Surely, THIS is the year the Jets don’t fall apart…right?

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Time Stamps
0:00 Welcome back!
5:53 Jets fans…are you okay?
9:36 Scheme Breakdown
18:29 Front Office and Staff Breakdown
24:45 Best Jets Fantasy Values
34:02 Free Agency Losses and Gains
43:05 The Jets Rookie Class
57:01 Summary and Season Predictions

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fun fact EJ the Jets had nine offensive linemen last year that played two or more positions nine okay most since 2006 uh and I’ll tell you what Jets fans would agree with this we could tell like it looked like it on the field kind of looked like it yeah I think that’s the fair assessment of you hear some of those stats and you’re like but wait they made it look so seamless and no no they didn’t no they didn’t there a lot of [ __ ] seams on that team last year uh and it it was not good it didn’t go well um things started off so hopeful we got about four snaps in then hope kind of went away and they didn’t have a plan and jets fans know this I’m sure a lot of them are just skipping ahead to the fun offseason part uh we will get there by the way we’ll have some fun little scheme discussions and you know Personnel discussions and you know coaching changes or coaching non changes realignments realignments yeah shifting of job duties maybe possibly uh a lot to go over today but uh we do also have to discuss uh 2023 a little bit to kind of set the stage for 2024 so uh with all that being said Jay roll the [Music] intro yeah welcome once again to the bootleg football podcast I can’t remember what episode number this is in our team preview series but uh we are going day by day team by team looking at uh the 20123 season for every single uh ball Club as well as looking at what they did in the off season previewing what they might do uh this season uh I will say probably going to be a lot of similar things said this year uh about the Jets that we had last year which is well if Aaron Rogers is healthy they’re going to be pretty good uh we maintain that yes as long as Aaron Rogers is healthy they’re going to be pretty good however what’s different this year uh I have a little bit more confidence that Aaron Rogers is going to stay healthy this year because their offensive line on paper is a lot better which again we’re going to get into that as well but before we do EJ how you feeling I was having a little bit of deja vu at that moment thinking oh what did we say about the Jets last year oh we said yeah if this works it’s going to work and just like all Jets fans that lasted all of four plays and this year we like no really believe us it will work if it works but I’m with you they’ve done a lot to solve their problems and really that’s going to come in in the free agency section when we talk about that Joe Douglas did what he needed to do I think he did as much as a general manager can do to really fix the issues and you know of course that sounds really pedantic like well isn’t that his job it’s all their jobs it’s surprising how few of them get it done as completely at least on paper so again we have more hope of what looks like a very similar team it’s because they made some key additions to a have a better plan if knock on whatever piece of plywood this is particle board yeah particle board and say if something goes wrong last year I think everybody felt at that moment like four plays in and everybody went oh buddy like it’s like they had to Rally but they had no plan that was their plan and it was gone and I think they’ve learned from that Robert sa said as much like hey if that happens again we’re going to be more ready than we were well good on you you better be um but let’s hope that doesn’t happen let’s hope which is the same thing we said last year I realized which is why I’m having that Deja Vu we want to see Aaron Rogers on the field like they got him there for a reason we like their weapons we want to see him operating that offense at a high level been a while since he’s done that now but man if that happens it’s going to be fun before we dive into uh 2023 and kind of expanding on on what happened last year and then of course getting into 2024 uh I do want to thank Underdog our sponsor that made this whole thing happen uh you know again I flew up to uh well the Seattle area we’re not in Seattle where how many ever miles south of Seattle over on the Puget Sound again we’re inside today cuz uh May in the Pacific North gures everything yeah not not not as sunny as I thought it might be um but you know it’s okay we still have a uh nice heated interior to do Today’s Show from but I want to thank Underdog for helping to make this all possible you know being our primary sponsor that’s literally funding the show all of last year and all of this year uh if you guys uh want to support our sponsors who make this show possible you can of course go to the link down in the description below or uh you can go to the uh QR code that we’re flying on screen right now promo code bootleg you get a deposit match offer and there’s also a pick them special for you waiting in the pick them lobbies as well they kind of rotate every single week so it’s tough for me to put up the exact one that it is today but uh we’ll through the magic of editing put whatever the pick them special is for this week on the screen right now post it could be basketball it could be hockey could be golf you know there there’s season long NFL pick thems going on right now uh there’s obviously basball drafts going on right now so there’s a lot to do on Underdog check it out see if there’s anything you want to play uh and use our promo code bootleg and you get a whole bunch of goodies to go along with that and when you support our sponsors you uh make this whole show literally function we get to keep doing this we get to keep doing it uh so again thank you to Underdog with all that being said let’s talk about uh briefly let’s talk about 2023 so we can actually get to the good stuff yeah we’ll keep this short we know what the reasons were as do you uh overall results 7 and 10 that put their them third in the division home record of 4-5 road record of 3 and5 last five games 3-2 they did start to figure it out towards the end of the year better late than never uh we’re introducing a new metric this year it’s called QBs or quarterback support I came up with it along with Argent Menon of PFF and really think of it as a rating of the support that a team gives its quarterback and that comes in offensive measures of pass blocking and non-qb rushing EPA pass scheme defensive effect iess based on EPA and special teams so it’s really everything how did they set the table to be able to perform on the field it’s from Z to 100 worst team in the NFL is zero best team in the NFL is 100 Jets came in at 38.7 that placed them 20th out of 32 teams which again if you’re a Jets Watcher you’re probably not surprised by that rating and then we’ll talk about power score which is the ranks they came up with with all that support again their NFL rank based on rushing offense passing offense Rush defense and pass defense then points scored and points allowed so rushing offense not good 29th passing offense worse 31st but you probably knew that already I’m surprised there was anybody worse I’m not going to lie we’ll get to that uh Rush defense Jeff rri’s defense very solid was ninth and their pass defense fourth Elite top five and top 10 um points scored 29th not surprising points allowed 12th they’re scoring defense was also very good so it’s not just that they were good situationally against the run of the pass as a whole that defense was very solid pulling more than its fair share of the weight um overall that gives them a power score of 19 in power score lower is better if you are number one you would have ranks of number one across the board of course no team has that so a power score of 19 makes you 21st in the NFL overall and when you look at that their QBs being 20th their power score being 21st it’s about on par and I know this is