Did The NY Jets TRADE Sauce Gardner & Quinnen Williams To Acquire Picks To Trade Up In The Draft?

Did The NY Jets TRADE Sauce Gardner & Quinnen Williams To Acquire Picks To Trade Up In The Draft?

All right, guys. What’s going on? Welcome in. So, Connor Hughes of SNY was sharing his thoughts on what he thinks the New York Jets are going to be doing at the quarterback position in 2026, right? It was a discussion over on, I believe, the SNY YouTube channel. Of course, I’ll leave the link down below in the description box. But Hughes was basically saying that he thinks the Jets traded Sauce Garner and Quinnon Williams acquired these extra draft picks to not round out the roster, but to acquire extra ammunition to shoot up to the top of the draft to select the quarterback that they want. Now, for me personally, I think I disagree with it, right? I think I disagree with that way of thinking here because, you know, it’s not like the Jets just traded some, you know, random players off the roster just trying to accumulate picks. No, these are two cornerstones, two young players who are in the prime of their career who are locked up under big deals and they’ve been productive players, right, for this Jets team throughout the years in Quinnon and Sauce. From my perspective, it really seemed like the Jets, and I think they actually uh talked about Darren Muji actually talked about this in the press conference. When it came to the Colts, they were very aggressive in their pursuit of Gardner. It was more so the Colts pushing to make that happen as opposed to the Jets shopping him to acquire picks. In other words, I think that the Jets traded Gardner probably because the offer was too good to pass up. In regards to Quinn, in his words, he said that he was just kind of frustrated with all the losing and and everything. And really the bottom line is since the Jets drafted Quinn, the only thing that he’s done is produce and lose. You know, he was drafted in 2019. He’s been a really good player for a long time and the team has not even been 500 his entire career. So, I understand the frustration there. And so, that’s number one, right? I don’t think the Jets hit the trade deadline with the thought process of hey, you know, we we need to move our valuable pieces here to stockpile ammunition to shoot up in this year’s class to the number one overall pick. Uh here’s another question that I would have in the event that that’s the case. Why wasn’t Bree Hall traded? Why wasn’t Quincy Williams traded? Why wasn’t Alan Lazard traded? Now, Lazard arguably who would give up anything of value, but you know, again, if Darren Muji is willing to move off of Sauce Gardner and Quinn Williams and the purpose is to not round out the roster with these picks, but it’s in fact to trade up, right? You’re getting you’re stockpiling picks to put out the best offer to make sure you can shoot up to one. Not only would trading Breeze, trading Quincy give you more picks to go out and do that, but it also makes your team worse. In other words, the chances of winning decrease on Sundays. And again, if this is the plan for Darren Muji, I need to land the top quarterback in this class. I want to trade to one. Wouldn’t it make more sense to again add more draft picks to sweeten the offer and to lessen the blow to your franchise in the event of a tradeup and simultaneously weakening lessening your chance to win on Sunday? So maybe instead of finishing with the ninth pick, they’re finishing with the fifth pick or the fourth pick or the third pick. So you’re getting closer and closer and closer to the top with each loss. You know, doesn’t that make more sense? Especially considering that Quincy and Bree are on expiring deals and there’s no guarantee that either of them would be back. And so for me, that would be my main push back on that way of thinking. The third point on kind of why I question that is we’ve all seen how the Jets have played this season. They have a ton of roster holes, a lot of vacancies. We have a talent deficiency. We have a depth deficiency. What’s the quickest way, most efficient way to add consistent talent and depth? Draft picks. And the Jets have extra. So, is it really And by the way, I’m not saying, you know, trading up in the draft is a bad idea. But what I am saying is if you are mortgaging, you know, if you are putting together a package where you’re not going to be outbid by anybody and you’re willing to throw in first round pick after first round pick after first round pick to go up and land a quarterback, like you have got to make sure that not only is that quarterback legit, not only is that guy going to be the franchise guy, but you also have a plan and you have