Ny Times article on what a friggin sack of shit Idzik is
Dec 1, 2014 10:04:05 GMT -5
Hotman and The Tax Returns Are in Kenya like this
Post by freestater on Dec 1, 2014 10:04:05 GMT -5
www.nytimes.com/2014/12/01/sports/football/jets-john-idzik-may-soon-face-a-day-of-reckoning.html?ref=football&_r=1
As the Jets Stagger On, John Idzik’s Missteps Become Clearer
NOV. 30, 2014
On Pro Football
By BEN SHPIGEL
The day he introduced John Idzik as general manager, the Jets’ owner, Woody Johnson, said it became apparent during the search process that Idzik was “head and shoulders the best fit” for the job.
Four weeks from Monday, the day after the Jets’ season ends without a playoff for the fourth straight year, Johnson is likely to announce whether he believes Idzik remains that best fit.
This will be a critical off-season for the Jets. Aside from possibly hiring a new coach, they figure to pick high in the draft; they could have more than $30 million in salary-cap space entering free agency; and they must resolve that franchise staple, a flawed quarterback situation.
Johnson must weigh his frustration against his confidence in the long-term plan Idzik has charted. He must determine whether Idzik has executed that plan to his satisfaction — and if not, whether Johnson trusts him to continue carrying it out. He must decide whether 23 months is enough time to evaluate a general manager.
There have been no indications that Idzik could be fired, or that Johnson is contemplating a change, but everyone has a threshold for suffering and embarrassment. It is possible that Johnson reached his last Monday night, when the team assembled by Idzik, and coached by Rex Ryan, blundered to a 35-point loss to Buffalo, falling to 2-9 this season and 10-17 in Idzik’s tenure.
Photo
The Jets’ general manager, John Idzik, has jettisoned 34 of the 53 players he inherited in 2013. Credit Bill Kostroun/Associated Press
“There’s a lot of things that you can sit back and, in hindsight, say, Why didn’t you do this or why didn’t you do that?” Louis Riddick, the former director of pro personnel for the Philadelphia Eagles and now an analyst for ESPN, said in a telephone interview. “But is it really hindsight?”
The answer is complicated, but Riddick’s point is valid. Since replacing Mike Tannenbaum in January 2013, Idzik has jettisoned 34 of the 53 players he inherited. He has purged onerous contracts, restored financial flexibility and acquired assets like Eric Decker, Chris Ivory and Sheldon Richardson. He has also perpetuated the Jets’ quarterback instability and failed to upgrade at essential positions. The roster may not be worse than when he took over, but it is not better.
In almost every instance, the Jets’ deficiencies are no less obvious now than they were in July or March. One exception, oddly enough, is at quarterback. Even if it is evident now that Geno Smith has regressed and that the Jets erred in making him the starter without allowing a legitimate competition for the role (forget that charade with Michael Vick), there were few clues during his encouraging off-season that heralded his downfall.
Where Idzik miscalculated most is at cornerback, the other position where teams lose games the fastest. Because of injuries and underperformance, the Jets have started six tandems in 11 games, including different ones in the last four. They tried, and failed, to improve through free agency before professing confidence in Dee Milliner, coming off a tumultuous rookie season, and an injury-prone veteran, Dimitri Patterson.
That plan imploded during training camp when Patterson was released after leaving the team without notice, Milliner sustained the first of two serious knee injuries and the rookie Dexter McDougle tore a knee ligament.
Teams cannot predict injuries, but they can prepare better for them. Without reliable cornerback play, the Jets have allowed 27 touchdown passes, tied for most in the N.F.L. entering Sunday, and their decision to convert Antonio Allen stunted his development at safety.
The Jets did have other options. Among the best 11 cornerbacks, as rated by the analytical website Pro Football Focus, five — Darrelle Revis, Vontae Davis, Brandon Flowers, Alterraun Verner and Antonio Cromartie, who signed with Arizona after the Jets released him — were available through free agency. A sixth, Jason Verrett, was drafted in the first round, seven spots after the Jets took safety Calvin Pryor, whose strengths have been marginalized by the team’s inadequacies at cornerback. Another solid player, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, chose to sign with the Giants after visiting the Jets.
That Johnson would be wary of reuniting with Revis, who dragged them through two contentious contract holdouts, is understandable. But two years removed from reconstructive knee surgery, and a little more than 19 months after the Jets traded him to Tampa Bay for a first-round pick and what turned out to be a fourth-rounder, Revis is thriving with New England.
“If John would have signed Darrelle, it would have gone down as one of the best trades in N.F.L. history,” said the former Buccaneers general manager Mark Dominik, who worked with Idzik in Tampa Bay almost two decades ago.
