blog written by Chris Mortenson: Cutler has all the right stuff Will the ~ Jets ~ regret passing on quarterback Matt Leinart in favor of tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson with the fourth overall pick of April's draft? I keep reading or hearing it, but the guys I trust on quarterbacks -- Phil Simms, Ron Jaworski and Steve Young, among others -- all agree that if the Jets should have taken a quarterback with that pick it was Jay Cutler. Why? Cutler is an any-scheme, any-climate quarterback. His velocity and his tight spirals would have cut through the Giants Stadium winds and held up well in those winter road games in New England and Buffalo, not to mention any January playoff appearances. Leinart is a polished quarterback, but he doesn't have a comparable arm to Cutler and he landed in the ideal spot with the Arizona Cardinals. Very warm climate. A retractable dome at home. NFC West road games in San Francisco, St. Louis and Seattle. That, plus Leinart will be able to enjoy the best combo of receivers in football in Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin, not to mention another former first-rounder in the speedy Bryant Johnson and a 6-foot-7 rookie tight end in Leonard Pope.Leinart has a chance to be a perennial Pro Bowl candidate if he can hold up physically -- yes, physically. He's almost 6-foot-5, 235 pounds, but many NFL scouts and coaches questioned his devotion in the weight room and whether his body could withstand the pounding of the NFL and a 16-game regular season. That's not to mention that the Cardinals' offensive line has to prove worthy of keeping starter Kurt Warner and Leinart from getting destroyed. Cardinals coach Dennis Green is hoping that the addition Edgerrin James at running back and Steve Loney as the line coach will fix that. When Leinart's shoulder temporarily popped out of joint in the final preseason game when he landed on the ground, there were some "I told you so's" going around. Saints head coach Sean Payton, who liked Leinart a lot, echoed what many league folks said about Cutler being the one quarterback in the draft that was "built to take a licking." Cutler could not have made a stronger impression on Broncos coach Mike Shanahan this preseason. It wasn't just one thing. It was everything -- physical, mental, poise, etc. The excitement among the Broncos internally about Cutler's future is far greater than anything you have read, even though Jake Plummer had his best camp. Not that the ~ Jets ~ made the wrong move. They are building a team for the long haul, although they clearly have gambled that Kellen Clemens will be as effective as Leinart and Cutler.
He looks like a good one. Would've, should've, could've. Water under the bridge. Hindsight is 20/20. Feel free to add other cleshae's.......
If we took Cutler he better have been built to take an @ss whoopin if we didnt address the line like we did. I like our first two rounds a lot. OT and C plus an unquestioned 1st rd QB before the season in the 2nd due to an ankle injury tells me we are set up for the long term in the best way possible. I would think the real hindsight questions would be based on the Mangold pick and whether or not we should have gone RB, but I like what we did. A lot of NFL QB analysts like Cutler tops, but Clemens is right there as well. I dont think the FO could have done anything better in those first two rounds.
I still wish we would have taken one of the QBs. Cutler & Leinart both look like they have bright NFL futures..
not to mention, they obviously weren't, and still aren't, dismissing Chad. had they felt he was done, i think QB was the choice. but, in my opinion, they believed if they can build the OL, Chad may guide us to the Playoffs. now, if two years pass (and the OL is where it should be) and Chad isn't producing, well then we have Clemens to take over. The first two rounds of this past draft were for the long haul, not so much this year. cheers
Not to mention we could have moved down a few spots to Draft Cutler and may have been able to grab another OL player or two with another late first or 2 seconds.
with so many holes to fill (and chad recovering nicely), i believe we took the proper path. besides, clemens has shown some really nice flashes.
Yeah the fact that we got two offensive linemen and still got a decent quarterback in the second round makes the D'Brick selection a good choice. Clemens and Cutler arent that far apart talent-wise and had we taken Cutler, we wouldn't have anyone near the equivalent of D'Brick if we looked for a tackle in the 2nd round.
I thought we DID take a QB. What's with all the man love for Leinhart and Culter? If QB was the top priority, shouldn't have Vince Young been the guy? Getting Clemens where we picked him was probably the best thing for the Jets this year.
