In the end the Jets made the right choice selecting D'Brickashaw Ferguson
with their first selection. The franchise bypassed too many great left tackles
in their history and, above all, Ferguson was the best player on the board when
the Jets were on the clock. The same can be said for Nick Mangold.
Releasing Kevin Mawae made center a need and while Mangold is not dominant on
the pivot, he has the skills to be a stalwart at center for years to come. Kellen Clemens was a late riser and the team selected him after moving down in
round two, a bit early to our minds. Clemens is a solid short-and-intermediate
range passer, not much more. This characterization that Clemens possesses
"underrated" arm-strength is laughable in our opinion. Anthony Schlegel, Eric Smith and Brad Smith were all reaches in rounds
three and four. While both Schlegel and Smith are hard hitting defenders, each
is one-dimensional in what they do. Brad Smith is a major project that may be
better as a running back rather then receiver. Leon Washington was great
value in round four. Highly rated coming into his senior campaign, Florida State’s
offensive line woes and poor passing attack had as much to do with Washington's
disappointing senior campaign as anything else. Titus Adams was a
terrific pick in round seven while Drew Coleman, selected the frame
before, could be the reach of the draft.
The Jets were very active moving around the entire draft. The team initially
moved down 18 picks in round two, passing up the opportunity to select several
talented prospects, picking up a sixth round choice and an additional second
rounder from the Skins 2007. Considering the team needs and depth in this draft,
a third round pick in ’06 would’ve been a better move if the opportunity
presented itself. The Jets then turned around and moved up three spots from
53-to-49 to secure Clemens. In return they gave up a sixth and seventh round
selection, a hefty price. In moving down five spots in round three the team
picked up another seventh round choice yet lost out on DE/OLB Chris Gocong,
a player they were evidently high on. The team did make a good move in picking
up an additional sixth round choice for moving down twelve slots in round five.
Of course that was the selection used to draft Coleman.
|
Rd |
Sel# |
Player |
Pos. |
School |
|
1 |
4 |
D'Brickashaw Ferguson |
OT |
Virginia |
|
1 |
29 |
Nick Mangold |
C |
Ohio State |
|
2 |
49 |
Kellen Clemens |
QB |
Oregon |
|
3 |
76 |
Anthony Schlegel |
ILB |
Ohio State |
|
3 |
97 |
Eric Smith |
SS |
Michigan State |
|
4 |
103 |
Brad Smith |
WR |
Missouri |
|
4 |
117 |
Washington, Leon |
RB |
Florida State |
|
5 |
150 |
Pociask, Jason |
TE |
Wisconsin |
|
6 |
189 |
Coleman, Drew |
CB |
Texas Christian |
|
7 |
220 |
Adams, Titus |
DT |
Nebraska |