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The first round is here and gone and what a ride! I had no idea what the Jets were going to do at #18 but we walked away with a blue-chip safety and we are set up nicely for the rest of the draft. Idzik did his BPA thing in Round 1, and I think we'll continue to see more of the same in the rest of the draft.
However, we've got more to be optimistic about than just defensive backfield help: the talent remaining at positions of need for the Jets is nothing short of incredible. The Jets entered this draft with serious needs at safety, WR, CB, and offensive line. All of those positions except for safety are exceptionally deep in this draft.
The safety position was very kind to the Jets. Despite only two safeties(Pryor and Clinton-Dix) receiving consensus first-round grades leading up to the draft, four were ultimately selected. After we got our pick of the litter at #18, there was a run on safeties in the latter part of the first round. This is beneficial because, obviously, every player selected between now and pick #49 that isn't a WR, CB, or O-lineman is leaving the talent pool even deeper at our positions of need.
Consider the following available players(to name just a few) :
Cyrus Kouandjio
Joel Bitonio
Xavier Su'a-Filo
Jace Amaro
Austin Sefarian-Jenkins
Marquise Lee
Jarvis Landry(a personal favorite)
Stanley Jean-Baptiste
Every one of these guys has the potential to become red-chip starters in the NFL, and you can bet that at least one will slip to the New York Football Jets on day 2. Color me excited for the rest of this draft.