Jets roster moves show exactly what kind of WRs Darren Mougey wants

Going into the offseason, the New York Jets had a lot of questions to answer about the wide receiver room. After cutting Davante Adams loose, it was assumed Allen Lazard would be next, leaving just Garrett Wilson and a whole lot of question marks.

The decisions that Darren Mougey made from that point forward seemed to indicate that he had a type. Josh Reynolds is a big-bodied plodder, as is Allen Lazard, who surprisingly stayed on a re-worked contract. The flyer on Tyler Johnson brought in another similar jump ball specialist.

While the best wide receiver corps are well-rounded, teams typically have a particular flavor of receiver that they prefer. Think of the YAC demons of the San Francisco 49ers, the jump ball monsters of the Cincinnati Bengals, and the diminutive quick separators employed by the New England Patriots for much of Tom Brady's tenure.

It was reasonable to assume, then, that these low-end versions of bigger possession receivers represented Mougey's preferences. That is, until the trade deadline turned it on its head.

The acquisitions of Adonai Mitchell and John Metchie show what type of WR Darren Mougey actually prefers

What should be clear by now from the Jets' trade deadline teardown is that Mougey is remaking the roster to fit his vision. That's why the stars were exchanged for draft capital, but that's also why he targeted the players that he did.

Two of those new youngsters are receivers, something that isn't unintentional. While Adonai Mitchell and John Metchie III are depressed assets, they are not ones without the potential to carve out a future in New York.

Aside from youth, they are different from Mougey's past receiver acquisitions in an important way: their skillsets.

At first glance, Adonai Mitchell appears to follow the same archetype as the veterans, but despite his six-foot-two, 205-pound frame, he's actually a smooth operator, whose surprising movement skills gave him the ceiling of an elite separator as he was coming out of the University of Texas.

Last season, Mitchell posted 2.6 average yards of separation, a solid number for a taller receiver. While he still has the frame to box out smaller defenders, he's playing well when he is able to gain a cushion on in-and-out-breaking routes.

Metchie III has the more traditional separator frame, and indeed scouts noted his quickness, footwork, and change of speed and direction abilities as he was preparing for the draft.

He'll now have a much better opportunity to prove that those skills he put on tape in college do, in fact, translate to the NFL level.

With these acquisitions, it should be clear that Mougey favors receivers who can separate above all else. So why the big-bodied veterans? That was mostly due to circumstance.

Reynolds was attractive for his ties to the coaching staff, but also because he wouldn't cost the Jets a compensatory pick. Johnson was attractive because he's still relatively young. And Lazard, well, he was already here.

Regardless of whether or not this new duo pans out, expect to see separation skills at the top of Mougey's list when it comes to adding to the receiver room moving forward.