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You may have noticed in the middle of the New York Jets versus Carolina Panthers preseason game “Thank You Bill” was trending on social media.
That was thanks to a random group of Jets fans who started to jokingly [or maybe not] poke fun at former NFL head coach Bill Belichick.
He was asked on “The Pat McAfee Show” in April if he tried to screw the Jets during the 2023 NFL draft.
The Jets held the No. 15 overall pick and the New England Patriots held the No. 14 overall pick. The Patriots ended up trading that selection to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“According to NFL executives who spoke with The Washington Post under the condition of anonymity, the Jets were targeting Georgia offensive tackle Broderick Jones with the 15th overall pick, and the Patriots, who picked at No. 14 right ahead of them, knew that. So New England general manager and head coach Bill Belichick executed a trade with the Steelers to help them leapfrog the Jets and take Jones for themselves. Belichick asked for just a fourth-round pick to exchange picks with Pittsburgh and some around the league believe he took a lesser return for the team’s original pick just so someone would take Jones before the Jets did,” Stephen Thompson of Sports Illustrated revealed.
Belichick responding to a question about whether he tried to screw the Jets said, “I would say we weren’t heartbroken that had happened.”
How the Turntables Have Turned…
The Jets were the butt of a lot of jokes last offseason because one of the concessions of the Aaron Rodgers trade was swapping from pick No. 13 to pick No. 15 with the Green Bay Packers.
It seemed harmless at the time, but it came back to bite the Jets in the tuchus on draft night. That is if you believe Jones was really their target.
With the Jets seemingly caught off guard by getting sniped by the Steelers, the team pivoted to grabbing pass rusher Will McDonald.
New York caught some flak for that selection because of the positional value considering what they already had on the team and whether or not McDonald was worth that pick in the first place.
The former Iowa State product didn’t exactly shut people up during his rookie season. He finished with only three sacks and participated in just 19% of the defensive snaps.
However offensive tackle Broderick Jones was in the headlines on Saturday, August 17 for all of the wrong reasons.
The Pittsburgh Steelers tackle was going through some growing pains during a preseason contest against the Buffalo Bills.
Alex Kozora of Steelers Depot posted a five-second clip with the caption, “Broderick Jones. Oh no.”
Jones immediately got thrown out of the club by Bills defensive lineman Gregory Rousseau.
“ITS ONLY THE PRESEASON. But how does Broderick Jones look this BAD,” Steelers radio host Andrew Fillipponi asked openly on social media.
“Broderick Jones’ hands are a mess. Too high, no power on his punch,” Kozora added. He even called for him to be benched for the rest of the preseason game against Buffalo.
College sports writer Josh Yourish said, “Are we sure Broderick Jones is an NFL tackle?”
Will McDonald Makes His Presence Known in Jets Preseason Game
Jones collapsing and looking bad would have been enough for the “Thank You Bill” tweets to have some legs.
However, it was the combination of his failure and McDonald’s rise on the same night that made things so perfect.
The Jets’ official X previously Twitter account posted the 17-second highlight of McDonald unleashing his spin move to record a sack against the Panthers.
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