I was talking to a friend of mine about the 2011 draft yesterday and it got me thinking who the Jets would take. Then I started looking at it as a whole and asked myself the question, will we take any offensive players this year? and should we take any offensive players this year?
We have a 1st, a 2nd, a 4th, a 5th, a 6th and two 7's. Our 3rd being sent to San Diego for Antonio Cromartie and we have a seventh round one coming back from Arizona for the Kerry Rhodes trade. So we have 7 selections in the draft and we need (not taking trades into consideration), 2 safeties, 1 outside linebacker and 2 defensive lineman. I wouldn't mind us picking up another cornerback and moving Lowery to safety, as well as a back-up inside linebacker as well.
Do we need an offensive player in this draft? I guess it depends which players we keep on and which players we just can not afford to keep. Can we keep Santonio and Braylon? and if not do we spend a high pick on a WR or wait until the 4th round to get a Jordan Shipley type of guy.
I think what has become obvious this year is that Brodney Pool and Eric Smith are simply not good enough to be an every down safety on a championship team, especially when playing in the same division as the Patriots who utilize their TE's better than most teams in the league. Teams can work over the middle and wide receivers and tight ends know they can have success there.
The problem for me comes with the players available at the positions of need. We have two glaring needs in this team, a pass rusher who can win his match-up and get to the QB and a free safety who can cover and tackle. One player I really like in this draft is the very versatile Allen Bailey from Miami.
One player that I would love to have on this team next year is FS Deunta Williams from UNC. He's had a much quieter year this year which may allow him to drop a little bit, but he had 6 interceptions in 2010, and I remember him as a guy who can hit, tackle and cover wit pace and good hands. He missed 3 of the first 4 games this year and that seems to have put him back a little bit, but I really believe that this guy is a terrific player.
He is know for being a smart player and he can certainly deliver a hit when required.
We'll be covering the draft more in depth after the season as usual, but just thought I would post this little snippet up just to ask if there are any players you are keeping your eyes on, with so many bowl games coming up, it's a great time to see some of these potential Jets in action.