The New York Jets clearly stated their intentions on Saturday, sending their No. 6 overall pick and two second-round picks in this year’s draft, along with a 2019 second rounder, to the Indianapolis Colts for the No. 3 pick this April.
It’s a steep price to pay considering those second-round picks to sweeten the deal of taking No. 6 could yield starting-caliber talents in the NFL. But the reward could very well be a franchise quarterback, a foreign concept to many Jets fans who were not around for the days of Joe Namath.
Taking a passer seems to be the overwhelming consensus of what the Jets will do.
While they signed Teddy Bridgewater and brought back Josh McCown, both quarterbacks will be on one-year deals. For Bridgewater, it’s because of the uncertainty surrounding his durability and pending re-acclimation to starting after missing most of the past two years due to a dislocated knee.
The 38-year-old McCown is simply a stopgap should Bridgewater run into issues under center in New York.
If there was a time for the Jets to take a chance at drafting a franchise quarterback, it’s this year.
The 2018 draft class is fairly deep when it comes to first-round prospects. As it stands, Metro has slated five quarterbacks going in the opening 32 picks in USC’s Sam Darnold, UCLA’s Josh Rosen, Wyoming’s Josh Allen, Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield and Louisville’s Lamar Jackson. Darnold, Rosen and Allen are considered the top three options and could likely go in the top-10.
New York’s decision to trade up though clearly shows that they have a certain quarterback in mind, though it is unclear who that passer is at the moment.
Given this organization’s track record though of being snakebitten over the past five decades, it might not work out.
Since 1967, the Jets have traded into the top-five of an NFL Draft three times before Saturday’s transaction. The three players selected produced zero Pro Bowl appearances (Mark Sanchez, Dewayne Robertson, Johnny “Lam” Jones).
There is also a chance the New York Giants, picking at No. 2, deal away their selection to a quarterback-desperate team.
One such team looming is the Jets’ franchise-rival Buffalo Bills, who dealt away Tyrod Taylor to the Cleveland Browns. They currently have the No. 12 and 22 picks to help sweeten the deal for the Giants.
However, the Giants’ desire to move that pick could hinge on the availability of Penn State running back Saquon Barkley, considered the top talent in the draft.
Should the Browns nab Barkley, who the Giants are very high on, the likelihood of the No. 2 pick being swapped increases. Thus increasing the Jets chances of losing out on their quarterback of choice and possibly adding another dubious moment in the franchise’s string of bad luck.
