At the end of the night, after the first round concluded, New York Jets general manager Joe Douglas met with the media.
Right before the presser wrapped up, Connor Hughes of The Athletic asked JD if there was a player he had rated similarly to Elijah Moore who he stole with the No. 34 overall pick in the second round in last year’s draft?
.@Connor_J_Hughes brought up the Elijah Moore find in the 2nd round last year & asked #Jets GM Joe Douglas ‘if there is talent like that left on the board?’ JD got a big smile on his face & replied, ‘absolutely yeah’: 🎥 @nyjets #NFLDraft #TakeFlight
A big smile came across his face as he uttered, “absolutely yeah.”
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The Truth Shall Set You Free
All night fans and media analysts were left guessing who he could be talking about and would the Jets even have a chance to land said player?
Well, we found out who they were talking about when Gang Green traded up with their rival the New York Giants, and selected running back Breece Hall out of Iowa State.
Although it was 100 percent confirmed a short while later.
Hall was watching the 2022 NFL draft at a local hotel in Las Vegas and once he got the call that he was going to be a member of the Jets, he drove over to enjoy the moment in person.
As he was walking off stage, Hall participated in an NFL Network interview and revealed an interesting factoid to Melissa Stark:
“It is just a dream come true. Last night knowing the Jets tried to trade into the first round to come to get me and it didn’t go through so it was kind of a bummer but I am still blessed to be a Jet.”
During an on stage interview w/ @melissastark, @CycloneFB RB Breece Hall (@BreeceH) revealed that the @nyjets tried to trade back into the first round of #NFLDraft to select him. Instead they trade up in the second round & get their RB1: 🎥 @nflnetwork #TakeFlight #NFL #Jets
History in the Making
The Jets made history with three first-round draft selections, but they were this close to making even larger history.
Gang Green could’ve had four first-round picks that would’ve tied the legendary 2000 class that also had four with Chad Pennington, Shaun Ellis, John Abraham, and Anthony Becht.
Instead, they ended up with three, but seemingly got every player they were hoping for.
You should walk away from the draft knowing one thing, Douglas is a man of his word. Several months ago when the season ended he stepped up to the presser and said we are going to be aggressive this offseason to fill the voids on the roster.
The free agency money spent, the potential blockbuster trades, and the most recent example came in the 2022 NFL draft.
As revealed during the media presser on Thursday, Douglas tried to start trading up for Jermaine Johnson at the No. 15 overall pick. They called every team from that point all the way through No. 26 when they eventually landed him.
An aggressive trend.
Follow that up with this latest story with the Jets trying to move up back into the first for a running back. They failed to do that so they had to wait and get lucky and still landed him in the second.
Again Douglas continues his aggressive mindset to improve this roster and he accomplished that feat through the first two rounds of the 2022 NFL draft.
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Joe Douglas’ Jets Draft Crush Revealed During Viral Moment