The New York Jets selected 6 players in this years draft. We also traded our original 5th round pick for Brandon Marshall a couple of months ago, and traded our 7th round pick, which was originally traded to Houston for Ryan Fitzpatrick (and later traded back to us along with a 3rd round swap and WR DeVier Posey) to move up in the 4th round to get a QB. We traded another 7th rounder for disgruntled RB Zac Stacy from St. Louis. So we netted 9 players from our 2015 draft picks.
My first overall impression of our new GM and front office is that they performed in a savvy way for a bunch of rookies. Their 2 big highlights were taking the 2nd best player in the draft with the #6 overall pick, even though we have an embarrassment of riches at that position already, and 2nd... trading up one position to box out the Browns and land Bryce Petty in the 4th round. They preached for weeks that they would go best player available in this draft and not reach for players because of need. Its an old school philosophy that takes discipline.
Landing a top 2 talent with the 6th pick is a sick value. It also creates a culture of competition. Richardson, Wilkerson and Coples are confident guys, but when they saw that pick each one of them didn't think about where they want to vacation during the bye week, they thought about what they ate for dinner that night and making sure to hit the gym the next morning. The new leadership has no ties to any of those guys, and if they want to stay starters they are going to have to work. Hard.
Our 2nd pick was speedster Devin Smith from Ohio State. he's a Desean Jackson clone, and he s exactly what we were missing in our WR corps. He was a 1st round graded player we picked in the second. I would have taken Green-Beckham, but I didn't spend months vetting him like our front office did. He is one of the best game changers in the draft, but he is a mess off the field. They obviously passed because they were not trying to take any head cases, at least not in their first draft. One thing that stands out about this draft class is character and effort.
Round 3 was the one blunder of the draft for Macc. He traded out #6 pick in the 3rd with the Texans and moved down 12 spots. We essentially gained an additional 5th round pick. By moving down 12 spots we missed out on Duke Johnson and Eli Harold. Two guys who would have been outstanding fits for us based on value, BPA and need. These were 2nd round talents who slipped a bit.
Instead we took Lorenzo Mauldin. He's a 3/4 LB with nice size and great character. I saw someone of the net write "if this was a guidance counselor draft he'd be a great pick." LMAO. I like the kids back story, he overcame a lot to make it to the NFL. I'll be rooting for him, but he has a lot to learn and he's slow. This pick was unquestionably a reach. I think he was more of a mid 4th/ early 5th round talent. Mid 3rd was too early.
However, I reserved judgment until I saw what Macc would d with the additional 5th rounder we picked up. I'll get to that after I touch on our 4th round pick. Macc traded up one spot in the 4th with Jacksonville to essentially box out the Browns from taking Bryce Petty. Petty was the 5th QB taken in this draft but I think he is the 2nd best QB prospect that was available. So, I like the player and how we landed him. Macc used the 7th rounder that we gained via the 3rd round swap with Houston. Well played. More about Petty later.
Our 5th round pick we acquired from the Texans yielded us a fat lazy Guard named Jarvis Harrison. He is big, strong and aggressive. he should have been a late 2nd round pick. Sadly most other teams understand that guys don't outgrow lazy. Lazy zebras don't change their stripes. This guy was a reach and not a high effort, high character guy like the other players we took.
2 picks before we went in the 5th Jay Ajayi went to the Dolphins. One of my favorite players in the is whole draft went to Miami. Very disappointing. Guys like Nick O'Leary and Kyle Emmanuel were still on the board, and we went with Harrison. In retrospect I wish we would have just stayed put in the 3rd and taken Harold. Oh well...
Finally we take the athletic nose tackle Deion Simon in the 7th. Don't know much about him besides he's big. I have to wonder if he makes the roster considering the players we already have on our D-line.
We also acquired Marshall, Stacy and Posey as I mentioned earlier via trades involving our other 2015 draft picks.
I'd give this draft a B-, with the potential of being upgraded to an A+ depending on how many of these picks become starters. We know Marshall is an automatic starter at WR. It's hard to see how Williams isn't a starter for a long time for us. Smith will have time to move up to a #1 or #2 WR as he plays behind Decker and Marshall for the next 2 years. I don't see him starting anytime soon. The big question marks are Stacy, Mauldin, and Jarvis Harrison.
If one of those 3 steps up in 2015 and becomes a solid starter this draft is a huge win for Macc and Co. If guys like Smith, Stacy and Mauldin become solid role players this is also a good first outing for our front office. But... if all we really net is Marshall as our #1 WR and Williams transplants Wilkerson and we end up trading Mo, it's hard to see how these 9 players made us a better team.
For the record my draft would have played out like this....
Round 1- OT Flowers
Round 2- WR Green-Beckham
Round 3- OLB Eli Harold
(No Houston Trade)
Round 4- QB Petty
Round 7- Trade for Stacy
Round 7- Used to move up for Petty
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