So It Turns Out That on Draft Night, The Jets WEREN'T Actually Dunked On By The Patriots (For Once)
NFL CONTENT. NFL DRAFT CONTENT. WE'RE THIRSTY AF OUT HERE FOR ALL OF IT.
THANK YOU, JETS. Seriously when is football season? Can it start already? I'm so over waiting. Damn we're still like three and a half months out from Week 1. Only two months till training camp though! LFG.
OK anyway down to business. This is some awesome war room footage of the Jets. GM Joe Douglas epitomizing Hemingway's "courage is grace under pressure" adage to the letter, refusing to get flustered by all the hoopla and chaos as Gang Green prepared to go on the clock. Call him NostraDouglas actually, because he fucking called the Patriots' decision to trade out of their pick and let Pittsburgh leapfrog the Jets for Georgia left tackle Broderick Jones.
It was widely assumed that Bill Belichick cucked/emasculated/etc. the Jets for the umpteenth time. And for good reason. Everything checked out logic-wise regarding the transaction. Par for the course, because The Hoodie loves fucking over his AFC East archnemesis. Blogging legend Jerry covered this in the aftermath:
…Only that's not what actually happened! And to be clear, this is 100% NOT me taking a cheap shot at Jerry or saying that he was recklessly speculating. It seemed like such a sensible conclusion to arrive at. I can't wait for all the Jets fans to come out of the woodwork and say, "SEE!?!?! THAT WHOLE NARRATIVE WAS BULLSHIT!!" and pretend like they knew all along that it was. When literally every single sign pointed to the Patriots owning the Jets like they consistently do on the field.
Don't shoot the messenger. Just keeping it real.
Anyway, Broderick Jones was not at the top of Douglas' draft board. Jones was actually the third prospect New York was targeting with its first-round selection, behind runner-up Notre Dame tight end Michael Mayer, and their actual pick, Iowa State pass-rusher Will McDonald IV.
Joe Douglas had ice coursing through his veins. Stuck to his guns. Couldn't have appeared less bothered by New England's maneuver. He was actually laughing to himself because it ended up working out in the Jets' favor. Imagine what he was thinking when all these reports came out that New England got the better of him. Had to be taking victory laps around the office and hamming it up with Saleh.
We won't know how all these picks and draft classes shake out for a number of years, but what a relief it must be for Jets stans to realize that the Pats didn't get them on this occasion. For now.
Maybe Broderick Jones becomes the Steelers' franchise left tackle for 12 to 15 years and McDonald's wiry frame never quite translates to the NFL, relegating him to spot rotational duties at best. Who's to say? McDonald has some of the most unique bend around the edge I've seen in recent years, so I feel like he'll succeed. It's just gonna be hard to compete with 2022 first-rounder Jermaine Johnson, John Franklin-Myers and Carl Lawson for snaps in the immediate future.
HOOH. That was fun. I miss the draft. ICYMI, I broke down the Bengals on the live show.
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Let's get to football season already, because I'd love to see Belichick get all big-headed about dominating the Jets, only for AARON RODGERS — yeah, he's their new quarterback! — to serve him a slice of that famous Patriot Way humble pie.
Twitter @MattFitz_gerald/TikTok