Former 2014 second-round pick Marqise Lee could be a simple solution to the Jets’ wide receiver woes and might make their draft decisions a little easier.
Wide receiver remains one of the biggest question marks on the Jets roster even with a depth chart that includes Jamison Crowder, Breshad Perriman and Quincy Enunwa as its starters. Lee, who the Jaguars released Monday, would be a perfect fit in Adam Gase’s offense given his experience, size and skillset, but it’s hard to buy into a player who’s only played 16 games in the past two seasons.
The Jets have their big-play threat, slot receiver and big-bodied targets in Perriman, Crowder, Enunwa and tight end Chris Herndon, but they’re lacking a receiver who excels in the middle of the field on short-to-intermediate passing yard situations. Lee is that missing piece on the offense and proved he can be that with Jaguars over the past six years. At 6-foot-1, 196 pounds, Lee could become for the Jets offense what Jarvis Landy and Danny Amendola were for Gase during his time with the Dolphins.
Lee was one of the better receivers on targets of nine yards or less from 2016-2017, the best two years of his career. On those plays, he tallied 9.7 yards per reception, 5.7 yards after the catch, forced a missed tackle rate of 18.6 percent and had an explosive play rate of 14.8 percent. He caught 119 receptions for 1,553 yards and six touchdowns in 30 games.
Lee isn’t known as a deep-ball pass catcher – he finished as one of the worst receivers on passes of at least 20 yards – but he excelled in the middle of the field, particularly on crossing routes. Almost a quarter of Lee’s targets and 31.5 percent of his yards between 2016-2017 came on crossing routes, where he caught 80 percent of those targets.
This bodes well for a Jets offense that thrives on short passes. Darnold threw short passes on 78.45 percent of his passing attempts in 2019, while 77.63 percent of Lee’s targets came on short passing attempts. Both Darnold and Lee favored the right side of the field for passes as well. If Lee joins the Jets, he’ll have a role that fits his skill set perfectly, as long as he can stay on the field.
The biggest worry with Lee is his health. He missed all of 2018 and most of 2019 with severe knee injuries and missed time at other points in his career due to shoulder, foot, ankle and hamstring ailments. The talent is there, it’s just a matter of durability that might keep Lee from seeing action.
That shouldn’t stop the Jets from taking a flier on Lee, though, and it shouldn’t change Douglas’ draft strategy with finding a receiver. If anything, signing Lee alleviates the pressure on the Jets to find a starting receiver with one of their early-round picks. The Jets would be able to focus on other positions of need like offensive tackle, cornerback or edge rusher earlier on rather than wideout if they sign or plan to sign Lee. Douglas should absolutely still look at taking a receiver as early as the second round, but the pressure to draft at that position with a premium pick is lessened when you have a roster littered with experienced pass-catchers.
Douglas already said the Jets will be buyers in free agency again once the draft is over and that could very well mean adding a starting-caliber wide receiver like Lee.