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If the Jets stay put at 10, and don’t trade up or down, who might they pick?
A name you hear a lot is Georgia tight end Brock Bowers.
Picking a tight end that high isn’t for everyone, especially one who is 6-3, 245, not considering the best size for the position.
But he’s a heck of a player, so perhaps his size doesn’t matter much.
However, if they stay at 10, and don’t pick Bowers, they may pick an offensive tackle.
While they did sign left tackle Tyron Smith in free agency, and trade for right tackle Morgan Moses, both are 33 and are only signed for a year.
Both are also coming off seasons they had injuries.
So not only do they need to get an heir apparent for one or both, they need insurance in case something happens to one of them.
They do have second-year tackle Carter Warren, but not much more at the position, and it’s still kind of a gray area what they have in Warren, and he also had some injury issues last year.
When you talk about the tackles that could be available at 10 for the Jets, the name you hear attached to them the most is Oregon State’s Taliese Fuaga
“He’s a powerful man,” said NFL analyst Brian Baldinger on his podcast. “He’s got anvils for hands. He moves bodies. He’s technically very sound. He looks like a beast. I believe he can play right tackle, I believe he can play left tackle, I believe he can play guard.”
So not only is Fuaga a terrific prospect, he also has position flexibility.
However, Baldinder doesn’t have Fuaga as his second-rated offensive tackle (behind the consensus #1 OT – Notre Dame’s Joe Alt), but he has Penn State’s Olu Fashanu in the slot, and has connected him to the Jets.
“My second tackle is Olu Fashanu,” Baldinger said, a former NFL offensive lineman. “He’s 6-6, 312, good sized arms, ran good time. I thought he was as good as any offensive tackle in the tackle in the draft last (2023) and stayed in the school another year. My comp is Tyron Smith coming out of USC. Very similar physically.”
Baldy continued: “He’s got good power in the run game. He plays with a good pad level. He looks like an ideal left tackle. That is what he looks like to me. The Jets could easily say, ‘We’ve got Morgan Moses and Tyron Smith, both 33-years-old, let’s get the next tackle in line and start grooming him, and if one of those guys gets hurt, at least we have an elite guy to protect Aaron Rodgers.’ He could go that high (at 10).”
Baldinger has just one concern with Fashanu, and that’s his incredibly small hands (8 1/2’’) for a man his size. This could concern some teams. We don’t know Douglas’ take on this concern, but other than that, aside from needing to tweak some of his technique, he grades out well.
If the Jets go with a tackle, but not Fashanu at 10, Baldinger brings up another possibility, you don’t hear too much at 10, and that is Alabama’s J.C. Latham, who most projections have going later in the first round, but Baldy says, “Might be the best of all of them in time.”
Baldinger feels that Latham might not be ready to start immediately, but with some grooming, could have the biggest upside.
And Baldinger does talk to Joe Douglas, so has a good feel for the Jets GM’s thinking.
So if the Jets don’t go with Bowers at ten, don’t be surprised if it’s Fashanu, not Fuaga, with Latham getting some consideration.
April 22, 2024
Premium will return by 9:30 pm (or sooner) on Tuesday with a breakdown of the Zach Wilson trade to Denver.
