With the draft less than a week away, the Jets are looking to right their past selections gone wrong.
Currently, the Jets have the fewest homegrown players on their roster in the NFL. Of the players on New York’s roster, just 22 signed their first contract with the team, per OverTheCap.
The Browns and Panthers are the next closest with 26 each. Cleveland has had similar drafting woes as the Jets, while Carolina has experienced a mass roster exodus as it attempts to rebuild on the fly.
For comparison, the average amount of homegrown players on NFL rosters is 34.
Taking a glimpse at the Jets’ current roster, just 15 of New York’s 72 draft picks since 2010 remain. Those players include Brian Winters, Quincy Enunwa, Jordan Jenkins, Jamal Adams, Marcus Maye, Sam Darnold, Chris Herndon, Nathan Shepherd, Folorunso Fatukasi, Trenton Cannon, Quinenn Williams, Chuma Edoga, Trevon Wesco, Blake Cashman and Blessaun Austin.
The lack of homegrown talent the Jets have to offer is a poor reflection of past regimes, which cleared the way for someone with the drafting pedigree of Joe Douglas to take over. Mike Tannenbaum, John Idzik and Mike Maccagnan did not provide the Jets with ample talent via the draft, like most successful franchises; foundations rely upon. Stockpiling free agents to offset the lack of homegrown players hasn’t exactly been a recipe for success for Gang Green, either. The Jets have endured some miserable seasons after big-money free agents failed to make a difference.
Leading the pack in homegrown talent in the NFL are Green Bay and Cincinnati with 42 each. Minnesota, Dallas and the Los Angeles Rams each have 41. The common theme here? Each of these teams has been to the playoffs within the past five years, while the Jets’ haven’t played into late January since 2010. The Jets teams that went to back-to-back AFC Championship Games were benefitting from the draft picks that former head coach Eric Mangini made when he was in charge of the team’s personnel.
For the Jets to get back to the postseason — granted it will be easier with an expanded format — they’re going to need to hit on more of their picks, starting next week.
[protected-iframe id=”0f14af5fda7524a1947f9a1078021237-104991243-80920124″ info=”https://omny.fm/shows/nfl-draftville-draft-insiders-preview/who-are-the-sleepers-in-this-years-draft-class/embed” width=”100%” height=”180″ frameborder=”0″]