Playoff-starved Jets take players with winning backgrounds to lead their NFL draft haul
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) — The New York Jets entered the NFL draft with plenty of roster holes and a culture under construction.
They’re confident they at least chipped away in a big way at both over the weekend.
Texas Tech edge rusher David Bailey was the second overall pick, giving the pass rush an immediate boost. The Jets took Oregon tight end Kenyon Sadiq 16th overall and then traded back into the first round to select Indiana wide receiver Omar Cooper Jr. at No. 30 — both playmakers for the offense.
They grabbed Cooper’s former Hoosiers teammate, cornerback D’Angelo Ponds, in the second round.
The Jets’ first four picks have something in common: They all played in the College Football Playoff last season, including Cooper and Ponds winning a national championship with Indiana. And that was no small coincidence, not for a franchise coming off a 3-14 season and mired in the NFL’s longest active postseason drought at 15 years.
“Usually when you come from a winning program, you really know how it looks,” coach Aaron Glenn said. “And when you join another program, you bring that same mentality to that program to help that program elevate to where it is. Any time you can do that with a number of players, it just only elevates your team.
“And they’re going to practice and they’re going to go through meetings, they’re going to go through walkthroughs like winners do, and that permeates throughout your whole team.”
Glenn insisted the Jets didn’t pass on any players who were on losing college programs. But their board just happened to be topped by winners.
“Which is a plus for us,” Glenn said.
No kidding
Sadiq was hesitant when he answered his phone Thursday night and was told the Jets were drafting him.
“I’m excited, Coach,” the speedy tight end told Glenn during the call, video of which was taken by the team and posted on social media. “I was thinking this might be a prank call for a second.”
He didn’t want to be this year’s version of Shedeur Sanders, who was pranked last year during his slide to the fifth round.
“That’s just like my biggest fear,” Sadiq said Saturday at the Jets’ facility. “If you look at like Shedeur and all that stuff that happened with him, it’s just a moment full of so many emotions. It would kind of be not a fun way to get a prank call and stuff like that. But no, obviously, the call and everything was amazing.”
Calling an audible
The Jets traded for Geno Smith in the offseason to be their starter this season. There’s speculation they’ll aim for their quarterback of the future in next year’s signal caller-heavy draft.
But that didn’t prevent New York from taking a chance on a developmental QB this year, drafting Clemson’s Cade Klubnik in the fourth round. The Jets even traded up 18 spots to get him, sending two fourth-rounders to Cincinnati for the 110th selection — where they took Klubnik — and a sixth-rounder.
Klubnik is coming off a disappointing season during which Clemson went 7-6 for its worst record since 2010. He had a down year statistically, leading many prognosticators to predict Klubnik to be picked much later. But he was the fifth quarterback drafted, following Fernando Mendoza, Ty Simpson, Carson Beck and Drew Allar.
“Felt really good about Cade,” general manager Darren Mougey said. “A young player that has a lot of experience. … Unfortunately, he had a down year this year, but still young, athletic with some upside.”
Klubnik said he had “multiple meetings” with the Jets during the draft process and woke up Saturday morning hoping New York would pick him. And when he was taken, he told offensive coordinator Frank Reich to immediately send him the playbook.
“I’m all about pushing the guys around me and I’m a winner and I’m a competitor, and I hate to lose,” he said. “So, if we’re not winning, we’re going to find a way to win.”
Depth pieces
The Jets further boosted their defensive line by taking Florida State defensive tackle Darrell Jackson Jr. in the fourth round, seven picks before they drafted Klubnik.
Jackson is the nephew of former NFL safety Dexter Jackson, the 2003 Super Bowl MVP for Tampa Bay. The 6-foot-5, 315-pound former Seminoles star will beef up a Jets D-line that added veterans T’Vondre Sweat, David Onyemata, Joseph Ossai and Kingsley Enagbare in free agency.
New York added depth on the offensive line in the sixth round, moving up 11 spots to take Miami guard Anez Cooper. The Jets went with Kansas State defensive back VJ Payne with their final pick in the seventh round.
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