My Pre-draft mock.

I probably will not do another mock, if I do I'll append it here. I wasn't going to do a mock but I was doing a draft sim and when I evaluated the draft I realized it was a pretty accurate draft as to what could happen if things fell slightly the right way. I did change 1 pick because I knew the sim totally undervalues the player I actually drafted in the sim.

Aside from that all the players are in their expected round ranges according to most pundits. I did for my 3rd round pick list 4 alternate WR choices, at least one of which should be on the board at that point.

This is not a sexy draft, a lot of folks would be screaming bloody murder...but I think it's an excellent draft that builds the strength of the future offense.


Round 1 Pick 18: Taylor Lewan, OT, Michigan, 2nd or third best OT in the draft. It's not real likely he falls to 18, but it is possible.

Round 2 Pick 17: David Yankey, OG, Stanford, He's generally regarded as the 2nd or 3rd best OG in the draft. It's very likely that he or Gabe will be available at this point.

Round 3 Pick 16: Jordan Matthews, WR, Vanderbilt, Jordan for most pundits is a 2nd-3rd round draft candidate. He's possible here, other options that I'd be okay with are Donte Moncrief, Martavis Bryant, Bruce Ellington or Jarvis Landry. One of those 5 people should be available here, but in my mock I'm doing Matthews.

Round 4 Pick 4: Dion Bailey, FS, Southern California, Alternatives to this pick are EJ Gaines, Victor Hampton, or Chris Davis at least one of them should be available at this point in the draft. But for my Mock I'm going with Bailey.

Round 4 Pick 15: C.J. Fiedorowicz, TE, Iowa. He's an option listed by most as a 3-4 th round candidate. He's not as flashy and sexy for the seam TE scheme that's popular currently but he's a big target with good hands a good straightline speed, more importantly for Rex he's also a good blocker.

Round 4 Pick 37 (COMP): Ahmad Dixon. This is the first point where I'm varying off of the sim run because what I got in the sim was very unlikely, I got Juwan James OT here and I'm sure he'll be gone by the top of the 4th at the latest, however if he was here I'd draft him.

Round 5 Pick 14: Kirby Van Der Kamp, P, Iowa State, This is probably too early to take a Punter, but the offense doesn't promise to be stellar (though it figures to be better) and the Defense will still be leading this team so field position matters and the Jets Punting game is atrocious. Van Der Kamp is by far the best punter in this draft in my opinion and on a defensive based team a coffin corner punter is a must.

Round 6 Pick 19: Devon Kennard, OLB, Southern California, This is more of a diamond in the rough pick He's versatile and has a fairly high upside, but he's under developed and rough. He is however a high character guy and has a good motor and has played inside, outside linebackers and Defensive end. Low risk, medium high reward pick.

Round 6 Pick 33 (COMP): D'Anthony Thomas. RB, Here I went away from the sim because there is no way in hell Dri ARcher is available here, he'll be gone by the 4th at the latest. D'anthony brings a lot of the same to the table but he's a much smaller package and much more of a risk. He's a low risk high reward Change of Pace back.

Round 6 Pick 34 (COMP): Chris Boswell, K, Rice, I'm leaving this just because.

Round 6 Pick 37 (COMP): Marion Grice, RB, Arizona State, Probably a better option than Thomas, bigger target, tougher, but less explosive. More competition for the Backfield and very possibly could stick.

Round 7 Pick 18: Walt Aikens, CB, Liberty. This is potentially the steal of the draft, 6'1 200+ pounds. He's not a burner, but he's very physical. He's very rough around the edges and would take 1-3 years to get in to the starting rotation if he worked out, but he's a Rex Ryan type of corner potentially.

Obviously this draft does not address some needs. A speed rusher isn't addressed nor is a speedy #1 receiver But it does address a number of issues on the team and I think it sets the offense up with a very sound foundation.

Sorry for using the sim as a basis, there are no trade downs, and I've double checked everything to make sure the players can at least reasonably be excepted to be there. Though admittedly to get this exact draft some things would have to work out just right.

 

I'm not even going to try to predict what Idzik will do. But I do know this, Brick is starting to get long in the tooth and the team is going to need a new left tackle in the very near future with Brick probably sliding to the right side at that point. Middle of the O-Line is a mess and needs a long term solution at both Guard positions unless someone really steps up.

The second O-line is a stretch I admit. But I wasn't doing any trades for purity reasons. Boswell I agree is a wasted pick but honestly I couldn't find anyone I liked at that point.

CJ is a stretch there as well, but it's still within the draft range of where he's expected to go.

Like I said, it's not a sexy draft....it's a draft designed to build a long term core on the O-line. After all, the best teams have good to great O-lines and the Jets are currently eh not so much, especially looking a year or two down the road.

Sexy is nice, but without the foundation it's just another pretty face.

 

Aiken is generally listed by most as a 6th round or later pick. In all honesty in thinking about it I'd probably take him with the 6th round pick though just to be safe.

 

That's your opinion, and you're more than welcome to it of course. But I'd take Brick on the right side over the majority of the Right tackles out there right now. either way that's a short term solution.

 

I think Aikens in the 7th is much more likely than Jordan in the 3rd...although given the depth of the WR class this year it is entirely possible.

Aikens just has enough question marks that he's probably going to fall. He's not a burner, he's raw and somewhat undisciplined and he's probably viewed at best as a rotational corner early in his career in the NFL. There's a lot to like about him but there's no way I see him going before round 4 or 5 and he's also someone who could slide down to a UDFA pretty easily as well depending on how the draft breaks down.