going to anger some Jets fans but they might have actually even overachieved a little bit I know it doesn’t feel like it you look at some of the games they won early like the Buffalo game like after Aaron went out they had no business winning that thing and they still did right so I like yeah they kind of did overachieve a little bit considering the circumstances but I think that’s also why there’s so much hype on this team is they look at what happened last year and they’re like guys we we didn’t have a quarterback back and we had nine different offensive linemen playing multiple spots and we still went seven and 10 yeah we still won games so they’re they’re not that far off it’s literally an offensive line and a quarterback away aon’s coming back and then uh you know they they made some made a lot of investments in the offensive line so unlike another team in the division spoiler alert where we’re like we kind of like the the moves in a vacuum but they didn’t really address what the real problems were the Jets kind of did address what the real problems were which is offensive line and backup quarterback situation so it’s it’s pretty easy I don’t want to say fall into the Trap but it’s pretty easy to understand why a lot of people are thinking okay well is this the year they actually go on the run because they’re they’re kind of they’re more built to weather the storm of a normal NFL season no put in because there’s literally a storm outside right now but they’re kind of more built for it uh this year and I I commend Joe Douglas for that like they actually have done a a really really good job um we’ll get in into the specifics of of all the moves they made in a little bit uh I do want to talk about you know schematic information here you know last year we kind of just threw a bunch of numbers at you and said have fun we’ll Whittle it down a little bit and just talk about okay what are the things they do well what is the identity of the team cuz at the end of the day like identities are are what win and lose uh NFL games um their identity as an offense when everybody’s healthy again massive massive uh star there when everybody’s healthy the identity of the offense is primarily a wide Zone based running scheme with kind of Duo as the change up I was looking through a bunch of different you know downs and distances field positions everything like that and I was like okay do they you know even looking at fronts and Personnel groupings is there anything that I could really figure out of like what’s the trend for wide Zone vers Duo cuz they call those two runs more than anything else by far like that’s kind of the only things they really call and I was like can I find any sort of trends like when they call wide Zone versus when they call Duo and I couldn’t everything actually stayed fairly consistent in terms of the percentages I was like oh that’s good that’s better than most teams makes them harder to game plan against if you if you’re not like really sure what you’re going to get because again wide Zone and Duo are very different run schemes and you stop them very differently as a defense like you you you read it and you fit it a lot differently so the fact that I couldn’t really find any discernable trend for how they run the ball I was like okay that’s we’re cooking a little bit there as far as the pass game it’s going to look wildly different this year mainly because the quarterback’s going to be wildly different this year and we know that in any Aaron Rogers offense the pass game is just whatever Aaron decides to do with the line of scrimmage it all comes down to you know connections with his receivers and being able to look each other and like literally exchange glances and change Concepts on the Fly by just looking at each other but that’s kind of how Aaron Rogers Pass games have always operated which is he’s going to give you a hard count he’s going to see what you’re in he’s going to look at his receivers they’re going to do some funky hand signals they’re going to run something entirely different than what was called and it’s going to work if Aaron’s on the field it’s going to work so uh that’s kind of what they did last year or rather what they wanted to do last year and I think it’s what they’re going to do a lot of this year and it’s interesting you say that about why Zone in Duo to talking about the Run game because again with a quarterback that’s as experienced as Aaron Rogers they can have two called yeah and based on not even the hard count he can come up look at the front look at the shades on the tackles up front and say you know it’s one or two we’re calling basically the same run but we’re calling it in a different concept because we get a favorable alignment if so he’s got that level of experience of smarts he can do that in half a second when he gets to the line and offensive coordinator or play caller whoever that might be and can just basically say okay here’s your two pack like call it the way that is best based on alignment when you get to the line of scrimmage a lot of quarterbacks might struggle with that Aaron Rogers is that’s that’s easy pickings for him that’s you know before breakfast work so um not only in the pass game but also in the Run game that ability to always take advantage of whatever the defense is giving you is a tremendous uptick from where they were last year yeah for those of you familiar with the term can calls you probably hear that a lot uh you know especially with any you know shanyan Tree West Coast system it’s here’s the 11w play call canot to blah blah blah blah blah another seven words and again the play calls are long but if you’re thinking about how the Huddle operates everybody’s just kind of listening for their specific Parts they just need two or three words to know what they’re doing really the only person who needs to understand what all the words are is the quarterback and Aaron Aaron’s Aaron like he he’s he’s got the whole thing so I know the play calls are intimidating but it’s really only intimidating for the quarterback everybody individually is like what’s the formation you know offensive lineman like what protection are we in uh you know receivers like what’s my route like it’s it’s all modular right so that’s why West Coast offenses do it that way is so that everything is very modular and you can kind of just you know pick can choose little words here and there from different concepts throw them all together into a play call can it to another you know modularly built play call and there you go you have an offense uh always cracks me up with the young guys who are entering a West Coast offense they got no idea what to do no they hear their two things and they start to leave the Huddle and the quarterback’s like yo cuz they’re just waiting and then they’re so focused they’re like where’s my bit where’s my bit there’s my bit okay and they leave and the quarterback’s like stay put I’m not done yet yeah oh and who who was it there was some DB might have been Dion back in the day uh he could always tell if it was a run or a Pass based on you know how how early receivers would leave cuz if they heard run they’re just like oh whatever like you know but also like that like how their body language was you know it’s like you know strapping the gloves am I not strapping the gloves like stay in the Huddle okay it’s stay in the can’t give [ __ ] away uh on defense schematic numbers um they played like a defense that had better DBS than almost everybody else a lot of cover one a lot of match quarters which is basically just man coverage with extra steps if you’re looking at how it plays out like sure still a lot of people on Islands out there everything turns in demand when it’s 15 yards down the field but they had the DBS to do it like they they didn’t really play a lot of fire zone They didn’t really Blitz a lot at all CU again they had a great pass rush too I think they had the 32nd ranked Blitz rate in the NFL last year at like 177% because they didn’t have to Blitz we’re doing fine without it doing fine without