another plan to surround him with talent, not just with pass catchers, but with an offensive line, with the defense, with a coaching staff and an offensive system. And probably arguably most importantly here, a realistic, functional timeline on when to see him. Not this whole Joe Douglas, let’s just draft Zack Wilson, throw him into the starting lineup. Yeah, he’s the starter. Does he have to earn it? Nope. Does he have a veteran quarterback to learn off of? Nope. Does he have a lot of weapons at his disposal? Nope. Does he have a great offensive line? Nope. first year head coach in Robert Salah first year offensive coordinator Mike Laflur Zack do everything please save the franchise Sam Darnold did he have a great offensive line did he have tons of weapons to throw to no it kind of felt like can you save Todd BS’s job that’s what it really felt like there cannot go down that path again cannot do it and we will have answers right by April we will know how many holes are filled we will know how many free agents are brought him and so we’ll see how it plays out. But again, the Jets have a lot of needs. Let’s just list them. Let’s just go down the list right now. It’s mid to late November. Let’s list off all the in totality the needs for the New York Jets. Not really going in like order of importance here because that’s obviously debatable, but let’s just go through the list. So, the Jets need 1,000% another edge rusher. I don’t care if you want to swing for the fences, you want to take one up at the top of the draft and go get like your version of like an Aiden Hutchinson, Joey Bosa, Nick Bosa type of player, not saying that there’s an edge rusher in this class that is like that, but that’s the way of thinking, right? If you select a edge rusher in the top 10, he’s probably going to be your number one option. And you’re now rotating Will McDonald and Germaine Johnson in and out, in and out along with this this uh top 10 rookie. But he would be the primary go-to option. uh they could go with that mid-tier route, right? Maybe attack Edge in the second round or with that second first rounder or maybe they want to add someone like Quiddyp Pay who I’ve been pretty high on. Uh and I do feel like from a systematic standpoint, he would make sense for what this Wils Glenn defense wants to do, especially as that rotating edge three, the guy that can come in and come out, come in, come out. you’re essentially downgrading Michael Clemens and you’re upgrading with Quiddyp Pay, so he becomes your rotational third edge. Um, and if you look at how Wilks and Glenn like to rotate edge, you know, guys in and out of the lineup, you know, think about just how many times you’ve seen Braden McGregor, Michael Clemens, Tyler Baron this season with a healthy Germaine, with a healthy McDonald. You’re seeing these guys quite a lot, you know, and same could be said with defensive tackle. That is another major need for this team. I think we just need one more piece there. Yeah, I’m excited about Mazy Smith’s future. Harrison Phillips is a proven, you know, NFL player at this point. Jawan Briggs, he’s young, but he’s flashed. I like his overall potential, but I still feel like we need one more. Could someone like Peter Woods be, you know, a potential option there? I think right now he would come in and be a humongous day one upgrade over what we currently have. And again, it just helps the rotation, it helps the talent, and it helps the depth. So, edge and dtackle, two massive needs. Stinking on defense, we desperately need a free safety. Andre Cisco is not only just hurt for the remainder of the season, but he has been disappointing when he’s been out there, and he’s only he’s only on a one-year deal. So, I think free safety is a humongous need for this Jet squad, and it cannot continue to be overlooked. You know, ideally, Cisco would have worked out, but we have to call it like it is not really working out. And I I I prefer Malachi more in the strong safety type of role. But if you want to add a third safety to the mix as like a uh you know that that you know versatile backup guy, you know, you can. I’m not going to push back on it, but I really feel like just adding that starting free safety is going to be a big priority for this Jet team via free agency or the draft. So those are the three big positions of need on defense. And it’s funny because like you listen to like the draft in insiders and whatnot. They always say well they treated S Gardner so corner is like the biggest need on this team outside of QB. I I I kind of disagree with that. You know I think Aari Thomas was drafted in the third round and that was looked at as okay you’re going best player available someone