Return of the Green: A New York Jets Dynasty

[Funkycorm]

Jets Pick Assessment:

3(97) C Houston OConnor: 23 years old, 6’2”, 300 lbs, Tennessee, balanced center. Rated 76 overall (superstar).

Strength 87; Run Blocking 84; Pass Blocking 81; Impact Blocking 88, Awareness 55.

Balanced penalty tendency. Rated #57 in true talent.
In the long run, I am now glad I passed on Caleb Randolph. He may be the better center now but with OConnor’s superstar development, he will be better in the long run. I would have liked to see higher awareness, especially for a center. That will be priority one for development.


4(111) HB Darion Banta-Cain: 24 years old, 5’10”, 201 lbs, New Mexico, speed back. Rated 70 overall (normal).

Speed 95; Acceleration 89; Carrying 76; Jumping 85; BC Vision 83; Juke Move 82; Elusiveness 83; Agility 85; Catching 65.

Rated #112 in true talent.
Though he may not be a gem of the late rounds, he is still a fast halfback that will be a great return guy for us for a while. The focus will be to improve his ball carrier moves more so he can be a better returner and possibly develop catching to turn him into a third down back in passing situations.


4(121) MLB Vincent Hackney: 23 years old, 6’0”, 252 lbs, Delaware, balanced linebacker. Rated 77 overall (quick).

Speed 84; Tackle 88, Block Shedding 83; Hit Power 87; Pursuit 81; Acceleration 90; Agility 87; Man Coverage 60; Zone Coverage 74.

Big hitter, balanced play ball. Rated $34 in true talent.
Definitely a steal for us in the 4th round. He will step in to probably be a day 1 starter at middle linebacker. He will need to continue to improve pursuit and zone coverage.


4(123) CB Martin Dunlap: 24 years old, 5’11”, 181 lbs, Nevada, man to man cornerback. Rated 78 overall (quick).

Speed 93; Man Coverage 86; Zone Coverage 80; Jumping 91; Acceleration 93; Agility 80; Press 80.

Balanced penalty tendency, conservative play ball. Rated #24 in true talent.
Dunlap was predicted to go in the 7th round and had 7th round talent. I decided to take him in the 4th because of his skill set. There were very few corners who were any good in this draft class and I managed to get a 1st round talent out of this one. He will step in to start aside Morris Claiborne on day 1 as a starter. The quick development helps too. He will need to focus on zone coverage to be a great cornerback.


5(129) LG Ecford Simon: 23 years old, 6’4”, 314 lbs, Connecticut, balanced. Rated 78 overall (normal).

Strength 91; Run Blocking 89; Pass Blocking 77; Impact Blocking 84; Awareness 55.

Balanced penalty tendency. Rated #35 in true talent.
The solid picks continue to roll in. He can find an immediate spot on our offensive line from day 1. His Awareness, like many others, will need to improve to help the overall play of our offensive line.


5(134) WR RaShawn Beck: 22 years old, 6’2”, 209 lbs, Kentucky, possession receiver. Rated 72 overall (quick).

Speed 87; Route Running 82; Catching 83; Acceleration 90; Catch in Traffic 85; Spectacular Catch 73; Jumping 92; Agility 88.

Rated #88 in true talent.
I had been eyeing him since early season. He comes in with quick development and could one day develop into a receiver to play opposite Walker Paige-Moss. I will focus on route running and catching with him to turn him into a true move the chains receiver.


6(161) RG Roman Dickson: 21 years old, 6’4”, 315 lbs, Delaware State, zone blocker. Rated 74 overall (normal).

Strength 82, Run Blocking 86, Pass Blocking 79, Impact Blocking 80; Awareness 56.

Balanced penalty tendency. Rated #65 in true talent.
He can provide some nice depth for us on the offensive line. I would have liked to see him have higher strength. He potentially can fill in anywhere on the inside of the offensive line given some time to develop. A decent overall will let him see some playing time early to help him develop.


