Getty New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh pacing the sideline during an NFL game.
Everyone and their mother thinks the New York Jets should take an offensive lineman with the No. 13 overall pick in the first round of the 2023 NFL draft.
However, not everyone agrees on who precisely that player should be.
Alex Kay of Bleacher Report recently documented one prospect that each NFL team should “avoid” in April’s draft.
For Gang Green, he selected Georgia Football offensive tackle, Broderick Jones.
“Broderick Jones is an option the front office will surely mull over, but New York may want to pass on the Georgia tackle despite his extremely high ceiling and physical capabilities. He’s still rather raw when it comes to technique and has shown some concerning lapses on tape.
Given Gang Green is going to be in win-now mode, a more versatile talent with plug-and-play potential at several spots in the offensive trenches—Northwestern’s Peter Skoronski is the perfect example of this—would be the better choice if available.”
Not Much Has Changed With Georgia’s Broderick Jones
Coming out of high school Jones was ranked the No. 1 “most overrated five-star recruit” in the country by Ian Wharton of Bleacher Report.
Jones was criticized for being a “raw blocker” and someone that could be “exposed” at the collegiate level.
Four years later a different Bleacher Report columnist is calling Jones out for being “raw” on tape and having “lapses” on film.
The Jets expect to land Aaron Rodgers in a blockbuster trade with the Green Bay Packers this offseason. When you acquire a 39-year-old player of his talents your mentality shifts from slow-and-steady to let’s win right now.
If Gang Green is truly adopting that mindset, drafting a player that has been perceived as raw and a work in progress doesn’t seem to mesh.
Coming out of high school Jones was categorized as “more projection than guarantee.” Wharton would go on to say the reason he is more so a projection is because of “his inherent deficiencies.”
Broderick Jones Appears to Be a One-Trick Pony
The good news is Broderick Jones has exclusively played left tackle during his collegiate career at Georgia. The bad news is Broderick Jones has exclusively played on the blindside during his collegiate career at Georgia.
That is both a good and a bad thing. If the Jets need a left tackle then Jones can fill that void. However if any injuries occur and the coaching staff is forced to play musical chairs, Jones will have limited options.
In Mel Kiper Jr’s latest mock draft for ESPN, he shared that Jones has the ability to jump over to the right side. However, that move would be a projection as opposed to something you’d feel 100 percent confident in.
Gang Green already has one player on its roster that has only played on the left side throughout their NFL career (Duane Brown), do they want another one?
The only way you put yourself in that box is if you believe that Jones is that much better and/or more talented than the other offensive tackles.
According to an ESPN draft panel that featured four different experts, there was no such consensus on Jones. As a matter of fact, not a single analyst had him pegged as the best offensive tackle in this class.
However, three of the four draft analysts crowned Peter Skoronski out of Northwestern as the best offensive tackle in this class.