The New York Jets are hours away from taking on their cross-town rival, the New York Giants, in the preseason finale.
Ahead of that matchup, ESPN’s Rich Cimini put a pair of general manager Darren Mougey’s draft picks on notice.
“Big night for WR Arian Smith and S Malachi Moore, both underperforming 2025 fourth-round picks. Still think they’ll make the 53, but they could use performances that leave no doubt,” Cimini posted.
Disappointing Starts to Their Careers
Mougey has done plenty of good during his tenure as the general manager of the Jets. Some of these day three picks aren’t his best work.
Smith, 24, entered the league as the No. 110 overall pick in the fourth round of the 2025 NFL draft. During his rookie campaign, he was a total non-factor. He finished the year with 16 targets, seven catches, 52 receiving yards, and zero touchdowns.
Moore, 24, played a lot more as a rookie than Smith did. He appeared in 17 games and made 14 starts. He finished with 101 total tackles, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, three pass deflections, and three tackles for loss. The root of his disappointment was his inability to take a starting gig this offseason.
The safety position is one of the weakest on the Jets’ roster, yet Moore has been a total non-factor in that competition. As a matter of fact, his job security could even be in question.
Danger, Will Robinson
The reason Smith and Moore should feel safe is because of the current roster construction. There isn’t a wide receiver on the roster who is capable of stealing Smith’s job. Nor is there a safety that has the juice to take it away from Moore.
However, where fear should start to creep in is next week. On Sunday, August 30, every NFL team must trim its roster from 90 or 91 players to 53 players.
The waiver wire is about to be flooded with 1000 plus players who could change the dynamic of the initial 53-man rosters across the league. Sure, the Jets might not currently have a wide receiver or safety capable of stealing a gig, but that isn’t to say one of the fish in the sea of waiver wire claims couldn’t make some noise.
For example, Dom C. of Jets X-Factor posted on X, “I just spoke about it earlier – I think that the Jets have more areas of concern than WR, but [Cedric] Tillman > Arian Smith or Tim Patrick.”
Tillman, 26, was released by the Cleveland Browns ahead of the final week of the preseason. He originally entered the NFL as the No. 74 overall pick in the third round of the 2023 NFL draft.
The former Tennessee product is listed at 6-foot-3 and weighs 215 pounds. Across his three years in the pros, he has appeared in 38 games and made 19 starts. With those opportunities, he was targeted 132 times, caught 71 receptions for 833 receiving yards, and scored five touchdowns.
That is an example of a player becoming available and forcing teams to take another look at their roster as they decide who to keep and who to let go.
Darren Mougey Draft Picks Put on Notice Hours Before Giants Game