NFL draft speculation continues to ramp up with a little over a week before the first round begins. Joe Douglas will have an opportunity to rebuild and reshape the Jets in his image during his first draft as the general manager, starting with the 11th overall pick.
Nothing is certain until the Jets submit their picks, but a brief evaluation of the Jets’ prospect visits so far, via WalterFootball.com, shed a little bit of light on what Douglas is thinking with his eight picks.
A lot of private workouts were scheduled and subsequently canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, so this data is likely incomplete. A visit or lack of visit also doesn’t necessarily mean the Jets will or won’t take a player, but it will at least provide a pattern that gives us a glimpse into the positions Douglas and the Jets covet.
A brief analysis also shows where the Jets could target certain positions depending on the players they spoke to and visited with throughout the offseason. Unsurprisingly, the top three positions the Jets targeted were offensive line, cornerback and wide receiver.
The Jets spoke with 13 linemen, including the top five tackles and the best center. Tackles Jedrick Wills Jr., Tristan Wirfs, Mehki Becton, Andrew Thomas and Josh Jones could all go in the first round and Michigan center Cesar Ruiz is pegged as a first- or second-rounder as well. Douglas already said he believes in acquiring as many quality offensive linemen as possible and his heavy emphasis on meeting with the best prospects only strengthens the idea that he and the Jets will target linemen early in the draft.
Douglas and the Jets also visited with seven cornerbacks, most of whom had first-, second- or third-round grades. If tackle is the target at No. 11, the Jets could look at cornerback with the 48th, 68th and/or 79th picks. Trevon Diggs and Jeff Gladney are late-first or early second-round picks, Kristian Fulton is likely a second- or third-rounder and Amik Robinson and Cameron Dantzler are both third-round talents. It wouldn’t be shocking to see one of those six players on the Jets roster this fall.
Wide receivers saw the third-most visits from the Jets with five, but only two have first- or second-round grades – Jerry Jeudy and Denzel Mims. There have been reports the Jets are interested in Henry Ruggs III and CeeDee Lamb also said he met with the Jets virtually on Instagram Live on April 10, so it’s impossible to ascertain exactly which receivers the Jets are targeting. But the rest of the receivers all have mid- to late-draft grades, indicating New york may not be looking at receivers as early as many think. Notable omissions from this list included Michael Pittman Jr., Laviska Shenault Jr., Van Jefferson and Donovan Peoples-Jones.
Pass rusher is probably the fourth-most important position of need for the Jets, but they only met with five, according to the list. K’Lavon Chaisson and Julian Okwara are the most notable players on the list, while the rest have late-round grades. Defensive tackle Larrell Murchison is an interesting name to watch. He racked up 11 sacks as a two-year starter at N.C. State. The Jets met with him twice – at the Senior Bowl and virtually – and he has a fourth-round grade.
The Jets only met with one quarterback – FIU’s James Morgan, one tight end – Western Michigan’s Giovanni Ricci – and two running backs – James Robinson and Dre Brown. This isn’t surprising, as the Jets don’t have a real need at any of these three positions. All except Robinson look like late-round targets.
The draft board is finicky and trading up or down is always on the table as well, so Douglas could easily have some tricks up his sleeve or covet players he didn’t even visit with. No one will know what the Jets will do until the draft begins on April 23, but this list at least gives some hints.