The Jets and the NFL Trade Deadline

There have been some articles written recently about the possibility of the New York Jets trading NFL Draft assets in 2023 to improve the team this year and beyond. I am actually all for that. I think there are times when you have to look at players from other teams who could benefit your situation now and in the future while giving up a premium pick in the next NFL Draft.

This is a far excursion for me as a Jets Draft analyst as I have been conditioned to want to accumulate picks for the betterment of the team rather than trade them away. So now I have to look at all trades that might make sense for the Jets. Before this year the Jets were in no position to trade future Draft picks because the team was not in a position to make a Playoff run. One very good player with a big salary is not going to help a team that lacks talent across the board. That’s what you want those high Draft picks for. Unfortunately the Jets have had poor decision makers at the GM position for years who didn’t know how to evaluate talent.

The past few Drafts have brought the Jets more talent, but the depth still remains poor; that is to be expected. You can’t transform a talent deficient team into a stacked squad immediately.

Now the team has incurred a rash of injuries to the offensive tackle position that could scuttle the season. It’s not like the offensive tackle position for the Jets has been an overwhelming. According to PFF the Jets have had a very poor performance this year. Mekhi Becton doesn’t even rate because he has not played a complete game in what will be two years. George Fant had a career year last year but is injured and ranks as one of the worst pass blocking tackles in the NFL albeit with limited snaps. Duane Brown has been only slightly better (by PFF standards which are somewhat subjective), but he is coming in from injury and has not played with his teammates until this year. AVT was graded as a guard and was inside the top 12 until he moved outside and did exceedingly well. So we understand the need to bring in the right type of player to help the team.

Trading for Laremy Tunsil, OT, Houston Texans

I understand the interest because I had Tunsil as a top five player in the 2016 NFL Draft. It was bizarre when the video surfaced of Tunsil on Draft night. That sent him plummeting down the board.

He was eventually picked with the 13th pick of the first round by the Miami Dolphins.

I would trade the Jets 2023 1st round pick in a heartbeat for Tunsil if he would agree to a contract extension. Tunsil is a left tackle who can dominate at times. He has above average movement skills with decent power at the point of attack.

This in reality is a pipe dream.

The Texans would be insane to trade Tunsil to anyone. Not only is he an ascending talent with years of play ahead of him but the Texans would incur huge dead money problems immediately so it’s not worth their time.

In part because of BOB (Bill O’Brien) and his insane team building ideas, the Texans are currently paying $73,876,327 in dead money to 42 players who are no longer with the franchise. That is an insane 35.5% of their salary cap for this year. The trade of Tunsil (who is a franchise type building block player) would add 65% of his $16,672,988 2022 salary to that total. They would also incur an additional $16,710,834 in dead money next year.

To trade Tunsil for even a top 10-Draft pick in 2023 would be foolish. Building teams trade aging vets, not 28-year-old building blocks that they already paid too much for.

The Jets also have a lot of young, undeveloped talent they could trade like Bryce Hall, Jamien Sherwood, Ashtyn Davis, Bryce Huff, Mike White, and Denzel Mims but the returns are worth less than the possible growth they could have. If someone calls with an outlandish offer then that’s great, but don’t count on it.

So while the trade talk is hot for the next few hours I don’t see the Jets moving any picks unless someone makes an offer Joe can’t refuse, or Joe gets someone fired up about a player and takes that GM to the cleaners.

That’s what I think...

What do you say?