After Watching Wild Divisional Round, Jets Should Continue Focus On Offense In Upcoming Draft
Trading Down From 4 Would Further Their 2022 Haul
Now that we’ve all recoiled from the greatest weekend in NFL postseason history, with all four Divisional Round games decided on the final play, here’s my takeaway: The Bills (1st), Bucs (5th), Titans (6th), and Packers (13th) were all blessed with top-notch defenses in terms of points allowed per game. All four needed just one stop in the last two minutes to either send their contest into overtime or win the game outright, and all four failed.
Throw in the Chiefs, ranked eighth in ppg allowed during the regular season, who surrendered not one but TWO touchdowns in the last two minutes before miraculously driving down the field in 13 seconds for a game-tying field goal, and you can take your “Defense Wins Championships” banner, fold it up neatly, and stick it in some scrapbook from the 1980s.
Offense, particularly the ability to score in crunch time, has been the driving force for the vast majority of the elite programs in the modern era. Even the 49ers, with game manager Jimmy Garoppolo calling signals, produced a respectable 26.3 points per game in the regular season when you exclude the two Trey Lance games, which would have been good enough to place 11th in the league in that category.
So when I hear folks mocking the Jets (in a different context than we’re used to) to use their two first-round picks in the top ten of the upcoming NFL Draft on defensive players, I want to scream. Remember when:
With the No. 6 overall pick in 2015, the Jets selected the so-called “best defensive player in the Draft” in Leonard Williams. How did that work out?
With the No. 6 overall pick in 2017, the Jets selected the so-called “best defensive player in the Draft” in Jamal Adams. How did that work out?
With the No. 3 overall pick in 2019, the Jets selected the so-called “best defensive player in the Draft” in Quinnen Williams. How has that worked out so far?
The Jets were the league’s worst defensive team this season by almost any measure—points, yards, and only Jacksonville had fewer takeaways. And that’s with Williams active for 15 of 17 games, albeit the first and last few while injured. The only segment of a season in the last five where the defense even appeared competent was during the second half of 2019, when they were lucky enough to face a string of lousy backup quarterbacks like Dwayne Haskins, Devlin Hodges, and Matt Barkley.
What makes them think that drafting an edge rusher, cornerback, or--heaven forbid--a safety with the fourth overall pick would alter the team’s trajectory?
The Jets should finish building the offense around quarterback Zach Wilson first before tackling all their deficiencies on D. There’s plenty to do, including wide receiver, tight end, and the interior offensive line. Patch some of the defensive holes with free agents and hope that edge rusher Carl Lawson returns from the Achilles injury that cost him the entire 2021 season with a vengeance.
Though this isn’t exactly the greatest Draft for top-end offensive players, the Jets are in a pretty good spot to trade down from four, especially if Houston utilizes their third overall pick on a non-quarterback as most mocks expect. Forget what you’re hearing about the dearth of quality QBs in this Draft—there will be a few teams that will value one of them and don’t want to lose out.
If I were running a quarterback-needy team like Denver or Washington, I wouldn’t be so sure that the favored target, whether it’s Matt Corral (Ole Miss), Kenny Pickett (Pittsburgh), or someone else who rises up the boards in the next few months, will be getting past the Giants or Panthers—the Giants’ new organization has no allegiance to Daniel Jones and the Panthers would have to be in deep denial to continue going forward believing Sam Darnold is their answer, no matter what they’re paying him. Denver, who currently list Drew Lock as their only QB under contract for 2022, might be inclined to move up at the right cost.
From a cursory look at some draft point values, it would seem like it would be worth it for Denver to toss the Jets a second-round pick (No. 40 overall) in order to move up five slots. A year ago, the Bears sent the Giants three additional picks (a fifth-rounder plus 2022 first-and-fourth round picks) to jump from 20 to 11, but that was to secure Justin Fields, a very highly-rated QB in a Draft with several top prospects at the position. One extra 2 here seems about right.
Then, with picks at 9, 10, 35, 38, and 40, the Jets can load up on offensive players, maybe sprinkling in one defender. I’ll be diving deeper into particular options as we get closer to Draft Day, but some of the names bandied about at this early date include wide receivers Garrett Wilson (Ohio State) and Drake London (USC), center Tyler Linderbaum (Iowa), tight end Trey McBride (Colorado State), and tackle Bernhard Raimann (Central Michigan).
If Gang Green could come up with three offensive starters from that group, that would be quite a haul, and it would get them a lot closer to the levels of their competitors than taking the best player available at a less-impactful position.