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One predictable pick and one out of the blue.
Let’s start with the surprise move, the Jets trading up from 23 to 14, to pick USC guard Alijah Vera-Tucker.
But you know what, considering the player’s talent, and what they gave up, which wasn’t crazy, the move up for Vera-Tucker makes a lot of sense.
Giving up two third round picks, and getting a fourth-round pick back, wasn’t an insane haul to give up to move nine spots, to get a special offensive lineman.
And the way the draft works, with every team having a different value board/grading system, that fourth round pick they got from the Vikings, they will likely get a player they had a third round grade on. Team value boards are very different.
But if the Jets don’t get a cornerback at pick 34, they have a problem. They are too thin in that room. You can say that Robert Saleh can get corners later in the draft too fit in his particular system (like Pete Carroll does in Seattle), but his best cornerback last year was Jason Verrett, a former first-round pick, so you still need guys with special talent at that position.
But Vera-Tucker has Pro Bowl potential, and is a good fit for the Jets’ new offensive line scheme, a zone system. Remember, Joe Douglas was bringing in lineman his first two years for a different scheme under Adam Gase.
Vera-Tucker was rated in the top 10 on the Jets’ draft board, so Douglas felt the value was too good to pass up, so he made the trade.
Vera-Tucker was a left tackle last year at USC, but played left guard the season before, and that is his more natural position, because his arm length isn’t ideal for left tackle, but it’s just fine at left guard. And aside from being a really talented lineman, his character and intelligence are through the roof, so he will pick things up quickly.
And Douglas is considered an offensive line scouting guru in NFL circles. This isn’t to say he’s bad at scouting other positions, but when it comes to offensive linemen, a position he played at the University of Richmond, his scouting acumen is superb. He was the driving force behind the Baltimore Ravens picking guard Marshall Yanda in the 2007 third-round, who retired last year, and could be headed to Canton.
As for Zach Wilson, that pick was obviously a no-brainer.
Aside from his great game tape which the Jets loved, they were blown away with his football intelligence during their Zoom meetings with him.
“The mental horsepower, the recall, going through these plays, knowing the situation, the play call, the audibles, how the defense was going to react was just really impressive,” said Douglas.
The bottom line is the Jets need a QB who is good at reading defenses, going through his progressions, manipulating defensive backs with his eyes, and so forth, and this guy checks all the boxes.
August 29, 2021
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