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It’s beyond ridiculous to
give draft grades right after the draft finishes, so I’m not going to give a letter grade, but let’s just take a look at the Jets’ 2020 draft class, and how these guys might help the Jets moving forward.
The operative word is “might” because you really don’t know how most college prospects will do on the NFL level. Why? Simple. Because they never played on the NFL level before. Yes, it’s that simple.
You don’t know how they will do deal with the mental and physical rigors of NFL football. The mental side is a lot more difficult than most people realize. NFL playbooks are thick and involved and some guys just can’t hack it. People act like football players are a bunch of jacked-up Venice Beach knuckleheads. Not really. If you can’t process things mentally, you aren’t lasting long in the league.
And physically, stuff college players could get away with on the collegiate level, they can’t get away with in the NFL. Was watching some highlights of Jets third-round pick Jabari Zuniga. It was on a Jets social media platform. Not taking away anything from Zuniga, but on these plays which were sacks and tackles for losses, the offensive tackle he was facing looked really bad. I’m not picking on Zuniga, just saying it’s going to be much tougher sledding for him to beat NFL level offensive tackles. Let’s see if he can do it. He was certainly worth taking a flyer on in the third-round. Watching the highlights, he looked very light on his feet for a 264-pound athlete.
Denzel Mims was an excellent value late in the second round, but he has a tremendous amount of work to do on his release off the line and his route-tree. While obviously he will emerge as a starter eventually, it might not be in Week One.
Speaking of whether a highly-drafted rookie will start in Week One, what about Jets first-round pick Mekhi Becton? I know that might sound like sacrilage to some Jets fans, but it’s not. While Becton has the highest upside of any offensive tackle picked in this draft, he’s also a little raw, and it might be a little risky to start him in Week One protecting Sam Darnold’s blindside. Perhaps they can start him off at right tackle, or maybe you don’t start him in Week One. Once again, this looks like a good pick, who has unreal raw ability, but that doesn’t mean he’s instant coffee. In the past, former regimes would just thrust first-round picks into the starting lineup, whether they were ready or not, like with Darron Lee, who admitted after the season he didn’t know half the playbook. What’s the point of that?
If Becton doesn’t start Week One, some in the media will make a big deal about it. Jets need to ignore the white noise and do what they think is right.
Mims and Becton are two of the most physically-gifted players in the draft, and the Jets could have two Pro Bowlers in the future, but they both might need some time before they are ready to start. The coaches will know when they are ready. It could be Week One, Week Three, Week Six. We shall see.
But it’s not written in stone that high picks need to start in Week One.
April 28, 2020
Premium will return by 9:30 pm on Wednesday with Part Two of this series.