Five Years on: The Jets 2017 Draft Class

Edition #142

Good Morning,

The sun is shining, the Rangers have tied the series 2-2 and we have some OTA’s to really dip into.

Unfortunately, I can’t attend OTA’s because I’m 3000 miles away and have a full-time job to pay the bills, but everything you hear from the media is positive. Sauce looks good, Wilson looks good, the receivers look good…it’s that time of the year where positivity reigns supreme, and why the hell not.

The great Pittsburgh Steelers coach Chuck Noll would say that it takes 5 years to completely evaluate a draft class. Considering he coached the same team from 1969 to 1991 and won 4 Super Bowls, I’m moved to listen to the man.

Why 5 years? Presumably, it’s because most rookie contracts are 4 years (first-round picks have a 5th-year option now) and a good portion of players will never get a second contract in the NFL, a lot of players don’t even make it through their rookie deal.

5 years is a good point to capture late-bloomers, players who maybe weren’t scheme fits with their drafted teams, or players who may have dealt with injuries over the course of their early career. There are several other reasons but 5 years seems to be a good starting point.

So let’s dive back into the Jets 2017 draft class and see how that stacks up for Gang Green. Just a reminder that back in 2017 Mike Maccagnan was the GM, Todd Bowles was the head coach, John Morton was the offensive coordinator and Kacy Rodgers was the defensive coordinator.

The Jets had finished 5-11 in the 2016 season giving them the 6th overall pick.

Pick #6 - Jamal Adams - Safety - LSU

Adams has become a little bit of a target for Jets fans considering his decline in Seattle and the way he forced a move out of New York.

Jamal wanted to win (apparently) and now he finds himself on a mediocre team with poor QB play, which sounds pretty familiar.

Before Jamal started throwing his toys out of the pram, he was highly regarded. He was named a team captain in his second year with the team and his performances netted him Pro Bowl selections in both 2018 and 2019 as a member of the Jets.

A lot has been made about his inability to play coverage, but he had 2 interceptions and 19 pass defenses with the Jets between 2018-2019, props to Bowles.

Adams was a great box safety, his actions to force his way out of NY don’t change that, but he hasn’t managed to maintain those performances in Seattle. He failed to record a single sack for the first time in his career last year, which is a big deal for a player who’s in the box so much.

His grades have consistently fallen according to PFF and he missed the Pro Bowl last year for the first time since his rookie campaign.

But, Adams did net the Jets two first-round picks which have gone a long way to building the current team we’re so excited about. Christian McCaffrey, Deshaun Watson, Pat Mahomes, Marshon Lattimore, and Marlon Humphrey are guys that went in the 10 picks following Jamal.

Pick #39 - Marcus Maye - Safety - Florida

Spending your first two picks in the draft on the same position group, a position group that isn’t regarded as a premium one is a bold strategy.

I’ve always been a fan of Maye, and it was a shame for him and the Jets that his 2021 season was disrupted by injury.

He had an injury-hit 2018 season where he played just 6 games, and last year he managed just 6 games before being shut down after tearing his Achilles in week 9.

Maye was always a good player who sometimes flashed the potential to be a great one, but heading into year 6 he’s still not made the pro-bowl or all-pro selection.

After placing the franchise tag on him in 2020 and then losing him to injury, it was always likely that he was going to end up elsewhere, and that’s exactly what happened when he signed a three-year $28 million deal with the Saints.

If he is fully recovered from his Achilles injury in 2022, I think he’ll do well in that aggressive New Orleans defense and unlike Adams, I actually wish him the very best.

He gave the Jets 5 years of service playing 40 games. He recorded 205 tackles, 1 sack, 5 interceptions, and 16 pass defenses to go with 6 forced fumbles.

Curtis Samuel, Dalvin Cook, Marcus Williams, and Joe Mixon were players taken in the 10 picks after Maye.

Pick #79 - ArDarius Stewart - Wide Receiver - Alabama

Oh boy, here’s where we get into some of the fun picks from the Mike Maccagnan era.

Whenever the Jets make a pick that I’m not sure about I talk myself into it by simply saying that they get paid to do this. They have analytics and insight that I/We can never dream to obtain, and that’s what I had to do with Stewart.

Stewart was never dominant at Alabama, his final year he put up 54 receptions for 864 yards and 9 touchdowns, but he wasn’t very big, he wasn’t very fast and he wasn’t very explosive.

Nonetheless, the Jets decided to grab him in the third round, by October 2018 he was off the team having been released.

During his rookie year, he caught just 6 passes for 85 yards struggling to gain any chemistry and failing to get open. He was then suspended for the first two games of the 2018 regular season for violating the NFL policy on performance-enhancing substances.

Fast forward to 2022 and he hasn’t caught another pass in the NFL. He spent some time with the Oakland Raiders and Washington Commanders before heading up to Canada with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

He’s currently trying to make a comeback with the BC Lions of the CFL but having not caught a ball since 2017, I’m not sure of his chances. Maybe he’s just a very very late bloomer, needless to say, this pick was a disaster.

Chris Godwin was taken by Tampa Bay 5 picks after Stewart and Kareem Hunt went #86 to the Chiefs.

Pick #141 - Chad Hansen - Wide Receiver - California

This is just getting painful now. The Jets decided to double-dip into the wide receiver class and they failed with both selections.

Hansen didn’t even make it to year two, being released after his rookie campaign in 2017 where he caught 9 passes for 94 yards.