who fits the Glenn system. Uh he’s being handpicked by Aaron Glenn here. Yeah, he might not have to play right now, but in time he will have to play and we’re approaching next season and it’s looking like he’s going to have to play. I don’t know if the Jets are willing to move off of Aari Thomas in one season or really one half year o of tape. Of course, you have Brown Lee. I expect him to be in the fold moving forward. And then Brandon Stevens is continuing to play some really, really impressive football as of late. uh started off pretty rocky those first three games, but since then has been pretty rock solid in my opinion. So, I think if we do add a corner, it would maybe be a depth guy or maybe you’re drafting someone on day three. I also feel like we lack a good coverage linebacker, uh Jamon Sherwood, I as much as he’s impressive at run defense, just him in coverage, him with his back to the quarterback, it’s just a liability. He’s one of the not so great coverage linebackers in the, you know, in the NFL when you’re looking at the starters. It’s concerning. It’s concerning that cannot continue. I mean, Josh McDaniels was, I mean, he was torching the middle of the field. he was putting he was exposing Sherwood in coverage, you know. So, that is an area that the Jets have got to be better in, whether it’s signing someone or drafting someone, but adding a athletic, quicker linebacker who can cover guys, whether it’s a bigger player like a tight end or running back out in the flat or, you know, someone who can drop back quickly into coverage and be able to neutralize slot wide receivers on like little curl routes, hook routes over the middle of the field. And so, that’s just on defense, right? We haven’t even gotten to offense. So, quarterback obviously is the biggest need for this team, but we also have to take a look at wide receiver. Garrett Wilson’s a for sure a thing, but I just would feel more comfortable if we had at least one more player there, one more proven guy, whether that’s a Joan Jennings. I see Alec Pierce’s name get brought up a lot. I don’t think he’s I I think 100% he’s going to be resigning with the Colts, especially like I I felt like he was going to be back with the Colts anyway. Then they trade Adani Mitchell who wasn’t getting in the game because of Alec Pierce being there. I I I for sure see him going back to you know uh back to Indianapolis. But you know Jawan Jennings, Jacobe Meyers potentially like there’s going to be some wide receiver options for uh you know this Jet squad. Maybe a Malachi Lemon with that second first round pick. Wide receivers is a massive need along with quarterback. We also have to take a look at interior offensive line. Simpson free agent. Josh Meyers free agent. Uh AVT free agent. So if you want to go with, you know, a guard and a center Tyler Linderbomb and you keep Titman at guard, okay, I’m cool with that. Or if you want to take Titman and you move him back to center and you maybe resign Simpson and you draft another guard or whatever, however the Jets want to do it, I’m cool with. But you like Mushi better be prepared. Glenn better be prepared to add multiple interior offensive linemen who can play today that don’t you know drafting a guard in round six does not equate to okay you solved one of the guard positions no you need for sure things so big picture macro perspective this Jets team is far from complete far from perfect far from being a 14- win squad 13- win squad again needing help all across the defensive line at edge and dtackle maybe a depth corner a starting free safety, maybe a depth linebacker, right? A wide receiver, wide receiver or two, depending on how Mitch uh Mitch Mitchell and Mechie work out this season. Obviously, quarterback, multiple interior offensive linemen. That’s a lot of needs. That That is a lot of needs. And keep in mind, Muji figured out tight end with Mason Taylor. He figured out right tackle with Armanu. Malachi Moore looks like a solid option at strong safety. Thankfully, we have Aari Thomas, so we we don’t have to pivot one of these draft picks to going corner up at the top of the draft. You know, there there’s not a pressure like, okay, we have to spend this top 10 pick or this first round pick on a corner. We have at least a playable option who can grow and get better. So, this roster, this roster was in rough shape when JD got fired. Rough shape. Depth and needs all over the place. So, to bring it back to the start, I just can’t see Darren Muji, who I’m going to assume signed a five to a six-year deal, is not trading away core homegrown players in Quinnon Williams and Sauce Gardner to acquire all these draft picks to then trade these draft picks