Ranking Recent Jets Seventh Round Picks

It's Draft day. and we are concluding our look at Jets drafted picks over the past decade ranked by round. What better way to get ready than to talk about seventh round picks?

1. Antonio Allen, 2012

I know the odds are very much stacked against any team in the seventh round. Finding a player of any significance is extremely difficult. It is still frustrating that a player like Allen is the best the Jets have done. Allen has a decent half season of run defense as a starter to his name, but he was such a liability in coverage that the Jets tried to catch lightning in a bottle with a past his prime Ed Reed late in the 2013 season. The Jets have tried diligently to find a spot for Allen. They've tried him at safety. They've tried him at corner. They've tried him in zone. They've tried him in man. They've tried him underneath. They've tried him deep. He just sticks out as an easy target no matter what. In a different era, Allen might have been a really good player. In today's NFL a safety needs to be able to cover. Allen's deficiencies in this area really set him back.

2. Chansi Stuckey, 2007

Stuckey was at least a hot starter. After spending his rookie year on injured reserve, Stuckey caught a touchdown in his first three NFL games in 2008.  He wouldn't catch another until Week 1 of 2009, when he hauled in Mark Sanchez's first NFL touchdown pass. A few weeks later, he was sent to Cleveland as part of the Braylon Edwards trade.

3. Greg McElroy, 2011

McElroy came off the bench and engineered a game-winning touchdown drive against Arizona in 2012. A loss would have eliminated the Jets from postseason contention. The win kept them alive. That was really the only highlight of McElroy's career. Three weeks later in his only career start, he took 11 sacks in a loss to the Chargers. If McElroy had even adequate arm strength, he might have had a long career. He seemed to be able to make proper reads. He also understood his limitations and did not force balls. The problem was his limitations were so pronounced that he couldn't fit balls into normal NFL windows and took sacks instead. I'll say this. Plenty of players fail to live up to their natural ability. McElroy maxed his out. He had a wonderful college career, got to spend time in the NFL, and has that one memory against Arizona. A lot of players would take that.

4. Nate Garner, 2008

The Jets presumably saw something about Garner on film while scouting Darren McFadden in 2008. This might have been a case where they gave up on a player a tad too soon. Garner never played for the Jets, but he did start 19 games in Miami. This wasn't any great loss, but the Jets have not had much depth at all up front in recent years.

5. Trevor Reilly, 2014

Reilly had a fairly nondescript rookie season with 15 tackles and no sacks. He's already 27 years old so he'll need to start making an impact soon if he is going to climb this list.

6. Tommy Bohanon, 2013

Bohanon did not show much as a rookie. He didn't look like much of a weapon in the passing game, and he was not an effective blocker. He was hurt for most of his second season. His roster spot seems very much in doubt.

7. Jordan White, 2012

You can't blame the thought process behind taking White. The seventh round has only longshots. Despite White's physical limitations, he led the nation in receptions and receiving yards in his final college season. As a pro, he only had one reception.

8. Titus Adams, 2006

Adams was the last pick of a memorable and highly regarded 2006 Jets class. Adams was neither. He never played a down for the Jets.

9. Harry Williams, 2005

The Jets were hoping for a small school sleeper from Tuskegee. Williams never caught a pass in the NFL,.

10. Scott McKnight, 2011

McKnight gets the lowest grade because the book Collision Low Crossers went into detail talking about how lousy the process was behind this pick. Nobody on the Jets thought McKnight was draftable, but Rex Ryan made this pick. Rex was worried Mark Sanchez would be personally upset with him if the Jets did not burn a pick on his friend. Look, I get that a seventh round pick is a longshot anyway. That's no excuse to just waste a resource, no matter how small. This was a case where Rex Ryan wanting to be a player's friend came at the expense of the team. McKnight never played a down for the Jets.