5 Available Free Agents Still Within the New York Jets' Reach
If you're not of the mind that the New York Jets have had a fantastic offseason, we simply can't be friends. I'm already friends with logic, and the two of you just wouldn't get along.
My opinions are the same toward people who think that the Jets could enter the 2015 season with their roster assembled exactly as it is right now and be considered among the true contenders for the Lombardi Trophy.
The Jets will have to figure out their murky quarterback situation at some point if they ever want to earn that accolade and break the 47-year Super Bowl drought, but their needs go beyond just a signal-caller.
Good teams are stacked with starting talent. Great teams—and Super Bowl contenders, have the depth to withstand the attrition of the 17-week regular season, with enough left over after injuries have taken their toll to grind through the grueling and highly competitive postseason.
Beyond the 2015 NFL draft, teams will still be making moves in the next few weeks and months as we gear up for the season. Here are some moves the Jets can make to help round out their roster.
Knowshon Moreno
1 of 5
The Jets already made a move at running back when they added Stevan Ridley to the mix, as reported by Ian Rapoport of NFL Media. They are already taking a chance on one player coming off injury; why not make it two?
Former Miami Dolphins running back Knowshon Moreno is coming back off a torn ACL, but he has all the skills the Jets need and don't already have in their backfield. He is solid in pass protection and catching passes out of the backfield, as he proved in 2013 with the Denver Broncos and Peyton Manning in catching 60 passes for 548 yards and three touchdowns.
According to Pro Football Focus, he was in pass protection 97 times in 2013 and yielded only four hurries, three hits and one sack.
The Jets already have three similar, between-the-tackles style backs in Ridley, Chris Ivory and Bilal Powell; Moreno would make a great complement to those three.
Jermaine Gresham
2 of 5
With Jace Amaro and Jeff Cumberland still on the roster, the Jets are not in dire need of a tight end now. But unless they either re-sign Cumberland, or Amaro makes big strides in his second year, the Jets could be in dire need of a tight end come 2016.
Instead of waiting for it to become a problem, why not target former Cincinnati Bengals tight end Jermaine Gresham? He may be 6'5" and 260 pounds, but while he's proved he can block when he has to, he's always been more of a threat exploiting holes in pass coverage than one who excels at creating holes as a blocker.
For that reason, Gresham may be a little redundant among the current group; neither Cumberland nor Amaro excel at blocking, but they both can contribute on passing downs. That being said, with the future so uncertain for both of them, it may be wiser to ensure there's at least one insurance policy.
Dwight Freeney
3 of 5
At this point in his career, Dwight Freeney may not be anything more than a part-time player for whichever team signs him. If that team is the Jets, that's all they need him to be.
Freeney played 590 snaps for the San Diego Chargers last year, but managed to find his way into 40 quarterback hurries, nine hits and four sacks, according to Pro Football Focus; 407 of those snaps were as a pass-rusher and 169 were in run defense.
That's all well and good, because the Jets need a pass-rushing outside linebacker to help round out their front seven. They may wait until the draft to get one, but adding Freeney would provide another layer of insurance to prevent a rookie from being forced into a major role.
Freeney hasn't drawn any interest on the open market, and there may be a reason for that, but if the Jets can get him at the veteran minimum for a year, why not?
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Tommy Kelly
4 of 5
In 2014, Todd Bowles helped at least a couple of players rejuvenate their careers: Antonio Cromartie and Tommy Kelly. The Jets have already signed one of the two former Arizona Cardinals defenders, and there is reason to believe they should act on bringing in the second.
Kelly was a key component to the Cardinals' 3-4 defense in 2014, playing 67.4 percent of the snaps and notching 32 hurries, nine hits and a sack from the defensive end spot, according to Pro Football Focus. He didn't notch very many sacks, but his pressure totals were on par or better than some of his best seasons before tearing his ACL in 2013.
The Jets have a surplus of talented defensive linemen in Muhammad Wilkerson, Sheldon Richardson and Damon Harrison, but even removing the boiling contract dispute with Wilkerson from the equation, the Jets could still use some depth to make sure their starters don't wear down. Kelly could be part of a scary rotation for the Jets defensive line.
Michael Crabtree
5 of 5
Stop. Before you run to the comments section, I know what you're thinking. "The Jets really don't need another wide receiver." They just brought in Brandon Marshall via trade with the Chicago Bears, and grouping him with Eric Decker and Jeremy Kerley forms a dominant trio of receivers.
Since when is a trio enough in a Chan Gailey offense?
Regardless of who is playing quarterback, Gailey is going to want to spread the field with three or four receivers at a time on most downs—even when the Jets are running the ball. Michael Crabtree may not be a top-flight receiver, and he may not even be worth the $4.5 million per year he hopes to find on the open market, according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald.
But Crabtree can provide another threat to play either outside the numbers or in the slot, one who can easily take advantage of the tremendous space he'll probably have as a result of lining up with so many other talented pass-catchers. That being said, he'll have to prove that last year was a fluke, when he dropped 10 of 78 catchable passes.
If the Jets are convinced he can rebound, and if he brings his demands down a bit, he would make a nice depth piece to add to the group.
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