My All-UDFA Defensive Line-up

Moving our attention to the other side of the ball.

☀️Good Morning,

Two more days until Christmas morning for football fans, or at least Jets fans. My brain is going into hyperdrive at the moment with all the permutations around our draft picks, but we’ll know for sure soon enough.

📽️ The Jets media team released the trailer for their “Flight 2022: New Heights” docu-series that is being released on June 16th…and it’s pretty awesome.

💯 Joe Douglas has doubled down on his belief in Zach Wilson saying that he “100 percent sees greatness” - JD’s time with the Jets will be tied to the success or failure of Zach Wilson, year two should be a good one.

😔 ESPN analysts Mel Kiper and Todd McShay combined for a 3-round mock draft and they had the Jets selecting: Sauce Gardner, Drake London, Boye Mafe, Kenneth Walker, and Bernhard Raimann - I’d be pretty disappointed.

🔥 The Athletic’s Dane Brugler did a full 7-round mock draft, with the Jets taking: Kayvon Thibodeaux, Garrett Wilson, Andrew Booth Jr, Tyler Smith, Chad Muma, Kerby Joseph, Jake Ferguson, Lecitus Smith, and Tyler Badie…sign me up.

🗣️ 49ers GM John Lynch was talking to the media and he said this on Deebo Samuel: “You just don't let guys like that walk. I can't envision a scenario where we would.”

⛔ In the meantime, NFL Network’s Cynthia Frelund suggested a trade for the Jets where they send the #10 overall pick, #35 overall pick, and Elijah Moore to the 49ers for Deebo Samuel. There have been some contenders, but that may be the worst trade idea I’ve seen this off-season. No thanks.

Yesterday I went through one player at each offensive position who is projected to be undrafted and who I thought had significant talent/upside. Today I’m turning my focus to the defensive side of the ball.

Defensive End: Luiji Vilain (Wake Forrest)

I had a couple of players in mind for this spot with Sam Okuayinonu of Maryland being the other, but I’ve seen more of Vilain so I’ve decided to go with him instead.

Vilain spent the first four years of his college career in Ann Arbour with Michigan, but after graduating with his degree in general studies he decided to transfer to Wake Forrest.

The move to Wake Forrest worked out perfectly for Vilain and I wouldn’t be shocked to see the former 4* recruit get drafted based on that 2021 season. A year in which he had 8 sacks and 9 tackles for a loss.

He doesn’t have elite size, but at 6’3 and 255lbs he isn’t a tweener either. He had long arms, big hands and his 10-yard split of 1.57 is elite, it’s just 0.01 slower than Kayvon and faster than Hutchinson, Johnson, Karlaftis, Ojabo, and many other top-rated prospects.

Defensive Tackle: Sam Roberts (North West Missouri State)

Roberts won the Cliff Harris award in 2021, which is given to the best defender outside of Division 1 football, and he was a worthy winner after recording 6.5 sacks and 18 tackles for a loss.

His production is outstanding even considering the level of competition, for his college career he has 184 tackles, 47 tackles for a loss, 18.5 sacks, 6 passes defended, and even an INT.

He’s played all over the line and may be better suited outside at EDGE in a 4-3 more than inside, but his power and get-off make him a really intriguing prospect. He’s a powder keg of power that just gets unleashed on every rep, he has a motor that is set to 100% on each and every snap.

He has NFL power but what he’ll need to do is work on is his variety of pass-rush moves, he was more powerful than everyone he played against but that won’t happen in the pros, so does he have more to his game than a dip and rip and bull rush? As a UDFA prospect he’s only of my favorite prospects out there and I think Saleh could work absolute wonders with him.

Linebacker: Chance Campbell (Ole Miss)

Campbell went from being a pretty decent player at Maryland to being one of the most productive players in the SEC after transferring to Ole Miss for his Senior Season.

He put up a stat line to be proud of in a tougher conference, recording 109 tackles, 12.5 for a loss, 6 sacks and 2 forced fumbles. I watched a fair few Ole Miss games last year and while he doesn’t pop off the screen, he was a great read and react instinctive linebacker for the Rebels.

There’s an absolute ton to like about Campbell starting with his competitiveness and toughness. He has good size at 6’2 and over 230lbs and he ran well at the combine recording a 40 yard dash of 4.57 with a 10 yard split of 1.55, that gives him an athletic profile to work with, and we know how much Joe Douglas loves these athletic guys.

He’s fast and he’s physical and while he misses a few too many tackles (17.7%), he is a player you can really work with as a late-round prospect.

Cornerback: Daron Bland (Fresno State)

This is an interesting one as we know the Jets already have interest in Daron Bland, so much so they used a top 30 visit on the Fresno State man.

Bland spent most of his college career at Sacramento State before moving on to Fresno for the 2021 season. He’s a long and athletic corner who smoothers receivers, allowing just a 41.3% completion into his coverage with 19 receptions on 46 targets.

Athletically he’s one of the quicker prospects in the draft having run a 4.46 time at the combine and while he’s not a refined corner at this point in his career, he has all the tools to be an NFL starting talent.

Over the course of his career, Bland recorded 23 pass defenses and 5 interceptions, and we know the Jets are looking to bring in more players who can flip the field and change momentum. Bland has been receiving a considerable amount of interest from a number of teams so it may be optimistic to have him going undrafted at this point.

Safety: Brenden Schooler (Texas)

You knew I wasn’t going to make it through two lists of potential draft targets and not mention a Longhorn did you?

This one is based nearly entirely on athletic profile because Schooler never really found a home in college. He was a safety and then he was a wide receiver at Oregon, he then moved to Arizona for an off-season before moving to Texas, being converted back to safety.

You’re probably thinking why I’ve got him here considering he spent 6 years in college and hasn’t recorded an INT since 2016, well athletically he’s one of the best safety prospects in the draft and I do think a part of his lack of production is based on the upheaval of his college career, both in terms of his location and his position.

While he was at Texas I saw a player who had top-end speed/range and a knack for taking the best angles to the football, that’s key for me when I look at projecting safeties, he also happened to be one of the best special team players on the team and every NFL team needs special teams.

📸 Snapshot

Jets top 5 career leaders for sacks!