to outbid anybody to go out and land a quarterback to then drop into this roster and say, “Yeah, we need some help on on the offensive line. Oh, we need some help on defense. Oh, we need some more pass rushers. We need some more pass catchers. And again, I’m not saying trading up is a bad idea, but when it starts to look like you’re going to be dealing multiple ones, you know, let’s just say the Jets finish at six and it’s going to cost the sixth pick and two firsts and a I mean, the Bears traded what? two first round picks, two second round picks, and DJ Moore to go from like nine to one. And that was to draft Bryce Young with CJ Strad at two. I mean, we talked about what Jacksonville had to give up uh in last year’s draft, right? They they had to give up five. They had to give up their second round pick. They had to give up a fourth round pick and a future one to go from five to two. They didn’t even come up for a quarterback. They came up for a wide receiver corner hybrid in Travis Hunter. it like this idea that the Jets are only going to have to give up one first round pick or a first and a second to go to one, you know, potentially 6 to one, 7 to one, 8 to one for the, you know, right now it’s it’s looking like Mendoza is leading the pack to go out and land, you know, to to be QB1 in the event that Cleveland doesn’t get it or New Orleans doesn’t get it or the Raiders don’t get it. The Raiders have a lot of problems, offensive line issues, right? But still, if the Raiders I think the Raiders are going to have a top five pick, you know, so if the Browns get that first overall pick, what what’s your plan then, you know, to continue just to stack more first into the trade offer? So, because we’re that sold, I’m not too sure if that’s the best plan of attack. I love Mendoza. I love his fit with the Jets. I think him and Inkstrom would work pretty well together, right? I think Mendoza would also embrace the challenge of coming to New York and, you know, stepping into an environment that uh, you know, quite frankly, like we haven’t had a franchise quarterback in a long, long time. I think Mendoza would be up to the challenge for that. Just, you know, from a mental standpoint, from a leadership standpoint, he checks a lot of boxes. I like Mendoza a lot. But again, when you’re when you’re starting to talk about, okay, we’re going to start packaging two to three first round picks plus more, and granted the Jets have excess of, you know, extra draft picks here. They’re in this surplus of of picks, it won’t hit the franchise as hard, but we’ve talked about it, right? What is the quickest way out of the rebuild? Think of the Detroit Lions, right? longtime losing purgatory. Does they actually had a franchise quarterback in Stafford? They had literally a legendary wide receiver in Calvin Johnson and they were still losing every single season outside of just a couple. You know, that was a team that really hit the draft hard. They acquired extra draft picks and they hit on their draft picks, right? Think about all the newcomers. Hutchinson, Paneet Su, Jir Gibbs, Jameson Williams, right? Those are just first rounders. Jack Campbell, right? Kirby Joseph in the mid rounds. Amid Ross St. Brown in round four. You know, these guys are coming into the fold and they’re being developed there. Levi owns Enrique. I I know he hasn’t really lived up to the draft potential, but um and he’s dealt with injuries, but he’s still a rotational piece. Alen McNeel who just signed a massive a massive deal, you know. So, I think we should, if anything, we should look at how the Detroit Lions have operated, how the Denver Broncos have operated. It’s always been draft develop. It’s not been this aggressive push, especially if we have, you know, freaking six, seven team needs because again, yes, you can do that. Yes, you can go land your franchise quarterback, but then of course you have this counter argument. Well, are you really giving that quarterback the best chance to succeed? By the way, I’m not saying, oh, you have to be A+es at every position to draft a quarterback. No, obviously not. Look at, you know, uh, Jacksonville with Trevor Lawrence. They took him at one. There’s been some losing there, but it looks like Jacksonville with Liam Cohen, they’re winning a bunch of games, right? CJ Strad, same thing. Uh Bryce Young is starting to starting to turn the corner. You could talk about Matt Ryan back with the Atlanta Falcons, third overall. Um Drake May with the Patriots, Jaden Daniels at two, Caleb Williams at one. You know, these teams aren’t perfect ideal situations in every single case. And I’m not saying that for the Jets. But what I am saying, the point that I am trying to