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This might be a major clue about what the Jets are going to do in the first round.
Brian Baldinger knows Jets GM Joe Douglas well.
Baldinger, a former NFL offensive lineman turned broadcaster, is an integral part of the Philadelphia sports scene. Aside from his work on the NFL Network, he’s the TV color analyst on the Eagles’ preseason games, and also does a lot of work on sports talk radio in the City of Brotherly Love.
“Baldy” is a fixture at Eagles practice. He’s around that team a lot.
Douglas spent 2016-19 running the Eagles draft with GM Howie Roseman.
Baldinger and Douglas are birds of a feather, two burly former offensive linemen, who both have forgotten more about offensive line play than most people have know.
These guys talk.
So something Baldinger said in an interview with Olivia Landes of newyorkjets.com really caught my attention, and perhaps sheds some light on what Douglas is thinking entering this draft.
“I think when Joe looks at an offensive line, he’s looking to anchor it with a near or Hall-of-Fame-type player,” Baldinger said. “There might be those level of players in this draft, and if Joe has a chance at getting one, he’s not going to turn that down.”
This a real enlightening quote.
Over the years, every once in a while, if you pay real close attention, during a long interview, there is a money quote mixed in, that makes you say, “That’s the ticket.”
People are wondering if Douglas will pick an offensive lineman or wide receiver with the 11th pick of the first round. People are wondering if they might trade back, get extra picks, and maybe pick an edge-rusher or #1 cornerback.
But after what “Baldy” said, you really have to think that if Douglas is in love with an offensive tackle like Alabama’s Jedrick Wills, Louisville’s Mekhi Becton or Georgia’s Andrew Thomas, and feels that player can “anchor [the Jets’ line] with a near or Hall-of-Fame-type player . . . he’s not going to turn that down.”
I’m not going to sit here and tell you that I know Douglas feels that way about one of those players. Don’t get caught up about reports that the Jets “talked to this guy, or that guy.” That doesn’t mean a damn thing. That is what you do before a draft, you talk to a lot of players. Some in the media will lead you to believe that teams are “showing a lot of interest in so-and-so” because of a meeting. Those reports are nonsense. “Meetings=interest” stories can be very misleading. Teams are just doing their due diligence.
But clearly based on what “Baldy” said, Douglas likes the linemen he signed, but wants to add an elite, game-changing linemen, perhaps like the right tackle in Philadelphia, Lane Johnson.
So if a guy like Wills is available when the Jets are up, and Douglas feels that he’s a player that can “anchor it with a near or Hall-of-Fame-type player,” you get the sense he will do it.
A guy like Wills could come in and be a 10-15 year dominating right tackle, which is just as important as left tackle these days, with all the elite pass rushers who now line up on that side.
April 16, 2020
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