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OPPOSITION TERRITORY: New York Jets · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

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All right, everybody, you are listening to our next installment of Opposition Territory
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here at the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly sports
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podcast show in the world. That's right, commemorating and celebrating our ten year
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anniversary. This week, we have got a great Opposition Territory podcast coming your
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way. We're gonna get into the New York Jets. Yes, the New
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York Jets. Is Aaron Rodgers going to be playing on this team in the
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future. We're certainly going to get into that. What the NFL Draft is
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going to look like for this team, this front office, this organization in
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terms of them wanting to just start contending in the AFC East. We have
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got a great guest, so let's get to it joining us this week on
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Opposition Territory. It is great to have him back. Absolutely love talking to
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him. We have mister Thomas Christopher. How you doing, buddy, Hey,
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Jeff, I'm good man. Thank you for having me back on here.
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Love talking to you guys every year. Well, thanks so much.
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I appreciate you taking the time. And this New York Jets team is for
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me. It's very interesting. My best friend is a New York Jets fan.
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I'm just gonna put that out there. I know I've said it on
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our podcast show a number of times. I follow what the team is doing,
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how the team is trying to build something, and we're certainly going to
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get into that. But Thomas, before we do, actually, can you
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tell people where they can find you online? Where they can find you on
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the innerwebs out there? Yeah, you guys can find me over at Gang
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Green Nation and Jets X Factor as a writer. Thomas Christopher are on Twitter
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at Thomas CP Underscore NFL. There we go. All right, well,
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let's get into this New York Jets team, and before we start talking about
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this offseason, before we start talking about the coming season and what we may
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expect from this Jets team, I wanted to talk about the twenty twenty two
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Jets season just kind of reflect a little bit with you here, Thomas,
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on what we saw last year a seven and ten team. I know that
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many within Jets Nation were disappointed just because it was such an up and down
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season. There were some real good points of the season, there were some
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pretty not good points as well throughout the year. So I'm wondering if you
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had one word to describe the team last season, what would that one word
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be and why? So for me, it would be lopsided. And that's
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kind of for a number of reasons. You know, the defense was,
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you know, arguably the top three defense throughout the entire year, while the
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offense was, you know, a bottom five offense. Yep. We have
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defensive playmakers all over the place. We have our skill players all over the
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place, but we didn't have it of the talent where we needed it either,
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and that's at like the quarterback position. So I felt like the talent
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in the offensive line. So I feel like the talent distribution was also lopsided.
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As we have great star players, Breece, All, Garrett Wilson,
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you know, Sauce, DJ Read, a lot of great individual players,
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but where we kind of needed it the most on that offensive side of the
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ball, it just it just wasn't happening. I think with Breeze going down,
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it was a real real I mean not to say like Achilles Hill basically
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in a way like it was just something was taken out of the offense because
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when he was on the field, things were really cooking. They really weren't,
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and he was understanding the game. He was understanding what was expected of
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him on the pro level, and when he went down, things just really
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kind of changed. I think from an offensive standpoint. Would you agree with
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that? Oh, yeah, absolutely, it kind of like I would agree
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with you. Breeesall's injury was kind of like the Achilles Hill because a couple
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of weeks was kind of held under the rug. You know, was that
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incident with Elijah Moore and michae La Fleur as well, when he kind of
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started sending out those tweets and yeah, getting into that issue. And then
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when Bruce went down, that's when things kind of like exploded from these as
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a whole. You know, it just wasn't clicking and the team started going
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through a really rough stretch at that point. Absolutely, and we're certainly going
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to get into the quarterback situation, which has been rough, to say the
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least over a long period of time. But before he even getting to some
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on the field type of talk with you, Thomas, I wanted to talk
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about a certain guy who came from Philadelphia, and that's Joe Douglas. He's
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now been the general manager for a few years. Again, like I said,
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it came to the Jets from the Eagles front office where he learned a
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lot from Howie Roseman, from my understanding, and I'm wondering, when you
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look at what the front office has done, the moves that have been made,
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how Joe Douglass has kind of, you know, solidified himself to an
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extent, you know, within that general manager role. It seems that for
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the foreseeable future. Perhaps I'm wondering, when you look at the moves he's
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made to try to help propel this team forward, how do you think he
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has actually done thus far? And I think it may be safe to say
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that he may be there for a a while unless things are a complete disaster
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this year. But how do you think he's done thus far? He has
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a lot of hit and miss. The hints have been, you know,
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extremely good. Um. I mean, just recently he traded for that twenty
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twenty for twenty twenty four seventh to seventh pick for Chuck Clark from the Ravens.
