Should New York #Jets Be SELLERS? (BADLANDS)

Should New York #Jets Be SELLERS? (BADLANDS)

What’s up, War Room? Welcome back. Happy Wednesday morning. A cathartic 37 minute podcast dropped in the feed last night from Connor and I. It was good to good to get that energy out because you played on the team plane, Jeff. Yeah, played on the team plane. We even even Connor and I do get exhausted of postgame therapy. We do like to do postgame party. We’re happy to stay up super late Monday night and do postgame party. I got three kids. I don’t care. I’ll stay up till 3:00 a.m. to talk about a win. It’s been way too long. I miss it. We got a gazillion questions. Some of them, I’ll do if they win, I’ll I’ll do one at the middle at night. Yes. Just of course they’ll save it for the night games. Um, we got a million questions. We’re gonna answer as many as we can and then we will uh get you into the back half of the week of content and let you know what we’re going to do going into Monday Night Football. First one from JJ. After three games, my broad stance take on the Jets is they have too many bad players playing meaningful snaps. How much grace does this current regime get because of the state of the roster they inherited? Here are the guys previously drafted in rounds one through five that don’t meaningfully contribute to the Jets. Malachi Corley, Brilin Allen, let’s be honest, Jordan Travis, Carter Warren, Izzy, Zack, Jeremy Rucker, Max Mitchell, Michael Clemens, Elijah Moore, Michael Carter, the running back. Uh, all nine players from the 2020 class. Besides offensive line, each position group is one injured starter away from being a bottom three unit. I know this question is cope, but what’s your thoughts on the sentiment? When can we assess actually the proper timeline with this front office with or without a QB? So, a fair question. We talked about this a little bit on the pod where we we never like to do this with Salin Douglas where they would kind of get into like, well, we inherited the worst situation in the NFL. Now, I would get mad at them because it was like year three and year four. You say it in year one, you say it in year one, it’s a little different than saying it in year three or year four. But I haven’t heard Glenner Muji articulate anything in in that direction. I think it’s a fair point, right? I think even the most recent draft class, the the Olu class just that you’re not really getting anything from anybody else right now. And we like Isaiah Davis and Brilen Allen, but like statistically like they’re not doing much right now. And that could be their fault, that could be the coaching staff’s fault, but they’re just not like, you know, major contributors. And then, you know, they go further back and you go further back and you’re just burning fourth round picks on Carter Warren and Max Mitchell and Michael Clemens and and here we are. I you know the I think we both agree that even if the Jets are picking in the top three this year, the head coach and the GM are going to be back. The seat will be very hot in year two, especially to convert on free agency and some of these day three picks. I think where they’re going to keep getting dinged is the misses on day three. although they’ve started to go through the remedy of fixing that ideally with some of these transactions. So, they did inherit a bad situation. And again, if we’re all being honest, they’re picking up the pieces of the Aaron Rogers mess of a, you know, an extended Joe Douglas mess who got Joe Douglas got a 100 games. You’re not going to undo a 100 games in three games. There’s a there’s a reasonable amount of patience and then there’s just like if you’re bad, you’re bad. That’s what that’s what we have to assess really in these first two seasons. I think no matter what they are getting a body of work of two full seasons then I think it’s easier to have some more of those hard conversations. We’re going to be very critical along the way. We’ve already been very critical. It is a fair reminder that you can’t this was not a oneoff season fix. They inherited a lot of and you really start to see that when a couple guys get banged up and everyone deals with injuries but the lack of the lack of depth in certain areas is troubling. I also think like all fan bases, and we’re guilty of this too, you can overrate your own players sometimes, like leaguewide. Like, you know, I I I love some of the top end chat players more than anyone, but I find myself watching other guys and I’m like, you know, is like Bree running back right now? Like, probably not. Is like Garrett, and I love Gary. Is he like better than JSN? Like, not right now. Not really. Like, and again, JSN’s got a better quarterback situation. Shout out Sam. Like, I just find myself catching that sometimes. Masaw, same deal. like sauce were hard on him. He’s still a good corner. Like he’s still a good cover corner. Like he’s not getting like torched up and down the field. It’s just that he’s just not great right now. So I Quinn’s one of the few