New York Jets 2013 Draft: What to do with that first pick?

The New York Jets hold the ninth pick in the 2013 draft and now the question is, what do the powers that be do with that pick?

The Jets have so many holes on this squad that they are practically made of Swiss cheese. So they could really go a lot of ways with this pick.

Could the Jets go with defense in the first round? They have as of late.

However, with their high pick, they could go get someone with a lot of talent and help out their beleaguered offense and maybe give Mark Sanchez or whoever wins the starting job some sense of stability. Where I’m headed with this idea is with Tennessee wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson.

Don’t let part of the name fool you… yes, I said it. Patterson from the two scouting reports courtesy of cbsports.com and nfl.com could be one of those really special players.

He can do a little bit of everything. This is a direct quote from the nfl.com draft profile on Patterson “During his only season at the FBS level, Patterson accumulated a wide variety of statistics while starting all 12 games. As a receiver, the junior caught 46 passes for 778 yards and five touchdowns. As the season went along, The Vols started to use Patterson more and more from the running back position, and he tallied 208 rushing yards and three touchdowns on 25 carries. The junior returned four punts for 101 yards and a touchdown. However, Patterson did most of his damage as a kick returner, compiling 671 yards and another touchdown on 24 attempts. He set an SEC single-season record with a combined kickoff and punt return average of 27.6 yards, and a school record of 1,858 all-purpose yards.”

From what I’ve read, this guy has a lot of natural ability. He’s got the speed, he can make the difficult catch, he looks to go upfield immediately, he has good vision and can make a play out of nothing. Some of the negatives I’ve seen is that he’s never had to really try and go up for the ball at the highest point. He has also had some issues breaking out after a jam as well as minor problems with catching the football .

However, I really believe that this could be that downfield threat that Jets haven’t had in a very long time.  Take a look at his entire NFL.com draft profile.

For one thing, Rex Ryan has been promising for a couple of years now that he’s going to fix the offense, this could be one of the best ways to start. What would this mean for Stephen Hill, last year’s second round pick? It could mean another year to develop.

Mike Tannembaum sees Patterson potentially going to the Jets and for all of Tannenbaum’s faults for which there are many, he was pretty good at the draft and he did sekect Darrelle Revis.

If GM John Idzik decides to go defense with that ninth pick, there’s a really good defensive tackle out of Utah they could go after in Star Lotulelei. The Jets haven’t had a real solid defensive tackle in the middle every since Jason Ferguson. Sione Pouha was really solid but not a natural nose tackle.

He has a good burst off the snap. he has really good lateral movement and he be a run stopper which is something that as of right now, is something SEVERELY lacking. He has the ability to really blow people off the ball and put runners to the ground that seem to be slimy and are almost out of grasp. One weakness that he does have is that Lotulelei doesn’t have a lot of pass rushing moves but he could be a real good anchor in the center of that D-line.

The other would be LSU’s Barkevious Mingo at outside linebacker. With the loss of Bart Scott, they could use a complement to David Harris and this kid could fit the bill.

To paraphrase from cbssports.com, Mingo has an explosive first step and has the combination of flexibility and closing speed that he can pad the sack numbers in a very pass happy league. He will fight through blockers and will get his arms up in the passing lane if he can’t get to the QB. (Sounds pretty good to me) His major deterrents could be that he has a hard time changing direction with his explosive speed and hasn’t really developed any kind of counter moves to compliment the explosive speed. Much of that especially change of direction is teachable and we all know what Rex Ryan can do with a defense.

Once you get out of the first round, or at least the third, then go with best available player. Don’t go with the sexy pick and go for the running back or the quarterback that early. The biggest needs are on offense and they need a down field explosive player. Then go for defense whether it be defensive line or linebacker.