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Over the weekend the Jets made a blockbuster trade. Here are my thoughts . . .
On Saturday, they traded three second round picks – two this year, and one in 2018, to the Colts, to move on from six to three in the first round.
Was it a good move?
I don’t know how anyone can possibly answer that right now considering we don’t know what player they will land at three.
And on top of not knowing what player they will get, we also don’t know how that player will perform.
To say at this point it was a “great move” or a “terrible move” is quite premature.
Clearly, they made this deal to put themselves in a position to land a quarterback.
If they land a special QB, who after a year of sitting and learning behind Josh McCown in 2018, takes over in 2018 and is “the answer” for many years to come, the price they paid will seem like a bargain.
As far as I’m concerned, the is no such thing as “overpaying” if you trade up and land an elite quarterback.
The NFL is a quarterback-driven league, and if you don’t have a top-shelf quarterbacks, you are just spinning your wheels.
As Steve Young said recently, “If you don’t solve QB, you aren’t playing in late football in late January.”
So true.
People keep asking. “Which QB will they pick?
It’s hard to say because we don’t know who is going to be picked in the #1 and #2 spots. The Browns are likely to pick a QB at #1, and there is a good chance the Giants trade the second pick to a team that wants a QB. If the Giants stay at two, they will likely take RB Saquon Barkley.
But let’s say the Giants trade the pick, two quarterbacks will likely be off the board with the Jets pick.
However, we don’t know which two.
I personally don’t think they should pick Wyoming’s Josh Allen. He has accuracy concerns. He competed 56 percent of his passes for the Cowboys; that isn’t a good number. And that at the Senior Bowl practices, his inconsistent accuracy was on display as well. He has a lot of talent, but after picking two inaccurate quarterbacks in a row, Christian Hackenberg and Bryce Petty, how can they go down the inaccurate QB road again? It’s hard to fix inconsistent accuracy. Think about it this way – the windows to throw into on the college level are much bigger than in the NFL. So if you are having trouble throwing accurately into big windows, what is going to happen when trying to fit throws into the smaller windows you often see in the NFL?
So that leaves Josh Rosen, Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield. Let’s see who is left when the Jets are on the clock.
A narrative you hear a lot now is Mike Maccagnan likes tall, big-armed quarterbacks. Not sure where that came from, but to think in a box like that is ridiculous.
Drew Brees and Russell Wilson function fine in the NFL as quarterbacks around 6-0. Case Keenum, who just got big money, from Denver is 6-1.
Mayfield is 6-0 5/8th.
Mayfield is amazingly accurate – completing 70 percent of his passes as a junior and senior.
I would have no problem with the Jets going with Mayfield.
March 19, 2018
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