{"id":883383,"date":"2026-05-05T20:06:32","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T20:06:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/883383\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T20:06:32","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T20:06:32","slug":"the-jets-draft-class-may-have-doomed-these-players-futures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/883383\/","title":{"rendered":"The Jets’ draft class may have doomed these players’ futures"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2026 NFL draft<\/a> is behind us. Boasting one of the most valuable collections of picks in the league, the New York Jets made eight total selections, including four in the top 50.<\/p>\n

Gang Green addressed several critical needs by adding players ready to make an impact from Day 1<\/a>, leaving multiple players from last year\u2019s squad in danger of losing their roster spots for the 2026 season.<\/p>\n

These two players will be hard-pressed to make the Jets\u2019 roster<\/a> after New York\u2019s decisions on draft weekend.<\/p>\n

QB Brady Cook<\/p>\n

Cook signed with the Jets as an undrafted free agent following the 2025 draft.<\/p>\n

Over the summer, Cook beat out Adrian Martinez for the team\u2019s QB3 role, which earned him a spot on the practice squad to open the year. After Justin Fields\u2019 horrific play and injuries to Tyrod Taylor, Cook was forced into action as New York\u2019s starter for the final four games of the 2025 season.<\/p>\n

To no surprise, Cook, as an undrafted rookie, struggled mightily in those starts. While steering the Jets to a 0-4 record, he completed 57.5% of his passes for 739 yards, two touchdowns, and seven interceptions.<\/p>\n

In the fourth round of this year\u2019s draft, the Jets selected Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik, whom they traded up to land. It makes Cook one of four quarterbacks currently rostered by New York, alongside Geno Smith, Bailey Zappe, and Klubnik.<\/p>\n

Carrying four quarterbacks on the 53-man roster is nearly unheard of in today\u2019s NFL. In recent years, teams have optimized roster construction by keeping just two quarterbacks on the 53-man roster and one on the practice squad, as the Jets did last year.<\/p>\n

For New York this year, though, going with three quarterbacks could make sense because of Klubnik. It is unexpected that he will be named the QB2, which means the team could opt to roll with Smith as the starter, Klubnik as a developmental QB3, and a primary backup, with Zappe making sense to fill that role. The Jets have also explored signing Russell Wilson<\/a> to be their backup.<\/p>\n

Cook has yet to show anything that makes him worthy of a roster spot for the 2026 season. He wasn\u2019t nearly effective enough to compete for a backup role, and after selecting Klubnik, he is no longer needed for the developmental role, either.<\/p>\n

TE Jelani Woods<\/p>\n

The Jets claimed Jelani Woods off waivers last August, which made plenty of sense at the time.<\/p>\n

Even after selecting Mason Taylor in the second round of the 2025 draft, tight end remained a massive question mark for the Jets. Woods, a former third-round pick, flashed a tremendous amount of upside, but a surplus of injuries kept him off the field when he was with the Indianapolis Colts.<\/p>\n

Woods had a moderately productive rookie year in 2022, logging 312 yards and three touchdowns on 25 receptions across 15 games (two starts). After that, though, the injury bug bit him hard. Recurring hamstring issues and turf toe left him sidelined for the entirety of the 2023 and 2024 regular seasons.<\/p>\n

The main appeal of Woods is his athleticism, evidenced by his perfect 10.0 RAS (Relative Athletic Score) at the NFL Scouting Combine, the best ever by a tight end.<\/p>\n

While Gang Green\u2019s TE room was a huge question mark entering last season, the team came away with multiple answers. Taylor flashed tremendous upside in his first NFL season despite atrocious quarterback play, while Jeremy Ruckert\u2019s game improved enough to earn him a two-year extension<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Following those developments, the team selected Kenyon Sadiq at No. 16 overall in April\u2019s draft, meaning he will play a significant role in the Jets\u2019 passing attack right away.<\/p>\n

Add in Andrew Beck, a hybrid FB\/TE who re-signed with the team and played a pivotal role on special teams last season. That\u2019s four guys (not counting Woods) who are near-locks to make New York\u2019s 53-man roster.<\/p>\n

The Jets rarely used Woods last season, as he appeared in just four games and collected three targets; they scratched him in their other 13 matchups.<\/p>\n

With the selection of Sadiq, Woods will probably be looking for a new home after cutdown day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2026 NFL draft is behind us. Boasting one of the most valuable collections of picks in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2051],"tags":[21899,1087,6089,2723,5385,7,3228,23841,2314,226,28626,280,1917,255,2321,2097,6,15,6531,3916,3232,3234],"class_list":["post-883383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-new-york-jets","tag-adrian-martinez","tag-andrew-beck","tag-bailey-zappe","tag-brady-cook","tag-cade-klubnik","tag-football","tag-free-content","tag-jelani-woods","tag-jeremy-ruckert","tag-jets","tag-kenyon-sadiq","tag-mason-taylor","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-jets","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkjets","tag-nfl","tag-nfl-draft","tag-ny-jets-column","tag-ny-jets-players","tag-ny-jets-roster-depth-chart","tag-standard"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116523773713887201","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883383","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=883383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883383\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=883383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=883383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=883383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}