Is Nolan Smith a Realistic Option?

Edition #368

Good morning! ☀️

A couple of weeks ago Daniel Jeremiah mocked Georgia edge Nolan Smith to the Jets. I’d always considered Smith to be a 3-4 OLB in the NFL considering he came in at 238 lbs at the combine, but when Jeremiah says something I tend to listen.

I went away and looked at Smith and started wondering if he could play that wide-9 alignment the Jets like to use. He’s around 15 lbs lighter than Bryce Huff, but could he be a versatile chess piece to move between linebacker and defensive end?

But first, as we do every day, it’s the quick throws. And like every other day, we have a new Aaron Rodgers report to talk about.

🧀 Another day and another Aaron Rodgers report. Adam Schefter believes the Jets and Packers haven't negotiated for weeks: "Both sides now appear to be dug in…My understanding is there hasn't been a whole lot of conversation, if any, over the last couple of weeks.” - It's not that unusual to have a gap in negotiations, especially when you have a marquee event and deadline approaching, which in this case is the draft.

🐓 Yesterday we wrote about the potential of trading for DeAndre Hopkins and hours later a report surfaced that stated the Jets were “conditionally” interested, according to Albert Breer. He went on to say: “I think the Jets are going to do everything they can to go all in around Aaron Rodgers the way, say, the Buccaneers went all in around Tom Brady over the past three years, but they’ll try and do it with some intelligent restraint like Tampa did. If the Jets can get Hopkins to work with them on the money, I could certainly see this happening.”

💲 The financial details on the Quinton Jefferson deal were released yesterday. The former Seahawk will earn $3.6M as a base with $2.75M guaranteed, with incentives included that could push this deal to $4.25M. The Jets have added four void years to this deal according to Field Yates, which minimizes the impact on the 2023 cap. Sensible.