New York Jets: Assessing the plethora of team needs before the 2021 NFL Draft

Assessing the New York Jets’ plethora of needs before the 2021 NFL Draft.

Well, New York Jets general manager Joe Douglas will have his work cut out for him this offseason. After one of the worst seasons in franchise history, Douglas will be tasked with quickly turning around a Jets roster that has a ton of glaring holes during the 2021 NFL Draft.

Douglas will undoubtedly look to address these needs in both free agency and the 2021 NFL Draft, in which the team holds the second overall pick. While it will certainly be incredibly intriguing to see which direction the team goes with that early pick, it may be even more important for the team to nail the rest of the picks and their free agent signings to form a more well-rounded roster.

Here we try to pinpoint certain positions of need that the New York Jets will need to address this offseason if they want to have a chance to start turning things around in 2021.

1. Cornerback(s)

One thing that was for certain in 2020 is that the New York Jets secondary was going to get scorched game after game. Adam Gase, Gregg Williams and the New York Jets organization often had a lot of young, inexperienced players getting the majority of the snaps in the defensive backfield, and it showed.

Rookies like Bryce Hall and Lamar Jackson ended up being starters for the New York Jets at corner this season. The learning curve is always tough for rookie cornerbacks, especially those drafted late or who went undrafted. The expectations weren’t incredibly high for this secondary, but they still managed to underwhelm in 2020.

While getting those young rookies some early experience should be very beneficial for their growth. the New York Jets need some players that will be able to effectively cover receivers right now. With Brian Poole set to hit the free agent market, the Jets could desperately use a proven veteran at the cornerback position.

If the New York Jets were able to land a big-name free agent corner like Patrick Peterson, Richard Sherman, or even Josh Norman, not only would it help their play on the field, but it would help them develop their younger defensive backs as well.

I wouldn’t mind seeing the New York Jets invest some 2021 NFL Draft capital in the cornerback position as well. In today’s pass-dominant NFL, you can never have too many lockdown corners.

While I doubt they go that direction with the second pick of the 2021 NFL Draft, snagging a corner at pick 23, in the second or in the middle rounds of the draft could go a long way to transforming this defense.