Elite College Defender Should Be Jets’ Top Trade Target in NFL Draft

Ahmad Gardner Bearcats

Getty Cincinnati Bearcats defensive back Ahmad Gardner making a play in the middle of a college football game.

The New York Jets have a ton of assets to play with during the 2022 offseason, but the key will be the creativity and imagination in using them.

Gang Green needs to be flexible with how they maximize their advantages so they can get the most juice out of the squeeze.

One analyst provided an extremely intriguing scenario that would help both in the short and long term.

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Now That Is What I’m Talking About

Jets analyst Joe Caporoso and Connor Rogers of the Badlands podcast broke down a full buffet of Gang Green topics including a potential trade down in round one of the 2022 NFL draft:

“I’ll say one wildcard to watch out for is the Seattle first-rounder,” Rogers on a creative way to attack the cornerback spot. “If that pick is hanging in the 12 range do you look at a guy like ‘Sauce’ Gardner? He is such a good football player and you’d love the value there and then you’d have this super physical secondary.”

They also said talked about getting Ahmad Gardner out of Cincinnati in a potential trade-back scenario where you’d pick up a future asset and still get your corner.

It is still to be determined what that Seattle pick ends up becoming with one game left on the docket versus the Arizona Cardinals in Week 18.

Rogers continued to explain why he’d like the fit of Gardner on the Jets:

“Sauce could be that matchup player that sees the Mike Gesicki’s of the world, Kyle Pitts, or one of the New England tight ends. He can be that piece that travels around. Robert Saleh used to do that a bit with Fred Warner out in San Francisco.”


An Interesting Conversation

Do the Jets need a true No. 1 cornerback?

A lot of people outside of the building said they did prior to this year, the green and white rejected that notion, and it worked out beautifully.

Bryce Hall showed moments of brilliance, Brandin Echols has only gotten better with reps, and Michael Carter II is a keeper. On paper, you have your three starters and after their encouraging play in the second half of the season, it would make sense to bring the gang back in 2022.

While each corner has had some bright moments this season, there have also been a lot of bad ones mixed in.

Michael Nania of Jets X-Factor documented some of those troubles throughout the season and the point is Gang Green shouldn’t get complacent with their group.

It was supposed to be the worst in football heading into the year and it has been decent. That is better than expected, but certainly not perfect.

If the Jets can add a legit No. 1 corner, everyone on the rung will simply go down a step. That would be good news because it would increase the overall depth of the unit.

The 6-foot-3, 200-pound cornerback is an ideal fit for this Jets defense. He can easily play man or zone defense and is extremely fluid in his movements.

It’s time for the Jets to seriously consider investing in the cornerback group with one of their top assets this offseason.


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