Just How Badly Did the Jets Win on Sunday Hurt Their NFL Draft Outlook?
The New York Jets provided a bit of relief to what has been a difficult and challenging season with a 34-27 win over the New York Giants on Sunday. While beating their crosstown rivals is always a good thing for the Jets, it comes at a cost.
Their chance at getting the top pick in April’s NFL Draft has now likely slipped away. With the win, the Jets tumbled a bit in their current draft status and might be set to slip further down the first round over the next few weeks.
Having improved their record to 2-7, the Jets currently hold the fifth pick in next spring’s NFL Draft. With a loss in Week 10, the Jets could have potentially slid to the second pick. Instead, the win means that they move back a couple of spots.
Last week, following a loss to the then winless Miami Dolphins, the Jets held the third pick.
As Week 10 comes to a close, the Cincinnati Bengals, at 0-9, have the inside track on the No. 1 pick. Losers of their last three games, Washington sits at second followed by the Giants and now Miami.
Where this hurts the Jets the most is the ability to make a move in the draft, especially with a team seeking a quarterback. Since the Jets seem set with quarterback Sam Darnold, they could move the pick if it is early enough in the first round.
Currently, Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa and Oregon’s Justin Herbert are considered the top quarterbacks in the 2020 draft class. Both are likely to be taken by the third or the fourth pick.
In preseason Tagovailoa, who won the Maxwell Award last year as the nation’s top player, was considered entrenched as the top pick of the draft. Injuries have slowed him this year but he currently has the inside track on being the first pick of the draft.
So if the Jets sit at say fifth, as they currently do, they may not be able to make a trade, accumulate picks to accelerate their rebuild, and still add either an offensive lineman or a wide receiver in the first round. Tagovailoa and Herbert may already be off the board and only a handful of teams are really looking to upgrade at quarterback.
With 1-8 Washington on the schedule next week and games still remaining against winless Cincinnati and a 2-7 Miami, the Jets could conceivably win a couple more games this season. All of which might be good for the team near-term but an uptick in the win column could further see them fall down the draft board and potentially outside the top 10 picks.
Teams with a 5-11 record picked between fifth and seventh overall last year. Teams with six wins were ordered between No. 8 – No. 12 in the first round.
All of which makes Sunday’s win over the Giants a feel good story that is likely to have consequences come the draft.