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I think that was an amazing deal. We all, everybody knows about
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the Jamal Adams deal that he did with the Seattle Seahawks, and you know,
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not as much talking about is the trade that he sent Sam Darnold to
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the Carolina Panthers. You know, he ended up netting a second round pick
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from that in the fourth as well. And Carolina, you know, they're
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not starting Sam Darnold that quarterback this season, so that that trade worked out
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well. Um. And in terms of drafting, I think he's utilized like
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those picks that he's received from them from those trades, and he's done a
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good job with those as well. He's landed Elijah Vera Tucker, he traded
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up to land Elijah Vera Tucker and so far, I mean, he went
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down last season, but he looks like a solid piece for that offensive line,
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somebody that they really need to Um. His biggest miss, honestly,
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men, is the Zach Wilson thing. You know, that's the biggest Yeah.
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Absolutely, yeah, Like the movie made to get rid of Sam Darnel
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on its face is good, but having that lead into Zach Wilson and we've
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seen kind of, you know, how that's played out. It hasn't been
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nearly as good. So I think that's stains the good work that he has
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done so far as the GM. Yeah, the one thing that's kind of
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amazed me, Thomas about where Joe Douglass has been taking this team, especially
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when it comes to the NFL draft. Is that based on where he came
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from in Philadelphia and the philosophy that Howie Roseman has employed down there of building
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your team through the trenches. It's not the most glamorous type of drafting style
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out there when you're talking about offensive lineman and even defensive lineman. And I
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think what's interesting is that I believe only one offensive lineman has been drafted by
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Joe Douglas, I think during the last four drafts. Am I right in
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saying that? I think it is? I think it is a Vera Tucker,
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who was drafted in the first round in two thy twenty one. I
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think he might be the only offensive lineman that was actually drafted in the past
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like four years, maybe even five years. Am I righting that? Well,
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they had Mackay Beckton, but he's been out for the past two years.
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Yeah, with that, with that injury like he's compounded in that's right.
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Yeah, he was twenty yep, so that would have been the first
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one. But I mean, other than that, not guys that have stuck
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around. I mean, oh my god, I'm gonna forget this. This
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gentleman's name max Max Mitchell, Max Mitchell, yep, Maxe. Mitchell was
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coming and done well. And um, we had another player who ended up
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having like a freak accident um during the off season and his career kind of
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ended. It was a freak neck injury. But Mitchell Mitchell could be a
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potential like swing tackle guy. I mean, he filled in for right tackle
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last season and did you know, admirably for what you would expect. He
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wasn't a high draft pick guy. But I mean, so I've actually been
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talking about this, actually wrote an article on Jets X factor is that the
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Jets for their top thirty visits. The Jets have utilized that on offensive tackles.
