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It was right to take a pass . . .
With the Jets in need of an edge rusher (I feel I’ve been writing this for a decade), there were some speculation they might a run at Emmanuel Ogbah, who Cleveland Browns put on the trade block last week.
Not only is Ogbah an edge-rusher, but he knows Gregg Williams defense, having played for him in Cleveland last year.
Obviously it didn’t happen. Ogbah was traded yesterday to the Kansas City Chiefs for safety Eric Murray.
Ogbah was considered one of the best pass rushers in the 2016 draft coming out of Oklahoma State. The Browns made him the first pick of the second round.
The Jets did the right thing not going down this road.
Ogbah isn’t a bad player, but he’s a pedestrian pass rusher who had a total of 12.5 sacks in his three year in Cleveland.
The Jets have had plenty of guys over the last decade who can get you three, four, five sacks a year. Those guys have been aplenty.
It’s time for the Jets to reach for brass ring at the OLB position, and get a guy who can deliver DOUBLE-DIGIT sacks in a season, a guy who can wreck a game, a guy the other team needs to game-plan for, a guy who can consistently beats single-blocks and requires double-teams.
Ogbah is just a guy, a JAG, as a pass rusher.
One of the reasons for this is he has very stiff hips and doesn’t have great short-area quickness. He doesn’t have the ideal flexibility to dip under offensive tackles, and doesn’t have the first-step quickness to beat them to the edge off the snap.
He’s not bad against the run as a powerful man with long arms, but he really doesn’t bring much as a pass rusher.
The Jets a pass rusher with great first step quickness and the flexibility like Gumby to slip under tackles. Kentucky’s Josh Allen seems to be that kind of guy. In house, I think Frankie Luvu has some of this. To me, Luvu, who flashed some last year, was hurt at times last year by not being NFL strong. After a full off-season workout program, he could take a big step in Year Two.
But the Jets did the right thing taking a pass on Ogbah.
They’ve had their share of pedestrian pass rushers in and out of Florham Park the last few years.
It’s time to find somebody elite.
So that is why it’s best for them to stay put with the third pick and grab Allen or Joey Bosa.
And it is possible for the Jets to get Bosa.
With Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray likely going #1, it’s quite possible Alabama defensive tackle Quinnen Williams, who ran a freakish 4.8 forty at the combine, might be too good to pass up at two for San Francisco, especially since they traded for edge-rusher Dee Ford.
And that would give the Jets a choice of Allen or Bosa at three.
March 2, 2019
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