. Ryan and Tannenbaum have polished up 1978 El Dorado that they are trying to sucker people into believing that it is fully-functional. Ryan is talking a good game as he always does, but the bottom could be ready to fall out on this team which comes back to Tannenbaum.
Jet fans were teased with the fact that this squad made The AFC Championship Game in each of Ryan’s first two seasons in New York. It didn’t help the anxiety of this fan base that The Giants and Patriots whom are two of The Jets key rivals made The Super Bowl last season after Ryan had gone out of his way to boast about his squad being better than these two teams. Last week’s 34-0 blowout loss to the San Francisco 49ers might be the tip of the iceberg for The Jets as they could be ready to crumble. The farther that The Jets sink into the abyss could make it harder for Tannenbaum to keep his job as general manager for The Jets as it might time to start over from scratch for Gang Green.
Leave A Comment