The New York Jets are coming off an abysmal 4-13 season in 2025. The Jets ranked in the bottom 10 in both offense and defense, meaning this upcoming draft is an important one.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Jets have been active early in the free agency period. Trades for Geno Smith<\/a> and Minkah Fitzpatrick<\/a> started it off. There was also a clear focus on building a defense. Signings like veteran LB Demario Davis<\/a> and ballhawk CB Nahshon Wright<\/a> show that New York is addressing holes through free agency.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n New York traded away Quinnen Williams<\/a> and Sauce Gardner<\/a> at the trade deadline. These trades gave the Jets much-needed draft capital for the ongoing rebuild. Gang Green is going into the 2026 draft with four picks in the first two rounds after trading their former franchise cornerstones.<\/p>\n Jets Draft Picks:Jets Positions of Need:<\/p>\n GM Darren Mougey has expressed his excitement for the \u201copportunity\u201d that the Jets have in front of them. There are a lot of holes in the roster that need addressing. New York\u2019s actions in free agency have made the draft strategy clearer. Going into April the Jets are likely to be looking for.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Key Draft Targets for Jets:Arvell Reese<\/a> \u2013 OLB \u2013 Ohio State<\/p>\n The Jets get their pick of the litter of pass rushers at number two this year. Arvell Reese, as a pass rusher and off-ball linebacker, has versatility that has many experts projecting<\/a> his name will be called second in Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n NFL media analyst Daniel Jeremiah has the Jets taking Reese at number two overall. Jeremiah references Reese\u2019s versatility<\/a>, which would give the Jets more flexibility in their 3-4 scheme.<\/p>\n Makai Lemon<\/a> \u2013 WR \u2013 USC\u00a0<\/p>\n Makai Lemon is coming off winning the Biletnikoff Award as the best receiver in college football. Pairing Lemon in the slot with Garrett Wilson<\/a> on the outside would help solve the lack of pass-game weapons the Jets have.\u00a0<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Lemon is ranked<\/a> the 13th-best prospect according to consensus mock drafts. It would be a no-brainer to bring him to Florham Park if he falls to 16.<\/p>\n Ty Simpson<\/a> \u2013 QB \u2013 Alabama<\/p>\n Geno Smith<\/a> is not the long-term answer for the Jets. Ty Simpson is the next best available quarterback after Fernando Mendoza<\/a> and an early <\/a>second-round prospect. Should the Jets take a flyer at QB this year, Simpson in the second round would make sense.<\/p>\n The post New York Jets 2026 NFL Draft Preview<\/a> appeared first on The Lead<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New York Jets are coming off an abysmal 4-13 season in 2025. The Jets ranked in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":852253,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[2222,6838,7,2310,1507,7583,10378,255,6,15,520,6736,7536,796,20708],"class_list":{"0":"post-852252","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl-draft","8":"tag-arvell-reese","9":"tag-demario-davis","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-garrett-wilson","12":"tag-geno-smith","13":"tag-minkah-fitzpatrick","14":"tag-nahshon-wright","15":"tag-new-york-jets","16":"tag-nfl","17":"tag-nfl-draft","18":"tag-pittsburgh","19":"tag-quinnen-williams","20":"tag-sauce-gardner","21":"tag-the-jets","22":"tag-ty-simpson"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116343488258582615","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852252","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=852252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852252\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/852253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=852252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=852252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=852252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}