it so it’s like okay we’re playing a low of either cover one or match quarters which again is just man coverage with Zone coverage principles or Zone coverage with man coverage principles however you want to put it Rush with four you know let our inside linebackers that are both Maniacs kill anybody coming across the middle like it it wasn’t a very complicated defense but it worked because they had the talent to not need to play anything complicated they still have most of that talent and even with some of the the Personnel changes uh you know like the John Franklin Myers trade like they still brought in Hassan reic so it’s not like there’s an overall downgrade in Talent here still an elite front four with multiple waves of guys still a great linebacker Duo still a great secondary like this is probably again knock on particle board if everybody stays healthy this is probably a top five to six defense in the league again yep they just need a little bit more offensive help and it is interesting when again so much focuses on one position and rightfully so most important position in sports there was a lot of other things that went on with the Jets season and a lot of people just literally tuned out after the first game I if you’re not a Jets fan and you’re looking at it and hoping that the Aaron Rogers you know circus is going to play out on the field and you’re going to get to see that they had a notably a ton of Prime Time games which then became kind of a weight around the neck of the league but so many times really good things happened down the stretch to young players developing to guys stepping into roles as we talked about guys moving on and they like oh they lost somebody but they like yeah but they drafted a guy the year before and they think he’s ready and so we’re going to see some of those storylines play out see if they’re right see if you know those coaches have have done their job and gotten those guys to a development point where there’s not really a drop off even though a player left we’ll talk about all those later on um there’s a lot of good story lines about the Jets and a lot of them just got subbed out because everybody went well it’s over after you know one quarter of football this Kyo Ruby is really good by the way it’s fantastic stuff it’s almost as good as the Sherry no the Sherry is the Sherry is the The Shining Star for those that don’t know we brought a whole stash of different whiskies to sustain us throughout the week we did we got midwinter we got Kyo we got Jameson we have an elite shelf in the kitchen we’ve got Jameson 18 Kyle Ruby uh new Rift Single Barrel which you might not have heard of but it’s delicious um myem and green like it’s it’s it’s a killer lineup there’s no there’s no weak spots yeah and that’s why we’re recording this at like 3 in the afternoon it’s like okay we we could do you know Kyo at like 10:00 a.m. but that would be a little bit problematic so depends on breakfast uh all right we are now at the coaching and front office section EJ’s favorite section because he just gets to dig up nuggets about random assistant coaches uh I’ll let you take the floor good times Well GM Joe Douglas we’ve already talked about him we’re going to talk about him more as we get to the free agency period because he’s done a great job in the draft we’ve liked the Jets draft two years ago they were one of our uh three favorite drafts uh in the NFL and our wrapup right after the draft episode um but he really did his work or earned his money in free agency this year and we’ll talk about that in a bit Robert Salah head coach uh year four as head coach of the Jets um offensive coordinator and this is interesting Nathaniel Hackett uh in name now is he though right so we should talk about this there was a I don’t know how do you want to classify this a Kur fuffle about the fact that the Jets had made some motions to have him retain that title but have some of the job functions siphoned off to other folks and make it look a certain way I don’t really know what to make out of that except they weren’t terribly happy with what they got last year so they were trying to diversify a little bit without flat out firing Nathaniel Hackett that’s all I could read out of that um so the answer is I don’t know if he really is and I’m not sure if anybody outside the building really knows that either I also am not sure how much matters because again Aaron is Aaron and he’s going to do whatever he’s going to do when he’s at the line of scrimmage I even I don’t even know how true the report is I I really don’t the Jets have denied it of course they are um sure a lot of going go yeah yeah we absolutely tried to do that thanks for letting us know does it like if anybody else was calling the play like would it really matter that much because Aaron’s still going to do his thing like I I kind of don’t really care at this point in his career you know probably a solid 70 plus perent of that offense is in his hand every time he goes to the line it might be higher than that yeah so at the end of the day I’m not saying the the OC airs is Aaron roders but like it’s very much like pton Manning Pon Manning Years everybody was like oh it’s blank and it’s like it’s not it’s Payton at this point they’re game planning Partners but the guy running the show on the field is kind of correct the guy that’s going to get the ball in his hands every snap is the guy that’s really controlling it um defensive coordinator Jeff ol um you know former Niners linebacker who now has been a coach for a long time and has been extremely successful I really because again so much glare and Spotlight and focus was on the offense last year again this defense was Elite top five and you know or top four and top nine like overall point scored almost top 10 this is is a very very very good defense that flew around is extremely fun to watch you talked about their linebacking Duo one of my favorite Duos you know of inside linebackers in the NFL just a really talented fun well- coached fast defense I feel like jeffri kind of doesn’t get credit for that Robert solah came from the defensive side a lot of that shine goes to him Jeff olber is the nuts and bolts sort of day-to-day guy on this defense and it is one of the best defenses in the NF definitely deserves his flowers special teams coordinator brand Boer notable coaches will pick a handful out of both the offensive and defensive side Shan Jefferson is the wide receivers coach his son plays in the league van Jefferson Ron Middleton the famous make you run through the wall tight end coach of the Jets uh of Hard Knox fame um I think you know one of the most player focused coaches in the entire league that guys would just sign up for if you made him I feel like if you made Ron Middleton the head coach of a team guys would be like I I’ll take a free agent deal over there yeah like he’s just one of those guys um on the defensive side marran Manuel is the defensive back and safeties coach people remember him as a former player from the NFL and uh Mike Rutenberg the linebacker coach wanted to give him his flowers because again his guys are out there absolutely tearing it up playing at full speed um you know when we were doing bootleg shot of the week like it was like yeah so Mosley and uh you know it was always a Jets linebacker and we always had to have one and it wasn’t hard to find their shot of the week because they always had one especially Quincy like literally on a weekly basis yeah it was like Quincy and who else are we going to add because Quincy had one right oh we actually had three we just need to pick the favorite one um so rudenberg gets rudenberg gets his flowers for that might be the greatest collection of linebacker developers in the NFL if you’re looking at Salah who’s a linebacker guy well also defensive line but like he’s a linebacker guyb linebacker coach you know going back to his time in Atlanta uh and and then you got Rutenberg like find me a better room of linebacker coaches I don’t I don’t know if one exists I you know in terms of their results