Jets Have a Perfect Built in Trade Down Plan for the NFL Draft

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New York Jets head coach Aaron Glenn reacting in the middle of media availability.

If things don’t go the New York Jets’ way with the No. 16 overall pick in the first round, they will have ample opportunities to trade down.

NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport pointed out the Jets, who are sitting in front of the Detroit Lions, who hold the No. 17 overall pick in the first round.

“I think it’s pretty clear that the Lions have a need, maybe a significant need, for an offensive tackle. A lot of teams know this. The Lions have said we may not take an offensive tackle, but I think it’s fair to say teams believe they will. You have several teams right behind the Lions: the Carolina Panthers, the Philadelphia Eagles, the San Francisco 49ers, and several others, who have done a lot of work on the top tackles. Do they try to jump in front of the Lions to get one of the top tackles, one of the last few top tackles available?” Rapoport explained on “The Insiders.”

“The Jets are always open to moving. That certainly seems to be a place where someone could come up and take a tackle,” Rapoport added.

The Jets Have That Position Down at Least

This scenario would likely be a last resort for the Jets. In a perfect world, one of their preferred pass catchers falls into their laps, or they execute a trade up the board.

However, if that falls through, the Jets can use this path as a fallback plan.

On the “Jets Collective” podcast, ESPN’s Rich Cimini explained that the Jets are covered at offensive tackle with Olumuyiwa Fashanu and Armand Membou.

“Starting at [pick] 10 w/ the Giants, you got [pick] 11 Miami, I think is looking offensive tackle, you could see Baltimore at [pick] 14 looking for an offensive lineman, you had Detroit at [pick] 17 … There’s going to be a run at tackles in the teens. The one position that the Jets don’t need to draft. So you make a great point, maybe a team really craves one of those tackles [and] the Jets drop down a few spots and grab a Denzel Boston, who I know they like, maybe not at [pick] 16, but maybe at [picks] 20 or 22 or somewhere in that range, and you pick up an extra pick,” Cimini said.

Looking at the Value in a Potential Trade Down

Longtime NFL draft expert Todd McShay also mentioned the Jets as an ideal trade-down candidate so teams can get ahead of Detroit during an appearance on “The Rich Eisen Show.”

One of the teams he mentioned that could be aggressive in a trade-up scenario is the Eagles, who hold the No. 23 pick.

The Jets’ No. 16 overall pick is worth 1,000 points. Philadelphia’s No. 23 overall pick is worth 760 points, per the NFL Draft value chart.

The Eagles would have to make up that 240-point difference. That is the equivalent of an early third-round pick value.

Wouldn’t this be a funny twist of fate? The Eagles have the No. 68 overall pick in the third round. If Philly swapped first-round picks with the Jets and tossed in No. 68, it would be a near-even switch.

That third-rounder originally belonged to the Jets. However, the team flipped it to the Eagles in the Haason Reddick trade a few years ago.

Now they have a chance to get that pick back from Philadelphia and restore balance to the universe.

Paul Esden Jr. covers the New York Jets for Heavy.com. A New York native, he co-hosts a morning show, “The Manchild Show with Boy Green Digital.” Before joining Heavy in 2021, Esden Jr. covered both national and New York sports for FanSided, Elite Sports NY, and The Score 1260. More about Paul Esden Jr.