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So they've used eleven of their top thirty visits so far. Four of
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them have been offensive tackle and another one has been an offensive guard. So
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they are utilizing like they are trying. I think Douglas really wants to build
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through the trenches this year. Yeah, it's just a question of how he's
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going to get it done. And you know, the looming question of how
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that trade package with Aaron Rodgers is going to be. Absolutely that's a great
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segue, man, because I do want to get into the Aaron Rodgers situation,
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the quarterback situation overall, because it's just it's been so inconsistent for the
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Jets. I mean over the past decade. I mean, probably one of
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the most inconsistent positions on the field, arguably one of the most important positions
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in professional sports. I mean, Zach Wilson, he just doesn't appear to
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be the guy. I remember we had our friend of the podcast, Matt
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Waldman, who's an NFL draft scout and just does great work. He was
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on right before that draft and said, you know, I think the Jets
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maybe looking at Zach Wilson before the draft, just basically saying, you know,
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when it comes to footwork, he has a lot of work to do
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and it just doesn't come natural to him. We've seen Zach Wilson struggle,
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of course, so of course, as we all know, team is looking
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at Aaron Rodgers bringing him in Jets Nation. It seems to be they appear
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to be kind of split on this move being made. Some people love it,
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some people hate it. I'm wandering, I just want to get your
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thoughts here. Is it a good move for the Jets overall? Well,
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what are your thoughts? About this overall process too, of Aaron Rodgers potentially
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coming to the Jets, which seems it seems all but certain. But who
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knows it's Aaron Rodgers. What are your thoughts here? Right? As much
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as I truly do love Aaron Rodgers as a player, you know he's an
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elite talent, a talent sorry, and um, you know he's he's going
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to be a first ballot Hall of Famer, there's no question. But for
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the Jets, I think it was the wrong move, um, because we
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gotta look at it like this. Rogers is playing in maybe a one two
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year window maximum. You know they don't they still don't have any questions of
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our answers, sorry, of what to do after that. Zach Wilson clearly
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isn't the answer. And how are they going to answer that? Are they
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gonna try to draft a quarterback in a later round maybe to get lucky,
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or are they going to go a free agent route and have that bridge quarterback
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type of situation. It's it's a weird. It's a weird situation of being
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personally, if I was them, I would have gone after like a Derek
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Carr type of player, where at least you can lock somebody consistent with above
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to above average quarterback play for at least the next three to four years and
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try to build through the draft or free agency however you want to do the
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quarterback position that way. I understand that the team wants to, you know,
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Rogers, They're they're perceiving that Rogers will give them the ceiling for a
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super Bowl. But to me, like, you have to win that super
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Bowl if you're going to go this route. Otherwise it's a complete waste of
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time, you know, it absolutely is. Yeah, I think what's interesting
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you used a word called lucky, you know, and and something I've been
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thinking about ever since Jalen Hurts got his contract extension this week. The Eagles
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drafted him in the second round. He was supposed to be the long term
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backup one Carson Wentz, and we, of course see how that situation has
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gone the Philadelphia Eagles and folks listening to this podcast it's a Philly sports podcast,
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and I'm gonna say it as other people are too. The Eagles got
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lucky with Jalen Hurts in this situation. You take a look at Russell Wilson
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where he was drafted the Seattle Seahawks got lucky. There are certain situations in
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the NFL that we see time and time again. We can still talk about
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Tom Brady and that later round pick by the Patriots. They got lucky.
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There are lucky individuals, Dak Prescott being a lucky one. The Jets just
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have not had that luck when it comes to the quarterback position, even drafting
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in the first round. So aside from looking at the talent, doing talent
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evaluations, scouting evaluations, Thomas, I think the Jets need a little bit
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of luck, and there's absolutely no way that you can like strategize luck at
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all. Yeah, no, absolutely not. And it doesn't help that after
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the top couple of quarterbacks in this year's class, things kind of don't look
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too great in terms of quality depth behind it. I mean, next year
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that could be luckier. But depending on the trade package with Rogers, that's
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the whole thing, Like, you don't know what that compensation is going to
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be. A lot of people are speculating a potential twenty twenty four first might
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be there depending on how well the team does with Rogers if he plays next
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year. There's a lot of stipulations on what a potential trade package could be.
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And that also hinders what the Jets could be able to do because,
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as you said, you know, like guys like Dak Prescott, Russell Wilson,
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like the guys who got drafted on you know, round three and later,
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that's a lot more that's you know, that's a that's a dart throw.
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That's a lot a lot. So, yeah, exactly, And we've
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seen Joe Douglas already tried to do that with James Moore, James Morgan and
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he was cut after a year. So it's not as easy as people,
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you know, like to think it is. Absolutely all right, Well,
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I got a two part question for you here as we're looking towards this Jets
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two thou twenty three season, I'd like to get you, whether it's on
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the offensive defense or if you want to do both, whichever, what's the
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biggest strength of this Jets team as we're heading into twenty twenty three here,
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the strength is definitely the defense. You know, the secondary is very good.
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I think Chuck Clark is going to become their main box safety. I
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think there might be a cap casualty in the secondary for the Jets trying to
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make room for the Rogers contract and anybody else that they may want to go
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after. But you know, the defensive interior is good. Quinnin Williams as
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a study. They have John Franklin Myers who's been coming on as edge rusher.
