Joe Douglas’ first draft as general manager is in the books and the early reviews are positive. We gave Douglas and the Jets a “B” for their overall draft class, which blended high-character people with starting-caliber players at various positions of need. 

It’s impossible to know if this class will pan out better or worse than previous classes, so for now, we can have a little bit of fun to see who Douglas could have drafted with the Jets’ nine picks.

For this exercise, we’ll assume Douglas still makes all the trades he did this weekend so as not to alter the draft order. This is an inexact science because obviously any change in the selections would likely change almost every subsequent selection by other teams, but it’s still interesting to see an alternative look at what Douglas could have done at various points in the draft.

Here are the players the Jets could have taken in the 2020 draft.

No. 11 – OT Tristan Wirfs

The Jets were always going with a tackle at this spot. They had their choice between Mekhi Becton and Tristan Wirfs. Though Becton is a great prospect with massive size, quick feet and impressive run-blocking ability, the Jets could have gone with the more experienced and polished Wirfs with their first-round pick.

Wirfs played both tackle positions in college and was adept at run- and pass-blocking for Iowa. He ran the fastest 40-yard dash time among tackles and only allowed seven total pressures – two sacks, two quarterback hits and three hurries – in 2019 for the lowest pressure rate of any tackle in the draft. The Buccaneers traded up to take Wirfs one pick after the Jets took Becton.