DL Positions - Starters basically sort of set.

Jordan still needs to be set contract wise, but that's pretty much within the team's control.

Reed and Naz are your DTs

Clarke is the future pro bowler.

Richardson shouldn't start if retained, which means e likely won't be. He's largely listed as the biggest boom or bust free agent.

We are going to be drafting DL and signing probably not so high profile free agents for depth who have higher potential.

Outside of Richardson, who are your free agent wants? What about the draft?

I stand by the belief that they would not give up Michael Bennett unless they knew they had terms in place with Sheldon Richardson. Doing so would be foolhardy.

I agree on Richardson. Another locker room / character issue guy with too many periods of disappearance.

Some team will overpay him, and it won't be us.

Seymour":26w61foy said:

I agree on Richardson. Another locker room / character issue guy with too many periods of disappearance.

Some team will overpay him, and it won't be us.

Click to expand...

Now Richardson is a "locker room / character issue."

LOL.

man dion played lights out last few games need to keep him

hawknation2018":25p8d8mc said:

Seymour":25p8d8mc said:

I agree on Richardson. Another locker room / character issue guy with too many periods of disappearance.

Some team will overpay him, and it won't be us.

Click to expand...

Now Richardson is a "locker room / character issue."

LOL.

Click to expand...

A good education is important.... :roll:

https://thejetpress.com/2017/05/26/new-york-jets-sheldon-richardson-locker-room-toxic/

Since the Jets drafted him, Richardson has endured legal troubles. He has shown up late to team events. He made a derogatory comment about women. He has publicly insulted his then-teammate Marshall on multiple occasions. And for carrying all his baggage, Richardson rewarded the Jets with an “impressive” 1.5 sack season in 2016.

Click to expand...

Seymour":ol0rsnf3 said:

I agree on Richardson. Another locker room / character issue guy with too many periods of disappearance.

Some team will overpay him, and it won't be us.

Click to expand...

Spot on. I do not understand the love for Richardson on this board. He was a complete dissapointment, got benched in the Cardinals game for lack of gap control, is one strike away from getting suspended, yet people want to give him a big contract? No thank you.

It's time to churn the roster, not keep guys that contributed to a dissapointing season

Jerhawk":3l0bo0hb said:

Seymour":3l0bo0hb said:

I agree on Richardson. Another locker room / character issue guy with too many periods of disappearance.

Some team will overpay him, and it won't be us.

Click to expand...

Spot on. I do not understand the love for Richardson on this board. He was a complete dissapointment, got benched in the Cardinals game for lack of gap control, is one strike away from getting suspended, yet people want to give him a big contract? No thank you.

It's time to churn the roster, not keep guys that contributed to a dissapointing season

Click to expand...

yeah lets shoot for 2 - 14 and that top draft pick, get rid of everyone.

So much for a formidable D-line. Not really seeing it any longer.

Well at least our O line won't feel as bad now, they will think they got better

lobohawk":fgrgf4wg said:

So much for a formidable D-line. Not really seeing it any longer.

Click to expand...

I see one . . . in Philadelphia.

hawknation2018":4p84qfpt said:

lobohawk":4p84qfpt said:

So much for a formidable D-line. Not really seeing it any longer.

Click to expand...

I see one . . . in Philadelphia.

Click to expand...

Think they'll be able to overcome all those offsides penalties?

Jerhawk":2chla42z said:

Seymour":2chla42z said:

I agree on Richardson. Another locker room / character issue guy with too many periods of disappearance.

Some team will overpay him, and it won't be us.

Click to expand...

Spot on. I do not understand the love for Richardson on this board.

Click to expand...

That might be because you don't look at stats. 36 pressures, 22 run stops with no missed tackles, multiple turnovers, all while transitioning from a 3-4 system.

Soooo if you really think we let Richardson walk, our DL is probably going to suck. At the very least it's very unproven. Remember, Jordan had problems staying healthy and IIRC, he had an extremely high conversion rate of pressures to sacks. I don't remember the stats, but he had only a few more pressures than sacks. It's very difficult to sustain that kind of pressure to sack rate.