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Carl Lawson's supposedly staying with the team and he's you know, an average
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an average edge rusher as well. But then you got Sauce Gardner DJ Reid,
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who might be the best cornerback duo in the NFL right now depending on
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how people see it. And that that's probably the strength. The biggest weakness
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other than quarterback position pending was still the offensive line. You know that the
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Jets. The Jets were one of I believe did this on an article on
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Jets X Factor as well. The Jets are one of I believe six teams
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that had their offensive tackles play at least two hundred and seventy five snaps throughout
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the season. And that's on top of them missing Mecca Beckton as well.
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So the Jets really went through six different tackles last year, which is hard
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to get past. You know, you know, you can't really win if
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if you're playing you know, we'revolving Dora at the tackle positions, especially as
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a quarterback to as much as you know Plaque, the carousal of Flacco,
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White, Wilson and Streveler failed. They didn't get that much help from the
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offensive line. So that's that's the biggest weakness by far on the team is
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the offensive line. Yeah, I think the biggest strength in the offense would
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probably have to go to the running back room, specifically Bruce Hall. I
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think when we look at what the Jets offense is likely going to be in
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the future, given the uncertainty of at this moment where the quarterback position actually
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is because Aaron Rodgers has an officially signed yet, right he hasn't signed yet,
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So I think the running game is going to be extremely important to this
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team moving forward. Oh absolutely. And that that's what drives the biggest question
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too, because there are rumors that Bruce Hall didn't just tear his ACL,
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he had some helcy l damage in there with her was a meniscus, I
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believe part of me, I think it was a meniscus, And so I
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don't know if we're gonna see like a Javante Hall type thing where he's gonna
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probably be very slow to come in. If we see a JK. Dobbins
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type thing where he's gonna be slow to come in. And I don't know
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if Michael Carter, as much as I like Michael Carter was a huge UNC
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fanum. He was given the opportunity to be that running back one and he
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didn't live up to expectations. That's why they ended up using you know,
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Zay so it's gonna be and Ty Johnson, so it's gonna be it's gonna
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be very They need Breese Hall to come in strong. Supposedly he's on track
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to be good and if he can like that's that's how the team wants to
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go. You gotta pound that ball in order to get the quarterback enough time
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to make place. He definitely needs to stay healthy during his sophomore year for
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sure. But moving along here, Thomas, we got to get into the
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NFL draft. It's right around the corner here, and I think the Jets
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really need to hit on some early picks here in order to help solidify this
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team in the future. We're talking about the offensive tackle position and absolute must
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that they get that future offensive tackle. And even from an offensive line perspective,
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you're talking about guards. I think the versatility of where offensive linemen are
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now within this world of professional football, I think there's a good opportunity for
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them to get some key pieces in the future for that offensive line. So
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I'm wondering, like, when the draft is over, what kind of draft
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do you want to see or have seen? Like, what do you want
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to see from Joe Douglas and this front office as this team is looking to
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become more competitive in the AFC East. What kind of draft do you want
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to see from them? So I'm hoping that the team keeps their first round
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pick uses that at the tackle position. Whether they trade back or not.
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You know, it doesn't matter too much, but they have to address the
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tackle position in the first round for me to be happy. You know,
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Paris Johnson, Roderick Drones, even Darnell Wright depending on what they do.
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That that would be for key for me. On top of that, I
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would look they still have to try to find depth at that position as well.
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They can't just hit it once in the first round and then think that
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everything is gonna be okay. They have to double dip at some point and
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that I think they need to also target the secondary as well, you know,
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the safety positions, although it's not a deep safety draft, and I
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think they need to add another person to that wide receiver room because as much
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as you know Alban Lazard has, you know, is compatible with Aaron Rodgers
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and Miko Hardman is you know, a speezer guy, but he's coming off
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missing a year himself, so that I think the Jets need some type that
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depth of that position as well. To me, it's just about, you
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know, the meat and potatoes, man. You got to get that offensive
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line defensive line depth. I need the depth there absolutely. A couple of
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years ago, my buddy said they just need to draft an offensive lineman in
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every single round, with every single pick, and I thought, of,
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you know what, why not, because you are going to hit on at
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least a few for the future. I thought that. I thought that was
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great. I would love it if an NFL team did that. I mean,
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could you imagine if the Jets actually did that, how freaking hilarious that
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would be. It'd be great, Oh my god, dude, it would
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be awesome. They'd The funniest part is too, they'd probably hit on more
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than the normally. Yes, absolutely, they're doing it unconventional. And then
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and then they have success with it, it'd be great again. Folks are
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talking to Thomas Christopher from gangreen Nation dot com. And again, where can
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they find you on Twitter? That'd be at Thomas cp Underscore NFL on Twitter.