guys who’s kind of played to the level. So I I don’t know. What’s your thought about that overall sentiment on the previous regime and the current talent level? I I think it’s really fair. And I think that I want to be clear and I’m I’m probably I’ve probably been bad at this when we’re pretty harsh on Muji for the most part and and this roster and I think when we’re directly criticizing him and the new regime, it’s the decisions that were in their control. Like okay, you want to give Clemens a shot even though we didn’t agree with that. That’s fine. But your insurance plan was you traded up and used capital to get Tyler Baron, who you know, you you overdrafted and it it has you didn’t see anything this summer. You haven’t seen anything this year yet. You decided to not bring in a viable number two wide receiver. In reality, the like there’s plenty of teams around the league that a number three receiver is playing in a number two role or a number two receiver is playing in a number one role. But the reality is, and we’ve said this before, it feels like the Jets have number four receivers playing in number two role. And shout out Tyler Johnson. Yeah. Who’s maybe a number five. I would say Josh Reynolds is a number four. And then Aryan Smith is a developmental prospect, but you took a developmental prospect in a sense of like where you you probably couldn’t because of how you approached it in the pro market. You unfortunately it’s very hard to have it both ways where you sit out something in the pro market that’s a need, but then you don’t draft a more pro readyish player, Alakio Manor, Tory Horton. you take a developmental guy because you like his upside. But then also the coach, you know, I’m just going to call it how it is. Something that Aaron Glenn has been vocal about with the media here is that he thinks this roster should have been a lot better last year and has taken not shots, but there’s been kind of some stuff where you go like, “Oh, he thinks the last staff was kind of a joke.” Like, and they can get more out of these guys. And I think that’s fine, but when you say that, you do start to build different expectations. It this year hasn’t been and maybe they felt like they didn’t have room to do that because of what the Jet fan has been through, but this year has never been sold as a total rebuild year or a total punting kind of year. They’ve done some things that have felt like they’re punting on the year. It notably just ignoring wide receiver after Garrett, ignoring defensive tackle until they made the two trades. And and then you look at you the thing is when you are slow playing it when you get like the Jets didn’t spend a lot of money in free agency which I think was the right approach but they did make a big move. Brandon Stevens was an expensive free agent and quite frankly does he not look like one of the worst free agent signings from the NFL offseason? He’s a walking punchline from the national media. It’s like well when your receivers’s playing Brandon Stevens like there you go. So, I think the problem is you get judged on even more of the few things you have done. And I think that’s happened to Muji. I don’t think if the Jets are bad this year, people will be like, “These guys have to be fired.” Of course, there’s always the 10% that think that, but I’m talking about the majority. But it only makes your job harder next year. Yes, that pressure is going to go way, way, way up because what happened to the thing is the Jet fan is incredibly savvy and smart and experienced in this by now. Joe Douglas missed on Mai Beckton and then by constantly trying to do surgery on his mistakes, he kept running up the tab. Yep. Whether it was draft capital, financial capital, all kinds of different resources. So now, which the Jets owe Brand Stevens all of his money for next season, like is that a is that something that a mistake they’re going to have to try to do surgery on? Aaria Thomas we’re pretty confident in but you use the third round pick on Aaria Thomas. So you know what I’m saying? Like you don’t these these mistakes compound and they’re hard to make. Feels like chasing your tail a little bit and yeah and we and the Jet fan just saw that so they don’t want to go through that again with the new GM. Every Jet fan will have PTSD and they’ll unfairly get tagged with it. Right. I am 100% sure a lot of Jet fans are going to say Darren Muji is John Enick and he’s going to get fired after two years. And if the Jets are four and 13 this year and Muji does not is not part of an improvement next year, that very well could happen. Now, I’m not saying that’s going to happen. I want to see how this season plays out and how they handle the next off season. But the Jet fan brain goes back to certain types of offseasons and personalities. And I’ll say this, I’ll say with something positive. Armanu looks awesome. And I’m glad the Jets have him and not Will Campbell. And that’s that’s not nothing that matters. No, that’s that is very fair that Yeah, you you got to tip your cap