Late last night, or early as hell this morning depending on how YOU look at it, marked the start of this year’s free agency market and as usual and even more so the biggest and most important moves are gonna happen immediately. Now more than ever teams are going to greater lengths to make sure they can re-sign their own quality free agents, leaving a smaller less talented pool of free agents available for teams to upgrade their squads, however if you have been following the story lines closely, this is something you already know. Hopefully though I’m a add a spin or 2 on somethings you might not have heard and or thought about.

Being the die hard Jets fan that I am, naturally I’m a start off with them and sheeeeeeiiiit (c) Clay Davis, everyone else seems to be leaning that way too, and who can blame them with the moves they are about to make ? First and foremost that big guy in the picture above, if your an avid football fan you know him as one of the best Guards in football and just ask Vikings fans ( see: Steve Hutchinson ) what a great quality Guard can do for your offensive lines. Put Faneca next to D’brickashaw Fergerson and Nick Mangold and not only does he shore up the line to help protect the QB and add a power running game but being the solid vet that he is, he is only gonna help those 2 youngn’s improve and become more consistent. No one in football circles doubts the talent of either of those 2 but they are still young and have some things to learn, especially about consistency and I can think of no one who has been more consistent over the past decade or so as Alan Faneca. For those who aren’t too familiar with names of offensive line man but still know football, just ask your self who has been known as one of the best o-lines in football for the past decade plus. The answer is easily the Steelers and Faneca is the single biggest reason why, as much as this will hurt the Steelers ( no more power running game ) this will greatly help the Jets, as there will now be actual holes for Thomas Jones and Leon Washington to run through.

Next up is Kris Jenkins, big boy defensive tackle from the Panthers. There have been talks about the Jets going after him or Shaun Rodgers and while Rodgers is probably slightly more talented he also seems to be way less motivated and I want the player who feels like he has something to prove. That would be Kris Jenkins, hopefully getting Jenkins won’t make the Jets trade Dewayne Robertson as he could be great as part of a rotation or even as a possible DE. Jenkins would shore up the d-line just like Faneca will shore up the o-line. Jenkins will be a perfect fit in the 3-4 and with the likely addition of the kid Veron Gholston ( de/lb ) out of Ohio State and the stable of quality players behind him ( Revis, Harris, Rhodes, just to name a few ) the Jets D is just minor details away from filling in the couple of holes in their otherwise strong D. No more watching teams run all over them, no more clock killing drives that keep the ball out of the Jets hands. True the Jets have lost Vilma ( it’s a damn shame they couldn’t make him work in the system, he will probably be a pro-bowler for the Saints next year ) and I’m not sure what they got for him yet. ( obviously not enough, but what can you do, so goes trading in the NFL ) Everyone seemed to think the Jets would go hard after Assante Samuel but apparently they are ready to pass and let the Eagles overpay for him. Theres no doubt Samuels benefited from playing in the Patriots system, by playing to his strengths and covering his weaknesses, they put him in position to make the plays, but he still had to step up and make them. Granted him not playing against Pennington twice a year will also hurt his numbers, but he will still be a solid CB lined up next to Lito Sheppard.( if they keep him, if not lets hope the Jets get him cause Lito > Assante )

We are just 12 hours into the free agency period and the wheels are turning at a ridiculous speed. The Patriots are falling apart as we speak, losing Assante, Randall Gay, safety Eugene Wilson, Donte Stallworth and possibly Randy Moss they will be a shell of what they were last year and I have a hard time seeing them avoid that Super Bowl loser hangover. The Jets and Eagles seem to be making the most progress ( reports have the Eagles possibly trading for Larry Fitzgerald…..Whoa !…. Giants fans better be ready cause a healthy McNabb with Larry Fitzgerald will cause the NFC fits and make it one competitive NFC East next year ) So yeah I might be biased and I might be jumping ahead by assuming these pieces are definitely falling into place ( especially with the kid Gholston, who WOWED everyone at the combine ) as far as I’m concerned the Jets have won the Free Agency/Offseason already and will be serious contenders for the division title next year as there is really only 1 hole left ( ok 1 and a half, they do need a 3rd receiver, how bout Super Mario Manningham from Michigan who will likely fall to them in the second round ? ) and that hole is obviously a big one, yup you all know it’s at QB. Pennington is too limited they won’t call plays for him to throw it more than 15 yards, and defenses know it and act like it, thats why Kellen Clemens must be the guy, people are burying him too early, granted he didn’t overwhelm anyone last year but he never had a chance and was not helped by the o-line or by his D giving him the ball in a good spot. Too often he was forcing things late trying to come from behind and he had no running game, look for all that to change drastically this year and we should be able to get a real look at him and fairly judge his abilities this year.

The other big news around the league is probably the Browns re-signing QB Derek Anderson, who I think people have greatly overrated, what gets lost in the Browns surprising year was Anderson only had like 6 quality games, which granted was more than a lot of QB’s but still does that mean he deserved a Pro Bowl spot or to be anyone’s QB of the future ? The interesting thing here is what do the Browns do with Brady Quinn ? Dare I say the Jets should ask and inquire what it might take to get him ? Last year when Quinn was falling in the draft I didn’t want the Jets to go near him, but the last time I thought teams should avoid an overrated spoiled QB was Eli Manning and look how that turned out for the Giants. Am I suggesting Quinn will definitely win a Super Bowl that early ? No of course not but Quinn is a more talented and gifted athlete than Eli and has come in better prepared after running a pro-system with Charlie Weis at Notre Dame so maybe the Jets and other teams should pick up the phone and see what the cost would be.

* also breaking news Kawika Mitchell is an Ex Giant and now a member of the Buffalo Bills ( probably won’t be the same player there, as he isn’t surrounded by the same talent up front or next to him, not even close ) and it is also becoming more and more likely that the Giants will lose Gibril Wilson ( Raiders ) as well. O well Giants fans you just won the Super Bowl revel in that for a while cause you were obviously gonna lose a couple pieces. You just have to hope and trust GM Jerry Reese knows what he is doing and unless he just got real lucky last year, you would have to assume he does ) *