I think the general consensus was that Jones played ok last year but is a player that you constantly look to upgrade.
He was then tendered a pretty good offer that he signed. I think from the start, they wanted to get Halapio's physicality and size at center and they thought Omameh would be an upgrade at right guard. Jones appeared to probably be the 6th best lineman on the team and would've probably backed up the 3 interior line positions.
Was this the right move? Halapio gets hurt the second game of the year and looking at the way the line was playing, many sensed the impending doom.
Jones had some huge short comings. He couldn't move people in the running game but I saw a guy who was good in pass protection and didn't get pushed backward.
Anybody care to venture how much better we would be with him starting at center most of the year?
The problem is that money was wasted in FA otherwise. At a bare minimum, even if you assume he wasn't going to start he was better quality depth.
Gettleman had a few jobs to take care of when he became our GM. It is also not fair to judge him on one year as this was going to take multiple years.
Number one to me was to fix the culture. I think he did exceptionally well in that area.
Second was to increase the talent on this roster. I think he did this too with his draft. I think people need to give him credit for the special teams improvement as well. There were misses but that will happen with every GM. However, this is still a work in progress.
Third is to find the QB of the future. Now, imo, that didn't have to happen last year and also doesn't have to happen this year IF, and I stress IF, the foundation is built for a QB to come in from day one and have a great supporting cast. So, what I mean by that is the OL and running game set up so this kid will have a chance? If that happens next year then it could get pushed off until next year. Is that ideal? No but neither is getting a QB and putting him in a really bad situation where he starts to develop bad habits. So I am okay with either direction. But if we do wait until next year then we may have to really overspend to get our guy because we will be desperate.
So, in the grand scheme of things, Brett Jones was a nice story amd seemed like a good dude but ultimately he wasn't the ideal candidate for us at center and we got something for him while opening up some cap room. I'd say it was the right move. Winning another game or two wasn't going to do us any good. And while I don't know how he performed in Minnesota I do know they took a big step back offensively. Is that fair to put on Jones' shoulders? Of course not. It could be more that Shurmur left than anything else. I just don't think he was a difference maker.
One thing that concerns me is Halapio himself. They seem pretty high on him but did he perform well when he was still playing?
TommyWiseau : 8:15 pm : link : reply
This staff loves Halapio who sucks donkey balls. They won't bring in a FA C or even draft one high. They think he can be the guy and that remains to be seen
What the fuck?
They may very well not sign a FA center. They may draft one. I don't know the condition of his injured leg. I hope they get another center, but the staff may deem RT more important to fix. There are a lot of holes to fix abd you fix the worst first. My guess is Wheeler is deemed the biggest problem followed by C and RG.
We know Hilapio got hurt early and there is no way for us to know what his upside truly is at this point.
To answer the opening question, I think we'd have been better with Jones; however, I'm not sure that would have meant more wins or not? Maybe, as we lost some close games. We'll just never truly know now, will we?
He got pushed back a lot -- thing is he didn't give up when he got pushed back
the giants theory has always been bigger is better
that's why they are the Giants
We could've left Omameh at his established LG position and if we still wanted to draft Hernandez they could've let him learn other positions before earning a starting spot. My guess is that in this scenario we draft a guy like Braden Smith for RT instead.
Solder-Omameh-Jones-Fluker-B.Smith would have been a good way to go IMHO.
Gettleman had a few jobs to take care of when he became our GM. It is also not fair to judge him on one year as this was going to take multiple years.
Number one to me was to fix the culture. I think he did exceptionally well in that area.
Second was to increase the talent on this roster. I think he did this too with his draft. I think people need to give him credit for the special teams improvement as well. There were misses but that will happen with every GM. However, this is still a work in progress.
Third is to find the QB of the future. Now, imo, that didn't have to happen last year and also doesn't have to happen this year IF, and I stress IF, the foundation is built for a QB to come in from day one and have a great supporting cast. So, what I mean by that is the OL and running game set up so this kid will have a chance? If that happens next year then it could get pushed off until next year. Is that ideal? No but neither is getting a QB and putting him in a really bad situation where he starts to develop bad habits. So I am okay with either direction. But if we do wait until next year then we may have to really overspend to get our guy because we will be desperate.
So, in the grand scheme of things, Brett Jones was a nice story amd seemed like a good dude but ultimately he wasn't the ideal candidate for us at center and we got something for him while opening up some cap room. I'd say it was the right move. Winning another game or two wasn't going to do us any good. And while I don't know how he performed in Minnesota I do know they took a big step back offensively. Is that fair to put on Jones' shoulders? Of course not. It could be more that Shurmur left than anything else. I just don't think he was a difference maker.
He started 3 games for the Vikes while Elfien was hurt. Otherwise didn't really see the field, even at OG, despite the Vikes OL being near the bottom of the league.
Doubt it. Halapio had beaten Jones out for the starting C role and there was little to no indication that they liked Jones at RG over Omameh.
Jones would've (maybe) provided a slightly better option for the ~6 games that Greco started/played, but he's the same quality of player as Pulley.
Like jcn said, the draft pick and $3M in savings is worth significantly more than Jones' on field play.
For the record, Fluker played in only 10 games with the Seahawks last season. So while he might've been OK during those games, you would've had a backup playing down the stretch for almost half the season.