Value Jets Obtained In Trades Soon To Bring Daunting Tasks

Twice this century, the Jets have made five first-round picks in a two-year span. Each instances brought degrees of success, with the primary such two-fer — 2000-01 — setting the team up with a core answerable for producing playoff berths. The second instance (2021-22) supplied impact talent, but Tuesday’s trades provide a big amendment to that Joe Douglas-driven haul’s legacy.

The Jets dealing Sauce Gardner — the No. 4 overall pick within the 2022 draft — to the Colts leaves only Garrett Wilson and Jermaine Johnson as players from the 2021-22 first-round contingent signed beyond this season. In sending Quinnen Williams to the Cowboys, the Jets set themselves up for a draft redux. They may exit this season with five picks between the 2026 and ’27 first rounds.

While dealing away players like Gardner and Williams obviously injects risk into the equation for Aaron Glenn and GM Darren Mougey, this regime smartly cashed out when above-market offers got here in. It will make for some hard(er)-to-watch Jets football to shut out this season, but already being 1-7, not much can be lost here. And a mission statement now exists for the Glenn-Mougey regime, which now holds significant cap space and a draft war chest as one more Jets rebuild is on tap.

What happened when the Jets previously enjoyed this rare opportunity?

4 other franchises have made five first-round picks in a two-draft span since 2000. It is essentially not list to be on, because it includes the Browns (2017-18), Raiders (2019-20) and Dolphins (2020-21). The Vikings made seven first-round selections from 2012-14, with three coming in 2013, and that septet helped form the core for 3 Mike Zimmer-coached playoff teams. The 2000 Jets, nonetheless, are the perfect example of turning this rare opportunity into success in the fashionable NFL.