Tradedowns, Anyone?
It seems unlikely that the Jets would trade down from either of their two first-round perches, but just for the sake of argument, let’s say Mougey and his personnel people want to get into Round 3 to recoup that pick that the previous regime sent to the Eagles in March 2024 to acquire LB Haason Reddick? There are some efficient ways to do that.
Trade 16 — This slot is worth 1,000 points on our trusty table. We’re not saying any of these teams have “picked up the phone” but Arizona holds the second pick in Round 2, the first choice of Round 3 and the fourth selection in Round 4 (911 combined points).. Chicago has the 25th overall pick (720 points) and a second-rounder in a trade from Buffalo, 60th overall (300).
And might Houston, which rose to playoff status and thus fell to the draft’s 28th pick, want to swap that first-rounder (660) and the third-rounder they acquired from the Giants (69th overall, fifth in Round 3, 245 points) to move up into the mid-first round?
Trade 33 or 44 — With those two second-rounders, the Jets could trade one to move back into Round 3 and acquire more draft capital. The 33rd pick could command two high third-round picks, the 44 could get high and low picks in Round 3 or some other equivalent.
One Final Green & White Reminder
Don’t rule out the Jets trading down to acquire one third-round pick and one more veteran player. The team’s pro personnel department has been in overdrive under Mougey. Over the previous 10 years, at this time on the calendar, the most traded players on the Jets’ roster in any one year was five. Currently the Jets have nine players acquired by trade, with eight of them arriving since last August.
Of those eight, seven remain, with only WR John Metchie departing as a UFA after less than one season in green and white. And six of those seven— QB Geno Smith and S Minkah Fitzpatrick this year and WR Adonai Mitchell, D-linemen Harrison Phillips and Jowon Briggs and CB Jarvis Brownlee Jr. during last season— are either starters, frontline situational players or rotational mainstays.
Once more we’ll say that none of these scenarios is a hint of what Mougey and the Jets will do in the days leading up to and including the April 23-25 draft being held this year in Pittsburgh. But as the GM said at the owners’ meeting: “We’re always going to have conversations. We’ll see.”