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Another significant lesson the Jets can take away from the Denver Broncos defeating the Carolina Panthers in the Super Bowl, is pretty darn clear, to be quite honest . . .
The Jets desperately need a dynamic edge-pass rusher. Desperately
The biggest reason the Broncos won the Super Bowl was the work of Von Miller and DeMarcus Ware.
The Jets picking USC defensive end Leonard Williams in the first round last year was a no-brainer. Great pick.
He’s a heck of a player, and I think he’s going to be a superstar, but he’s a 3-4 end. A really good one, but he’s not an edge pass rusher. He didn’t have a lot of sacks in college, and likely won’t in the NFL. Heck of a player, but not a sackmaster.
The Jets should have gone edge pass-rusher with their second round pick.
I know it’s important to stick to your value board.
I understand that.
I’m not saying they should have reached for a pass rusher, but the guy picked right after the Jets selected Devin Smith, Mississippi State outside linebacker Preston Smith, had eight sacks as a rookie for the Washington Redskins.
Yes, the value board is important, but was Devin Smith a great value at 37?
You can find receivers. Good pass rushers are really hard to find.
At 44, the New Orleans Saints picked outside linebacker Hau’oli Kikaha out of Washington, who led college football in sacks in 2014. He is another guy they could have grabbed at 37.
I think Maccagnan made a mistake. He picked a skinny receiver who needs to get a lot stronger and needs a lot of work on route-running in the second round. I’m not saying he’s a bust. Not at all. It’s too early to say that. I’m just saying it wasn’t an ideal pick at the time, and didn’t necessarily constitute great value. It led to a bunch of receivers being shown the door without a legit competition, and this hurt their special teams – backup receivers need to be studs on special teams. Look at what Denver 2014 second round pick Cody Latimore did for the Broncos. Absolutely stud on kick and punt coverage. You saw that in the Super Bowl.
This year Maccagnan can’t mess around on the edge pass-rusher front.
The Jets have got to draft a couple of edge pass rushing prospects in this draft, and hope one works out (a lot of busts at this position because college pass rushing is so much easier than NFL pass rushing) – many can’t make the transition. So you need to keep picking them until you strike gold.
On Friday, the Jets signed former CFL standout Freddie Bishop, who had 11 sacks last year up north.
I will get more into him tomorrow, but the move shows you that Maccagnan clearly understands he needs to improve this part of the Jets’ attack.
Mike’s got to have a laser beam focus on finding pass rushers. It’s so huge.
The Broncos made that abundantly clear on Sunday.
February 9, 2016
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