John Idzik began his rebuild of the Jets 16 months ago, and it is clear he identified this week as pivotal to turning the team around.
The Jets general manager laid the groundwork for this year’s NFL Draft, which begins Thursday, when he traded away Darrelle Revis and let key free agents walk out the door. The plan netted 12 picks for the Jets. Now it’s up to Idzik to make those picks count.
A good draft could add core pieces to this Jets team in transition. A poor draft could mean a new coach is in place at this time next year and pressure beginning to mount on Idzik.
It is clear Idzik values the draft more than any other avenue of team building. He called it the team’s “lifeline” during his introductory press conference and has shown he is unwilling to throw big money at free agents, preferring to build his team through the draft.
Eric Decker is the only high-priced free agent the Jets spent big money on. They went bargain shopping for Michael Vick, Chris Johnson, Jacoby Ford, Dimitri Patterson and Breno Giacomini. Idzik disagrees, but by sitting on salary-cap space, he has put the pressure on landing immediate contributors in the draft.
“I wouldn’t say it put more pressure on it,” Idzik said. “We approach it the same way. We view the draft, again, as a talent-based operation. We’re just going to go after the best players for our organization. So I don’t know that there’s any more pressure based on what transpired or what may not have transpired in free agency.”
Idzik hit a home run last year with defensive lineman Sheldon Richardson, who won the Defensive Rookie of the Year award, but the jury is still out on his other first-round pick, Dee Milliner, who struggled for much of the season at cornerback. Idzik’s first draft as GM ultimately may be judged by how his second-round pick — quarterback Geno Smith — develops.
But even last year as he prepared for the 2013 draft, Idzik had an eye on 2014. He made sure to get a pick in this year’s draft from the Buccaneers in the Revis deal. That pick ended up being a fourth-rounder when Tampa Bay released Revis in March. He also allowed all of the Jets’ top free agents to leave last year and signed no big-ticket free agents. That netted the Jets four compensatory picks this year — one in the fourth round and three in the sixth.
“The compensatory draft-pick system, so to speak, is always in your mind,” Idzik said of allowing players such as Dustin Keller, LaRon Landry, Matt Slauson and Mike DeVito to walk last year. “So that is a factor. It’s not the determinant, but it’s a factor.”
Having 12 picks allows Idzik to move around in this draft if he chooses. It is hard to get a read on Idzik after only one draft. Mike Tannenbaum, Idzik’s predecessor, loved to make deals and rarely went through a draft without trading up.
Senior director of college scouting Terry Bradway, who has been with the Jets since 2001, said Idzik is well prepared to run this draft.
“He is very thorough,” Bradway said. “The one thing I’ll say about John, John affects a lot of different areas in this building. When he’s with your particular group, you think that’s the most important thing he’s got going on and he is totally focused. When he’s in that draft room, there is a lot of other stuff going on. He is focused on that draft. He is thorough. He is detailed.
“Sometimes, I may get a little impatient with the deliberate actions. But what we’ve done is in that draft room, we’ve given all these players significant time. The most important thing we’ve got going on right now is to get that draft board right with the value of the football player, and everything else takes care of itself after that.”