Mel Kiper States the Obvious, that the Jets Have Needs in the Draft

Apr 28, 2011; New York, NY, USA; ESPN analyst Mel Kiper Jr during the 2011 NFL Draft at Radio City Music Hall. Mandatory Credit: Howard Smith-US PRESSWIRE

Mel Kiper Jr went out on a limb yesterday (tongue in cheek), and talked about how the Jets have many issues to address in the draft.

“If you look through that roster, you see areas that they need help,” he said. “They need another defensive end in the mix. You have [Mike] DeVito opposite [Muhammad] Wilkerson. They could upgrade the right defensive tackle spot. They could certainly upgrade the outside linebacker positions. They lack a pass rusher that can close and finish.

“You think about the secondary, LaRon Landry. LaRon Landry has had two straight years with Achilles injuries and he’s only had four career interceptions – not a ballhawk back there.

“You think about the offense, the right tackle position. They also have a situation at wide receiver. You would expect Santonio Holmes to bounce back and play better, but we’ll see. Then the running game. I know [Shonn] Greene got better as the year went along, but he’s not a great back.

He went on to talk about how we might not be in the right spot to pick the impact guy they need.

“In terms of where they could go I still think a pass rusher but I don’t think necessarily it will fall that way for them,” Kiper said. “Do they take a guy like [LSU defensive tackle] Michael Brockers and put him on the opposite side from Wilkerson, their first-round pick last year? Barron would be a great pick. Mark Barron is a heck of a player, but you probably have to move up. I mean, you have Dallas looking at Barron (No. 14). You have Philadelphia (No. 15) maybe looking at Barron. So, I think they would have to jump up a little bit to get a guy like Barron and bring him into the fold.

Kiper also talked about the Jets need at right tackle.

“If they want a right tackle, you’ve got to move down a little bit and look at Bobby Massie from Ole Miss,” Kiper said. “I don’t know if they’ll go that route but that could be another option. When you think about the rounds after the first I would have to think right tackle would be heavily in the discussion and Bobby Massie would be perfect. He could be an immediate hole filler at that spot and a heck of a player coming out of Ole Miss.”

Check out our preview of Bobby Massie here.

In that post I outlined why I don’t think Massie is a great fit for our team. Moving on to the rest, I want to thank Kiper for telling us what we already know. The Jets have concerns in that have to be addressed, really? Wouldn’t have known. I know it’s his job, but he could give us some thoughts that aren’t known by everyone.

Maybe next he can tell us that the locker room needs more harmony.