PLEASE. 1.Arm strength is the most consistently overrated attribute in a quarterback. Despite Pennington's lack of arm strength, he had a thoroughly dominant season in his first year as a starter, playing primarily in Giants Stadium. 2.From what I have seen, Kellen Clemens has a more than adequate arm. 3.The entire gist of this article seems to be "Jets should have drafted Cutler, because he's big and has a strong arm." So what? Browning Nagle was big with a strong arm. Cutler was the most consistently overrated prospect out there. Ending up with Shanahan, who has turned Plummer into a better than average player, will help him immensely, but I highly doubt he's going to be the John Elway type that all the experts are hyping him out to be. The "experts" also said: Post Pennington draft, Peter King, in his draft grades "Ten things I think I think" that Chris Redman would be a better pro quarterback than Chad Pennington. In 2001, CNNSI's Don Banks said that draftniks should remember the name "Mike McMahon," and Vikings QB Coach Don Woods said "I think he was the best prospect I saw all weekend." Peter King said Bubba Franks would be "the next Mark Chmura," and said "Courtney Brown IS a draft." Not quite. Mel Kiper thought that Andre Ware would be an excellent NFL quarterback. -X-
I hate when people use the arguement that if we drafted Bush, Leinart, Young, Cutler or basically any skill player, they would have no one to block for them. As if the NFL draft consists of only 1 round or as if the 1st round of the NFL draft is the only way to acquire players. I didn't want a QB in 1st; I thought getting a guy like Charlie Whitehurst in the 3rd would be a much better value than any of the QBs projected to go in the 1st 2 rounds. I absolutely loved Ferguson pick and wouldn't have mind if we traded up for Bush. However, if we did take Cutler, we could have still drafted Mangold at 29 then Justice in the 2nd Rd. I don't think there is a drop off from Freguson/Clemens to Justice/Cutler. Some might argue the latter is better. Praise the Jets for their pick but save us the crap about "who was going to block for Cutler?"
I was a big Cutler guy! There was a lot of talk of the Jets trading down before the draft. I'm glad they took D'Brick - but when I heard the Jets were trying to trade back up for Leinart, I was hoping it was for Cutler instead. Yes, I think Clemens has shown something - and may be a very good QB - but I really wanted Cutler. He's going to be special.
Take a look at the HOF QB, let me know which ones had a Chad like arm? Besides Montana almost all of them had big arms, pretty decent release points and pretty good size. What seperates the NFL from college is an NFL player needs to be able to throw down field when he is under pressure or being hit, very often without their legs set beneath them. Because the so called pro's have called good prospects who turned into busts, outside of maybe Montana tell me which prospects without good arms and a quick release with a little size are great NFL QB's? Arm strength my be over rated in relationship to brains but arm strength is part of the package for being a great NFL QB. As far as Cutler being an over rated prospect, that is merely your opinion, I trust Shanahan's judgement on a QB prospect over any GM that picked ahead of him.
I did notice after Clemens had a so so preaseason game against the Eagles many on this board started questioning wheather he was the right pick. I say hell yes! The poise he showed in that 2 minute offense against the Bucs, the (almost) TD pass to Cothcery that he dropped and that TD he threw in the back of the endzone against the Redskins are microcosms of what this guy is going to show in his NFL career. Are Cutler and Leinart going to be great? I would not bet against it but I would say the same about Kellen Clemens.
If our prior dumbass administration would have somehow kept McKenzie and Thomas we would not have had to worry about picking a tackle this year. But then again, if we had those two, Chad would not have gotten killed last year............Who the hell knows......... But I am still bitter about how our young talent was let go in favor of older veterans. If only Jordan was given more carries as he was promised.........he probably would have stayed......... If only the the sky was green.........If only I was 17 again.........yada yada yada Yes, I'm beating a dead horse..............
Mort was also waxing poetic about Matt Jones last year, and while serviceable, he hasn't exactly been the next coming of Marvin Harrison/TO/Randy Moss/insert your own.... I have seen all of Cutler's games, and he has definitely looked solid. The Broncos are a very good team, better than the Jets. Also, Shanahan's system has been in place for a decade, and the Jets are playing in their third system in three years. Like Green Machine said, let's wait a little before saying Cutler was the guaranteed best QB in this draft.
Ahhhh Why are we questioning these picks right now? All the experts agreed that the Jets had an amazing draft. Yes Cutler looked good in preseason but is also on a team that hosted the AFC title game last year. It's not like he is playing for a rebuilding team with a firts year head coach. How quickly we all forgot how D Brick held his own against Anthony McFarland and Andre Carter or Osi. How about that block on the reverse, how many OL are making that play and this guy is a rookie. I was as anti D Brick as anybody but this guy is the real deal and I think he was the best player for us to take. As far as Mangold he was the best C in the draft and it's a tough position to play, when we have 2 OL in the PB 4 years from now I think the people will be glad we took these 2 instead of a QB or RB.