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All right, Uh, and to close this out here, another two
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part question for you. Just as we're looking toward this Jets twenty twenty three
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season, you know, I'm wondering where you think the offense is going to
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be trending this coming season, and if everything does fall into place where you
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have some good draft picks that are able to start, perhaps on the offensive
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line, Bruce Hall comes back, Aaron Rodgers is healthy, ready to go,
19:10
and is ready to move this offense to another echelon. So to say,
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where do you see this Jets offense actually trending this coming season? I'm
19:21
hoping, you know, pending everything out its highest expectation. I would want
19:26
to see, you know, like eleven and six, twelve and five season
19:30
from the team. Anything less than ten wins would be a disaster in my
19:33
opinion. Yeah, that's saying a lot coming from the you know, it
19:38
really is like a division with the Buffalo Bills, who are still going to
19:42
be a good team, a very vulnerable team. I think because they have
19:47
a lot they have some work that they need to get done in this draft
19:49
as well. But I do think that's interesting. And from the defensive perspective,
19:53
where do you think the defense is going to be trending? I mean,
19:56
could they potentially be the top defense in the NFL? And what would
19:59
that actually do then for them? So it's weird because in Sala's first season,
20:03
the defense was so bad that it only matched Jim Schwartz's first year as
20:07
the Lions head coach, and that was terrible. I had the double take
20:11
when I saw that, and then he ended up rebounding in he's top three
20:15
defense, top five defense. I think they still need to be that top
20:19
three, top five defense. Otherwise, why did the Jets hire Robert s
20:25
All in the first place. You know, you get that defensive pedigree,
20:27
and if the defense doesn't step up with what should be an offense that does
20:32
well, it's gonna be problems. I think honestly, if the Jets don't
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if the Jets don't win at least ten games make the playoffs, I think
20:38
we might actually see some heads roll. Interesting. Interesting. Well, I
20:42
would love to talk to you at some other point down the road. Thomas,
20:45
it was great talking to you about this New York Jets team. Always
20:49
great to read your content on gangreen Nation dot com. We love our sp
20:52
Nation sites here at the PST podcast show. Come back and join us down
20:56
the road, my friend. I'd love to talk to you again. Yeah,
21:00
yeah, absolutely, I'll always be available for you guys. Always great
21:03
talking to Thomas and this Jets team, as I mentioned, is very interesting.
21:07
I thought it was interesting what he was specifically talking about in terms of
21:11
what that record they are looking to actually achieve at the end of the twenty
21:17
twenty three season. Look, they won seven games this past season. If
21:21
Aaron Rodgers is behind center, and like I said, if things are going
21:25
to click for this team moving forward, I absolutely think that a ten eleven
21:30
wins is absolutely possible for this Jets team, especially with a defense that is
21:34
playing dominant football, consistent football. We saw it last year when the offense
21:40
struggled, the defense was there too many times to help pick this team up.
21:45
Defense has to do that this year. They cannot regress at all,
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and I wouldn't expect that actually coming from this very prolific Jets team. Gonna
21:52
be interesting, and we're gonna continue to follow not just the New York Jets,
21:56
not just the Philadelphia Eagles, but all these NFL teams. We absolutely
22:00
love our Opposition Territory podcasts, and we've got a great regular show coming your
22:06
way. It's gonna drop Thursday morning. As our regular show drops every single
22:10
Thursday morning, we are going to be replaying as part of our ten year
22:14
anniversary week here, we're gonna be replaying the very first episode that Lenn and
22:18
I did ten years ago. You would not want to miss it. Yes,
22:23
the audio kind of stinks, the content not the greatest, folks,
22:27
but there are definitely some laughs in it, and some of the subject matter
22:32
that we were talking about was pretty fun. So stay tuned for that.
22:34
Take care, folks, We will catch you next time.