on the field and how well those guys play like again a position that’s been generally devalued in the NFL um inside linebackers are finding it tough to get deals except for the the cream cream cream of the crop and you know to have three guys on a staff like that typically um staffs like that that we highlight are quarterback developers where there’s a quarterback’s coach and OC and a head coach who are all like quarterback guys and we’re like oh well if you’re a quarterback you want to go play for those guys if you’re a linebacker you want to go play for the Jets yeah because you’ve got a position coach a defensive coordinator and a head coach who all understand what you’re doing and put you in a position to succeed so probably a big reason why uh CJ Mosley this offseason he had like a 17 million salary like a $21 million cap hit and he willingly did like this restructure SL like mini extension cuz like he’s like why would I want to go anywhere else like this place is great for me just to pick the Harbaugh line who’s got it better than us nobody I’m not going anywhere why would I leave this uh given all that information again the schematic information we pointed out um you know the the coaching the front office everything like that we we like to pick three offensive players that are our Underdog top three and these are top three values right ideally in most cases it will be values with the Jets it’s kind of a slightly altered discussion about value yeah and I’ll kind of set the stage here so you got Bree Hall his ADP is the seventh overall pick okay makes sense G his ADP is the 12th overall pick on Underdog right now okay again makes sense probably going to be the number one receiver for Aaron Rogers who historically feeds his number one receiver understood Malak K Corley is going at wide receiver 74 ADP 167 so in a 10-man league it’s like late 16th round pick right you’re getting him for nothing right this is the 1970s NFL draft that had 33 rounds who did we pick in the 2D day seven but that’s it’s such an interesting discussion about value cuz you got two guys that are priced probably correctly and you’re not getting value on them at all right versus Malachi Corley who you and I both like a lot in a particular role again he’s more of like the yak guy theh he’s slash he’s a running back receiver returner kick returner under the new rules just give him the ball and watch him go right and that’s why they drafted him yeah cuz like he he could play three different spots for you and probably will play three different spots for him but it’s it’s a wildly different discussion on value where you got two guys that are going really really high probably appropriately versus one guy that’s probably going later than he should considering the role that we think he’s going to play for them in terms of getting a bunch of manufactured touches and everything like that where do you stand on on these three like are you cool with I don’t want to say over indexing but properly IND indexing on the top two Jets weapons or if if you were trying to Value playay it and you didn’t want to you know invest too much in a offense led by a 40-year-old quarterback coming off in Achilles would you rather wait for Malachi Corley at wide receiver 74 and and try to try to pick up value that way especially in a baseball league where you only need him to pop off a few times yeah we talked about this before we started recording and it really comes down to how you want to play right and at the end of the day these are games these are games people play these are games we play with NFL players and do you want to have that hey I unearth Jam I was there first a lot of uh you know bootleg listeners and Watchers have reached out to us and said that’s what they really enjoy is hearing about these guys early on even before they’re drafted and then you know following their careers and picking them up early and Dynasty and everything else and that and that’s that’s how they want to play that’s what they really enjoy about it as opposed to the more sort of chalk approach hey I’ve got the you know seventh overall pick and I need a running back and I think Bree is a very good one we think that as well I’m going to put that piece in my Arsenal and get those other pieces elsewhere I’m not going to wait and kind of do that first for the Jets for whatever reason so it really comes down to me to a stylistic play because I don’t think that Bree or Garrett are overvalued now Garrett especially hinges on Aaron Rogers Bree is going to get his either way so that’s another piece of it like do you want the sure sure thing or do you want that if Aaron is healthy this could the mostly sure thing this could be an absolute comment because we keep saying that about G we believe it about him he has that level of talent if he gets solid quarterback play he’s going to be right up there in that conversation with the Justin Jefferson the world and I don’t think that’s hyperbole like I think if he is fed well he can eat at that level so it comes down to a sort of stylistic preference like do you want to get chalk out of the way first if so we believe that both Bree and Garrett are solid at those levels and can perform If you’re sort of stashing one away and you’re going to go back to the Jets later on Malachi Corley could be really interesting but he too it’s depending talking about this earlier on that he’s going to have to have a player like him who is uh sort of a wide receiver three wide receiver four candidate um that is about Yak he’s going to have to break a couple early in his career it’s tough for young receivers to do but I’m talking like first third of the season six seven games he’s going to have to have three or four plays where he really gets people’s attention does what he does makes two or three people Miss picks up an extra 20 or 25 scores was a touchdown and crunch time so people will go hey when we feed the rookie good things happen because as any wide receiver three or four we tend to get pretty excited about them but the reality is they’re not going to have a ton of touches yeah like you have to like prove it first unless your Aman Ro a brown and he too had to do that right he had to go out and produce and produce and they’re like man he’s just super consistent we need to keep feeding him the ball Malachi Corley I feel like all the males to feed in the Jess offense his chances are going to be less and it’s going to put even more pressure on those touches to really perform and that can go both ways like you can fumble or you can make three guys miss and go 25 yards if he has a couple of those flashes the calls will get a little bit louder both inside the building and out that hey we gave him three touches good things happen let’s see if we can get him four let’s see if we can get him five because the reality is very few rookies are going to come in in wide receiver three or four rolls and get eight to 12 touches a game like none of them are getting that so you got to do a lot with the ones you get early and sort of change that perception or or build that confidence it’s a huge thing with Aaron Rogers as well typically rookie receivers or drop one and you’re not getting another one for the next 25 or 30 tosses so like it’s poor Christian Watson oh man it’s even more critical um but it’ll be fun to see and he’s certainly got the talent to do it this is not you know Malachi Corley sler this is a he’s in a spot jumping leagues is tough and he’s going to have to do it it reminds me a lot of of Puka last year and everybody wants to find the next puka like who’s who’s the rounder how many question how many times have you gotten that question in the last three months I’ve gotten it about every single rookie like is Keon Coleman the next puka is Malachi Corley the next puka is Malik Washington this year’s puka I get that text at least once a week oh I’ve got a dynasty draft EJ coming up like give me puka and I’m like there isn’t one puka is puka but you didn’t get him obviously so you know it’s it’s an impossible standard to live