http://www.yardbarker.com/content/player/3222 Recent articles about Kerry Rhodes en-us It's reaching the final hour for teams to sign their franchise players, and it appears that one team that is going to get a deal done with their franchise player are the Cowboys with safety Ken Hamlin.  The Fort Worth Star-Telegram is reporting that the team and Hamlin are close on a multi-year contract, and the deal could be wrapped up by the end of the day. Hamlin was slapped with the franchise tag back in February, and he and the team have been talking about a long-term deal ever since, and now it appears that it will get done.  The 27-year-old Hamlin was drafted in the 2nd round by the Seahawks back in 2003, and played there four seasons before moving to Dallas in 2007. Last year he played in 16 games, making 62 tackles and five interceptions.  He will be the fourth big name safety to sign a deal this offseason - Kerry Rhodes signed a five-year, $33.5 million dollar deal with the Jets. Gibril Wilson signed a six-year, $39 million dollar deal with the Radiers, and Madieu Williams inked a six-year, $33.75 million dollar deal with the Vikings. Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:43:55 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/290312 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/290312 For all the money the New York Jets spent this offseason on free agents, Kerry Rhodes patiently waited and wondered when his big payday would come. "When people were getting signed and me being an athlete and having feelings and thinking about what was going on, there were times when that was in the back of my mind," the star safety said Thursday. "But they came right away and reassured me, so it was a good feeling." And so is being one of the richest safeties in the NFL. The Jets signed Rhodes to a five-year extension for $33.5 million, including $20 million guaranteed, according to various media reports. It's just short of the five-year, $37.5 million deal Indianapolis' Bob Sanders, the defensive player of the year, got before last season. NICE!!! CLICK!!! Fri, 11 Apr 2008 07:42:30 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/235153 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/235153 Includes scouting report on the Jets, keys for the Titans, matchups to watch, and a prediction Fri, 21 Dec 2007 15:45:02 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/50646 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/50646 After letting the Pro Bowl rosters sink in for a few days we have officially come up with our suggestions for changes that should be made. What do you think of our observations? Thu, 20 Dec 2007 23:39:30 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/50222 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/50222 I've asked Joe Caporoso, one of MVN's writers on The Cockpit, four questions about the Jets regarding the Tennessee Titans game with New York this Sunday. The questions and Joe's answers follow... Thu, 20 Dec 2007 13:06:09 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/49727 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/49727 "Somebody from Pittsburgh made a guarantee and that didn't work out too well for them," Jets safety Kerry Rhodes said in the middle of what was an upbeat locker room, all things considered. "We're just gonna come out and play hard and hopefully not get beat bad." Tue, 11 Dec 2007 13:22:11 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/42481 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/42481 New York Jets head coach Eric Mangini took the reins of a team that had produced a 4-12 mark in 2005. Quickly making a significant difference, Mangini guided the Jets to an impressive 10-6 mark and a Wild Card playoff spot last season. More impressive is the fact that the Jets are a young team that plays sound in all 3 phases of the game. The Jets' roster features four Pro Bowl performers in wide receiver Laveranues Coles, defensive end Shaun Ellis, inside linebacker Jonathan Vilma and right safety Justin Miller. This group doesn't include S Kerry Rhodes, one of the emerging stars in the NFL. Almost half of the Jets' starting lineup is made up of first-round choices. This elite group includes 4 on offense: left tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson, center Nick Mangold, quarterback Chad Pennington and running back Thomas Jones, who teams with running back Leon Washington to give New York one of the best 1-2 backfield punches in the NFL. Three of the four starters on the defensive line were selected in the first round. Those players include Ellis, nose tackle Dewayne Robertson and defensive end and outside linebacker Bryan Thomas. Read more: http://extremeravens.com/gameday/know_your_opponent/know_your_opponent%3a_new_york_jets_20070915871/ Sun, 16 Sep 2007 13:32:24 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/27347 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/27347 After every NFL draft is completed, pundits come out and assigned letter grades for each team. Somewhere in the article you read "but of course the true winners and losers of this draft will not be determined until several years have passed". Draft Tek has taken it upon themselves to review the drafts of previous years, and assign each team a score. Currently, they're about 70% complete with the 2005 draft. The scoring system is unique, but certain to elicit a few naysayers. If you are one, you can still impress your friends with plenty of "Whatever happened to . . . " trivia from their research. Draft Tek's scoring system attempts to measure how successful a given team is at evaluating (and drafting) talent. Anybody can find starter quality players in the first round. Right Lion fans?? It is for this reason Draft Tek rewards teams for drafting serviceable players in the later rounds moreso than the day 1 elite. A team that consistently gets 