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With the third of their fourth-round picks, the Jets selected Charlotte guard Cameron Clark . . .
Was this a good pick? We will likely know in a couple of years.
You should not grade drafts right after the happen, since the players have yet to played one down in the NFL.
Clark is a little bit of a project, so this perfect is a perfect example of why you can analyze these picks right after they happened.
First off, he’s coming from the lowest level of Division I football. Charlotte is in Conference USA. They compete against programs like Old Dominion, UTSA (University of Texas – San Antonio), Western Kentucky and North Texas. So it’s a bigger step up to the NFL from that level, then a Power-Five conference, like the SEC. Most of the guys Clark was blocking in Conference USA were two-star recruits, not four and five-star recruits like you would see in Power Five Conferences.
To his credit, Clark played fairly well against Power Five Clemson, on September 21, 2019. The Tigers beat the 49ers 52-10. But on most Saturdays, he was facing guys who likely won’t be playing on Sundays.
That isn’t his fault, but it does factor in to his maturation process.
Also, he’s likely moving from college offensive tackle to NFL guard, so that is another reason why we won’t know if this is a good pick for a while.
Picking Clark in the fourth round could create a quandary for Joe Douglas.
All GM’s will tell you that they will “keep the best 53 players.” Well actually, it’s now the best 55 players, because in the new CBA, they added two more roster spots.
Well, in the case of Clark, we could see Douglas put to the test as far as draft pick politics. The Jets have a lot of interior line reserve candidates on their roster, a ton of them, like Jon Harrison, Ben Braden, Brian Winters (though he could win a starting job), Jimmy Murray, Leo Koloamatangi and Brad Lundblade. You could make the argument they are all more advanced as interior linemen than Clark, especially since his transition is just starting now from tackle to guard. I’m not as cool as other writers, so I will bring up the Branden’s and Koloamantangi’s of the world. They won’t.
But perhaps, if Clark struggles this summer, and might not be ready for the roster, it might still be too risky to put him on the practice squad. A lot of teams had mid-round draft grades on him, so he would be a candidate to be stolen if placed on the taxi squad.
But if Douglas truly believes in open competition, will he keep Clark over some of the aforementioned guys above, even if they outperform him?
It will be interesting to see how Douglas approaches keeping or cutting his own draft pick. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying Clark should be cut. None of us know that yet.
But some GM’s care about reporters criticism when they release a draft pick, bringing up draft records all the time, and this impacts their thinking.
Clark will be a litmus test for Douglas and competition.
Solid prospect, but might get beat out this summer in a fair competition, but does he get “favored-nation status,” since he was a Douglas draft pick?
May 1, 2020
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