up to but it’s funny that he he’s become this really sort of legendary mythical figure in the fantasy Community because he popped off we liked him we didn’t even think he was going to hit those Heights but now everybody wants that guy like hey you knew beforehand like tell me the next one I’m like dude I don’t have the lottery numbers if I do probably wouldn’t be doing this for a living also there’s a reason why we were we were so big on puka this time last year which was just the hand and glove fit with the role like we could immediately project the role yeah it’s right there we’re not entirely sure what Malachi’s role is going to be immediately we know he has the talent yes he’s more physically talented than puka to be honest well I know you were big on puka I’m I’m All no when I look at how he moves like he’s a more explosive mover than puka to me to you I know you were a big puka guy I again we don’t need to debate that but again a lot of think a lot of people I think under but here’s the thing even though he’s a more explosive mover than puka to me puka was a better player oh yeah coming out right the big the big thing was was health so is Malachi Corley the same level of football player as pugu when he’s coming out of BYU no does he have the potential to be just as Dynamic a weapon after the catch yet yes because of how explosive he is yeah they’re very different players both incredibly talented as football players and as athletes they are different athletes but they’re both very good athletes and very good football players but they’re also very different they get it done in very very different ways so I I’m sure we thoroughly confused you at this point do I take them late or not wait I I thought I wanted him now I don’t here’s what I’ll say it’s a 16th round pick guys oh yeah throw the dart at this point like [ __ ] it 16th round pick yeah that is a value really no matter which way you look at it and we both think he’s going to outproduce that yes like pretty easily even if we are not 100% sure what the role is yet it’s like give the guy some touches you’re going to get some points out of him and again in a best ball format that’s exactly what you need you don’t need points every week you need him to go off for a few weeks hopefully for his sake those weeks are early in the season because he’ll get more of them down the road if that’s the case but either way it’s a 16th round pick yeah uh let’s get to free agency losses there there are some teams in this division that uh March was not kind to them at all uh for the Jets total opposite March was very kind for them like yes they did have some losses but uh if we’re looking at the names that left versus the names that came in and or stayed which we’ll get to in just a second pretty uh pretty easy for me to say it’s a net positive yeah and really the focus of the two areas you’re going to get to talk about which are the additions and the resigning we just we line up with them very well we’ll talk about the losses first uh some big names that I didn’t highlight Dwayne Brown obviously didn’t play a lot for them he’s aging still a good player Carl Lawson very very deep defensive line on the Jets I still think Carl Lawson can be a nice rotational player um again approaching 30 but still has gas left in tank just didn’t end up playing because inj on that team you know there’s a lot of talent you got injured um so lots of other names that left but when you really talk about guys that had impact John Franklin Meers you mentioned earlier went to the Broncos in a trade uh he played over 50% of the snaps 55% Zack Wilson I highlighted not necessarily because of his impact but just because of his profile high draft pick at quarterback that doesn’t work out in the Big Apple you got to mention it uh now also with the Broncos uh uh qff Quinton Jefferson um ends up with the Browns he played just over 40% of the snaps but they were a very particular uh type and we’ll talk about how they replaced him when we get to the addition section Jordan Whitehead one of my favorites came from the Bucks to the Jets and I said a couple years ago on this podcast this is going to be a key Edition for them was played almost 95% of the defensive snaps ends up going back to the Buccaneers which I think is fascinating um McKai beckon again High pick was supposed to be the answer as one of the bookend tackles um ends up on the Eagles uh again played 90% of the snaps for the Jets last year and now he gets to go to work with Jeff Stalin yeah I he didn’t work out with the Jets for a bunch of different reasons need to relitigate it if anybody could fix him it’s the landing spot yeah I mean there’s there’s like two it was like Callahan or Stalin if he lands with either I’m like he’s probably going to be all right at least uh if not better because maai beckon uh innumerable physical tools has yet to put it all together if anybody can help him out with that it’s Stalin uh Bryce Huff The Edge also goes to the Eagles Bryce Huff complete Fireball off the edge uh was a Target hopefully uh last season uh for the Bears I thought you know man if they could get Bryce Huff but the Jets knew what they had they were not letting Bryce Huff go they knew how efficient he was um they weren’t they weren’t going to give him up for anything but a Kings Ransom here he plays his last year ends up going to the Eagles again a very deep defensive line that wears green he’s going to feel right at home and then lak and thomlinson the guard ends up going to the Seahawks he played 100% of the snaps pretty rare for any he was the only offensive lineman that stayed healthy like literally the only one everything moved around him and he was just in the middle of the swirl going guys like do I know your name um lean Tomlinson Rock Solid for the Jets uh and ends up Seahawks Seahawks needed help on the interior offensive line so those are the guys that I think really sort of matter as losses for the Jets there were many more but those are sort of the the most meaningful pieces that moved on out of New York they kind of just did a swap uh on on Huff because then they traded for Hassan reic anyway so it’s so funny when teams do that it’s like uh we’re going to let our cornerback go oh he signed with you can we trade for yours uh so they they brought him in uh via trade in terms of um you know who who was already in house that they kept obviously CJ Mosley they did that kind of like restructure is mini extension to bring his cap hit down uh Chuck Clark is back if you remember this time last year Tores ACL which we were really bummed about because we love Chuck Clark uh but he’s he’s back this year so is it safe to say he was the defensive version of Aaron roders except it was June instead of we were extremely hyped about that got injured and then it was like oh the fit was so perfect not going to ask still is perfect though yeah and now he’s back and he’s had a full year Well by the time games happen it’ll be over a full year correct so he he should be all right uh Greg zerline they brought back Ashton Davis uh they brought back at I highlighted that one just for you uh because you know I was a huge Ashton Davis guy that’s right uh when he was coming out in the draft uh Sam uan who does not get uh pretty much any press ever but I’ve always been a really big Sam Goan guy like as your other other other linebacker yep a lot of teams honestly he’d probably start for a bunch of teams he’s not starting for this team when when you know they they’re nickel two linebackers on the field but he’s a good player yep he’s been a good player in multiple spots uh in terms of third party editions this is this is really where Joe Douglas this is where Joe Douglas made his money yes so Javon kinlaw they brought him in to be a rotational interior uh lineman for them at you know semi-reasonable considering current defensive tackle Market at uh 7.25 million fine whatever I’m okay with that uh Isaiah Oliver who’s kind of become this you know journeyman veteran nickel that’s also going to play special teams for you he’s