Jets' biggest need is leadership

[East]

The New York Jets will search for a new wide receiver, a new right tackle, a new safety (or two) and probably more pass-rushers.

But where will the Jets find leadership in 2012? That is the most difficult question facing New York this offseason.

The Jets' implosion last season was well-documented. New York was 8-5 with the playoffs in sight. But poor performance on the field, combined with combustible personalities and a lack of leadership, led to a three-game losing streak and an even uglier fallout.

By the end of the season, there was a wide rift between Jets starting quarterback Mark Sanchez and leading receiver Santonio Holmes. There also was tension between New York's 25th-ranked offense and its fifth-ranked defense, because the offense wasn't pulling its weight. Jets backup quarterback Greg McElroy said it was the most selfish and divided locker room he'd ever seen.

The Jets will continue adding talent to their roster via the draft and free agency. But how will they fix their poor chemistry?

You cannot just draft leadership or buy it in free agency. There's also no instruction manual to get 53 professional athletes back on the same page. But the Jets must find a way to make it work next season if they want to get back to being contenders.

"I do believe in the fabric of our team and the backbone," Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum said at the NFL combine. "The D'Brickashaw (Fergusons), the (Nick) Mangolds, the (Darrelle) Revises, we have a lot of good players that care deeply about our team. All we can try to do is add to that."

New York has playoff-caliber talent but 4-12-caliber leadership. Perhaps that is why the Jets finished 8-8 in 2011.

This has been a problem for a couple years now, the locker room is not settled.

 

[cruzg24]

The interesting part about this is that the core of the team is Ferguson, Mangold, and Reevis. And the dissenters on the team are players picked up through free agency. You could see this coming from a mile away when the Jets hired Rex and he couldnt keep his damn mouth shut.

The locker room culture and structure is based upon how the coach controls it. Its obvious that Rex hasnt controlled it effectively. But he still has one last chance at correcting the problem.

 

[Elite]

The interesting part about this is that the core of the team is Ferguson, Mangold, and Reevis. And the dissenters on the team are players picked up through free agency. You could see this coming from a mile away when the Jets hired Rex and he couldnt keep his damn mouth shut.

The locker room culture and structure is based upon how the coach controls it. Its obvious that Rex hasnt controlled it effectively. But he still has one last chance at correcting the problem.

The problem isn't Rex, it's that Damien Woody, Shaun Ellis, Thomas Jones, and Jerricho Cotchery weren't there. In Rex's first two seasons when there were an abundant amount of veteran leaders in the locker room, there were no problems. This year it was LT and a bunch of young guys like Revis, Mangold, and Brick forced into leadership roles because they were the elder-statesmen in the locker room.

 

[cruzg24]

The problem isn't Rex, it's that Damien Woody, Shaun Ellis, Thomas Jones, and Jerricho Cotchery weren't there. In Rex's first two seasons when there were an abundant amount of veteran leaders in the locker room, there were no problems. This year it was LT and a bunch of young guys like Revis, Mangold, and Brick forced into leadership roles because they were the elder-statesmen in the locker room.

I still think that Rex can control that locker room in terms of their behaviors and also what they say to the media. If Rex wont tolerate it, then I think the players will think twice before they say the stupid things that they do. The Bengals are also a very young team without many veterans and yet Marvin has been able to curb all those bad players from the team.

 

[Sportsguy9695]

having a leader on a team is always good. You should have atleast a few. that what the captians are suppose to be is leaders but with the Jets situation its just a mess