The New York Jets Did All The Right Things In The 2022 NFL Draft
For a team needing an infusion of talent at select key positions, they did just that.
Having a bunch of valuable picks in a given NFL Draft is only as material or relevant as what you end up doing with them. Just ask fans of the New York Giants about the inventive ways that Dave Gettleman squandered away all their Draft capital.
For fans of the New York Jets, though, at least in terms of the 2022 NFL Draft, it's quite the opposite. The Jets did exactly what a team in their situation should do: trust your pre-Draft homework, take the best player available when it's your turn to pick, and use your available assets to better position yourself to get any players you really want.
The Jets sent away a second, third, and two fifth round picks to put themselves in position to have four of the first 36 selections in the 2022 NFL Draft, and used those picks on four of the top 30 players available. No reaches, no projects, and no "well we loved this player a lot more than the media and fans" rationalizations.
Instead, every time they stepped up to the proverbial plate, they delivered extra-base hits:
Ahmad "Sauce" Gardner was one of my favorite players in this entire Draft; he'll provide the Jets with the blue chip talent they've lacked at cornerback since the days of Darrelle Revis and Antonio Cromartie.
Garrett Wilson was the highest-floor and most ready to contribute immediately receiver in the Draft. He, Corey Davis, and Elijah Moore together gives the Jets a very tantalizing trio of wide receivers whom they can line up in a multitude of ways for quarterback Zach Wilson.
Jermaine Johnson's pre-Draft rise might've been a function of media hype (which didn't match his true evaluations by NFL teams), but his combination of size, length, quickness, and motor held great appeal to the Jets, and gives head coach Robert Salah the building block edge rusher that he greatly coveted from this Draft.
Breece Hall was someone whom the Jets had rated very highly, enough to make their second-straight trade upwards in the Draft to go get him. It was always the goal of the Jets' coaching staff to find another running back to be the 1A/1B committee starter alongside Michael Carter, and Hall will get every chance to fill that role from the get-go. He has the patience, vision and athletic footwork needed to be successful in offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur's zone-blocking scheme.
Drilling down on the selection of Hall for a moment: I think the backlash this pick received from some pockets of the football-viewing world is short-sighted, if not downright obnoxious. The crux of the backlash stems from the "you shouldn't take a running back early in the Draft" argument that has become so prevalent, but said thinking has swung too far in this particular direction. The main premises of that idea is that a first round pick should be used on the more foundational positions on your team, especially because you don't want to have to pay a running back the costly salary associated with picking up their fifth-year option.
However, if there's a stud running back in the Draft, then there's absolutely nothing wrong with taking them with a Day 2 pick. Case in point? Look at the list of guys taken in Round 2 or 3 as of late: Alvin Kamara, Joe Mixon, Jonathan Taylor, Nick Chubb, Dalvin Cook, Javonte Williams, D'Andre Swift, David Montgomery, Miles Sanders. Not one of their teams (or their fan bases) will regret having taken those players at the point in the Draft that they did.
So, I have no problem with the Jets not only taking Hall early in the second round, but even trading away a few Draft assets to do so. The incumbent grouping of Carter, Tevin Coleman, Ty Johnson, and LaMical Perine was not a group with which they could get by for yet another season. If the Jets really liked the fit that Hall represented in their offense, then the combination of their roster need plus the overall value at which they took him is more than appropriate.
For a team ravaged by roster mismanagement for the last decade, adding difference-makers has to New York's foundational purpose.
All four of their top picks represent just that, in my opinion. ■