not going to ideally he’s not going to play a bunch of snaps for them in nickel but if they go into dime he’ll he’ll get a lot on the field and if they lose somebody he’ll probably come in and play the slot for them that’s kind of the role he’s found uh in his career uh Mike Williams they brought him in um I’m not 100% sure how many games they’re going to get out of him but considering it’s uh it’s only a $10 million deal in the current wide receiver Market to have him be your go up and get it pull some magic [ __ ] on the sideline like that’s that’s like their ideal number two receiver to to compliment Garrett so great deal for that Tyron Smith this is the big one again not 100% sure how many games they’re going to get out of right but that’s why they did a certain thing at the at the top of the draft that we’ll get to in just a second to insulate themselves from Tyron potentially getting hurt but if tyron’s on the field franchise left tackle he still got plenty of juice in the tank uh son reic we mentioned they they brought him over in a trade from the Jets uh to Rod Taylor to give them a another veteran backup that they can actually put on the field and and feel decent about it I think he’s going to be a great mentor for Jordan Travis as well who’s who they also drafted uh Morgan Moses they traded for to give them uh a better option at right tackle and then finally John Simpson who they signed uh also from the Ravens uh to be their new left guard so they basically completely remade this offensive line in one off season and used draft assets to reinforce the veterans that they brought in so that no matter what even if guys go down because it’s the NFL and guys are going to go down they’re going to be in better shape than they were last year and I love that Joe Douglas did this like he committed every resource he could possibly scr up between the couch cushions yep to make sure this offensive line would hold up and he did a great job literally every addition the only one I didn’t highlight was Ley fotu and I could have highlighted him because he’s coming in again to fill in some of those John Franklin Myer snaps and I think he’ll do that well if you’re literally highlighting every single free agent that team brought in they understood the assignment like Joe Douglas understood his homework going into the off season Javon kinlaw and Isaiah Oliver both coming over from the 49ers although Salah hasn’t been on staff there for four years he certainly has friends he has solid connections to those players we talked about retooling the entire offensive line Mike Williams is just kind of a Gambit just kind of a throwaway like we hope this works again we’re not sure how often he’s going to be on the field but the big one for me is is Tyrod Taylor like okay disaster scenario Aaron goes down again what are we doing we’re going a Tyrod he’s been in this situation multiple times before very few people in the NFL can say that and he’s been Rock Solid you’re not dropping off a cliff if something happens to Aaron because you did the offensive line and everything else but then you’ve got tyod you got that veteran stability there’s possibly not a better guy in the NFL to be the number two on the Jets right now than Tyrod Taylor Joe Douglas crushed it and even though Taylor himself has had some injury issues it’s kind of odd to say this but I also think their their young you know Plucky rookie backup situation is also better this year than it was in recent years like as weird as this is to say I actually have more confidence if like worst case scenario again knock on particle board worst case scenario Jordan Travis has to go in and play because the top two old guys get hurt given what we know about Zack Wilson if Zach Wilson was on this team I would have felt better about Jordan Travis going in than Zach Wilson so like across the board at at number one number two and number three in the room they’re better this year and their offensive Line’s better they’ve used every possible Avenue to improve the team and that’s really what a general manner job is and Joe Douglas again didn’t stop the free agency and sort of go ah I got it done went back to the draft and went if that doesn’t work I’m putting in the third layer of redundency we’re going to talk about the draft you alluded to Olu vishanu at the top of the draft out of Penn State the 11th overall pick you know if nothing else it gives them a succession plan for the future if they don’t have to play him right away great great yeah that’s awesome right give him a year to develop but if he’s you know competing for a starting spot as a rookie even better like it’s just a no lose situation for them Malachi Corley out of Western Kentucky uh down in the third round at the 65th overall pick we talked about him and what we think his role is going to be again some added value with the new kickoff rule is is just another piece brilin Allen the hammer running back out of Wisconsin uh fourth round pick 134 overall gives them yet another big hammer of a running back they do have a type um Jordan Travis the aforementioned Jordan Travis of Florida State who we interviewed at The Shrine Bowl and and you know was you know steaming along towards a national championship shot until an injury late in the season very smart guy really love the way his teammates talk about him um feels like sooner rather than later he’s going to be in the position to lead in NFL team and he’s going to be just fine with that he’s a really impressive person yeah like as a leader too big for him yeah no I just he’s the coolest dude in the room like nothing bothers and not in an artificial way just in hey this is the way I am and everybody thinks I’m cool right I’m not trying this is just everybody thinks I’m cool and this this is just me being me and that’s the best possible result even down to like answering questions from the media because like we talked to some of those Florida State DBS and boy they had a lot of choice words for the committee whereas Jord Travis was like you know very presidential I guess you could say of just like I’m no he knew what he wanted to say you could tell it it definitely mattered to him which the rage in the eyes which I also liked I there got to be a little bit of fire there but in the way that he presented his answer he was very sure he thought about it beforehand it was not polished or plasticky but it was reserved in the proper way let’s just say that yeah he’s just a really impressive dude he’s a smart kid uh I love his pocket presence you know downfield accuracy could be a little bit spotty um but as far as how he handles pressure in the pocket I feel like that’s the harder thing for a young kid to master is like hey if you’re doing a three-step drop and you’re keeping it short to like seven or eight yards and you let the tackles fold around you are you going to succumb to the Panic of you know seeing an edge rusher run past your peripheral vision like are you still going to hang in there and deliver the ball and he did yeah so teaching a kid to stay in the pocket under pressure is like one of the hardest things you could do he’s already got that we can we can figure out the Deep ball accuracy I don’t think you can figure out not panicking yeah and I love his short ball accuracy I know that sounds like a backhanded compliment it’s not he delivers an extremely catchable ball on swings and screens that’s a huge part of NFL offens is some some folks say yeah but it’s not hard like your degree of difficulty is not hard well that’s true but you still need to do it well and if you execute those plays is like with very repeatable mechanics over and over again and you always deliver a very consistent and catchable ball out in front of your playmaker it helps them get yards every time it builds Yak right and he’s so so good at that I think it’s an under appreciated aspect of a game because people just think it’s easy because they’re shorter throws he is so drilled on those and I don’t mean robotic I just mean no matter the situation the ball is coming