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Over the weekend the New York Jets welcomed one of the top stars in the upcoming 2022 NFL draft.
Oregon Ducks pass rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux had a top-30 visit with the organization and met with some of the key decision-makers.
According to one insider, things went pretty well over the weekend between the two parties.
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Some Fantastic Insight
NFL insider and Good Morning Football co-host Peter Schrager provided some juicy inside details from that visit over the weekend:
“A very important meeting happened on Friday in Florham Park, New Jersey that was between KT and the New York Jets. That was their first in-person meeting and I heard it went awesome. Kayvon came in and was spectacular. When I say spectacular I don’t mean in the physical traits or on the board, spectacular in I’m a team guy, I want to be great, and I want to be an amazing football player. I’m not selfish and about me-me-me which is some of the fears around the league based on some of the quotes we have seen. If Travon Walker and Aidan Hutchinson are off the board, you’re sitting there at No. 4 and Thibodeaux becomes really interesting. I would just say this if they believe KT fits their culture, I would not be shocked if he ends up being the fourth overall pick.”
The Jets hold the No. 4 and No. 10 overall picks respectively in the first round of April’s draft. While there has been some speculation that KT will slide in the first round, how real that ends up being is very much up for debate.
There have been wide-ranging criticisms about KT worrying about his brand too much, how much he cares about football, and whether or not he is talented enough to warrant this lofty draft status.
Quite frankly this seems like a classic case of a prospect being in the spotlight too long and thus we’re overanalyzing things. Although with how many different sources are talking about this, you have to do your due diligence and investigate these red flags.
Perhaps a Trend Is Developing
Speaking of which, I’ll credit Joe Caporoso from the Badlands feed who brought this up on a recent podcast, but it seems like general manager Joe Douglas has an affinity for taking risks.
There have been some smokescreens thrown out this offseason on what he might do, but he runs an incredibly tight ship so you have to take everything with a grain of salt. This means we have no other choice but to look at his recent draft history to try and find a trend.
Douglas is heading into his third draft running the ship for the Jets and in the first two, he was willing to swing the bat for high upside players that had a great level of risk associated with them.
His first pick ever was Mekhi Becton who had all the traits to be a Hall of Fame-caliber player but also had arguably the lowest floor of any offensive lineman in that class based on some durability questions.
Fast forward a year later and he took a similar swing of the bat, but this time at the quarterback position with Zach Wilson. There were arguably safer players available, but he wanted to swing for the fences.
Those could be two random situations or perhaps a start of a trend.
That history indicates that he’d be willing to potentially risk it to get the biscuit on the defensive line.
Jermaine Johnson out of Florida State is viewed as a higher floor player because of his ability against the run, but analysts question his ceiling. KT may have a lower floor, but his elite first step and traits indicate a much higher ceiling.
This potential decision between JJ and KT is a microcosm of that line of thinking: will he go safe or is he feeling dangerous? Either way, it should be interesting to watch how it all plays out.
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