We will all be "waiting" to see McDonald on the field (for quite some time) since he is one of SIX DEs the jets now have. Lawson, Huff, Johnson, Clemons, and Franklin Myers. Other than TE, there was not a position on the jets that needed less attention than DE. How are they gonna play all those guys? Oh, I forgot, this pick was meant with 2024 in mind when FOR SURE Huff, Franklin Myers and Lawson are already gone. Keep defending this pick, though. It was definitely a true position of need for the jets!.
shoot first; fact check later. also gregory was a lock of a first round pick except for last min character concerns
do you have any explanation for his slide? i think everyone wanted us to draft JSN from the prior season, but this season something is amiss?????
Lawson should be gold this year at 2 years after achilles. Dumping him would be par for the course in stupid moves making 3 quick ones in succession. So yeah, makes sense.
McDonald will absolutely play this year, and I’d wager a pretty decent % of snaps too. In theory, we should be playing with more leads this year which should increase the amount of “obvious passing situations” the D will find itself in. Have you forgotten how much Saleh and Ulbrich like to rotate the DL to keep them fresh? Finally, drafting for need is what got the Jets into the position we’ve been in for the past decade+. You don’t draft a guy for his rookie year, you draft him for the next 4-5 years, so yes, as much as you don’t want to hear it, 2024 and beyond should absolutely play a factor into any draft pick.
Only thing I can think of is it seems like most teams view him as a big slot, so maybe they devalued him a bit because of concerns on whether he can play on the outside effectively at this level?
i have always heard from many former scouts who are in the media view picks like this. picks 1-10 ( day 1 starter must be impact guys with potential to be top 3 at position) pick 11- through round 2 - instant contributor with starter potential by year 2) round 3 - depth player with potential to become a starter round 4-7 - depth player, special team contributor. potential for backups. if they become a starter it is a bonus.
Not to mention that JFM will be playing inside a lot more, and this kid can also play LB on any passing situation. I would love to see any RB or WR try to block him.
this is the product of us being terrible for over a decade. We are so conditioned to think that every player we pick needs to contribute immediately or else it was a bad pic. The flipside of this argument is that we clearly only have about a two year window so you can’t really build that much for the future but the good part about McDonald is that he can play immediately and step in to be their premier edge rusher two years from now when we are “starting over“. This of course assuming he ends up being the player our front office and most scouts think he will be.
that makes sense. I was hung up on fact that last year he was supposedly better than GW and Olave yet he sank so far in the draft (if 2022 were redrafted one could expect GW and Olave to be drafted even higher). And i understood the injury would hurt his stock, but same can be said for Jameson Williams yet he was drafted 12 last year Regardless I wouldn't have complained if we picked him.
He didn’t play last year and he also didn’t run as well as expected in the 40. He’s also a bit thin but that hasn’t been an issue for guys like the OSU boys and Justin Jefferson as long as they are smart and protect themselves.
Smith-Njigba will be a fine player in the NFL. It would've been a safer pick than McDonald for sure. But I think the upside of a pass rusher is hard to pass up. Also you bring in a QB like Aaron Rodgers to make your receivers better so that you can draft defense. Otherwise you can get any QB and load up with 1st round WRs to make him better
This is the write-up I saw on him last night that calmed me down. This guy knows his stuff, from everything I’ve seen from him the past few years: “Will McDonald (lowa State) is another super athletic edge who is an excellent pass rusher. McDonald was strong against the run, even playing as a 4i in lowa State's defense. He is an advanced pass rusher too and can start from day 1. He might be more of a 4-3 style edge and more powerful offensive tackles might be able to move him in the run game, but I think he has Pro Bowl potential.”
I don’t think we can dispute the talent of McDonald and after all may be a solid pick to create more weapons defensively. I can’t be mad at that pick but definitely questioned that we should have inherited additional picks for dropping down but JD apparently tried. we still have to see what day 2 brings. We can have some concerns. But we should t be too upset at this stage. The team has even started the nfl season yet.
jsn is no where near the fastest on field player in the draft … he’s insanely quick, but he is not fast he rarely, if ever, ran away from players on the field
This is really my problem with picking an Edge/LB at this pick: Douglas drafted two pass rushers last year with premium picks, has he and Saleh come to the conclusion that they haven't worked out? It would seem so. Because while our pass rush was improved last year, one significant way it wasn't was in being able to get to the QB quick enough to disrupt the short passing attack against us. Between that and LBs who couldn't cover better, that's where our defense really underperformed. So, if McDonald can be the first true pass rusher since Abrams - and I'm really hoping that being picked at #15 he's more like Mark Gastineau (without the crazy) - then this pick does make sense. That said, I will admit that: - I don't know much about McDonald. - I don't know anything about how Saleh views his current roster of DL/pass rushers. - I don't know anything about how Saleh views his current roster of OL. - I've been immensely frustrated by our shitty OL for years that I'm very prone to overreacting on the decision to not take the best OL with their first pick. I guess I feel like the kid who really wanted a pony for Christmas, and got a really nice mountain bike instead. It's going to take me a little time to appreciate that I won't have to clean up horseshit and feed and water and exercise the beast every day, and can just hop on my bike and go pretty much wherever I want to.
Interesting debate here… Personally I was bummed when the OTs were off the board…as soon as Pitt traded ahead of us I knew it was for Jones. That was our single biggest need for sure. Once he was gone, I was thinking best case is a trade back to recoup a 3rd rounder, but that didn’t materialize either. At that point, I would have been good with a receiver, but I am absolutely ok with a pass rusher. Premium position. Let’s not forget the dozens of years we’ve drafted and ignored pass rush…the last good one we drafted was John Abraham. Ridiculous. I totally subscribe to the “can’t have enough pass rushers” mentality. we rotate our DL like crazy. I am totally fine with rotating in Lawson, JJ, Clemons, JFM, Huff, and McD now. I don’t follow college tight enough to know anything about him coming into the draft, but from what I’m reading he’s a perfect fit for the wide 9 role we run…I actually think it’s a good thing that our front office and coaching staff and scouting staff are aligned on the types of guys that will work FOR US. So while I desperately wanted an OT, once that was lost, I would have been good with a WR or DE/Edge guy. We went with edge. I’m good with it…he’s gonna play plenty. Our pass rush will come in waves and be relentless…we may not have a 12 sack guy, but if we have 4-5 guys at 7-10 sacks that’s a good thing too…they will motivate each other…gonna be ferocious Now we need to go OL in round 2, and I wouldn’t be shocked if we trade back a bit and try and recoup a 3rd rounder.