out when it should it’s Landing where it should guys are not having to turn around to catch it um and a lot of quarterbacks you can’t say that about so lot to like about Jordan Travis a lot to like about that pick especially for the Jets Isaiah Davis the running back from South Dakota State who ran behind a couple of our favorites Mason McCormack and Garett Greenfield at South Dakota uh in the fifth round again 173 just a couple picks after Jordan Travis quantz stiggers one of the most interesting stories in the entire draft if you didn’t follow our pre-draft coverage this is a guy that was out of football uh his mom signed him up for some tryouts for the fan controlled Football League uh he went and dominated ended up from there going to a CFL combine uh getting selected by the Toronto Argonauts out of there was not a starter guy in front of him went down classic next man up story didn’t even play the full season uh ends up winning Defensive Rookie of the Year in the CFL after not playing college football is eligible because of that to come into the NFL draft gets selected by the Jets fifth round 176 so they had 171 173 and 176 turned that into three kinds of good talent but quantz Stager great hands solid build um when we were talking to Emy hunt pre-draft he was talking about you know look the field in the CFL is so much wider you’re just a boat in the middle of the ocean he’s going to look around on the NFL field and go this is it this is all I have to cover I got this physical tackler could play nickel could play outside again we interviewed him MIT rinbow love the attitude which is I’m not even really supposed to be here so I’ve got nothing to lose I’ve already proved I can play as a professional which is the most sort of interesting backwards path to the NFL ever uh as we’re seeing more and varied path to the NFL International player program and everything else quantz stiggers fascinating dude great player great story uh and then they rounded out with Jaylen key the safety out of Alabama down on the seventh round at pick 257 right before the end of the draft um again very solid I would say the only sort of luxury pick in there for me is brillan Allen it’s not that he’s a bad football player it’s just that Joe Douglas looked and said okay we’re in the how many big ass running backs do you need Joe yeah I got a big ass running back who I like in the fourth like all right I’ll take him I I’m not going to fault him for that because up and down the board again when you pair that with free agency which is what you’re supposed to do mix and match your resources to sort of solve all your problems very solid draft Jess maybe not the sexiest certainly not you know the draft from a couple years ago that we just absolutely loved and sort of gaped over but like it’s hard to poke a hole that well the Jets are now at the point in their roster building Journey you know back when they had God how many top 50 picks was it in like one class right so many a lot I think it was the the SAU and Garrett and Germaine Johnson draft right oh my God this is amazing right they had a lot of assets and used them really well but they had a lot of assets cuz they were terrible they didn’t have good players and then they got a bu of good players right and so now it’s just about filling in holes and and you know adding depth and you know doing the unsexy thing finding fits finding fits and that’s what the Olu pick is like it’s not sexy but I’ll tell you what it was good it was a great pick Great Value especially because like Olu and Tyron already know each other because they both work with Duke for sure so can you imagine a better Mentor for Olu fashanu especially being a Duke Manny weather Protege than having the Duke Manu weather Protege and Tyron Smith you know being the left tackle in front of you like that’s that’s awesome like it’s a great pick you we talked about the corly pick like we think he he’s super explosive and and can play a bunch of different spots for them um the stiggers pick I I want to also highlight cuz I’m not even sure he’s going to stick at corner they might try him at safety because of the range and the ball skills like he’s not going to get on the field at corner for this team right now he might get on the field at safety yeah three safety looks for sure and he’d be he’d be really good at it I think and he wouldn’t care either yeah he’ll play whatever this isn’t a kid coming out of like the SEC with pedigree like I was a cornerback at LSU I’m not playing safety like he doesn’t carries like I’m a defensive back I don’t really care what you call it it’s all man after a few seconds anyways sure you want to put me at safety that means I get more reps let’s go my favorite story uh from him is his first practice as a rookie again out of the fan control Football League his first practice the Toronto Argonaut he got five picks and the coaches like who the hell is this kid so he can catch where’d you find him again yeah yeah he’s a fun player he’s a really fun player I’m happy that he ended up there just because of of how good that coaching staff is at developing young players like he’s going to be great for them uh notable undrafted free agents they had a a huge udfa Hall they got er Watts out of Yukon I wasn’t a huge Eric Watts guy but I didn’t think he was going to go on draft I was going to say but you you were enough of a fan you thought he was going to get picked Braden McGregor another thing like I I another uh you know Michigan player who I I didn’t have a big grade on but I didn’t think he was going to be udfa so you know snagging him as a priority is great Leonard Taylor III that’s the big one where like I I really thought he could have gone fourth round yeah like and and it would have made sense to me considering his physical tools again keep in mind there’s a lot of nuance to the Leonard Taylor eval because this is somebody who a couple years ago played primarily three technique and people were looking at him as as like a first round pick because he was extremely productive as a three technique all of a sudden Miami’s nose transfer transfers to Florida State so then they kick him into nose and tell him to add like 15 20 pounds right and he’s not used to playing nose the angles are different the reads are different I would even say the techniques are a little bit different you know if you’re trying to Anchor as a as a nose versus getting up field as a three technique and he just he wasn’t good at it right but if you look at his snaps last year as a three technique when they kicked him back out and said go hunt still got it more than still got it he had the highest pass rush win rate out of any three technique in college football like by a lot it was like 28% it’s hard to find NFL three techniques they’re at 28% so like he Still Got Juice he could still rush the passer there were some questions about um he didn’t have off the field issues it was more so about like effort and everything like that and how he was in the room I think ultimately that’s probably why he went undrafted because there were some people that that that brought up like you know how how was he in terms of you know paying attention and being in the locker room and everything like that like we talked to him at he’s a good kid yeah he’s a good kid never got in trouble so like I didn’t think he deserved to be undrafted apparently NFL teams just out surprising that he was undrafted given the film from the prior year yeah um and we see this with college players uh we saw this with another college player who ended up on the Jets strangely enough is one of their edges right and was played out of position pretty much routinely in college you mean Will McDonald the 235 lb 4 I thanks Iowa State I mean this is not an uncommon story so you know the Jets especially have experience with this but like hey come to our program you can drop some weight go back to your natural position we really like what you can do there yes you still have things to work on but you know was he a draftable talent 100% so surprising that