Some have been banging the drum that the Jets need to add a wide receiver high in the draft, or perhaps trade for Jacksonville Jaguars WR Brian Thomas.
At the NFL owners’ meeting, Jets head coach Aaron Glenn and General Manager Darren Mougey both shot down this manufactured narrative.
Both Mougey and Glenn said they “like where our receiver room is.”
The Jets have Garrett Wilson, one of the highest-paid receivers in the league, as their #1 receiver, and opposite him, Adonai Mitchell, a former Indianapolis Colts second-round pick acquired in the Sauce Gardner trade. Mitchell has a great size-speed ratio.
They also have underrated Isaiah Williams, a nifty slot receiver, and Arian Smith, who has world-class speed. It’s hard to know what they have in Smith since they hardly threw to him last year. Keep an eye on 6-4 Quentin Skinner, who spent most of last year on the practice squad.
And this takes us to why the narrative that the Jets lack enough receiving talent is bogus: They had QB issues last year.
The people who are quick to point out how poor the Jets receivers’ reception numbers were last year conveniently leave out these QB issues.
There is an old saying, “Stats are like hostages, you can make them say anything you want.”
The Jets started the season with Justin Fields as their QB, and he ended his tenure leading the team under center with a 2-7 record before getting benched.
Then Tyrod Taylor went 1-3, followed by Brady Cook, who went 0-4, and threw just two touchdowns to seven interceptions.
Of course, the Jets should add a receiver sometime after the first round, along with a couple of UDFAs, and perhaps add another veteran street free agent.
But stop with the nonsense about how this is a big need.
If you are going to criticize receivers for not putting up impressive numbers, and leave out who was throwing them the ball, you are either not a very good football analyst, or just leaving it out to push an agenda and get clicks.
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