Content available exclusively for subscribers
It makes sense and it’s won’t be terribly expensive.
I’m talking about nose tackle Jonathan Hankins who visited the Jets on Thursday.
One of the most important things in free agency is system fits, and this guy fits the Jets’ system.
People wonder why the Colts released him just one year into a three-year, $27 million contract ($14.5 million guaranteed).
Simple. When the Colts signed him last year, they were playing a 3-4 defense under former head coach Chuck Pagano. Pagano was fired after last season, and the Colts hired Matt Eberflus to run their defense. He was actually hired before the team landed a head coach (Frank Reich).
He comes from Dallas where they play a defense similar to Tampa Bay – a 4-3 defense that requires faster, quicker defensive linemen.
The 6-3, 320-pound Hankins is best served in the 3-4 nose tackle role, what he was originally signed to play.
Colts GM Chris Ballard, who doesn’t govern by public opinion polls, doesn’t care if the signing looks bad now. They changed defenses, so it was time to move on. Ballard is not a guy who chases windmills.
“Johnathan Hankins is a good football player, and he’s really good versus the run, and he’s a great kid. But at the end of the day, he didn’t fit schematically (with) what we’re going to do,” Ballard told 1070 The Fan in Indianapolis. “This (new) defense is predicated on athleticism and speed. In Chicago, and Dallas, where they’re really playing this scheme, and then you look back to when Tony Dungy was here — primarily, most of those players were drafted and developed within the system, and it’s predicated on speed and athleticism, and going forward that’s what we’re going to be coveting.”
Hankins doesn’t fit that, but he fits what the Jet do, and he actually played pretty well last year for the Colts. He was very good against the run in 2017, doing a nice job of plugging up the middle.
“He had only two sacks for Indianapolis last season,” wrote the New York Post.
That is pretty irrelevant for a 3-4 nose tackle. It’s not a big sack position. It’s a big dirty work position – stopping the run and also tying up offensive linemen allowing linebackers to make plays.
If the Jets could land this guy it would be a coup.
Sometimes when we enter the second and third tiers of free agency, signings aren’t given much attention. They are often considered after-thoughts.
If the Jets land Hankins, this could help them a great deal, even though he was out there for a while.
Let’s not forget, we are talking about a guy who just turned 26, who came into the league as a second-round pick (New York Giants).
This is a talented, powerful big-man with good feet for his size. He can be a handful for offensive linemen.
And let’s not forget, Ballard, a good judge of talent gave him big money last off-season to be his nose tackle.
But then the system changed.
He fits the Jets’ system.
If the Jets work this out, it would be a very good signing.
April 5, 2018
Premium will return by 9:30 pm on Friday.