4 or 5 contributors from each draft is in much better financial shape than those teams that are annually playing free agent roulette. In theory, this leads to long term competitiveness. The 2005 New York Jets draft class was reviewed recently. Of the 22 teams scored to date, the Jets are fifth highest, which is interesting in that they did not have a first round selection in 2005 to bank points with. The Draft Tek system forced them to award points to recent quitter Cedric Houston, from whom the Jets got decent production for their 6th round investment. But even if those points were removed points from the total score, the Jets would still have a total in the upper half. Taking Houston (Cedric) out of the equation, there are currently 3 players (of 8 drafted) from the 2005 draft that are classified as producers. If Sione Pouha can recover from injury and move into the DL rotation, he would be a 4th. The 2005 player bio's/scores can be found at: Tue, 21 Aug 2007 22:09:55 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/24526 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/24526 IDP – for the novice fantasy owner, not much is known about the format. However, Individual Defensive Players (IDP) can add another interesting aspect to your fantasy league that will separate the true fans from the weekend warriors. FIO co-founder & editor Matt Hinzpeter breaks down the top IDP in fantasy football heading into the 2007 season. Sun, 19 Aug 2007 00:47:30 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/24182 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/24182 The defensive back position in Individual Defensive Player (IDP) fantasy football leagues is about as unpredictable as they come. Since DBs usually don't rack up many tackles, points scored rely heavily upon turnovers- interceptions to be more specific. Compounding the problem with DBs is the fact that quarterbacks often avoid throwing risky passes when they know a quality DB is lurking in the area. So unless you are able to land a top DB like Champ Bailey or Adrian Wilson, your best bet is to go with a DB that accumulates plenty of tackles. Often times it is the defensive scheme that allows DBs to get tackles or a weak linebacking corps so it important to keep surfing the waiver wire to see who will emerge as a solid fantasy DB ala Antoine Winfield. Thu, 16 Aug 2007 18:13:13 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/23861 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/23861 Every year as a Jet fan I get on the bandwagon of a single Jet for the Pro Bowl one that is completely deserving having watched them for the whole season but most likely is falling under the radar because he might not be known around the country or in many situations the Jets are too bad for anyone to care. That man in 2006 is Kerry Rhodes Fri, 01 Dec 2006 17:54:26 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/6009 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/6009 While i was at Jets camp in August I came up with a couple facts. All of which have been stated in previous articles. I have talked about what Pennington means to the Jets this year. I also talked about how i think Jerricho Cotchery is going to be a good player in this league. Now is my turn to draw attention to the other side of the ball. The side that unless your Ray Lewis, Brian Urlacher, Ed Reed,Derrick Brooks, or even John Vilma you will not get the notorioty that you deserve. There are a lot of good players on every team. Some are considered 'serviceable' and some are considered breakout caliber guys. I am not here to discuss serviceable with you. I am hear to let you in on what every crazed fan wants to know. That being something that you have discovered that other people haven't. One of the great parts of being a fan is being able to tell a friend about something you heard that they have not. Especially if its considered "inside" information. Well i have some "inside" info for you. The point here is the Jets have a 2nd year Safety who i think this year will break into top 5 status among ALL safeties. I know it sounds nuts and most people i have told this agree with you and think i am out of my gord. You may be right but only time will tell now won't it. Kerry Rhodes the 2nd year Safety out of Louisville has put himself on my break out caliber list. At 6 foot 3 210 he is big enough to play in the box and stuff the run. He can cover a slot receiver or even the teams top Tight End. Lastly he is great at Roaming the field. Thats where i think he is best. Now this will have most people thinking "there are a lot of 200 lb safeties that can run fast and stuff the run." You know what your right but K -Row (thats the nickname the players call him) has something else these other players don't. He has what Ed Reed or Rodney Harrison has. Not even Sean Taylor has this. Taylor has a ton of athletic ability but he doesn't have this. That "it" factor I am talking about is called smarts. Smarts is a combination of things. Quickly here they are things like awareness, game film knowledge, reaction , work ethic, and leadership. All of which the unknown from the Jets has. Now i know i talk about the Jets like they are going to the Super Bowl but in no way do i think that is a possibility. This is all a prediction and for the real fantasy football owners out there that actually draft individual defensive players (Team defense owners won't know a thing about what were talking about) pick up Kerry Rhodes if he is on the free agent list. I am expecting a monster season out of this guy and by year's end he will be in the top 5 in every category among Safeties in the league. I not only promise you that i guarantee it. I may be nuts for saying it but once again ONLY TIME WILL TELL. Thu, 07 Sep 2006 01:36:52 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/2077 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/2077