make is that I just don’t feel like Darren Muji is is, you know, he traded two big household names to get extra draft picks to trade up in this upcoming draft in the middle of the season. So, we don’t even know the draft order yet. But simultaneously, we’re keeping Quincy who’s helping us win games. He’s help he’s keeping Bree Hall who both players might be off the team. We could get more picks and lessen the chance to win. And again, if that’s Muji’s thought process, we need to trade up. It just doesn’t really make much sense to me in my opinion. If I’m the Jets, the way I’m looking at this draft, and again, we will have so much more of a clearer picture on where the final draft position is in the first round, right? When we have that answer, you know, if the season ends and we’re at two, okay, the conversation changes massively compared to if we’re at nine, if we’re at seven or if we’re at six. It’s a completely different situation. Al franchise altering changes. And it I know it sounds crazy because it’s just a couple of draft picks, but that’s the type of impact here we’re we’re talking about with the with this, you know, trading up for the draft, landing a quarterback, not having a quarterback. What do we do? What do we do? Not to mention all the rumors about the Jets packaging these or packaging maybe some of these draft picks to go to go out and land a proven veteran. That is a whole another story. I think there are some maybe uh some options out there that are going to be uh more realistic and cheaper. You know, if you are a fan of M. Jones or a fan of Kurt Cousins or a fan of Kyler Murray, one name I’m just kind of monitoring from afar is Jaylen Herz because you you’re kind of thinking with all of the, you know, there’s so much chatter, there’s so much noise, there’s so much negative feedback surrounding Jaylen Herz and that Eagles offense. Do the Eagles decide to shake it up? you know, just throwing that out there. I’m not sure. Uh Tyson from Let’s Talk Jets Radio has talked about Jaylen Herz, you know, his leadership style, just his kind of hard-nosed bluecollar approach. Work hard, work hard, work hard. He thinks that that that I uh that mentality, that mindset would actually fit really, really well with the Jets locker room and kind of what Aaron Glenn has preached so far. But again, whole another conversation. when we get that draft positioning, we’ll have a better understanding of the path that makes the most sense for this Jet squad. But I think if we just want to simplify it right now, and again, we’re talking November here, I think the way I’m approaching it, if a quarterback is on the board that I absolutely love, I not only think he fits the system and fits the team right now, but I can truly see him playing for this team for the next 10 to 15 years and he wants to come to the Jets and he’s ready for that challenge, then you take him. Who am I to to push back on a j, you know, a general manager and a whole front office and a whole coaching staff pushing for one player at the quarterback position when you don’t have a long-term option at that position. Right? If a quarterback is there, I have no problem at all taking your guy. If you love him, if you like him, don’t take him. If the quarterback is projected not to be there, again, the Jets finish at four or six or seven or whatever, you can monitor what the teams in front of you are willing to move back for. I think there’s another team that could be actually pretty aggressive when it comes to moving up to one for a quarterback and I think it’s going to be the Cleveland Browns because this is another team that has extra draft capital. They have ammo and you just feel like I mean it’s either Stfans is going to be there and he’s going to be on his last last chance and you just kind of feel like hey we moved back last season for a reason Dylan Gabriel Shidor Sanders Deshun Watson Kenny Picket Joe Flaco all these guys that they’re rolling through Jameus Winston a couple years ago it’s just letting Baker Mayfield go like the So I could very well see Barry and Sansky just saying, “Screw it. We we have to do this. We have to go out and land QB1 in the draft. We need to trade up in the event that they don’t get the first overall pick uh in the first place. I mean, that defense is built to win right now. Right now. And I do think Cleveland has some offensive problems at wide receiver and offensive line and whatnot. I think running back-wise, they’re pretty damn solid. Tight end wise, they’re pretty solid with Fannon and uh and Jooku. Um, but I think if you’re Muji, you make some calls, you see what the price tag is, if it’s realistic, if it’s fair. Okay, that’s a different conversation