Ranking NY Jets’s last 10 first-round draft picks

The Jets have a mixed history of recent first-round picks
Sauce Gardner, Jermaine Johnson, and Garrett Wilson
Sauce Gardner, Jermaine Johnson, and Garrett Wilson / Anne-Marie Caruso/NorthJersey.com / USA
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The NY Jets haven't always had the most success when it comes to draft picks over the years. Nowhere is that more evident than with the team's history of first-round picks.

For every Joe Namath, there's a Vernon Gholston. For every Darrelle Revis, there's a Blair Thomas. And for every D'Brickashaw Ferguson, there's a Dee Milliner.

Every NFL team has a mixed history with their draft picks, but the Jets certainly seem to have more notable busts than most other organizations. That doesn't necessarily apply to recent years, however.

The Jets have been able to find some core building blocks in the first rounds of recent drafts. The vast majority of the Jets' current core is built on the back of successful draft picks, many of whom were taken in the first round.

For the sake of this article, we're going to take a look at the 10 most recent Jets first-round picks. That ranges from the 2017 NFL Draft through last year's draft that netted the Jets Will McDonald.

Let's establish some criteria first. Only what the player did as a member of the Jets will be taken into account. Length of tenure matters as do accolades, team success, and individual stats. It's a balancing act.

The good news for the Jets is that many of the top players on this list remain integral parts of the roster at the time of writing. The bad news is there are quite a few who have fallen short of expectations.

Let's start things off with a player who is not only the worst Jets first-round pick of the last decade but one of the worst picks in franchise history.