Despite entering the season with more than $20 million in salary-cap space — a reserve that could help them re-sign linebacker David Harris and the star defensive lineman Muhammad Wilkerson — the Jets neglected to adequately address a position so vital to Ryan’s defensive scheme: Strong man-to-man coverage on the outside allows him to generate pressure with creative blitzes. Fairly or not, this has invited the perception of a disconnect between Ryan and Idzik, whose long-term interests run counter to the urgent needs of the coach he was required to retain.
“If John really knows how Rex likes to run his defense and they’ve talked about it,” Riddick said, “why wouldn’t that get done?”
Idzik is not scheduled to be available to the news media until after the season.
In Seattle, Idzik helped to execute a strategy espoused by his boss there, John Schneider, an apprentice in Green Bay under Ted Thompson, who prefers building through the draft (then locking up the best players) and short-term free-agent deals.
Idzik set out to adopt that approach to player procurement and development with the Jets. He hoarded draft choices and dispensed modest contracts to aging players like Vick and Chris Johnson, while bestowing lucrative multiyear pacts to players at premium positions, like Decker and right tackle Breno Giacomini.
Hunting for bargains, he also added players with questionable character, and two of them — Patterson and Mike Goodson, who was arrested last year on drug and weapons charges and in June missed mandatory minicamp — are no longer with the team.
Neither are five of the 19 players Idzik selected in his two drafts. Since players progress at different rates, it is accepted that it takes three years to evaluate a draft class. Although the Jets are bullish on Richardson, Pryor and tight end Jace Amaro, Milliner cannot stay healthy, Smith has been benched and early returns suggest that Idzik failed to identify receiving help from what could be the deepest rookie class since Terrell Owens, Marvin Harrison and Keyshawn Johnson headlined the 1996 group.
Of the first 22 receivers selected in May, a collection including such midround gems as Jarvis Landry (Dolphins), John Brown (Cardinals) and Martavis Bryant (Steelers), only two have not caught a pass this season. Both were drafted by the Jets in the fourth round: Jalen Saunders, who was cut in September, and Shaq Evans, who muddled through a drop-filled camp before sustaining a season-ending shoulder injury.
That unproductive draft class motivated the Jets, in part, to trade for Percy Harvin, who is being paid $6.47 million for a nine-game audition. They acquired him when they were 1-6, and they are 1-3 with him, heading into Monday night’s game against Miami.
At Idzik’s introductory news conference, Johnson expressed confidence that Idzik had requisite personnel experience and that he was not just an expert in contracts and salary-cap management. It has been difficult for him to quash that perception, but there is one proven way Idzik can do so, if he continues to get the chance.
“If your drafts are good and your player acquisitions are good,” said Charley Casserly, an NFL Network analyst and former personnel executive for the Houston Texans and Washington Redskins, “nobody’s going to remember where you came from.”
NOV. 30, 2014
On Pro Football
By BEN SHPIGEL
The day he introduced John Idzik as general manager, the Jets’ owner, Woody Johnson, said it became apparent during the search process that Idzik was “head and shoulders the best fit” for the job.
Four weeks from Monday, the day after the Jets’ season ends without a playoff for the fourth straight year, Johnson is likely to announce whether he believes Idzik remains that best fit.
This will be a critical off-season for the Jets. Aside from possibly hiring a new coach, they figure to pick high in the draft; they could have more than $30 million in salary-cap space entering free agency; and they must resolve that franchise staple, a flawed quarterback situation.
Johnson must weigh his frustration against his confidence in the long-term plan Idzik has charted. He must determine whether Idzik has executed that plan to his satisfaction — and if not, whether Johnson trusts him to continue carrying it out. He must decide whether 23 months is enough time to evaluate a general manager.
There have been no indications that Idzik could be fired, or that Johnson is contemplating a change, but everyone has a threshold for suffering and embarrassment. It is possible that Johnson reached his last Monday night, when the team assembled by Idzik, and coached by Rex Ryan, blundered to a 35-point loss to Buffalo, falling to 2-9 this season and 10-17 in Idzik’s tenure.
Photo
The Jets’ general manager, John Idzik, has jettisoned 34 of the 53 players he inherited in 2013. Credit Bill Kostroun/Associated Press
“There’s a lot of things that you can sit back and, in hindsight, say, Why didn’t you do this or why didn’t you do that?” Louis Riddick, the former director of pro personnel for the Philadelphia Eagles and now an analyst for ESPN, said in a telephone interview. “But is it really hindsight?”
The answer is complicated, but Riddick’s point is valid. Since replacing Mike Tannenbaum in January 2013, Idzik has jettisoned 34 of the 53 players he inherited. He has purged onerous contracts, restored financial flexibility and acquired assets like Eric Decker, Chris Ivory and Sheldon Richardson. He has also perpetuated the Jets’ quarterback instability and failed to upgrade at essential positions. The roster may not be worse than when he took over, but it is not better.
