Last week, we highlighted some of the New York Jets’ most appalling draft failures in recent memory and extracted lessons that can be applied in 2026.

Let’s examine the other side of the coin. What can the Jets learn from some of their most glorious draft moments?

In particular, we will be focusing on their post-first-round success stories. Could current general manager Darren Mougey follow similar blueprints to find value?

RB Bilal Powell (2011, R4)

When the Jets selected Louisville’s Bilal Powell in the fourth round of the 2011 draft, running back was not a position of need.

The Jets had just fielded the league’s fourth-best rushing attack in 2010 behind LaDainian Tomlinson and Shonn Greene. Not to mention, the Jets had already drafted a running back in each of the past two drafts: Greene in 2009 (third round) and Joe McKnight in 2010 (fourth round).

Nonetheless, the Jets decided to use the third pick of their 2011 draft class to take another bite at the running back apple. Their decision was ultimately proven correct. Powell went on to become one of the Jets’ most consistent players across a nine-year tenure in New York, racking up 5,275 yards and 20 touchdowns from scrimmage. He retired as a Jet, never playing for another organization.

If the Jets had passed on Powell to target a position of greater need in the present, they likely would have selected a worse player. According to Pro Football Reference, Powell accumulated 26 AV (approximate value) in his NFL career. That is better than each of the next 10 players who were drafted after him.

#126 (NYJ): Bilal Powell, RB (26 AV)

#127 (HOU): Roc Carmichael, DB (2 AV)

#128 (PIT): Cortez Allen, DB (10 AV)

#129 (DEN): Julius Thomas, TE (21 AV)

#130 (TEN): Jamie Harper, RB (1 AV)

#131 (GB): Davon House, DB (17 AV)

#132 (CAR): Kealoha Pilares, WR (1 AV)

#133 (BUF): Johnny White, RB (0 AV)

#134 (CIN): Robert Sands, DB (0 AV)

#135 (KC): Ricky Stanzi, QB (0 AV)

#136 (ARI): Anthony Sherman, FB (5 AV)

There are a couple of lessons to be learned here.

One, it often pays to select the best player available, even if his position is not desperately needed at the present moment.

Two, drafting running backs annually is a sound strategy. Running backs begin declining earlier in their careers than any other position. For that reason, it is always wise to add new pairs of fresh legs into the room on Day 3, especially considering how often those Day 3 running backs tend to pan out.

Behind Breece Hall, the Jets have a pair of decent young running backs in Braelon Allen and Isaiah Davis, but neither has been particularly impressive in the NFL as of yet. There isn’t a good reason for New York not to select another running back on Day 3 of this year’s draft if a running back is their BPA at any point.

Leon Washington, Brad Smith (2006, R4)

Fresh off a 2005 season in which they scored 15 points per game, the Jets simply needed playmakers.

They took a shot in the dark on two of them in the fourth round of the 2006 draft. Both were bullseyes.

Brad Smith and Leon Washington came into the NFL as positionless playmakers. Nobody quite knew what their roles would be at the pro level, but the Jets took them anyway, searching for any sort of way to put points on the board.

Smith was a college quarterback at Missouri, but the Jets drafted him with plans of using him at all three of wide receiver, running back, and quarterback.

Washington, who converted from cornerback to running back at Florida State as a freshman, became one of the best all-around playmakers in college football. In his senior season, Washington scored touchdowns via rushing, receiving, punt return, kickoff return, and fumble recovery.

As intriguing as they may seem at first glance, players of this mold are usually high-risk prospects. That type of usage tends to indicate that the prospect doesn’t excel at any one skill, which won’t bode well for finding a role at the NFL level.

But Smith and Washington proved they could translate their versatile dominance to the pros. Both players were prolific as rushers, receivers, and returners in New York, while the Jets occasionally tapped into Smith’s passing as well.

Sometimes, when you’re an NFL franchise that cannot put points on the board, you have to simplify the process and just rack up players who can flat-out score points, whichever way possible.

It doesn’t always work, but ambitious success stories, like the Jets’ 2006 fourth-round gold rush, will continue inspiring teams to take these types of risks on Day 3.

The Jets scored 26 offensive touchdowns in 2025, tied for the NFL’s second-fewest. Sure, it’s easy to look at their depth chart and point out plenty of talent across the board, while singling out quarterback as the sole position to blame for that ineptitude.

Maybe, though, the Jets need more playmakers, too. If there’s anything a team cannot have enough of, it’s playmakers.

And the Jets just don’t have many of them.

That’s why they shouldn’t be afraid to take a shot on Brad Smith and Leon Washington-type players on Day 3 of this year’s draft—positional needs and depth-chart holes be damned.

Score some points.

Guards Matt Slauson, Brian Winters, and Jonathan Goodwin

Three times from 2000 to 2013, the Jets selected a post-second-round guard from a Midwestern school who went on to start over 80 NFL games:

Jonathan Goodwin, Michigan (2002, fifth round)

Matt Slauson, Nebraska (2009, sixth round)

Brian Winters, Kent State (2013, third round)

Most of Goodwin’s starts came after he left the Jets, although he ascended into a Pro Bowl player in New Orleans. Slauson and Winters were each mainstays in the Jets’ starting offensive line for at least three seasons.

Perhaps it’s a mere coincidence, but is there a valuable trend to be gleaned here?

Many college programs in the Midwest are known for maintaining a traditional, run-first style of football, and those three schools are no exception. Goodwin, Slauson, and Winters all came to the NFL after playing for a team that called more runs than passes in their final college season.

2001 Michigan: 33.1 pass attempts per game, 40.8 rushing attempts per game

2008 Nebraska: 33.3 pass attempts per game, 37.4 rushing attempts per game

2012 Kent State: 25.6 pass attempts per game, 41.7 rushing attempts per game

It could speak to the value of targeting tough-minded interior offensive linemen on Day 3. Guards of this ilk may fall in the draft because they don’t have flashy enough athletic-testing numbers to entice a team to draft them early, but perhaps their toughness allows them to succeed at the NFL level regardless.

If you started in college for a program that emphasizes running the football, you’re probably a tough son of a gun, and if you’re a tough son of a gun, you’re worth a Day 3 dice-roll in comparison to prospects who have superior athleticism but a fraction of the tenacity.

At least, that’s what this very specific selection of three draft picks would suggest. Certainly, there are many examples of prospects like Slauson and Winters who did not pan out, and there are many examples of athletic linemen with a “soft” label who did pan out.

It is always important to realize that there is no secret sauce to the draft, and none will ever be discovered, no matter how hard we try. Still, it’s fascinating to unpack certain trends, think about why they may have occurred, and ponder whether there is something to be gleaned that can help us increase our odds of nailing future draft picks by even the slightest fraction of a percentage point.