At the very least, even if the Jets had JJ at 8, there appears to have been a gap between him and Wilson. Otherwise, why try to trade up from 10 to 9 like they reportedly tried to do at one point? Obviously we'll never know, but based on the stories that have come out since the draft, my guess is that if Wilson was gone before 10, they likely would have tried to trade down (Saints and Eagles both traded up from 15 and 16), then taken JJ then.
Ya your right..JD said they started making calls ag 15 to EVERY team on the list. I think there was probably at leats one team that would trade down but wanted BOTH our 2nd round picks. Saleh was probably like DO IT!!! But the price was too high for JD..so he waited some more. Then, when JJ fell all the way to 25, he made the trade and only needed his first pick in the 2nd round, keeping his other one. Saleh musta been shocked when JoeD got JJ for just ONE 2nd round pick. It was probably pretty scary. JoeD didn't panic!
Landing Jermaine Johnson was huge. If they ended up missing out on a linebacker, an edge rusher, and an offensive lineman for a corner, receiver and running back, I would've been very critical of Joe Douglas, and I was up until he made the move for Johnson. He needed to come away with a pass rusher in a year with such talent and he did. Idk if its "the best draft" or not, we will see how it plays out, its certainly not the first time a Jets draft has been labeled that way. With 4 picks in the top 40 it would've been hard to NOT have a good draft, at least if we are talking about evaluating the draft before any of the players suit up for the team
Saleh apparently has said that if Wilson had gone by 10, then JJ would have been the pick. Of course, he might just be hyping his boy up and Joe might have thought differently. Its clear they really wanted him though.
In the phone calls they always seem to say 'We told you we'd come for you' or words to that effect, I wonder how many broken promises there are on the QT
Based off of what I've heard from podcasts and from the beat, we all need to be thanking Atlanta for taking London over Wilson. Sounds like JD would've pulled the trigger on JJ at 10 if Wilson had been off the board. Also sounds like JD starting calling teams at 15 to try and trade up for JJ. Absolute masterclass in drafting from JD this weekend.
Here is the compilation of all the major draft experts, which followed the prospects throughout, and GPA of sorts of their combined evaluations for teams. It is a consensus that Jets and Ravens had the best draft, with no one giving the Jets below A-. Could all of them be completely wrong? Sure, but given the information at hand, JD increased the chance of success as good or better than any other GM out there.
JD did definitely have a plan to trade back into the first round to get an Edge regardless. He said he called every team starting at 15, but price was too high until 26. But he also did luck out that the guy he had as #8 was there at 26. If JJ was taken earlier, I am thinking we are trading up for Karlaftis, who went a few picks later. I am more comfortable with JJ, because Saleh saw him up close at sr bowl and rated him so high, but Karlaftis is two years younger and I think has some major potential too. Regardless, it worked out for JD and Saleh in the best possible way given their board rankings. To get 3 guys in their top 8 with 4, 10, 35, and give up a later round pick for that is amazing. Let's just hope JJ comes out as one of the best rushers in this class.
This is good "feel good" stuff, but how many of these guys were correct in their predictions before the draft? In any case I hope their grades are proven out on the field. And if that happens, I'm pleased to see that Buffalo, N.E. and Miami all had pretty poor grades - N.E. in fact had the worst.
I say imagine how Bill Belichek would do with this roster in his second year of coaching when he was coach of the Browns...not good.
So Saleh gets a pass cause it's his 2nd year? Really? My point is the Bill B McVay Andy Reid of right now would take us to the Moonand back lol
Fair point about B.B & A.R, but having Brady & Mahomes helps, but my point is, let's not compare Saleh to what the best coaches in the league could do. Not giving Saleh a pass, just not over estimating our 2nd year HC. The players play hard for him. I like his energy....with experience he will be a very good HC.
Ok ...but my expectations are higher . And yes he's not a walking corpse like Bowles and goofy like Gase. His emotionality is his strong point
The Jets became the first team in the history of Scouts Inc., which has been evaluating prospects for ESPN.com since 2004, to select three players with a grade of 92 or better (on a 100 scale) in the same draft. Cornerback Ahmad "Sauce" Gardner: 93 Wide receiver Garrett Wilson: 93 Defensive end Jermaine Johnson II: 92 That's a pretty good haul for the Jets, considering only 14 players received a 92 or better. "I think they had an awesome [first day]," a scout from an opposing team said. "You can make an argument that all three of those guys were the best at their position this year."
As we all take in the accolades of the potentially franchise-changing draft that just occurred this weekend, another aspect that's been fun for me has been reading some of the sports media experts choose which of the four picks was the best one. We're not used to this. Nothing criticized. The debate is which pick was the BEST. Not "Why" Was it the potentially lock down CB? Was it going up to get the undervalued edge rusher who somehow slid? The Garret Wilson pick, while not getting knocked anywhere, is also not being discussed much meaning it was just plain "solid". My personal fave was trading up a second time for Breece Hall, since the move was a surprise to me at the time (I thought it'd be Nakobe Dean) and is the pick that I now find myself the most excited about. I love having two young talented RB's. LOVE it.
At the end of the draft, I had very few complaints. - I didn't love the Gardner pick. I thought Thibideaux was the way to go, as the Jets haven't had a pass rusher in forever, and I didn't think CB was as big a need. Once they made the deal for Johnson, the Gardner pick was cool with me. - I was all for the Wilson pick. WR was a huge need, and the Jets got the best one (or second best). He's been mocked to the Jets for months and I've been all for it the whole time. If Zach is any good at all, G. Wilson is going to be a monster. - The Johnson trade up was great. Got a potential elite talent for a pick swap and 5th rounder. There is some risk here, since he obviously fell for a reason. Having said that, this was worth the risk though IMO. Lawson is a complete question mark, so the pass rush needed to be addressed. - I was cool with the Breece Hall pick. He's a beast, and the Jets need more of those on offense. If Becton comes back healthy, they should be running the ball really well. I would have liked keeping the 5th rounder, but if this guy becomes an elite RB, than bitching about a 5th rounder seems silly. - Didn't like the Ruckert pick initially. He's not gonna get much burn this year, and I thought someone like Dean would have been perfect here. The pick grew on me after thinking about how long it can take TEs to develop. I also wont complain about drafting to put Zach in the best situation to succeed. I've been asking for that for years. - Mitchell/Clemens. Didn't know the players, but I'm cool with the positions. Becton insurance, as well as additional pass rush. Can't complain. I would have liked one or two more late rounders to take a flier on kicker, punter or LB. Outside of that, I thought this was an excellent draft.
