The New York Jets seemed pretty excited to land Aaron Rodgers via their trade with the Green Bay Packers this offseason. However, a recent video has surfaced that shows their front office behaving like the Packers did in the previous few seasons before Rodgers wanted out.
Many fans were skeptical after head coach Robert Saleh said that trading the 13th pick to the Packers didn’t mean much to the Jets’ plans in the 2023 NFL Draft. People were skeptical because the Pittsburgh Steelers traded up to the 14th pick to take offensive tackle Broderick Jones. It was speculated the Jets, who needed an offensive tackle, wanted Jones and had to sit with the 15th pick and watch the Steelers take him.
The New York Jets wanted a defensive end the whole time
A new video released by the Jets of their war room during the draft shows that Jones wasn’t high on their list at 15. General manager Joe Douglas said before the Packers’ 13th pick, the Jets had Will McDonald IV as their preferred option, followed by Michael Mayer and Jones. Douglas praised the Packers for picking Lukas Van Ness and predicted a team would trade with the New England Patriots to snag Jones.
Joe literally predicted the future 😲
E2 of Flight 23: Ascension ➜ https://t.co/R9JoMgOdMe pic.twitter.com/pHelL02ATH
— New York Jets (@nyjets) May 26, 2023
Spooky how accurately most of that worked out. At least how he predicted the Steelers would get Jones. Douglas whiffed on Mayer, who would not be selected until the overall 35th pick of the draft, which was in the second round.
Aaron Rodgers was not the priority
The reason why Jones was thought to be a miss for the Jets was due to the fact the team needed help to protect Rodgers this offseason. Rodgers could have benefited from the Jets taking arguably the best tight end in the draft. However, the Jets, who already had a great defensive line, and were deep at defensive end, selected another pass rusher in the first round.
That sounds an awful lot like what the Packers did with Rodgers during his time in Green Bay. The Packers never drafted pass-catching help in the first round when he was on the team. The Packers drafted only three offensive players in the first round during his time in Green Bay, one of whom was quarterback Jordan Love. It’s funny that the Jets went with a similar drafting strategy after they had Rodgers officially on their roster.
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