Not entirely accurate

I really don’t care about mock drafts, so that isn’t the point of this post.

To me, it’s foolish to write stories on other people’s mock drafts.

Why would you write a store about somebody else guessing at who the team you cover might pick?

It makes no sense to me.

I can guess just as well as they can.

But I want to react to something somebody said about Aaron Rodgers and a certain position some people have speculated they might target at 10.

Mel Kiper has the Jets picking Georgia tight end Brock Bowers at 10.

As ESPN likes to do, they like their draft analysts to debate picks on the air.

We used to see that a lot with Todd McShay and Mel Kiper, and we now see it with Kiper and Matt Miller, who replaced McShay.

So Miller disagreed with the opinion that the Jets should pick Bower at 10.

“I love Brock Bowers, so I hate that I have to do this, but I don’t like this pick,” Miller said. “I just feel like it’s a little bit of a reach for the tight end. Also Aaron Rodgers historically has not thrown to his tight ends. I mean you have to go back to Richard Rodgers, one of the few tight ends who had double-digit touchdown catches for Aaron Rodgers, so it’s a little bit of a reach to me on the fit.”

I’m not looking to pick on Miller, who I think does a solid job, but we can’t forget that Rodgers threw 11 touchdown passes to tight end Robert Tonyan in 2020.

So Rodgers does like to throw to tight ends.

Actually, the best way to put it is Rodgers likes to throw to who’s open. He’s not a one-read passer, something we have seen a lot of with the Jets in recent years with some of the young guys they have started.

Rodgers is excellent at going through his progressions, being a full-field reader, and finding the open guys.

So whether that is a wide receiver, running back, fullback or tight end, he’s going to try and throw to the open guy.

Whether the Jets pick Bowers at 10 should be related to where he is on their value board in the war room, not the narrative that Rodgers doesn’t throw to tight ends that much, which can be debated.

From 2018-2021, wide receiver DeVante Adams averaged 108 receptions working with Rodgers, so perhaps some other player’s numbers weren’t prolific because of the great chemistry those two had together.

But that doesn’t mean Rodgers plays favorites. He was just going to a guy who consistently got open, and is one of the best in the business.

However, in his first training camp with the Jets, he threw a lot to the tight ends. You got the sense that Tyler Conklin would have had a monster year if Rodgers didn’t get hurt in the opener. He seemed to like throwing to the former Central Michigan tight end.

So the bottom line is Joe Douglas is big on sticking to the value board. He learned that from the “Wizard of Oz” in Baltimore – long-time Ravens GM Ozzie Newsome.

So if Bowers is the top-rated player on their board, they will pick him.

If he isn’t, they won’t reach for him.

March 21, 2024

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