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The Jets handled the first and second rounds with aplomb.
The Ozzie Newsome theory was at work here – picking week-in and week-out contributors, not inconsistent guys with potential.
“I go back to Ozzie Newsome,” former Baltimore scout Daniel Jeremiah said a few years ago, referring to long-time Ravens GM. “Give me the guy who has been the same guy from the beginning of the season to the end of the season. Maybe I’m sacrificing what a guy could be, but I don’t want to hope and wish with my first two picks. You have to nail it.”
And with first round picks, edge-rusher David Bailey, tight end Kenyon Sadiq, wide receiver Omar Cooper and cornerback D’Angelo Ponds, they got players who fit the Newsome philsophy.
I’m not saying that they are saying they specifically referenced Newsome in their war room, or used him as their North Star. Darren Mougey is not a Newsome disciple. I’m just saying their actions reminded me of Newsome’s world view about the first two rounds.
“My first two picks in the draft, I don’t want misses,” NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah said a few years ago about the first two rounds. “We want to romanticize about getting guys in the fifth and sixth rounds, but the league is really a first and second round league. The league is really comprised of a bunch of first and second-round picks and some others. If a guy comes in as a seventh-round pick, there is a lot of luck in that.”
Look, we have no idea if the Jets’ first four picks of the 2026 draft will work out, but you certainly help your chances of that working by picking production over potential in the first two rounds, and that is what the Jets did.
So now let’s turn to the “romanticizing” part of the draft – day three, and look at what the Jets did on Sunday in rounds 4-7.
The selection of massive defensive tackle Darrell Jackson in the fourth round shows the Jets continued laser focus on plugging up the middle of their run defense. Jackson is 6’5 1/2, 315 lbs with 34 3/4 inch arms and 11 inch hands. Those are massive dimensions across the board. He joins a defensive line room that already added two massive off-season additions – DTs David Onyemata and T’Vondre Sweat – to help fix a leaky run defense up the middle that wasn’t just a problem last year, but the year before.
Jackson went in the fourth round because he was inconsistent during a college career that included stops at Maryland, Miami, and Florida State.
Maybe Jets defensive line coach Karl Dunbar can harness Jackson’s raw skills and turn him into a contributor for the Jets, but it’s going to be a huge task. So often, an issue with defensive linemen this tall is that they play too upright, with a pad level that is too high, which makes them easy to block.
The Jets also picked Clemson QB Cade Klubnik in the fourth round, who looks like he has the potential to be a good backup on the NFL level, and there is nothing wrong with that. You can make a good living doing that. Ask new Jets offensive coordinator Frank Reich.
Continuing their day-three theme of adding linemen who block out the sun, the Jets pick Miami guard Anez Cooper in the sixth round, who has similar dimensions to Jackson – 6’5 7/8″, with 34-inch arms and 10-inch hands.
He’s a large safety at 6-3, 206, who could perhaps the Jets with their tight end coverage which was a problem last year.
But on none of these days, three players should be assured a roster spot and/or role. Last season, some day-three selections played, who perhaps shouldn’t have played, because they weren’t ready, and this did not help the Jets’ cause. There should be no anointing oil this year with the day three selections.
April 27, 2026
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