In almost every instance, the Jets’ deficiencies are no less obvious now than they were in July or March. One exception, oddly enough, is at quarterback. Even if it is evident now that Geno Smith has regressed and that the Jets erred in making him the starter without allowing a legitimate competition for the role (forget that charade with Michael Vick), there were few clues during his encouraging off-season that heralded his downfall.
Where Idzik miscalculated most is at cornerback, the other position where teams lose games the fastest. Because of injuries and underperformance, the Jets have started six tandems in 11 games, including different ones in the last four. They tried, and failed, to improve through free agency before professing confidence in Dee Milliner, coming off a tumultuous rookie season, and an injury-prone veteran, Dimitri Patterson.
That plan imploded during training camp when Patterson was released after leaving the team without notice, Milliner sustained the first of two serious knee injuries and the rookie Dexter McDougle tore a knee ligament.
Teams cannot predict injuries, but they can prepare better for them. Without reliable cornerback play, the Jets have allowed 27 touchdown passes, tied for most in the N.F.L. entering Sunday, and their decision to convert Antonio Allen stunted his development at safety.
The Jets did have other options. Among the best 11 cornerbacks, as rated by the analytical website Pro Football Focus, five — Darrelle Revis, Vontae Davis, Brandon Flowers, Alterraun Verner and Antonio Cromartie, who signed with Arizona after the Jets released him — were available through free agency. A sixth, Jason Verrett, was drafted in the first round, seven spots after the Jets took safety Calvin Pryor, whose strengths have been marginalized by the team’s inadequacies at cornerback. Another solid player, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, chose to sign with the Giants after visiting the Jets.
That Johnson would be wary of reuniting with Revis, who dragged them through two contentious contract holdouts, is understandable. But two years removed from reconstructive knee surgery, and a little more than 19 months after the Jets traded him to Tampa Bay for a first-round pick and what turned out to be a fourth-rounder, Revis is thriving with New England.
“If John would have signed Darrelle, it would have gone down as one of the best trades in N.F.L. history,” said the former Buccaneers general manager Mark Dominik, who worked with Idzik in Tampa Bay almost two decades ago.
Despite entering the season with more than $20 million in salary-cap space — a reserve that could help them re-sign linebacker David Harris and the star defensive lineman Muhammad Wilkerson — the Jets neglected to adequately address a position so vital to Ryan’s defensive scheme: Strong man-to-man coverage on the outside allows him to generate pressure with creative blitzes. Fairly or not, this has invited the perception of a disconnect between Ryan and Idzik, whose long-term interests run counter to the urgent needs of the coach he was required to retain.
“If John really knows how Rex likes to run his defense and they’ve talked about it,” Riddick said, “why wouldn’t that get done?”
Idzik is not scheduled to be available to the news media until after the season.
In Seattle, Idzik helped to execute a strategy espoused by his boss there, John Schneider, an apprentice in Green Bay under Ted Thompson, who prefers building through the draft (then locking up the best players) and short-term free-agent deals.
Idzik set out to adopt that approach to player procurement and development with the Jets. He hoarded draft choices and dispensed modest contracts to aging players like Vick and Chris Johnson, while bestowing lucrative multiyear pacts to players at premium positions, like Decker and right tackle Breno Giacomini.
Hunting for bargains, he also added players with questionable character, and two of them — Patterson and Mike Goodson, who was arrested last year on drug and weapons charges and in June missed mandatory minicamp — are no longer with the team.
Neither are five of the 19 players Idzik selected in his two drafts. Since players progress at different rates, it is accepted that it takes three years to evaluate a draft class. Although the Jets are bullish on Richardson, Pryor and tight end Jace Amaro, Milliner cannot stay healthy, Smith has been benched and early returns suggest that Idzik failed to identify receiving help from what could be the deepest rookie class since Terrell Owens, Marvin Harrison and Keyshawn Johnson headlined the 1996 group.
Of the first 22 receivers selected in May, a collection including such midround gems as Jarvis Landry (Dolphins), John Brown (Cardinals) and Martavis Bryant (Steelers), only two have not caught a pass this season. Both were drafted by the Jets in the fourth round: Jalen Saunders, who was cut in September, and Shaq Evans, who muddled through a drop-filled camp before sustaining a season-ending shoulder injury.
That unproductive draft class motivated the Jets, in part, to trade for Percy Harvin, who is being paid $6.47 million for a nine-game audition. They acquired him when they were 1-6, and they are 1-3 with him, heading into Monday night’s game against Miami.
At Idzik’s introductory news conference, Johnson expressed confidence that Idzik had requisite personnel experience and that he was not just an expert in contracts and salary-cap management. It has been difficult for him to quash that perception, but there is one proven way Idzik can do so, if he continues to get the chance.
“If your drafts are good and your player acquisitions are good,” said Charley Casserly, an NFL Network analyst and former personnel executive for the Houston Texans and Washington Redskins, “nobody’s going to remember where you came from.”
