Please these are hypotheticals so let's not be offensive to anyone. Some examples are what if a prospect like Jalen Carter falls to 13th? ala let's say Warren Sapp many moons ago. Would the Jets select him? What about a Jaxon Smith Njigba reunited with Garrett Wilson? Both Wilson and Chris Olave have stated on record that JSM was the most talented receiver at OSU. What if a high edge passer rusher drops let's say a Tyree Wilson? I'm assuming most if not all assume that the Jets will and should take whatever top OL is there, I get that, but if any of those three scenarios happen, would anybody be mad if the Jets go that route?
Positions that would surprise me: QB, RB, CB, MLB, S, TE, OG, OC Positions that wouldn't surprise me: WR, OT, OLB, DT Just because some of these positions would be a surprise, doesn't mean they aren't a need, 13 just seems a little soon (OC/MLB/S)
Good post ….. I agree with the positions. Personally I would put the odds of Jets going OT at #13 at about 80% as of now.
What about Nolan Smith? Could he be our Micah Parsons? skillset is very similar. With 4.39 speed and he'll probably be 245 by the time the season starts most likely. When was the last time the Jets had a unique weapon like this?
If you want a Micah Parsons-type player, Drew Sanders is your guy. He provides a very similar skill set just to a lesser degree but that's why he could be there for us in the 2nd round.
Seems like every year there’s a pre-draft echo chamber that starts building certain guys up and overlooking the full picture of their college career. I’d put Nolan Smith in that category. I’ve watched every game Nolan has played from his senior year of high school through college. LOVE that kid and I’d love to see him in Jets green. I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard some draft expert in recent days credit Nolan Smith for UGA’s defensive success in back to back championships. I just read Todd McShay refer to him as a “disruptive edge rusher”. He has crazy-good athleticism, and he might just be that in the NFL - but that’s not how I’d describe his career at UGA. I say this because ever since he came in as either the #1 or #2 recruit, depending on the website, I kept watching and waiting for that generational player to show it on the field. I saw SOME of that toward the end of 2021 through the playoff. But he stayed in school because he still hadn’t showed enough. In last year’s draft, there were three UGA defensive players in his recruiting class with higher draft rankings. Four if you count Jermaine Johnson. Nakobe Dean was in the same recruiting class as Nolan, ranked really high but behind Smith. Nakobe was generally considered the leader of one of the all-time great college defenses and hung around until the third round. Would Nolan have gone higher? Who knows. If so, only because there’s a premium on edge rushers. In Nolan’s defense, his 2022 season ended just when he looked like he was starting to break out. And, UGA rotates a crapload of players on its defense, so he’d probably never put up the gaudy stats that some other edge players might. I do think we’d be talking about Nolan as a mid-to-high first round talent this year if he played a full season. But the player I keep hearing draft folks describe is the one we all saw at the combine, not consistently on the field. I’m not talking myself or anyone else out of drafting Nolan Smith. I’ll say again - I love the kid and I think he’ll be a solid pro (and a great TV talent after that). Just shaking my head when he’s described as a defensive leader at UGA and a “disruptive edge rusher”. I hope so - just not yet. But maybe there’s two guys named Nolan Smith in this year’s draft.
Nolan Smith is 6'2" 235 and he ran a 4.39 40 at the combine. If he was a WR everybody would be salivating. As a tweener between Edge and ILB he's really hard to call.
He would be the type of pick the Jets would make in years past…JD most likely stays in the trenches -65% chance OL and 35% chance DL I think.
