Does Xavier McKinney make sense for the Jets?

Edition #574

Good morning! ☕

We’re about to go into a period of misdirection. GMs, coaches and personnel executives may talk certain prospects up in the hope of inflating their draft stock, so keep that in mind with the first quick note today, as well as the talk of Joe Douglas loving Fuaga…although I do think there is an element of truth there.

We are really into the dead of the off-season for non-Super Bowl teams, so we’re going to keep it nice and short today.

🟣⚪ “To see him (Penix Jr) get better every single day of practice, yeah, he’s a special talent, he really is,” Jets DC Jeff Ulbrich said via MTMV Sports. “He’s a guy that I don’t want to have to play against. I think he has a bright future in this league.”

🙏 Some sad news this morning as well as ex-Jets Pro Bowler Rich Caster has died at age 75. Caster had been battling Parkinson’s. Wes Walker spoke to the NY Post about Rich who played 8 seasons with the Jets: “I remember this big, fast tight end Richie Caster,” Walker said. “He was like this prototype, tall, [6-foot-5], 260 [pounds], and he could run. I always respected him and idolized him. When I met him, him and Jerome Barkum took me under their wing. … [Caster] is this big guy, and I remember telling everybody all the time, he’s this big, huge guy, but he’s this teddy bear.

💥 Sports Illustrated’s Matt Verderame recently compiled a list of the 50 most influential NFL teams of all time. I wanted to post the entire exert about the Jets:

“In 1965, Alabama quarterback Joe Namath was selected with the No. 1 pick in the AFL draft and the No. 12 selection in the NFL draft, spurning the NFL for the riches of Sonny Werblin’s Jets, taking an eye-popping $427,000 contract.

In his fourth year with New York, Namath and a ferocious defence led the Jets to an AFL title and were 18-point underdogs to the one-loss Colts in Super Bowl III. To the shock of almost everyone—except Namath, who guaranteed they’d win the game—they won, 16–7, giving the upstart league its first victory in three tries over the established NFL.

While the 1970 AFL-NFL merger had already been agreed upon, the Jets’ victory is the most important in pro football history. The Jets showed the AFL was on par, something hammered home the following year by the ’69 Chiefs, who pummeled the Vikings—13-point favourites—in Super Bowl IV. Instead of the merger being seen as a necessary business decision that could hurt the sport from a competition standpoint, it established the AFL’s superiority over the best the NFL had to offer for the second consecutive year.

Moreover, the upset in Super Bowl III sparked additional interest in the AFL and the merger, giving a boost to a sport that was taking over the country by the late 1960s.”

🟢⚪ The vast majority of resources will be spent on the offensive side of the ball, as they should. But with the likes of Ashtyn Davis, Jordan Whitehead and Chuck Clark set to hit free agency, the Jets can’t afford to ignore the safety position entirely. There is a strong safety class set to hit FA this year, but many expect Antoine Winfield Jr to get tagged in Tampa, Kyle Dugger to get tagged in New England and maybe even Kamren Curl to get tagged in Washington. None of those are guarantees, but I think it’s almost certain that Xavier McKinney will test the open water, and I wonder if the Jets should be open to stealing him from their crosstown brothers.