than just coming to the table saying, “We’re going to outbid everybody. We traded off, you know, traded Quinnon, traded sauce to get all these picks, to beat any offer out there to go up in Lambdoza, but now we have to fill the rest of the team out.” And yeah, you can sign free agents, but that, you know, in my opinion, you can’t really build an entire roster. You can’t fill seven needs through free agent signings. At some point, the cap space is going to be, you know, at at its limit. You don’t want to be in a situation like Atlanta where they have some positions that they got to figure out. They have a culture question as well, but as far as the 2026 off season’s concerned, they don’t have a first round pick. And I think they’re projected to only have like $5 million in cap space. Like if you’re a Falcon fan, you’re like, “No first round pick and five mil in space.” And of course, this is before cuts here, before potential Kurt Cousins trade, so that number could go up. But still, it’s a lot different compared to the Jets right now where you’re looking at it and you’re like, 116 mil, pretty good spot. Oh, two first round picks, awesome. Two, oh, two second round picks, even better. Doesn’t end there. 2027 three first rounders. Let’s freaking go. That is like that can really jumpst start the rebuild. So for me, I could understand a minimal trade package, you know, going to whoever lands the first overall pick, right? If you’re trying to shoot from three to one or two to one, it’s not really that catastrophic that, you know, big of a deal. But if you start talking to okay you got to go from eight to one seven to one six to one two fir three first and you it it becomes this you know this this ever growing package that you know you’re you’re really cutting into your biggest asset right now. I mean ask any team out there or any fan of a team that’s bad. What if I could give you anything? If I could give you, you know, the top free agent on the market, if I could give you $100 million in cap space, if I could give you anything, what would it be? They would probably say, realistically speaking, I’m not saying like take Pat, you know, take Patrick Mahomes, any of the realistic options, free cap space, the top three players in free agency in a given class, they would probably respond, can I have multiple first round picks? And over the next two seasons, the Jets have five. Not two, not three, five. I mean, if you just want to look at this class alone, I am totally fine. Totally totally fine. Sticking it, let’s just call it five, right? If I don’t know, an edge rusher is there that you love, just take the edge rusher. You can go out and snag a a wide receiver with that other first round pick or something like that. And then you have the two seconds. I mean, that could be four starters. Four starters in rounds one and two. That’s assuming like we’re not talking about what’s happening on day three. We’re not talking about any free agent signings. Think about right now the impact that Meu has had, that Mason Taylor has had on this Jets team. Throw on top of it four more players. Again, how much better would the Jets be with just the two ones and two twos this year? I’m going to say that is a big improvement without any free agents, without a fourth round pick, fifth round pick, sixth, seventh, four players right there. Two first, two seconds on cheap deals. The Jets got a lot better there. Then you start looking at 2027. Yeah, that gets you fired up as a Fed. So, that’s just my two cents on it. Uh, I would love to hear your thoughts down below in the comments section. right now. Of course, you got to be in the quarterback market. Um, you got to be looking at guys up at the top of the draft, but if he’s not there, don’t force it. Or if you don’t love him, don’t force it. There’s no need to force it. I understand we all are are searching and we’re desperately, you know, we’re starving for a franchise quarterback, but that only makes you more, you know, more more willing to be aggressive in certain situations. And that might not be the best call for this Jets team. Again, just my opinion, not saying I’m right. That’s just my preferred route. Let me know your thoughts down below in the comments section. Thank you guys so much for watching. I appreciate it. And as always, go Jets. [Music]

Tyrod Taylor is now Jets QB1, who is QB future, and can the Jets just throw it to Mason Taylor? – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrwBwem12Ho&t=932s

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Did The NY Jets TRADE Sauce Gardner & Quinnen Williams To Acquire Picks To Trade Up In The Draft?

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