A Look Back at John Idzik’s Inaugural New York Jets’ Season: Draft Rounds Two and Three

Dec 22, 2013; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Jets quarterback Geno Smith (7) during warmups for their game against the Cleveland Browns at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports

Happy New Year Jets’ fans! Whatever you were doing last night, I hope you enjoyed and you and yours were safe. This morning, we are going to continue to look back on John Idzik’s first season as General Manager of the New York Jets. He had some great moments, and some not so good moments. Yesterday, we took a look at the draft picks from round one.  This morning, we are going to move ahead with John’s first season by taking a look at his draft picks from rounds two and three.  Let’s get right to it.

GENO SMITH: With the second round pick, we all know where the Jets went. Geno Smith, quarterback from West Virginia. The broadcasters couldn’t believe it! Why would the Jets bring in another quarterback, after the year they had just gone through with Tim Tebow? Are they crazy? Then we saw him in the preseason, and we knew he wasn’t ready. But then, Mark goes down. In walks Geno Smith. He had his moments early in the season when he played well. He certainly became adept at the late game comeback, didn’t he? We knew we had an exciting player to watch. That’s for sure. But, he was stricken with the turnover disease. He couldn’t stop throwing interceptions. Every game, when the offense started to improve, he would personally kill drives and games with interceptions, totaling 21 on the season. There was quite a bit to worry about, rookie or not. Man, did he mature over the last part of the season or what? No turnovers over the final two games, and two straight wins, finally. He made good decisions, used his legs when necessary, and wasn’t careless with the football. He did what he had to do, put the Jets in a position to succeed. For that, and with his potential to improve in 2014, I am going to give this move a………..B-, with the idea that this grade could skyrocket as soon as next year.

BRIAN WINTERS: In the third round, the Jets added to the offensive line by picking Brian Winters out of Kent State. Originally he was going to be a backup/depth in 2013, but Vladimir Ducasse reminded us that he still is, well, Vladimir Ducasse. So, he gets benched, and Brian Winters takes over the starting role in week five. Brian had his difficulty, as expected for a rookie lineman. Despite being between D’Brickashaw and Nick, he had a rough go. He graded negatively in both the run and the pass for weeks, and he hit his low point week 13 with a -5.3. From there, however, Brian improved, steadily, culminating with a grade of 2.4 in the final week, showing us that he does have potential moving ahead. Going to give him a……………C+, which again can improve.