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I don’t get into a ton of Twitter debates, but this particular issue, I felt like diving in.
Several mock drafts, published by some of the top people who do that sort of thing, have the Jets picking a wide receiver at 16 in the first iteration. They usually do several leading up to the draft.
If it had been one mock draft, fine, but it was one after the other.
And while I realize that mock drafts don’t mean much in the grand scheme of things, but the perception that this would be a smart thing for them to do, surprises me.
Now, people will say you have to stick to the value board, and if a receiver is the top player on it, you need to pick that player.
That is the best approach. After all teams spend millions on scouting every year, paying scouts, and all their travel costs.
But considering how historically bad their defense was this past year, getting blown out in the last five games of the season, picking a receiver at 16 would be such a frivolous pick, that it wouldn’t make a ton of sense.
IMO, they need 6-7 new defensive starters. That is how bad things were on that side of the ball. Now you can obviously get a starter or two in free agency, but they need so many, most of these four premium picks in the first two rounds. If the draft grades are close, they need to err on the side of defense.
So if there is a defensive player on the board with a similar grade to a WR, they need to go defense.
The Jets have their #1 receiver, or at least they are paying him like that, in Garrett Wilson.
They acquired two former second-round picks in trades during the season, in Adonai Mitchell and John Metchie, who are more than capable of being their #2 and #3 receivers.
Ask all those fired Jets defensive assistants about how bad this team needs better players on defense, on all three levels.
Ask former defensive line coach Eric Washington, linebacker coach Aaron Curry, cornerback coach Dre Bly, and nickel back coach Alonso Escalante.
All these proud men lost their jobs, and if you think all these men deserved to be fired, you could are perhaps be being patently unfair.
They all were assistant coaches in myriad other places before arriving in Florham Park. So this wasn’t their first rodeo.
Some of them likely got fired because of bad personnel at their positions, and a defensive coordinator being hired who had been fired after one year on his previous two DC jobs. Good man, but best suited as a secondary coach, and there is nothing wrong with that.
So not having the requisite players and some scheme issues by their direct superior, led a bunch of people to lose their jobs.
Some of them probably rue the day they accepted those positions. It’s now a black mark on their resumes, being part of a historically bad defense.
The Jets are going to attempt to fix the scheme with Glenn going back to his scheme from Detroit with the assistance of new defensive coordinator Brian Duker.
And the other part of fixing the defense, the worst I’ve seen in all my years covering the Jets, is fixing the defensive roster/defensive depth chart.
So this draft should not include picking a receiver at 16.
The Patriots are in the Super Bowl in Mike Vrabel’s first year as head coach.
Who are their receivers? Where were they picked in the draft?
Stefon Diggs (fifth round pick of Minnesota), Pop Douglas (sixth round pick of New England), Kayshon Boutte (sixth round of New England, Mack Hollins (fourth round pick of Philadelphia), Efton Chism (undrafted), and Kyle Williams (third round pick of New England).
No first-round picks.
You can find receivers.
It’s harder to find dominating defensive players.
You could argue the Jets should pick four defensive players with four picks in the first two rounds, or three defensive players and a QB.
A WR is the last thing they need, and picking receivers in the first round is not how you rebuild a team.
February 5, 2026
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