Draft Prediction: Jets Take College Player

I feel like one of those plastic discs on an air hockey table, being pucnhed first one direction than jarringly sent in the opposite way. No matter where you look now, today, this week you will be ping ponging back and forth with NFL Draft information or rather speculation on what the New York Jets are doing.

The Jets are going to trade up and get Arkansas running back Darren McFadden…

…no wait, this just in…

The Jets are moving up in the draft because they are in love with Boston College quarterback Matt Ryan…

…check that, stop the presses, I have it from an ironclad source – unnamed of course – that…

…the New York Jets hoping Chris Long, Matt Ryan, Darren McFadden, Vernon Gholston all slip to them at 6…

…when in reality all of the above were smokescreens because what the Jets really intend to do at 6 is…

…trade down.

This is what is so great about this time of year. You just don’t know. The Jets traded up in both the first and second round last year – a departure for the normally staid organization. A huge gamble but it paid off. This year? I have to say I’m really hard pressed to decipher Jets General Manager Mike Tannenbaum’s poker face.

There are rumors surrounding not only the Jets but many teams scattered all over the first round of the draft but one rumor that came true – the Chiefs trade of Defensive End Jared Allen to the Minnesota Vikings – may just have thrown the Jets draft plans on their ear. The Chiefs now appear to have a huge, gaping chasm at DE and picking right in front of the Jets can fill it with one of the two players the Jets covet: Virginia’s Chris Long or Ohio State’s Vernon Gholston. It would seem that Long will be a long shot to last until 5 so if the Jets really want Ghoslton they will most likely have to leapfrog Herman Edwards crew to get him.

[Lost style flashback sequence to last game of 2007 regular season when Jets beat Chiefs 13-10 in overtime barn burner thus knocking themselves from 4th spot in the draft to the 6th spot]

Where am I? Oh that’s right, picking 6th. Now the Jets can go in any direction but I am hoping they stay put and take one of the draft’s top players rather than trade down. I think this club is far better served by going for quality over quantity at this point. They have made enough improvements via free agency to be a viable contender for the wild card and dare I say it? The division even? Yes, why not? The New England Patriots have suffered a mass exodus from their secondary and their linebackers are all awaiting their AARP membership cards in the mail. They are still the team to beat but the years of incredible good fortune are finally catching up to the Pats. It would appear the Devil is coming to collect his payment for the deal Bill Belichick made once he thumbed his nose at the job of HC of the NYJ.