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Premium – A lot going on around Florham Park, and long-time Jets Insider Dan Leberfeld checks in with the good stuff . . .
People will be quick to rip John Idzik for his draft record, but honestly, who cares if he releases a fourth round pick. Fourth round picks get cut all the time. Jalen Saunders was released today.
Walter Powell is a better punt returner and receiver than Jalen Saunders.
So the Jets replaced one rookie returner/receiver with another.
I’m so tired of all this draft scorecard stuff.
The Jets desperately needed to add a speed receiver. They had nobody to blow the top off the defense, and take a safety out of the box (since Hakim almost never plays on offense), and they signed T.J. Graham to take Saunders roster spot.
So they moved on from Saunders, replaced him with Powell, and added Graham to give them a deep threat.
I have no issue with this move, and I’m not going to be like some of my writing brethren and rip Idzik on this one, and say it’s a stain on his draft record.
Actually, I give him a great deal of credit for claiming Powell, who had a terrific summer in Arizona, but was the victim of a number’s game.
Powell is better than Saunders. That is the bottom line . . .
From what I hear, the biggest thing the Jets wanted from Powell in his first game as the punt returner was to catch the ball cleanly. He did on the four punts he fielded, and also had a nifty 12-yard return which showed his potential. He’s got very loose hips, is good coming in and out of breaks, and doesn’t dance – he heads up field.
Powell had a big adjustment coming from 1-AA Murray State to the NFL. He said the two biggest things he had to get used to making that big jump as a punt returner – the ball is punted a lot higher and the gunners get down field a lot faster . . .
Sheldon Richardson and Powell know each other from St. Louis, and Sheldon has been like a big brother to Walter since he has arrived in Florham Park . . .
We have talked a great deal in this space about the Jets need for speed at wide receiver, and how the lack of speed was not only hurting their deep game, and but their running game a little, since safeties didn’t have to worry much about the deep ball, and could stay in the box.
Well they certainly addressed that problem today signing speedsters Graham and Chris Owusu, who can both flat fly.
I’m not putting either player in Canton, but they both can blow that top off a defense, and whether a receiver is great or not, a defense can’t ignore that.
Graham displayed inconsistent hands in Buffalo where he was a third-round pick, and Owusu has had durability issues at Stanford, and then early in his NFL career.
The interesting thing about Owusu is that he caught a touchdown pass for Tampa Bay in their opening day loss to Carolina, but was waived last week to make room for WR Lewis Murphy. The transaction turned into a masterstroke for the Tampa brass, because Murphy was outstanding on Sunday, helping to spearhead their upset over Pittsburgh with six passes for 99 yards . . .
Listening to Rex talk after the game, and then today, it’s clear that he has convinced himself, and I’m sure John Idzik feels the same way, that a lot of the issues are about Geno, aren’t Geno’s fault. They are about drops, offensive line protection penalty problems, and an inconsistent defense. They want this to work so bad, they are doing a lot of spinning.
I’ve coined a phrase a couple of years ago – I call this “Quarterback Utopia.” This is where everything around the QB needs to be perfect for him to succeed. You know what folks, that almost never happens, and how often have we seen the top-shelf quarterbacks pull their teams to victories with no running game, bad defenses, tons of injuries and so forth.
I am not writing off Geno. Not at all. But the Jets should consider replacing him if their season is danger of slipping away, and that by no means would be waiving the white flag on him. He’s only 23 . . .
September 29, 2014
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