cromulence said:
Am I missing something or wasn't Milliner getting consistently torched and benched last year? I see a few people talking about him like he's an exciting player with big potential, but it seems to me that he has a long way to go before being anything special. Rex seemed to have very little patience for him last year.
Jets fans are high on Milliner's "strong" finish, when he earned a Defensive Player of the Week and Rookie Defensive Player of the Month honors. His PFF grades bear this out, when his finished with a +1.8 (vs. Oak), +0.1 (vs. Car), +1.4 (vs Clev), + 3.3 (vs Mia).
Overall however, he still finished with a -7.4 grade against pass coverage, and in PFF's signature "Coverage Snaps per Reception" stat he ranked 73 out of 81 corners with at least 50% snaps played:
If Milliner can sustain his apparent turnaround that'd be a big boost to the secondary. Ryan can put Milliner as #1, Cro as #2 (if they get him back), and stick Wilson in slot. That's not great, but not a disaster.
However, what's not getting a lot of attention is the absolute dearth of lack at the safety position. Here's the current chart:
- SS: Dawan Landry, Josh Bush
- FS: Antonio Allen, Jaiquawn Jarrett, Rontez Miles
That's truly a scary bunch. Allen is one of the worst cover safeties around, and it gets worse from there.
Ryan's strategy of building inside out has resulted in one of the best front-fours around, but the back seven have a lot of questions marks -- especially the secondary whether or not they sign Cro back.