{"id":823929,"date":"2026-03-20T22:21:21","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T22:21:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/823929\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T22:21:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T22:21:21","slug":"nfl-reveals-top-5-likeliest-prospects-to-be-drafted-by-jets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/823929\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL reveals top 5 likeliest prospects to be drafted by Jets"},"content":{"rendered":"

You\u2019ve heard what OG draft pundits like Mel Kiper Jr.<\/a> think. You\u2019ve heard what today\u2019s most respected and plugged-in draft analysts, like Daniel Jeremiah<\/a>, think.<\/p>\n

Heck, you\u2019ve even heard what Jets X-Factor thinks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now it\u2019s time to ask the numbers who they think the New York Jets will select in the 2026 NFL draft<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The National Football League\u2019s official website features a section called \u201cNFL IQ<\/a>\u201d that displays analytical information about each team\u2019s offseason. Part of that section is a projection showing the prospects estimated to have the highest chance of being drafted by the team.<\/p>\n

Who is the NFL\u2019s official website projecting the Jets to draft, you might ask?<\/p>\n

Here are the top five candidates to be chosen by New York in the first round, whether it is with the second or 16th overall picks:<\/p>\n

Arvell Reese, LB, Ohio State (28%)<\/p>\n

Makai Lemon, WR, USC (10%)<\/p>\n

Jordyn Tyson, WR, Arizona State (9%)<\/p>\n

Ty Simpson, QB, Alabama (8%)<\/p>\n

David Bailey, EDGE, Texas Tech (4%)<\/p>\n

Four of those five names are not unfamiliar to mock-hungry Jets fans, but Ty Simpson\u2019s appearance at this stage of the draft cycle is mildly surprising.<\/p>\n

For most of the 2025 college football season, Simpson was frequently pegged to the Jets in mock drafts with a top-five pick, depending on where the Jets stood at the time. Even when the 0-7 Jets held the first pick around mid-season, Simpson was in the conversation.<\/p>\n

Then, a late-season slide from Simpson tanked his stock to where it stands now: that of a borderline first or second-round prospect. Thus, Simpson has been completely eliminated from contention for the Jets\u2019 second overall pick, and he is only considered a wild card for the 16th pick.<\/p>\n

This is all speculation, though. The Jets need a quarterback as much as any organization in professional football. If they hold Simpson in a high regard, they could draft him in an earlier slot than many people expect. That could entail using the 16th pick, or it could entail a trade-up into the late-first round.<\/p>\n

As Jets X-Factor\u2019s Joe Blewett illustrated, Simpson\u2019s early-season film in 2025<\/a> justified the hype of a potential first-round quarterback prospect. If the Jets believe strongly enough in the peaks that Simpson displayed, they could easily see him as a first-round prospect.<\/p>\n

Few mock drafters expect it, but the numbers provided by the official NFL website argue it is far more feasible than many are willing to admit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"You\u2019ve heard what OG draft pundits like Mel Kiper Jr. think. You\u2019ve heard what today\u2019s most respected and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":823930,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2051],"tags":[331,7,3228,226,1917,255,2321,2097,6,15,22126,3231,3234,20708],"class_list":["post-823929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-jets","tag-college-football","tag-football","tag-free-content","tag-jets","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-jets","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkjets","tag-nfl","tag-nfl-draft","tag-ny-jets-analytics","tag-ny-jets-news","tag-standard","tag-ty-simpson"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116263838861555694","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=823929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823929\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/823930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=823929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=823929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=823929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}