Baldinger – ‘Not an NFL Roster’

NFL analyst Brian Baldinger, while appearing on WFAN, after the Jets’ recent blowout loss to New England, said, “Honestly, it’s not an NFL roster.”

But who put together the roster?

Now, people will be quick to say, “Well, they had a lot of injuries at that point?”

Yes, but so did New England, playing that game without two starting defensive linemen, two starting linebackers, two starting offensive linemen, and two key receivers, one of whom was a starter and another who played a lot (Boutte).

Dubious personnel decisions led to the roster issues, along with injuries, to lead to “not an NFL roster.”

There are so are a number that are never brought up because of the nature of the coverage, which is more superficial than in the past.

People will ask questions, “Like what’s wrong with the run,” but rarely bring up names in the questions.

If New England can blowout the Jets 42-10 with seven backups playing for seven key starters out, where better Jets’ depth would have allowed them to make this game less embarrassing. Remember, Mike Vrabel pulled off the dogs in the second half. This game easily could have been 62-10.

Baldinger continued, “It looks like an expansion roster. It looked like a preseason game for much of it.”

But why did New England’s preseason guys, look better than the Jets’ preseason guys, in terms of the backups that were filling in for starters?

Obviously Drake Maye had something to do with it, but he was playing with a backup left guard and left tackle on his blindside, and there was very little pressure.

I’m telling you, there were more bad personnel moves than meet the eye, especially with how superficial the coverage of the team is.

And I refuse to blame Mougey until somebody proves to me that he has final say.

“Some of the guys in the [secondary], some of the guys in the defensive front, they are practice squad guys who are forced to come up and play, against the highest rated quarterback in the league, and the ball didn’t hit the ground,” Baldinger said.

Okay, on Sunday the Jets could not stop the run against Buffalo with some backups playing.

Well, guess what, they could not stop the run in the first Buffalo game. It was just as bad and they had their full compliment of defenders in that first matchup.

Those two linebackers, who Aaron Glenn decided to roll with again this year, after suspect film from the previous year should have put both of them squarely in backup roles.

They cut Zaire Barnes and went with Kiko Mauigoa as the third linebacker, and the rookie was playing way too much, and was just as bad in coverage as the starters. He was constantly out of position. You won’t read that anywhere, but it’s true.

Barnes is more instinctive than Mauigoa, but perhaps because he wasn’t picked by the new regime, and Mauigoa was, they went with Mauigoa.

So you have three linebackers, for a big chunk of the season, who were not good in coverage.

And you saw the results.

I’m not a special pleader for Steve Wilks. I wrote before he was hired that he should be hired, but you have linebackers out of position with regularity in coverage, in a pass league, you are going to have major problems, and that is what the Jets had. Constant gaping holes in their zones leading to wide open targets.

Those linebackers going out of position all the time, hurt Wilks and Chris Harris.

Why was Michael Clemons on the team this year? The film was not good for before the new regime got here – struggles getting off blocks and setting the edge.

During the season, they made safety Malachi Moore a starter, and and his coverage was problematic.

The QB position was not handled well, and that Justin Fields contract was shocking.

A lot of personnel mistakes were made.

And now, in reviewing the roster mistakes that led to one of the worst seasons in Jets history, who is going to assess Glenn’s work as a personnel guy? Glenn? There is no football guy above him.

The largesse of that Fields contract, and his anointing in March as the starter with no competition, points to a personnel landscape that needs some serious reflection and tweaking.

Baldy’s facial expression in this photo (obviously, in fairness caught in-between frames on TV), kind of sums up the roster we saw at the end of the year, and to a degree, before that.

And no, the injuries at the end of the year where not the only problem.

January 8, 2025

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