If all we have is Naz, Reed, Clark, and Jordan and some rookies and cheap FAs, I predict we are going to be weak against the run and even worse at creating pressure than we were this year. If we let Sherman go as well, how is this defense going to work? Our only great players will be Earl, Bobby, and KJ (I sense decline coming for the latter BTW). Clark is good and the rest are rookies who could just as easily regress as improve. We don't have many draft picks to get replacements this year either and the OL also needs help at the G and RT spots.

chris98251":2yqmpltz said:

Jerhawk":2yqmpltz said:

Seymour":2yqmpltz said:

I agree on Richardson. Another locker room / character issue guy with too many periods of disappearance.

Some team will overpay him, and it won't be us.

Click to expand...

Spot on. I do not understand the love for Richardson on this board. He was a complete dissapointment, got benched in the Cardinals game for lack of gap control, is one strike away from getting suspended, yet people want to give him a big contract? No thank you.

It's time to churn the roster, not keep guys that contributed to a dissapointing season

Click to expand...

yeah lets shoot for 2 - 14 and that top draft pick, get rid of everyone.

Click to expand...

Hmm, not even remotely close to what I had put, but a predictable response nonetheless.

Cap space can be better utilized towards the rebuild, not toward a risky band aid.

Jerhawk":2y3s5d6g said:

chris98251":2y3s5d6g said:

Jerhawk":2y3s5d6g said:

Seymour":2y3s5d6g said:

I agree on Richardson. Another locker room / character issue guy with too many periods of disappearance.

Some team will overpay him, and it won't be us.

Click to expand...

Spot on. I do not understand the love for Richardson on this board. He was a complete dissapointment, got benched in the Cardinals game for lack of gap control, is one strike away from getting suspended, yet people want to give him a big contract? No thank you.

It's time to churn the roster, not keep guys that contributed to a dissapointing season

Click to expand...

yeah lets shoot for 2 - 14 and that top draft pick, get rid of everyone.

Click to expand...

Hmm, not even remotely close to what I had put, but a predictable response nonetheless.

Cap space can be better utilized towards the rebuild, not toward a risky band aid.

Click to expand...

Any F.A. you bring in that's 30 years old or older is a band aid, anyone else your going to have to trade for and were not exactly swimming in draft picks that are in demand at the moment, you don't sign big money guys when your rebuilding anyway, you draft your way close then do what we did last time find role guys, with the exception of Lynch that's what we did before.

We need a ton of draft capital now going forward and not 7th and 5th rounders.

This is all being said without consideration to how improved all our red shirted guys are of course, but we have not seen them play much either.

Now Thomas is being shopped as well or at least the word is out were listening.

Dion Jordan and Frank Clark don't get 10 sacks between the 2 of them if Sheldon Richardson doesn't come back. He's like Jimmy G, other people benefit from those two always getting double teamed.

I don't see how the starters could "basically be set" when one of the projected starters was just traded, one of them is an unrestricted free agent, and one of the supposed replacements is unproven and also a free agent.

Also, this will be an unpopular opinion, but Frank Clark is overrated. He does not consistently create edge pressure, a lot of his sacks come off of stunts or inside rushes, and his makeup is questionable. IMO giving him a huge deal is just as risky as giving one to Sheldon Richardson.

Which brings me to my next point - I think Richardson SHOULD be signed - he's young and he's the first 3-tech we've had who is productive on all three downs. The FA market for D-Line is piss poor so finding a decent veteran replacement is unlikely. Reed and Naz show promise but production on passing downs, and general consistency, just aren't there with them. Especially with Bennett gone, Richardson is needed for an inside push on passing downs. To say he wouldn't start over one of Reed or Naz is ridiculous.

Lastly, finding another edge rusher is of paramount importance. Bennett is gone, Avril is probably finished, and as mentioned, Clark is soon to be a FA. Dion Jordan could be a nice surprise, but counting on him to be productive would be a huge risk.

So no, the starters are NOT basically set.

I don't think Clark is overrated, he's just not a Von Miller/JJ Watt type or even Chandler Jones or Calais. Think more Nick Perry, Olivier Vernon, Mercilus, etc. He should get even better as he develops more moves and gains more experience. Even if we keep Richardson, I think we should extend Clark. We lose Clark in FA and we have NO ONE left who is a legit, proven edge rusher.

We'll likely make additions and one of those spots will be manned by someone else so the starters aren't "set" per se, but they'll have to beat out one of those 4.

And you'd be a fool to have Richardson in place on Naz on any down. Richardson is flat out not as good as Naz.