nysports

It’s old news now, but the Jets were the big winners at the draft, pulling off a trade with the Cleveland Browns which allowed them to secure Mark Sanchez with the first round pick.  The Jets traded the 17th overall pick, their 2nd round pick, and 3 unneeded players, including Brett Ratliff, for the 5th overall pick in the draft, which they used for Sanchez.

The bottom line of the Jets post-NFL Draft is that they have a much better chance at having a franchise quarterback then they did before it. Now they still whatever minimal potential Kellen Clemens had plus the promise held by USC poster boy Mark Sanchez, the fifth overall pick and the highest selected by the Jets since Joe Namath was nabbed in 1965.

There have been 15 quarterbacks drafted in the top five since 1998. We’re tabling JaMarcus Russell as an unknown (I’m pessimistic, I confess). That leaves 14. Of those, seven have demonstrated that they are guys you could win with, assuming you count Michael Vick who did play in a conference championship game. That’s a coin flip. Plus Clemens could still pop like Drew Brees did after the Chargers drafted Philip Rivers. So the odds are now a little better than two and three that the Jets have the position covered for the next 10 years. That’s a lot better than one in four, at best, they had going in and well worth a second-round draft pick (none of the players the Jets traded wasin long-term plans given this trade).

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