Grading each of the Jets rookies a quarter of the way through the 2026 season

The New York Jets were loaded with draft picks heading into the 2026 NFL Draft, with eyes on the event as the catalyst that brought about a change of fortunes for the beleaguered franchise. With three first-round picks, there was hope for an immediate impact, while some of the other players taken were selected with eyes on the future.

It takes a while to fully evaluate whether or not a draft pick is a bust. However, the NFL is a fast-moving league, and through the first four weeks, we've gotten a chance to see some of these youngsters in action and determine if the rubber has met the road.

This is all to say that we're really looking to see if anyone has gotten off to a hot start and met expectations immediately, and it is not meant to be a referendum on the pick, nor a prediction as to how the player's career ultimately plays out.

There have been some flashes from the Jets' 2026 draft class, but also a lot of incomplete work

EDGE David Bailey - Round 1, Pick 2

There's been a lot of chatter about how David Bailey has performed so far, and a lot of disagreement amongst fans and pundits alike. What is true is that he hasn't had a true "breakout" game yet, though the Jets coaching staff believes it's close.

What we have seen is a bit of an underwhelming performance as a pass rusher, but a surprisingly good performance against the run, which was a supposed weakness coming out of Texas Tech.

While it should only be a secondary factor in how he's perceived, the Jets selected Bailey over Arvell Reese, who went three picks later to the New York Giants. They're different kinds of players, but it was sort of a 1A and 1B scenario leading up to the draft.

Reese has hit the ground running and just won Defensive Rookie of the Week for his Week 4 performance, which will have some second-guessing Bailey. Still, it's way too early to say that Gang Green made the wrong choice.

Grade: B-

TE Kenyon Sadiq - Round 1, Pick 16

Everything about Kenyon Sadiq needs to be viewed through the lens of the fact that he missed most of training camp. The adjustment period for even the most polished rookies is a tough one, and Sadiq came in as a stellar athlete first and a polished all-around tight end second. There is still much that the 21-year-old must learn.

However, we've seen that the athleticism is for real. He made his mark in the opener with a rushing touchdown on an end-around. Later on, he exploded in Week 3 with a seven-catch, 105-yard performance.

That was important because in the first two games, most of the damage he had done came from screens and dump-offs. Of course, he was then shut out in the catch department in Week 4, though he's not entirely responsible for the ineptitude.

He has earned praise from Frank Reich for his adaptability and ability to study and learn quickly. It can't be overstated how important that is. Relative to expectations, he has more or less hit the ground running at a position that is notoriously tough for rookies to get the hang of in year one.

Grade: B

WR Omar Cooper Jr. - Round 1, Pick 30

In a perfect world, Omar Cooper Jr. is the Robin to Garrett Wilson's Batman. In reality, he's spent the bulk of his rookie season so far on the sidelines nursing a high-ankle sprain that came on his first career touch.

That one play, though, was exciting as Cooper took a short pass and made moves with the ball in his hands, tallying 30 yards in total, with 26 coming after the catch. Still, he's barely played, so it's impossible to truly evaluate him at this time.

Grade: Incomplete

CB D'Angelo Ponds - Round 2, Pick 50

Despite landing in concussion protocol, starting nickel Jarvis Brownlee Jr. has been cleared and is expected to play in Week 5's matchup against the Cleveland Browns. That eliminates what had originally seemed like an opportunity for D'Angelo Ponds to get some extended run.

So far, the youngster has only gotten a total of 20 snaps this year, making it hard to give him a true evaluation. With that said, he's yet to miss a tackle, but he also allowed a 21-yard catch on his only target. Mostly, this is an incomplete, but since he did get some game action, we'll say it's about what we expected.

Grade: C+

DT Darrell Jackson Jr. - Round 4, Pick 103

After playing sparingly over the first two weeks, Darrell Jackson Jr. has gotten progressively more run in New York's last two contests. The big man from Florida State was mostly manhandled against the Detroit Lions, but he did have a few nice stops in the run game against the Bears in Week 4.

Like most of the Jets' defensive tackles, he's shown no pass-rush juice. That's not really his game, as he's more of a space-eater type, but he's also struggled to simply push the pocket.

Grade: C-

QB Cade Klubnik - Round 4, Pick 110

There's a school of thought that says a wise team should draft a quarterback every year, with the fourth round seeming like the sweet spot if you don't have an urgent need.

The idea is that they can sit and develop, and even if all they become is a high-end backup, they can ultimately be flipped for an asset greater than what was spent on them. When the Jets have tried this in the past, with Bryce Petty and James Morgan serving as recent examples, it didn't really work out.

Cade Klubnik is the latest stab at this strategy, with the ultimate hope that he can actually develop into a starter, even if it is a long shot. We've yet to see him get a regular-season snap, but he was impressive enough in the preseason to win the backup QB job outright.

That might speak as much to the caliber of guys he was competing against, but it's a win all the same. Process over results influences this grade some, since now we're really just talking about projection.

Grade: B

G Anez Cooper - Round 6, Pick 188

The best offensive lines in the league have plenty of premium investments, but they also benefit from later-round draft picks developing into quality players. New York has the premium investment part down with Olu Fashanu, Armand Membou, and Joe Tippmann all being high draft picks, and free-agent signings like Dylan Parham and Josh Myers filling out the unit.

The hope for Cooper is that someday he could replace one of those interior veterans and give the Jets some cost savings.

Unfortunately, an injury has kept him sidelined, meaning that when Parham went down with an injury of his own, we saw Jordan Meredith get the call to replace Parham in the starting lineup.

That may have happened anyway, even if Cooper was healthy, though given how atrocious Meredith has been in pass protection, it's worth considering whether Cooper would have gotten a look. Like Klubnick, we're going to grade the process here.

Grade: C+

S VJ Payne - Round 7, Pick 228

Another late-round pick and another injury case. We haven't seen VJ Payne yet, but given his physical tools, it's hard not to like the pick. Dane Brugler of The Athletic graded him as a fourth-or-fifth-round prospect, so getting him in the seventh looks like a minor steal.

What stands out about Payne is his combination of size and athleticism. At six-foot-three and 205 pounds, he possesses 4.4 speed, which could make him the type of safety who can match up against and erase tight ends down the road.

Even if he stalls out in that pursuit, the athletic numbers seem to indicate that he'll be a good special teams player. This seems to be a guy who will have a role in some way, shape, or form on the Jets roster, so while he might not be a boom-or-bust lottery-ticket type, it's a good use of a late-round asset.

Grade: C

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