*New GM David Eberlin comes into the room and sits at the table near the front of the room, looking out over the media*
GM Eberlin: Welcome everyone, I'd like to thank you all for coming today. As you already know, I've been hired by the Jets ownership to turn this team around. That is exactly what I plan on doing. We need to stop under-achieving and play some football. We are in the position to win, and win now. Hopefully, the offseason will give us the oppurtunity to fine tune what we already have and fill in the pieces through the draft and free agency.
On the offensive side of the ball, I believe that we may be one of the top teams out there. Speaking of the skilled positions, that is. We need to improve in the trenches, but at the skilled positions, I believe that we've assembled a group of players that can move the ball with a fair amount of ease. Chad Pennington will be the QB, barring injury and will be tossing to a couple of great recievers in Marvin Harrison, and Santana Moss. At RB, we have a bit of a situation. Both Carnell 'Cadillac' Williams and Curtis Martin are capable of holding it down. We may see one of these two practice some at FB, and see what we can do there. It comes down to each of them having too big of contracts to move, so we need to be able to utilize both of them.
On defense...Well, that's a different story. Each of the last two years, this team has given up 437 points. You can't give up that many points a year and expect to be competitive. There will be some changes made to this team on defense. Both starting defensive ends Chike Okeafor and Kenny Holmes will be back. These two combined for 97 tackles and 19 sacks last year. As for the rest of the defense, only MLB Mike Maslowski and ROLB have a strong grip on their jobs. It's going to be a dog fight for everyone else.
I'm looking forward to what should be a competitive team coming up this season. Through FA and the draft, we can only fill our holes. We can't go backwards. In all honesty, winning the AFC East or the AFC wildcard is the goal of this Jets team. We believe this is a realistic goal with the talent assembled so far, and the talent that we plan on bringing in over the offseason. Anything less than that would be considered a disappointed season. In closing, I'm happy to be apart of this great Jets team that has brought memories to many. I hope to be a part of the memories that have yet to come.
Do you plan on trading your first round pick to aquire more picks in this years draft to help improve your defense, or are you planning to get better through free agency?
At the moment, we're keeping our options open. If we were to trade our first round pick, it'd have to be something that we just couldn't turn down. At #19, there are still players out there that can come in and make a noticeable impact. We'll see what's available in the FA Market and what players are coming out of the draft and we'll go from there.
Congrats on your addition to ownership. What do you think your chances are against some tough divisional foes this year? What are the goals for your team?
What do you feel is your teams biggest need playerwise at the current time?
For someone with one of the highest salaries in the league, Dewayne Robertson has been a HUGE disappointment. Will he be a Jet in 2006, and if so, do you see him starting?
Congrats on your addition to ownership. What do you think your chances are against some tough divisional foes this year? What are the goals for your team?
What do you feel is your teams biggest need playerwise at the current time?
Thank you. Looking at our division, which was arguably the weakest in the league last year, I'd say that we have a pretty good shot at taking the division. That is the goal. We want to win the AFC East and we think that our offense can get the job done. We need the defense to play a role in that too.
Playerwise, the majority of our holes are on defense. As I said earlier, there are 4 or 5 players on defense that played well enough last year to keep their positions. The rest is an all-out dogfight. We'll be looking to add some players on defense to really make the decision harder.
Quote:
Originally Posted by titansrule
With large amounts of cap room, will you be looking to FA to strengthen a weak defense...Possibly someone such as Samari Rolle?
We do have an abundance of money to spend this offseason. Saying that, we do have major holes in our secondary. We'll definately be looking at Samari Rolle type players. Those type of players don't come along every day, so when you have to oppurtunity to strenthen your team, you try and do that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Short
For someone with one of the highest salaries in the league, Dewayne Robertson has been a HUGE disappointment. Will he be a Jet in 2006, and if so, do you see him starting?
Robertson will be a Jet next season. Although he hasn't been as productive as we'd expected, we're going to give him a chance to try and prove his worth. When it comes down to it, he's still young with a ton of potential. And moving him will cause nothing but a salary cap headache.
On defense, we're going to try and get the most out of what we have, and at the same time upgrade through the draft and FA. The key word there is try. We're definately going to take a look at players like Ty Law and Samari Rolle in FA. Those type of players make an impact with their ability to actually put their abilities into action on the field and make the big, clutch plays. I think that's something that we've been missing here the last couple of years. We'll also be looking to add a big-name DT to play alongside of Dewayne Robertson. Probably someone that's been around the league awhile that can teach him the in's and the out's of the defensive tackle position. So, us taking one of the many highly touted DTs in the draft is probably not likely. Those are our two major concerns right now. Of course, we're always looking to upgrade wherever we can on defense, but don't think that this is going to be a fire-sale, because we do have talent on the defensive side of this team.
Are there any future plans for cornerback Derrick Strait? Hes a former 2nd round pick who could improve if given a chance
Well, like I said earlier: There are very few who have a guarenteed spot on this defense. He's young and has potential, and we'll see how he does in the preseason. Everyone on this defense should be playing the best football of their lives, because there may not be a tomorrow for them on this roster if they don't.
Was Middle Linebacker Channing Crowder who you were looking for in the draft?
Any with Jimmy Williams, do you believe that your team will still need a Ty Law or Samari Rolle?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Disturbed
The simple fact is that he is a over rated piece of **** that can't cover. He makes bad reads on routes and lacks the ability to recover when he is beaten.
For Madden people the best way to explain it is that he has a very low awareness.
Was Middle Linebacker Channing Crowder who you were looking for in the draft?
Any with Jimmy Williams, do you believe that your team will still need a Ty Law or Samari Rolle?
Let's be completely honest here...we were looking for anyone on defense. ANYONE. This unit has been horrible the last two years. We needed someone to build a defense around, and we feel that Crowder can be that person. As for Jimmy Williams, he does give us a good nickel this year. Beyond that, we just don't know for know. We'll have to see how he does. So, we will still be looking at a FA CB to make an impact...which won't take much. Tim Couch could make an impact in our secondary.
