Lets hope he's right. Other than about five guys (Wilson, Clemens, Taylor, Gholston, and whoever doesn't start of LDT/Greene/McKnight), the bench is almost entirely undrafted free agents, very late picks, super cheap veterans, and guys off the scrap heap. It's a very top-heavy team so unless the team is very astute at getting quality players cheap, injuries could really hurt the team.
what team's bench isnt comprised of such players? theres a reason that theyre backups the jets only look top heavy because the starting 22 is pretty damn good. add pouha, e smith, b smith, hartstock, conner, lowery to your list and thats a lot of quality backups
It almost seems like Rex feels like DL isn't a position that we need to invest in. If we lose anyone along the OL or DL I'm not sure who can step up.
Off the top of my head, it looks like the Pats, Ravens, Steelers, Eagles and Chargers will all have a quite few backups who are are youngish (first through third year guys) and were highish draft picks (picked in the first four or five rounds, sometimes, even first rounders.) The Jets depth isn't terrible-the players you mention are ok-and maybe a Jamal Westerman ends up being better than Sergio Kindle or Paul Kruger, or Warren ends up being better than Patrick Chung, but if you have to bet on a third or fourth round guy and a rookie free agent, you've got to bet on the guy who got drafted.
having young high round picks on your bench tends to mean they aren't as good as their draft slot would indicate(gholston). the exception to that is obviously rookies but i don't see how having a rookie needing to step up would be any better than your average depth player.
Pittsburgh is known for drafting a year ahead of where they will need the spot filled. Guys like Woodly and Ziggy Hood did not sit because they were bad or over drafted, they sat because The Steelers had older vets with a year or two left on thier contract during the rookies seasons. I don't think thier drafting has been all that much of over reachign at all in many cases, but overall team depth that holds some of the younger ones back as will be the case with Kyle Wilson this season.
First, having young high picks on the bench might mean they're crappy players, but it might also mean your starters are good, the young guys were hurt, or you run a really complex system. The Steelers LBs are a great example; they almost never play as rookies and Timmons didn't play much until his third year. The Ravens, Steelers, Chargers, and Pats all regularly "redshirt" players who turn out to be pretty good. Second, the issue isn't that the other top teams (for example, the Pats/Ravens/Steelers) have depth consisting of young picks and the Jets have "average" established players, it's that the Pats/Ravens/Steelers have depth consisting largely of young higher picks while the Jets have depth in the form of young late round picks/rookie free agents/waiver pick-ups. It's certainly possible that, say, Ron Brace and Patrick Chung are no better than James Ihedigbo and Pitoitua, but I wouldn't bet on it. The Jets' starters are awesome, possibly as good as it gets in the league, and the backups aren't terrible, but I do honestly think the second string projects to be a few notches below what you see on most of the other top AFC teams. Now if Rex found a few Bart Scotts and Jim Leohnhards my projection is just going to be wrong, Depth also isn't the end all and be all. I don't think the Colts have had particularly deep teams over the past decade but their record hasn't suffered.
You'd really call the Colts a deep team? They're a star-focussed team that runs a great system, pays their offensive skill position guys and DEs a ton, and then, for the most part, plugs in the wholes on the rest of their roster with ok guys. But when you have Peyton and Freeney and you're playing ahead most of the time, everybody looks pretty damn good.
I think it's a matter of time. We can't have our rookie top players on the bench because we need them on the field, but if drafting keeps proving to be as consistent as the last few years, soon we'll have top talent waiting on the bench. What those teams (like Steelers) do, is thanks to several years of doing the things right. Hopefully we'll get there soon
That's what we thought last year when Jenkins went down, and that turned out fine. Where there's a Rex there's a way.