to that looks like a good pick right now. We’re happy with him. And that’s I think it’s going to be a very critical pick going forward. Next one from David and we got two questions on this, so I’ll bundle them together. I think the Jets should be sellers at the trade deadline. Quinnon is turning 28 in his prime, but won’t be young enough for a team that will likely have to rebuild yet again. What draft picks do you think he would command? any other tradable assets come to mind. There was another pick about trading Quinnon to the Ravens after watching them get shredded on prime time. Um, there’s been a lot of breeze trade questions, particularly to the Cardinals. I don’t think the Jets should trade Quinnon Williams. I think Quinn is a captain. I think he’s their best overall player right now. I think he puts out great tape every single week. And I just think the ripple effect of being like, we’re selling on this guy. I just think that’s how you demoralize a building. And I think he’s still going to be really good this year, next year, and the year after. And my hope is between next year and the year after, the Jets are actually competing. And I, you know, I don’t know exactly what you’d get back from. For a desperate team, like, yeah, you probably you probably get a one back, you know, for Quinton. I I think for the right team in the right situation, I just don’t see I I don’t see them trading him. And I wouldn’t I wouldn’t advocate for trading him. Now, more generally being sellers at the deadline, look, if the Jets lose to Miami and they’re 2-6 or something or 1-7, like, yeah, like pragmatically, like could they look at selling a little bit if something like they play on Monday night and Brilen Allen and Isaiah Davis have a really big game and Bree is quiet again and the Cardinals are willing to overpay because they’re really desperate or the Chiefs are willing to overpay. Are you answering those calls? Sure. Now, is anyone going to probably be happy with the compensation for a running back? No. But you’re going to take those calls. And I’m sure that just like the Jets have been buyers on certain parts of the roster, even if they’re like three and five or something, I could see them considering being sellers. It’s just like who who do you want to cut bait on? And what does this offense look like if you trade Bree Hall? What does the defense look like? Not not even this year, but next year if you got rid of Quinnon Williams, you’re not, you know, I I just don’t know like who else beyond that you’re really trading. No one’s going to trade for Stevens. I I don’t think someone’s going to trade for Michael Carter right now with some injury concerns and how he’s been playing. Um I unless there’s someone else I’m missing. I just don’t know like who that would be that you would trade. Like they don’t have that like kind of like laundry list of guys that you would that people would be lining up to trade for right now. So, there’s a lot to unpack in this scenario. To start with the obvious with Quinnon, I agree with you. How quickly we forget Quinnon is somehow still 27 years old and defensive tackles kind of age pretty gracefully in this league that take care of their bodies. I I mean, you see guys, I’m not gonna point to Klayas Campbell being almost 40 because he’s a unicorn, but there are a lot of guys in their early 30s that are still highly highly effective. So, I think the Jets are in a weird spot because you have to be looking for you you have to be like trying to keep your answers and I think Quinnon is an answer, right? He’s a an incredible player. Maybe I mean maybe that’s too far for some people because he doesn’t take over the game as a pass rusher like an Aaron Donald who’s an incredible player. So maybe that’s too far. But he’s a very good player, high effort guy. He was a monster against the run against Tampa. Some of the best run defense film I’ve watched from a Jet in years. And I think you’re right about the message. I think that if you ship out Quinnon, everybody kind of looks around like what does that say to Garrett Wilson and S Gardner? Oh, we just signed here and we don’t plan on winning in the next two to three years. What does that say to the fan base? I think the Jets, you can try to allocate more capital. And this is why I thought they shouldn’t have spent money in free agency because if you didn’t sign Stevens, you would have got even another comp pick and another like a high-end comp pick because it wouldn’t have canceled out because of what Reic got and a couple other Jets got. Javon Kinlaw, ridiculous. Bree is the one where I go 5050. Bree is the guy that you could see them trading and he looks like a star somewhere that knows how to use him and that’s a tough pill to swallow. But you’re right, at the deadline if a team that has like Kansas City has no explosive talent right now. If Kansas City was like, “Hey, we have Patrick Mahomes. We try to win the Super Bowl every year. We’re going to trade a second round pick for Bree Hall.” You have to take