The one thing you can say for Hansen is that he never gave up, after spending time with the Patriots, Titans, Broncos, and Saints he popped up in Houston with 17 catches for 236 yards in 2020.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t sustain that momentum and he’s been waived by both the Lions and Falcons since and is currently without a team.

George Kittle was taken 5 picks later, which makes this selection even more painful. The worst part is the Jets were in the market for a TE and they took Hansen, we know that because of the next pick.

Pick #150 - Jordan Leggett - Tight End - Clemson

I remember there being some real optimism around the selection of Jordan Leggett at the time, he was a big body who moved pretty well for his size.

His 7 receptions for 95 yards against Alabama in the 2017 College Football Playoff National Championship didn’t hurt either.

Like the receivers who came before him, Leggett’s Jets career was over before it really started. With Austin Seferian-Jenkins serving a 2 game ban he was on course to start the season in 2017, but a knee injury sustained forced him to miss his entire rookie season.

In 2018 he appeared in 15 games with 4 starts and picked up just 14 receptions for 114 yards and 1 touchdown, he didn’t look completely healed from his knee injury and his movement looked more robotic than it had done while he was at Clemson.

In May 2019 the Jets decided to waive Leggett. His career lasted just 15 games. He did spend time with Tampa Bay and Denver but didn’t record another catch, Leggett wasn’t on any roster during the 2021 season, and his still a FA now.

Pick #181 - Dylan Donahue - Defensive End - West Georgia

If Leggett’s career with the Jets was short, Donahue’s was even shorter. He recorded 5 tackles in the NFL through the first four weeks of his rookie season before suffering torn elbow ligaments which ended his Jets and NFL career.

But Donahue can’t just blame the injury.

In May 2017, Donahue was fined $1000 and given a three-month suspended sentence after being arrested for drunk driving in Montana.

Then in 2018, he was again arrested for drunk driving, this time in New York and in the Lincoln Tunnel. He was caught driving the wrong way and ended up crashing into a bus.

Apparently from everything I’ve heard, Donahue just wasn’t a very likable guy, and obviously he was completely selfish and reckless in his actions. The Jets cut him in 2018 and he’s never played in the NFL again.

He did spend time with the Atlanta legends of the Alliance of American Football league, and then spent time in Winnipeg in 2020, but has not played since.

Donahue was taken one spot ahead of Aaron Jones in the 2017 draft.

Pick #188 - Elijah McGuire - Running Back - Louisiana-Lafayette

Just like with the Leggett pick after Kittle, the Jets took Donahue ahead of Jones even though they were obviously in the market for the position. Pain!

I actually quite liked McGuire, and he had a much better rookie season than anyone in this draft class not named Adams or Maye.

Over the course of his 2017 season, he had 315 rushing yards, 1 rushing TD, 17 receptions for 177 yards, and a receiving TD. The fact he had more receiving yards than the Jets’ 3rd and 4th round receivers speaks to how bad those selections were.

Unfortunately for McGuire, he ended up on injured reserve to start the 2018 season, but he still finished with 276 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns 19 receptions for 193 receiving yards, and one receiving touchdown. Not bad for a 6th-round pick.

He was cut in the final round of roster cuts before the 2019 season and has bounced around the league since. He’s spent time with the Browns, Chiefs, Cowboys and Dolphins, and while his production has been limited he did with a Super Bowl as a member of the Chiefs in 2019.

Pick #197 - Jeremy Clark - Defensive Back - Michigan

At this point in the draft, a lot of GMs are going on gut instinct, it’s safe to say Maccagnan was probably throwing darts and picking whoever it landed on.

I had to go and google to see if Clark ever played for the Jets, all I remember about Clark is that we picked him after he suffered an ACL injury in college, and then he continued to get injured throughout his time here.

According to pro football reference, Clark appeared in two NFL games, both for the Jets. One in 2017 and one in 2018. That’s the extent of his time in the pros.

You have to feel sorry for players like Clark, he could never stay healthy enough to make an impression. He already had an uphill task as a 6th-round pick.

He did play for the Seattle Dragons of the XFL before they suspended operations and he’s currently signed to the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the CFL.

Pick #204 - Derrick Jones - Defensive Back - Ole Miss

Another player that I imagine most have forgotten about, Derrick Jones played both ways for Ole Miss, as a receiver on the offensive side and as a corner on the defensive side, and it’s likely that switching between the two halted some of his development.

The Jets selected Jones in the 6th round and although he did play four times for the Jets, he never really made an impression and was waived in August 2019.

Like many others he bounced around the league, making pitstops in Green Bay, and Houston before taking his talents to the XFL with the Seattle Dragons and Team 9.

Jones is currently playing in the USFL with the New Orleans Breakers, but he was already contracted to the CFL’s Calgary Stampeders when he put his name down, which ended with Calgary releasing him.

After not playing in the NFL since 2018, the chances of him making it back are pretty slim.

Conclusion

What an absolute disaster class and a note on how not to approach the draft. I don’t know who the Jets scouts were back in 2017, but hopefully very few are still with the team. Had Adams not netted the Jets two first-round picks, this class would go down as one of the worst I’ve seen in my life as a Jets fan. Maye was a nice pick but he’s been a good NFL player and with a high second-round pick you’re looking for slightly more.

Hopefully, you ate before you read this because writing it made me feel a touch queasy.