he wasn’t um Brady leam another one guard out of Arkansas you’re getting an SEC guard with a bunch of power um you know who again they think they can bring in put in their offensive line room strengthen that you know free agency draft udfa we’re we’re just hitting it we’re not stopping we’re going to make sure we’ve got the guys in the rules where we need them to be so that we don’t have so that we don’t repeat the same mistakes and I I love that approach and I I hope it works not just because Jets fans have suffered but because I believe that’s good process Joe Douglas has always had good process well on most things I think the process around uh uh proofing the roster against a potential Aaron Rogers injury wasn’t good process last year but they learned from it and they had good process this year so I’ll give a little bit Star Struck last year they were like we did it we needed a quarterback we got a quarterback and we are set and I don’t want to say rested on their Laurels but then the air went out of the balloon and I think a lot of people not necessarily panicked but went ooh we weren’t as ready as we thought yeah but again we learned from our mistakes and have reinforced the team because of it and that’ll make him a stronger organization down the road that brings us to uh final two sections uh which is you know we had a report card last year where we had a you know letter grades for a bunch of different categories this year we kind of distilled it down to thumbs up thumbs down or thumbs even yep you know did this team get better did they get worse or are they basically the same did all the moves cancel each other out positively negatively unequivocally it’s got to be a thumbs up right for the Jets for me for sure like I I don’t I don’t know how anybody could argue that they’re worse well and it’s not just the Aaron Rogers coming back thing it’s literally all the stuff we just talked about around that in case that doesn’t work like I don’t want to see Aaron Rogers go down I want to see him play Healthy season please please please play a healthy season it’s going to be so much fun if it happens I’m not going to have the same feeling I had last year which was oh my God I’m going to be like all right hey they’ve got a backup quarterback or two they’ve got an offensive line that can make that a lot easier for them they’ve got a great slew of Playmakers we know the defense is in good hands this team can still win some games a bunch of games you know I would say they’re still in playoff contention even without Aaron on the field so if you leave Aaron on the field you’ve got to say thumbs up yeah worst case scenario this is still going to be a ground and pound defensive team that’s that can football games a [ __ ] and a half to beat like take Aaron Rogers out of it they’re just going to be a [ __ ] to beat cuz like they’re so good on line of scrimmage and they have so much skill position talent and they have a potential nightmare to deal with on special teams the coaching staff is good like I I understand people are like ah why are we giving the Jets so many Prime Time games early in the year cuz they’re [ __ ] good like that’s why like they’re good same reason they gave them to him last year but there’s possibly even more reasons this year because they’ve reinforced and they’re not going to fall in the same way now could they invent a new way to fall look you’re Jets fans you understand that’s completely possible but in terms of preparing for all the things you can really control they’ve done a much better job than they did last year and we were high on them last year that brings us to last little segment ceiling and floor you know ceiling and winds versus floor in winds I will say again the floor the caveat on the floor is let’s just assume healthy quarterback right because last year we did a fairly High floor for them and then Rogers lasted four snaps we’re not going to projected injury no if if Rogers is healthy what’s their floor in wins and what’s their ceiling wins for me ceiling of 11 floor of nine so somewhere in that General yep strike zone of like could they win the division absolutely could they be a very strong wild card team absolutely but I ultimately think they’re going to be a playoff Contender uh at worse they don’t really have a discernable um net rest Advantage a lot of people have been talking about that since the schedule came out because there’s some teams that have way more net rest days compared to their opponents on a weekly basis the Jets are are right in the middle there they have a couple um you know mini buy advantages because of their Thursday night games uh and they have a couple mini buy disadvantages But ultimately everything kind of cancels out for them there’s some teams where it doesn’t uh cancel out at all but uh I I think given everything we’ve talked about today yeah 9 to 11 wins I think Jets fans would take that get to January see what happens yeah and again because of the style of play you talked about the ability to like really beat people up on defense outrun you on offense regardless of who’s playing quarterback they’re they’re built for postseason play they just have to get there I’m going to go with 11 and8 um that might seem a little bit low but we’ve seen Aaron Rogers when he’s not firing even if he is on the field um there were times even in Green Bay where he just sort of didn’t mesh didn’t agree with the play call wasn’t happy whatever it was um and didn’t end up with Top Flight results still good results still playoff worthy results but I think the floor is if it just doesn’t work because look it’s been a while since we’ve seen it work and the NFL is very much what have you done for me lately um it’s been you know almost now full three full seasons Since Aaron was firing on all cylinders he’s not as young as he once was if it just kind of sputters for whatever reason I still think the floor is eight but 11 wins gets them strongly into the playoffs and again this is a team built for postseason run in terms of how they’re constructed the players they have the way the coaching staff philosophy Works um they can absolutely Make Some Noise they just got to like barge their way into the tournament and if they do they going to be a dangerous team that not a lot of players want to play because Aaron’s got a ton of playoff experience and you know the rest of the roster is built for cold weather grinded out football if we need to yeah just got to get there y just got to get there all right well thank you for watching today uh if we have sufficiently uh made you excited for Jets football this year which you know I I they’re a polarizing team I don’t know if we did that but if we did you can go check out our clothing partner homage at the link in the description below or at the QR code on the screen uh they have an NFL license so there’s a whole bunch of different Jets gear they also have bootleg gear uh anything to your heart’s content even if you don’t buy bootleg gear if you just buy Jets gear or Dolphins gear if you’re Dolphins fan that watch this this late ha for any particular reason uh or bills or Patriots or chiefs or whatever uh anything you buy at homage using our link we get a a share of the proceeds so uh you can support your team and support us at the same time that’s right it’ll keep you warm and comfy on stormy Pacific Northwest days tested uh other than that thank you to Underdog also for sponsoring us thank you to all of our patrons our executive producers um I think that’s about it I think that’s all we got each rolling on through the AFC East and NFC East is next week your team’s coming uh we sort of flip the script I remember the last episode last year was bills and we’re doing that episode uh in a couple of days here so uh we try and make it so you don’t have to wait quite as long every summer but uh your team is coming be safe and secure in that knowledge and uh you know either from this location or uh locations to be yet determined ideally we come back here but anyway we’ll see you guys soon [Music] [Music]