Now that we've officially been eliminated from the playoffs, time to look forward to the offseason and who can potentially help this team achieve it's ultimate goal in 2024 with Rodgers under center. It's no secret that our OL has been poor all year. There was a 2-3 game stretch before we got really hit hard by the injury bug where they looked decent but they never looked good. Lucky for us, this upcoming draft class is absolutely loaded with talent at OT. There are potentially 5-6 OTs that could go in the 1st round and another 3-4 that could go early on Day 2. IMO, the top of this class is broken up into 3-4 Tiers, and I've included an additional HM tier at the bottom. I'm going to link PFN's Draft Profile for each guy on their names, so just click on their names and it should take you to their draft profile if you want to get a little more info on them. Tier 1 (Top 5-10 Locks): Olu Fashanu, Penn State, 6'6" 319 Joe Alt, Notre Dame, 6'8" 322 Tier 2 (Mid-1st Rounders): Taliese Fuaga, Oregon State, 6'6" 334 JC Latham, Alabama, 6'6" 335 Tier 3 (Late 1st Rounders): Amarius Mims, Georgia, 6'7" 340 Graham Barton, Duke, 6'5" 314 Tier 4 (2nd Rounders): Troy Fautanu, Washington, 6'4" 317 Jordan Morgan, Arizona, 6'6" 320 Patrick Paul, Houston, 6'7" 315 Honorable Mentions (Mid-Late Day 2): Tyler Guyton, Oklahoma, 6'7" 327 Kingsley Suamataia, BYU, 6'6" 315 (No PFN profile yet, so I found one from nfldraftbuzz.com) The dream is that we can somehow get 2 of these guys to expedite our OL rebuild. Who we land will depend on a couple of factors: 1) What pick do we ultimately get at the end of the year? If we're in the top 5, you either stay put and take Olu or Alt or you trade back to recoup some additional draft picks and still land one of the guys from Tier 2 or 3. If you trade back, you also increase your chances of landing someone from Tier 4 or the HM tier. 2) What kind of moves are we able to make in FA prior to the draft? It's possible a staring-quality OT shakes free either in FA or via trade and JD pulls the trigger on him. If you go into the draft with 1 of the OT spots locked up, it gives you some additional flexibility. Maybe you take a WR in the 1st instead of an OT? Or vice versa, maybe they pull off the Davante Adams trade, which means we're 100% taking an OT in the 1st. The way this season is progressing, my ideal situation would be we take Joe Alt in the top 5-8 range. I think Alt is as much of a "sure thing" as a draft prospect can be and I think he'd anchor our LT spot for the next decade+.
Latham scares me a lot. I try to never look too much into the history of a position group at a certain program but Georgia and Alabama have a bad history of having these behemoths perform poorly at the next level. They just rely on sheer power and power across the board a lot of times which doesn’t translate well for big slow NFL tackles. The only two plus offensive lineman from Alabama are Ryan Kelly (center) and Landon Dickerson (guard). (https://www.ourlads.com/ncaa-football-depth-charts/active-nfl-players-by-college/alabama/89923) Only really see Andrew Thomas from Georgia at OT and most of the guys from both of these programs are oversized at 330+. (https://www.ourlads.com/ncaa-football-depth-charts/active-nfl-players-by-college/georgia/90590) The kid from BYU is interesting. He was a first round pick if I remember correctly coming into the year. Not sure how he’s played all season but most of the draft sites have downgraded him. The Jets can get two good tackles in the draft this year. Hopefully they do. A trade down might be best.
I'm with you, I never try to helmet scout. It's why I hate it when folks say, "You can't draft a QB from (insert any school here)!!". Every prospect is different and just because someone at the position from that specific school hasn't panned out, doesn't mean that these guys won't. Sometimes there's something to it though as you've alluded to but it's why you've gotta scout the player and not the helmet. I must admit, I'm not very knowledgeable on any of these guys just yet, outside of Olu and Alt, so there may be reasons that we don't take some of these guys. At first glance, it seems like Latham and Mims may be more suited to a gap scheme than the zone scheme we use, which would push them down the Jets board and up the board on other teams. Lot of time left until the draft though so it never hurts to start looking at the upcoming class!
I am always down for a trade back. Always. Especially in a quarterback heavy draft where they aren't drafting a quarterback. Try could get at least another first rounder in a different year (possibly more if they are picking in the top five) as well as restocking some of the cupboard this year. My ideal scenario that you presented is trading to the middle of the 1st round, still getting a tackle, and getting back our second rounder in there.
I think I want them to just go get Joe Alt and be done with it. With him on board I suspect the whole operation will suddenly look a lot better. Alt, Tippman and AVT should be a pretty rock solid foundation for quite awhile.
I agree with Jonathan_Vilma about the BYU kid Kingsley Suamataia. I'd be surprised if he declared early for the draft - he's only a RS Soph. And if he does, - I think he'll climb the draft boards. But I certainly wouldnt mind trading back in the 1st round to recoup a 2nd round pick.
Was listening to Connor Rogers this morning about Fuaga and obviously it isn't as good as getting Alt or Foshanu, but he was pretty happy with grabbing this guy where we are now. He seemed to like him better than JC Latham and just plug and play at RT and be done with it. Says he may be the best run blocker in the entire class.
The Jets do need to do just that though. If the guys going to be a stud right tackle, draft him, play him at right tackle and don’t make him an experiment in camp. Saints did it with Ramczyk, Eagles with Lane Johnson for a decade. Right tackle is equally as important as we’ve learned over the past decade+.
If they went this route, I think I would be okay with bringing in Bahktiari on a cheap deal to play LT as long as they addressed IOL again since we could theoretically move AVT out to tackle if need be if Bahktiari got hurt.
Right now we are looking at the 8th pick. I think trade down options should absolutely be a priority. I’m completely against moving up with our many needs, cap situation and few precious picks.
If we stay at 8, you run to the podium to take Fuaga from Oregon St (assuming Nabers, Alt and Foshanu are gone). Plug Fuaga in at RT and roll with it for the next 10 years. Not much else needs to be discussed unless somehow Jayden Daniels there and someone wants to come up for him.
I would be super fine with that although quite frankly i’m not familiar with most candidates not savvy enough to know the levels of talent across round one we are talking about. I’m against the go for broke in an attempt to move up for the top two candidates, I feel all early and mid round picks this year are a must, and has to net us a contributor at some level in year one, with the first two picks as a minimum starter level contributors. Im changing my hard stand on BPA, as we absolutely must prioritize immediate need over future growth this year.
Not often and in the later less impactful rounds. But you absolutely know that. The point is he needs to focus, IMO on need, need, need far more than ever. His BPA or die approach I think will not for a team that has bet it all on the next two years.
I just don't see any scenario where this regime takes a QB in the first round when they know they need to win in 2024.