7 (191) DT Stuart Lyons: 22 years old, 6’3”, 292 lbs, Florida State, pass rusher. Rated 71 overall (normal).

Strength 85; Tackle 74; Block Shedding 72; Power Moves 76; Speed 73; Acceleration 81.

Big hitter, disciplined penalty tendency. Rated #98 in true talent.
Not too bad a pick for the 7th round with no scouting done on him. He had a decent combine line so I decided to give him a shot and I am glad I did. He will provide some nice depth behind Leonard Williams and Sheldon Richardson on the defensive line. With decent acceleration and power moves, he can help anywhere on our defensive line.


Overall Draft Assessment:

This draft was phenomenal for us. Not much other way to put it. We got 3 first round picks and the quarterback we wanted. Not to mention a few gems in the later rounds. I had a plan and I stuck to it. Only 1 player I drafted was not initially targeted by me and drafted blindly and that was 7th round pick DT Stuart Lyons, which worked out for us.
In total, we came into the draft with 10 picks and made 11 picks, as well as 6 trades. We only traded down to acquire more picks in this draft and for the next draft. We now currently have 16 picks for the 2019 NFL Draft next year.


Stay tuned for the start of the 2018 NFL Preseason!

Thanks for reading!

[Funkycorm]

2018 Preseason

Overall Team Rating: 77
This is up from 73 at the end of last season.

Games:

Week 1: vs. Titans W 28-18
Week 2: vs. Packers W 25-15
Week 3: @Cowboys W 29-16
Week 4: @Chiefs L 16-24

Finishing 3-1 in the preseason is nice compared to the 0-4 preseason from a year ago.


Position Changes:

James Carpenter: changed from LG to C
Brian Winters: changed from RG to RT
Bruce Carter: changed from MLB to ROLB


Signings (all undrafted rookies):

FB CJ Gordon (71): 1 year/$600K
WR Vincent Maxwell (76-quick): 1 year/$2.81M. He is a speed receiver that will play in the slot and can be a speed threat on the outside.
TE Sherrod Swinton (71): 1 year/$940K
LE Dion Doyle (73): 1 year/$1.17M


Cuts:

LE Lawrence Thomas (66), HB Kelvin Taylor (68), FB Julian Howsare (67), WR Charone Peake (66), TE Brian Parker (66), C Demetrius Rhaney (69), RT Tyler Johnstone (65), RT Brent Qvale (71), LE Terence Fede (71), DT Steve McLendon (76), CB Darryl Roberts (68), K Robert Aguayo (71), WR Jalin Marshall (71), WR Devin Smith (71), RT Brandon Shell (73), LT Ben Ijalana (70)

As can be seen, I released some players that played most of last year. Most notable is Steve McLendon and return man Jalin Marshall. With the change of Leonard Williams to DT, McLendon was expendable. With the signing and drafting of receivers, Marshall was the odd man out especially with Darion Banta-Cain becoming our return man.


Practice Squad:

Already on team and just signed to Practice Squad: HB Elijah McGuire (70), TE Sherrod Swinton (71), CB Cameron Sutton (70), WR Chad Williams (72), WR Chris Hansen (70)

Signed directly to Practice Squad from Free Agency: RT Joseph Stevens (70), LE Tyrus Ingersoll (72), DT Joseph Bradfield (71), CB Lamar Doyle (70), QB Cameron Frank (66)


Trades:

We made 2 trades this preseason to get something for players we were going to cut anyway.

We traded ROLB Lorenzo Mauldin IV (74) to San Francisco to a ’20 7th round pick.
We Traded C Jonotthan Harrison (75) to Chicago for a ’20 7th round pick.


Former Jets Players Signed Elsewhere During Preseason:

Josh McCown: Buffalo Bills
Brandon Shell: Chicago Bears
Austin Sefarian-Jenkins: Los Angeles Chargers
Dakota Dozier: Carolina Panthers
Jeff Adams: Cincinnati Bengals

Stay tuned for roster coverage!

Thanks for reading!