Getty San Francisco 49ers pass rusher Samson Ebukam walking off the football field after a tough game.
The New York Jets need to totally hit the reset button this offseason.
With so many different roster needs, the green and white are going to have to use every resource at their disposal to close the gap.
One unique way that they can do that is by looking through their past to help fix their future.
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A Very Creative Path to Relevance
On a new episode of the Badlands podcast, co-hosts Joe Caporoso and Connor Rogers went through a litany of potential trades the Jets could make this offseason.
One that made a lot of sense featured head coach Robert Saleh going to his last stop with the San Francisco 49ers to help bring an under-the-radar piece to the green and white.
“I am highly intrigued by this guy, Samson Ebukam of the 49ers, formerly of the Los Angeles Rams,” Rogers on a potential trade the Jets could pull off in 2022. “I wrote here [in my notes] he could be had for a day three pick. Now you’re probably thinking why the hell would San Francisco trade a guy like this for a day three pick? Well, they’re in a very tight cap situation and they have pass rush talent. They need to find ways to clear money, they just have to do so. Maybe this is a name that they think they can get a pick back for.”
The 26-year-old (will be 27 by the start of the 2022 season) was born in Nigeria and moved to the United States when he was nine years old.
Coming out of college he only received a handful of offers but selected Eastern Washington. That is where you started to see some of the flashes of what Ebukam could become:
- 24 sacks
- 44 tackles for loss
- Over 188 combined tackles
LB Samson Ebukam 💪 Eastern Washington Highlights #NFLDraft #RamsDraft
Despite those impressive stats the talented defender wasn’t invited to the NFL combine and ended up falling all the way to the fourth round as the No. 125 overall pick in 2017.
Ebukam quickly found a role in the pros as a situational pass rusher and racked up 18.5 sacks in five years.
Those numbers would be impressive on their own, but when you look at the advanced metrics they stand out even more. Ebukam notched those stats by only averaging 505.4 snaps per season and has never played more than 69 percent of the snaps in any single season.
In other words, there is so much untapped potential beneath the surface that the Jets could bet on with their proven defensive schemes.
If you’re the Jets “you’re projecting him breaking out” looking forward, says Rogers.
🚨 New Badlands! 🚨
@ConnorJRogers and I discuss veteran trade targets for the #Jets this offseason, including an underrated pass rusher from Robert Saleh’s former team…
“This would be the Vinny Curry move for the Jets. Carl Lawson will be your No. 1 and your No. 2 will be a draft pick or addition during free agency. Ebukam would be the ideal No. 3 in this rotation. Do you remember all those years of Shaq Barrett in Denver where we said man if he wasn’t playing behind Von Miller and DeMarcus Ware he would be a star? A lot of people normally project that wrong, but when Barrett went to Tampa Bay he became a star. I’m not saying Ebukam is guaranteed to do that but he is that new Shaq Barrett where you say man there might be something here.”
Rogers later admitted that fans may initially raise an eyebrow if this move were to happen, but said a year from now they’ll say to themselves “that was a George Fant kind of move where you’re a year early rather than a year late and you got more out of a guy than any other team has at a good price.”
A Worthwhile Gamble for Gang Green
The Jets need more EDGE rushers, that isn’t breaking any news and this would be a creative way to add an intriguing dart throw to the mix.
Ebukam’s apparent trade value is a day three pick (rounds four through seven). Fortunately Gang Green is overflowing with capital owning three picks on the third day of the draft:
- No. 108 (fourth round)
- No. 114 (fourth round)
- No. 144 (fifth round)
- No. 159 (fifth round)
The Jets have to hit home runs with their early picks, that is expected, but to truly be great they have to find hits in the other rounds too.
They were able to successfully pull that off in the 2021 NFL draft and now it’s time for an encore performance. Just because you have an insert amount of draft picks that doesn’t mean you have to use all of them on draft day.
General manager Joe Douglas can and should kick every tire and try to find potential proven veterans or players with upside that can be had for day three picks.
Everything you do has some level of risk to it. There are varying factors in every decision that could lead to things going in the right or the wrong direction. Although one thing you can trust is availability.
On top of the talent, Ebukam has never missed a game in his NFL career going 81-for-81 including 46 invaluable starts. That is something worth betting on this offseason.
Ebukam has one year left on his contract through 2022 at a base salary of $5.9 million.
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