Neal or Wilson

[Philosophers]

Show of hands: if you were a Jets fan, and you were asked if you'd trade Wilson right now for Evan Neal, what do you think your response would be?

Asking for a friend.

I think it's easier to get a good WR out of college than a good OT.  Neal has all the physical metrics a player needs plus as the team has said, he is really smart and really coachable (unlike Ereck Flowers).  I said it somewhere else, but Evan Neal will become Jack Conklin.  Book it.

[DaveBrown74]

Who cares? At the end of their rookie years Bechton was a better tackle than Thomas. There isn't a single sane Jets fan that wouldn't trade the two straight up today. It's a marathon not a sprint.

That wasn't my point at all. I'm not saying Neal won't be good or even elite. He very well may be, and, like everyone else here, I am hopeful that he will be. There is plenty of reason to remain optimistic at this time. If you somehow came back from the future and told me Evan Neal will be in the Hall of Fame, I wouldn't fall out of my chair.

However, nobody here can say they know for certain that Neal will be excellent or even "good." He was objectively bad all last year (Thomas showed improvement late in his rookie season that Neal didn't). Injuries played a bit of a role there, and yes he switched positions (although he has played RT before), but he was simply not good at all last year, and he showed zero discernible improvement over the course of the year.

Wilson on the other hand has already proven beyond question he is a top shelf talent at the NFL level. There is no "maybe" or "hopefully" with him. We all saw it with our own two eyes last year. You know what you have there. The guy had 1103 yards with Zack Wilson, Joe Flacco, and Mike White throwing him the ball. He routinely made dazzling, early OBJ type plays. Imagine what a guy like that would do with a decent QB and more functional offensive system.

With Neal you don't really know for sure what you have. Both play premium positions with similar pay scales, so there is no relative position-value argument to be made. The bottom line here is would you rather have a player who is clearly, without a doubt, a top level talent at a premium position, or would you rather have a player who is a "maybe" or even a "probably but not definitely"? I'd say 99% of the time, player A in that scenario is worth more, assuming positional value is roughly equal, which it is in this case.

[Bob In PA]

I was a big advocate for Neal and I am not changing my opinion on that. 

I think if Wilson had been asked to change positions upon entering the NFL he would have likely had a season similar to what Neal experienced. 

uconn: Yes, some fans think it's easy to play LT then switch to RT as a rookie.  It's not.  Bob

[Thegratefulhead]

Giving up on Neal? Is that serious consideration, or even a remotely responsible notion?
Of course, he was so awful last season- he was, wasn't he?- that he almost reminded us of Andrew Thomas in his first season which brought the weaker hearts amongst us to begin toying with the obviously better alternatives question.

Cheers!

Why are you here? I have read tons of your posts.  All the same. Some form of contempt or insult for the people who have an opinion.  I have not seen a single productive or informative post from you.  You like to portray yourself as intelligent, but you come off as someone who imitates intellect by the unnecessary usage of vocabulary on a football forum.  Have a take other than you are the only intelligent person here. We see you.

[kingm56]

Who cares? At the end of their rookie years Bechton was a better tackle than Thomas. There isn't a single sane Jets fan that wouldn't trade the two straight up today. It's a marathon not a sprint.

I'm in the wait and see mode with Neal. Maybe he's a bust or maybe he's a dude who dominated in college purely on size and athleticism and needs more time to adjust to the NFL game that requires a tackle to be a master technician.

Wilson is a great player though and if the Giants had drafted him I'd be excited to have him on the roster.

Using your logic, there isn't a sane Jets fans who would trade Wilson for Neal.  That scenario seems far more relevant to this thread than the one you highlighted.  Still, I get your point regarding Neal; we shouldn't start worrying as he's still a very young player.

[madbadger]

Using your logic, there isn't a sane Jets fans who would trade Wilson for Neal.  That scenario seems far more relevant to this thread than the one you highlighted.  Still, I get your point regarding Neal; we shouldn't start worrying as he's still a very young player.

I wouldn't make that trade right now if I'm a Jets fan. I just think it's a fool's errand to compare players after one season, especially at different positions.

I'm still hopeful that Neal will develop into a beastly right tackle, and if he does right tackle has more value to this franchise right now than a number one receiver. The NFC east is stacked with beastly pass rushers. Having a guy like Wilson means little if Jones spends his Sundays on his rear end or out constantly with concussions.