We are just days away from the NFL Draft and the New York Jets have a lot of holes to fill on their roster. They have foregone talent at a lot of positions this offseason in hopes that Aaron Glenn has the magic elixir to squeeze every last drop out of each and every player on the roster.
Their next chance to add some talent to the roster will start on Thursday night with the NFL draft. Neither new GM Darren Mougey nor Aaron Glenn have ever been a leader of an organization so there is a lot of unknowns when it comes to how they will handle their first NFL Draft. With that in mind, here are four predictions for the New York Jets in the NFL Draft.
The Jets will stand pat at number seven and make a selection
This has already become one of the strangest leadups to an NFL draft in history. Every team owns their first-round pick, which has never happened in the common draft era. A lot of reasons can be attributed to this phenomenon, but I personally believe it is due to the lack of talent at quarterback position. Teams don’t often move up in the draft for non-premier positions and this draft isn’t ripe with them.
There is a clear-cut best QB, WR, pass rusher and DT in this draft and the teams in prime position to take those players are happy to stand pat and do so. The Jets are not in a position to move up to take an Abdul Carter or a Mason Graham considering their significant roster holes and I can’t imagine any teams looking to trade up to seven to take any of the player who will be available then. So, with no dance partner to move up or down, the Jets are likely going to stick to picking at seven.
More than half of the draft picks will be on the offensive side of the ball
The Jets have had one of the best defenses in football the last few seasons, but their offense has not been able to keep up in order to win games. The Jets have ranked near the bottom in offense for a number of years and coach after coach has tried to fix the issue. It hasn’t been for lack of trying on the part of the GM either.
As Warren Sharp points out, the New York Jets have used more draft capital on their offense than any other team in the NFL by a fairly wide margin. But no matter how many players they draft, the Jets just can’t seem to get it right. New GM Darren Mougey is banking on Aaron Glenn’s coaching and the untapped potential of Justin Fields to bring the Jets offense up to speed.
Considering the players the Jets signed on defense along with the roster holes still on the offensive side of the ball, I imagine that this year’s draft will be very similar to years past in terms of draft capital allocation. The New York Jets are going to draft offensive players early and often. I imagine the Jets will use picks at some point to address their offensive tackle, and multiple pass catcher issues.
The Number two target for Justin Fields this season will be selected in the first two rounds of the draft
The Jets don’t have a good passing quarterback in Justin Fields and I expect them to lean heavily on the run game in 2025. New York has three running backs that can all bring something different to the offense, a good offensive line with a hole at right tackle, and a quarterback who Is far more dangerous with his legs than he is with his arm.
But leaning on the run in the NFL doesn’t mean they won’t pass the ball. The Jets have a bonafide number one target in Garrett Wilson, followed by a whole lot mediocrity. The Jets depth chart at wide receiver and tight end reads like a Stephen King novel filled with monsters whose one weakness is catching the football.
The Jets are going to leave the second day of the draft with one pass catcher who will unseat all of the mediocrity by mid-season and be the number two pass catching option behind Garrett Wilson.
The Jets will avoid the quarterback position in the 2025 NFL Draft
The New York Jets are not in the business of developing quarterbacks. I can’t remember the last time they drafted a quarterback whether it was in the first round or the fifth round and developed him into anything resembling a starter in the league.
In a quarterback class that is generally judged as weak, drafting a project player should not be in the cards for them. The Jets have their starting quarterback on the roster for at least the next two seasons in Justin Fields and they have one of the best backups in the NFL in Tyrod Taylor sitting behind him.
One of two things is going to happen for the New York Jets this season. They are either going to unlock the untapped potential in Justin Fields and plan the next decade of Jets football around that, or they are going to see what the Chicago Bears and Pittsburgh Steelers saw and realize they have to go in a different direction.
If the latter is the case (and I would bet my house that it is), then the Jets can regroup next season with a likely top 10 pick and a much better and deeper quarterback class to find their answer at the position. The last thing they would want, is some sort of quarterback controversy surrounding a project player when they could be staring at top QB talent in the face in 2026.
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