Jets Draft Predictions

Making predictions about the NFL Draft is a foolish thing to do. Each pick alters the strategy of the 31 other teams. There have been numerous rumors over the last few weeks, but nobody really knows which are true and which are fake.

With that in mind, here are five predictions I have for the Jets and the Draft in general.

1. Paxton Lynch will not be available with the 20th pick.

The trade ups by the Rams and the Eagles made it much less likely Lynch would be available for the Jets without trading up. Why? It took two teams out of the "maybe drafting a quarterback" column and put them into the "definitely drafting a quarterback" column. Before the Draft, there was a chance Jared Goff or Carson Wentz could have fallen into the 7-8 range. That would have pushed Lynch down. Now if anybody picking between 3 and 19 wants a quarterback, it will likely be Lynch.

2. If I am wrong, the Jets will pick Lynch at 20.

The Jets seem to have real interest and need a long-term solution at the quarterback position. They brought Lynch in for a visit. They sent a big delegation to his pro day. Right or wrong, there is a pretty good chance Lynch is their guy at 20 if still available.

3. The Jets will trade down at some point on day two.

The Jets have traded two of their late round selections. One pick went to Denver for Ryan Clady. Another is going to Houston to complete the Ryan Fitzpatrick trade. The Jets do not have a pick in the fifth or sixth rounds. There have been many allusions to the idea Mike Maccagnan ideally wants a lot of picks. I am not sure how likely a trade down in the first round is. This year's Draft might not be one where there is a player teams are going to want to trade up to 20 to get. The most likely player would be Lynch, but he is a plausible Jets pick. Last year in the same spot, the Jets traded down in the third round to pick up extra selections. I see something similar happening.

4. At least four quarterbacks will be chosen in the first round.

We already know the first two picks will be quarterbacks. That means just 2 of the next 30 picks need to be quarterbacks to make this one come true. Some teams have very different valuations of players than the general public. I am making an educated guess that some team out there really likes a player out of the Christian Hackenberg/Connor Cook/Cardale Jones tier.

5. Muhammad Wilkerson will not be traded during the Draft.

The mechanics of pulling off a deal would just be too difficult unless they were worked out beforehand. Wilkerson has not even signed his contract, making it unlikely a deal could be pulled with somebody on the clock.