Getty Former Ohio State wide receiver Chris Olave working through some drills at the 2022 NFL Combine.
The New York Jets haven’t selected a wide receiver in the first round of the NFL draft in 21 years.
Back in 2001 the green and white selected Santana Moss with the No. 16 overall pick out of Miami. Since then, they have been in the midst of a historic drought and that is set to end in April’s draft.
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A Massive Prediction
A pair of ESPN NFL draft analysts, Jordan Reid and Matt Miller provided their top draft takeaways following the first week of free agency.
One of the top things that came out of the column was the expectation that there will be “at least” five wide receivers taken in the first round for the third straight year.
The team that is expected to start that run is the Jets with the No. 10 overall pick.
“The trend with first-round pass-catchers appears as though it’s going to continue, thanks to another strong receiver class at the top,” Reid said via ESPN. “I don’t think we’ll see a run of receivers in the top 10 like we saw last April, with Chase, Jaylen Waddle, and DeVonta Smith all going early, but they could start coming off the board fast with the Jets at No. 10 overall. This class could be more reminiscent of what we saw in 2020 when six receivers came off the board in between the Nos. 12-25.”
Let’s talk wide receivers available in this year’s NFL Draft 🤲
All in all the green and white spent over $167.5 million during the free agency period over the lengths of those deals.
Curiously none of that money was invested at the wide receiver position, outside of Braxton Berrios being brought back.
Although part of that is because the top of the free-agent market at wide receiver dried up very quickly: Chris Godwin and Davante Adams were franchise tagged before eventually agreeing to long-term deals.
While others just signed massive contracts to stay home like Mike Williams and Michael Gallup.
The rest of the market prices were way over the top, so the Jets decided to sit out instead of overpaying.
That is a fine strategy but turns up the heat considerably heading into the 2022 NFL draft.
The Most Realistic Path
With Gang Green seemingly choosing to wait until the upcoming draft to address their wide receiver needs, there are several options to choose from.
There doesn’t appear to be a consensus No. 1 wide receiver among analysts, with each player bringing their own unique skillset to the table.
The names in consideration are Drake London of USC, Garrett Wilson of Ohio State, and Treylon Burks of Arkansas.
London is the basketball player of the group that excels in contested catch situations. If you watched any of the Jets games from last season you saw that was a major point of weakness in the offense.
Burks is this athletic freak that could be used as a chess piece all over the formation drawing comparisons to Deebo Samuel. However, his athletic testing numbers underwhelmed a lot of people throughout this process and could cause him to slide on draft day.
.@ConnorJRogers mocked @RazorbackFB WR Treylon Burks (@TreylonBurks) to the #Jets in his @BleacherReport LIVE mock saying, ‘I think you use your premium draft assets to entirely help out Zach Wilson on offense’: #TakeFlight #NFLDraft #NFL
Finally, Wilson is a player that brings some speed and juice to the table which has some people thinking CeeDee Lamb. The one ability that has been praised the most is what happens once the ball gets in his hands.
If this prediction is correct that the Jets will start the run of wide receivers in the first round, then they better get it right.
If Gang Green picks wrong at the top and someone else lands a dynamic wide receiver after them, the fanbase will never forget or forgive. They need to hit a home run with this pick because it could have massive ripple effects on Zach Wilson, for better or for worse.
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