With the sixth pick in the 2015 NFL Draft the New York Jets must make the right pick now more than previous drafts. With the Rex Ryan era over in Florham Park, it’s time for new head coach Todd Bowles and newly hired GM Mike Maccagnan to start out on the right foot. Despite all of the big off season decisions made, what the Jets choose to do with the sixth overall pick will be the biggest decision Maccagnan and Bowles have made in their careers; as both men are being thrown into a much improved AFC East where only the Patriots seem to have gotten worse this offseason.
With great power comes great responsibility and who the Jets select with a top 10 pick in this year’s draft is crucial if Bowles wants to have a successful first year. Bowles and Maccagnan have already won over Jet fans by bringing back Darrelle Revis and signing five time Pro Bowl wideout Brandon Marshall but the honeymoon phase is quickly coming to a close. With spring ball starting and the draft less than a month away, it’s crunch time for Bowles and Maccagnan.
Maccagnan thinks that the number six pick is a good spot to be in. In an interview with Jets senior reporter Eric Allen the new Gm said “Sitting at No. 6 is a very good spot to be in. It does allow us the potential to move up in the draft because we’re not very far from the first pick. We do think there will be good players available at 6.” Maccagnan also went on to say “… the other thing at six, you’re probably going to have somebody slide through to that pick where other teams may want to come up and potentially trade up for that pick.” It appears Maccagnan is not ruling anything out and it sounds like he doesn’t even know what direction the Jets are going to go in during the first round of the draft in Chicago.
No one expects the duo of Bowles and Maccagnan to be the next Belichick/Kraft dynasty overnight, but Jet fans will expect them to do the right thing with the sixth pick in 2015 after suffering through years of questionable and unpopular draft moves by former Jets GM John Idzik. With that being said, the Jets face one of the toughest draft decisions in the league. The Jets must choose between improving an already stellar defense, and aiding a perennially inefficient offense. It appears that the Jets are ready to move forward with Geno Smith as their starting quarterback and veteran journeyman Ryan Fitzpatrick as the backup, but they may have no choice.
With a lot of early speculation that the Jets were after a quarterback with the sixth pick, that option seems to be completely off the table. The top two quarterback prospects, Marcus Mariota and Jameis Winston may be off the board by the time the Jets are on the clock. Jameis Winston had a strong pro day at Florida State a little over a week ago and it looks as though he will stay in Florida to play for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who have the first overall pick in this year’s draft.
Marcus Mariota finished up his private workout with the Bucs early Tuesday afternoon, but it looks like he’ll be heading to Tennessee to play for the Titans. The Titans have the second overall pick in the NFL draft and have only just recently become a favorite in the Marcus Mariota sweepstakes. Titans’ head coach Ken Whisenhunt has become a huge fan of the former Duck and in an interview in late March he was quoted saying “If we pick him (Mariota) at No. 2, you definitely think he can be the day 1 starter.”
So for all of the Jet fans asking for Geno to be shown the door, you may be stuck with him for at least one more year. Geno Smith is entering the all-important third year of his quarterbacking career, which could either save or destroy Smith’s career. With the quarterback decision all but decided for the Jets, where else do they need help on offense?
On paper the Jets offensive starting lineup is as solid as there is around the NFL. With Marshall at WR1, Decker at WR2 and Kerley signed to a four year deal in the slot, it’s hard to justify the Jets going after high profile wideouts Kevin White or Amari Cooper in the first round. However, with Marshall recently turning 31 this year and Decker at 28 years old, it wouldn’t be a stretch for the Jets to draft a wide receiver like Cooper at the sixth spot and develop him for the future.
Staying on the offensive side of the ball, it could also make sense for the Jets to draft an offensive lineman with the sixth pick. The average age of the Jets starting offensive lineman in October was 28.6 making them the fourth oldest group in the league. Only the Jets and the Saints started three offensive lineman 30 years or older last season. University of Iowa offensive tackle Brandon Scherff has been regarded as the class of 2015’s best offensive lineman prospect and is a top 10 pick in several mock drafts across the league. With the Jets getting older in the trenches, drafting Schreff is something for Bowles and Maccagnan to consider come draft day.
The Jets are also secure at running back with Chris Ivory and a re-signed Bilal Powell, plus there’s no running back in the draft that deserves to crack the top ten. If Bowles wants a speed back, he can definitely find one in the later rounds as there is a lot of backfield potential in this year’s draft and he knows that saying “It’s a deep running back class this year… there are a lot of good runners coming out and there are a lot of three-down backs in the draft.”
With a lot of options to weigh I think the best direction for the Jets go is to draft either Clemson linebacker Vic Beasley or Nebraska linebacker Randy Gregory. Both players are outside linebackers with tremendous upside that can eventually replace the 34 year old Calvin Pace. With young talent in Sheldon Richardson and Mo Wilkerson on the D line, drafting one of those two speed linebackers helps secure the Jets pass rush for years to come. In the end Bowles is a defensive minded coach who is going to want more and more young talent to build around on defense. Though the offensive line is getting older, the importance lies on the defensive side of the football.
If history tells us anything about the NFL draft, it’s that fans are more forgiving with what their team does in the later rounds of the draft than what their team does with the first round pick. Jet fans want to win now and with all of the offseason moves, it appears the team wants the same. After crash landing last season, the Jets have nowhere to go but up this year. With a lot of turbulence coming in the AFC East this season, the Jets need to do the right thing with the sixth overall pick if they want to stay relevant in the NFL’s most improved division next season.