it. You got You got to take it. If they’re giving you a second, then yes, I think you got to take it. Honestly, if they trade you a third and a fifth, you have to take it. I mean, considering you punted away your third and your fifth that Yeah, you traded both of those picks. So, because the the what Muji needs to be doing right now is figuring out the financial blueprint of this team. So, if you know, hey, we’re not going to pay Bice after this year, then you probably need to take the compensation you’re going to get for him, whether the fan base hates that or not. Garrett’s here, Sauce is here, but I think there’s a couple interesting conversations. Before you know it, you’re gonna have to figure out if you’re paying Germaine or Will McDonald. Real quick, who are you paying? Will McDonald. It’s not even close. Yeah, it’s not even close. Like, one guy is a high-end pass rusher. And the problem is Germaine has actually been not as good against the run as he’s older older prospect, too, right? Older prospect transfer. You know, he was at Jo, he was at Georgia, he was at Florida State. I love Germaine and I I hope he he gets healthy and gets right here, but he’s been hurt a lot. And here’s a harsh reality. It’s easier to go find a guy to play Germaine Johnson’s role than it is to find Will McDonald’s role. That’s the reality. Okay, so me and you did that combo. That’s the These are combos the Jets need to be doing right now. We’re probably going to pay Will McDonald’s. Are we going to keep John Simpson or Elijah Vera Tucker? That one a lot more nuance to that combo. Yeah, I I don’t know how you commit any real money to AV. You got to probably keep Simpson. Yeah, I just he’s too many injuries now. Too many different injuries too with ABT where it’s just like snake bitten. I don’t know. And since it’s an important leader and one of their few physical players that you got to keep guys like that. So this is these are things you need to figure out. You need to figure out what is our c the Jets have a lot of cap space next year where I know he’s making some good money, but I I would rather keep Harrison Phillips. Like let’s actually have a a nose plugging him and Quinnon together. Nice dude. And you have Briggs on a rookie deal which is great. So, as we’re like Quincy, you probably let Quincy walk, right? I think he’s definitely going to walk. My problem with the Jets at linebacker is once they paid Sherwood, and we did this podcast, they made their decision because they are so small at linebacker that whether you think Quincy’s better or not, you probably have to let him walk. Now, that’s actually the most interesting player on the roster, right? We just finally got there. We went through this roster and we’re like, damn, the trade deadline is really boring for the Jets cuz they don’t have a lot of expirings that are probably not going to be in a convers like Simpsons in the combo to be extended. Bree is a weird combo because he’s a running back. But Quincy, if Quincy comes off IR and a team looks at Quincy and goes, damn, this an allp pro linebacker. I mean, I you take anything you get if you’re not because he won’t be they’re not going to pay him next year. So, you would have to at that point. you have to take whatever you can get for him. So, and I don’t know what his value will be, but yeah, it’s it’s not there’s not a lot to shed from this roster, honestly, unless like is somebody willing to take on Michael Carter’s contract and needs a slot. I think they would that’s a player they Bobby Salah maybe if the Niners keep taking injuries like they have been really really hurt. So, yeah, those are the things. Can you send Clemens to the Niners? We’ll include a seventh rounder in that trade. But the day will come when they move on from him. I don’t know when it’s going to be. Honestly, I’ve been I’ve been advocating for it for like two and a half years at this point, so I’ve kind of given up. But god damn, I can’t I can’t talk about it anymore. It’s too depressing. Next one from Shogun. Say the Jets pick in the top five to eight in the coming draft. Would you rather draft a quarterback, let’s say Matier? Bummer to hear that he got a little banged up today. Uh a wide receiver playmaker or a defensive player of choice like DS or Woods? Where’s your head at as of today going into week four of the NFL season? Jets are picking, let’s call it, sixth overall. There’s their sweet spot. So Trevor and I are going to do another mock draft next week. We haven’t done one in over a month. So I haven’t fully wrapped my head around this as much as I see, you know, people talking about it. Uh, and yeah, it stinks. Matar is having hand surgery. So the Heisman front runner is going to miss he’s going to miss a lot of time. Yeah, it’s really

Joe and Connor answer all of your Discord questions on blame to the previous regime, the Jets being sellers at the trade deadline, positives from the first three games, college quarterbacks and much more…

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