2020 NFL Draft: Late-Round targets for the New York Jets
With the 2020 NFL Draft inching closer we’ll take a look at some late-round targets for general manager Joe Douglas and the New York Jets.
As of right now, the 2020 NFL Draft is on schedule with Roger Goodell sending out a memo to all 32 teams that things will be conducted differently, but the show will go on. That’s good news to NFL fans who may need something to look forward to while being in lockdown during this pandemic.
The NFL Draft is the biggest offseason event in sports and it would be very odd to watch the event in a very unfamiliar way with no fans, but interesting nonetheless. There have been ideas thrown around that they would go live into the war rooms of all 32 teams to announce their selections, which would be very interesting, to say the least.
For the New York Jets, it doesn’t matter how the NFL conducts the 2020 NFL Draft, they need to nail most if not all of their selections. They haven’t signed any world-beaters in free agency, but they did sign a number of players that can contribute in some way. Joe Douglas stated numerous times that the offensive line was his top priority and even though he didn’t sign the top talent he did address it.
They started with former Seattle Seahawks offensive tackle/swing tackle George Fant. He’s an interesting case as he hasn’t started much at either tackle spot rather he would play as a swing tackle or sixth offensive lineman. Fant does have loads of potential as he was late to play football. He played four years of basketball in college before getting into football. He’s very athletic and powerful and is basically still learning his position.
Douglas also retained guard Alex Lewis who played very solid football in place of Kelechi Osemele. He then agreed to the largest contract of his tenure bringing in former Broncos center Connor McGovern. It was a three year deal worth about $27 million with $18 million guaranteed. However, he wasn’t done beefing up the middle getting Long Island native Greg Van Roten on a three-year deal likely spelling the end to Brian Winters‘ tenure in NY/NJ.
I expect an offensive tackle and wide receiver with the first two selections. Those are the two biggest needs and they need impact talent at those positions. However, it hasn’t been the early picks that burned the Jets, rather the mid-round picks. When you look across the NFL, the most successful teams draft well in the middle of the draft, while the New York Jets typically do not.
It’s the middle-to-late rounds that raise the floor of these teams and the high picks that raise their ceiling. With all that being said I listed some targets that the New York Jets could select in the later rounds of the 2020 NFL Draft.