Three Years On

Edition #1075: It's often said that it takes three years to properly judge a draft class, so three years on from the 2023 draft, how did the Jets do?

Good Morning ☕

I think we all need a quick breather from the 2026 NFL draft and looking at prospects. Lying season is in full flow. Are the Jets sold on David Bailey? According to the national media they are and the markets have moved based on those reports with David Bailey gaining nearly 30 percentage points this week, although in most markets Arvell Reese is still the favourite.

After spending so much time looking forward, I wanted to spent today looking backwards at the 2023 Jets draft class. If it takes three years to judge a class, we should be ready to hand down a grade.

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NEWS & NOTES 🗞️

• ESPN’s Jordan Reid thinks the Jets may end up making three picks in the first round with none of them being a QB:

  • “With three picks inside the top 33, the Jets will take a true best-player-available approach, but don’t be surprised if they end Round 1 with three picks … using none of them on a QB. The Jets are expected to be aggressive in boosting their wide receivers room, and Omar Cooper Jr. (Indiana) is one player they are reported to be extremely high on. They view him as an ideal complementary WR2 to Garrett Wilson,”

• Alex Anzalone didn’t end up joining his former coach in New York as many expected but he had nothing but good things to say about Aaron Glenn when he joined the Schultz Report show:

  • “Obviously, I’m very close with him,” Anzalone said to Schultz. “He’s been through a tough situation there and it’s similar to how Detroit was and that turnaround took a few years to do. You know, they have a leader of men and they have a guy that’s serious about football and truly cares about his players and he’s the guy that can get it done and turn it around.”

• Rich Cimini spoke about the rumours surrounding the Jets and moving Breece Hall on draft day. He said it’s a question worth examining because they almost moved him at the trade deadline, but everything their saying suggests they want him here.

• It’s been a while since we updated the old visit tracker ahead of the draft, so let’s take another look:

  • Top 30

    • Jackson Kuwatch (LB, Miami of Ohio)

    • Jordan van den Berg (DT, Georgia Tech)

    • Cyrus Allen (WR, Cincinnati)

    • Chris Bell (WR, Louisville)

    • Sonny Styles (LB, Ohio State)

    • David Bailey (DE, Texas Tech)

    • Makai Lemon (WR, USC)

    • Behren Morton (QB, Texas Tech)

    • Zion Young (DE, Missouri)

    • Trebor Pena (WR, Penn State)

    • Nick Singleton (RB, Penn State)

    • Arvell Reese (LB, Ohio State)

    • Tyree West (DE, Tennessee)

    • Khalil Jacobs (LB, Missouri)

    • Kaelon Black (RB, Indiana)

• Eric Endholm released his new prospect ranking breakdown and there were some interesting movers, including Arvell Reese being names as the best player in the draft, above Fernando Mendoza who will go #1 overall:

  • “Ohio State didn’t ask Reese to do a lot of what he could be asked to do at the NFL level: rush the passer. His talent is immense, but it is imperative that the 20-year-old’s next team has a plan for him”

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2023 🟢⚪🗽

Sometimes in sports media things move so far we never take a moment to look back, for many media outlets that’s seen as a good thing, writers spend so much of the off-season battling for clicks, they’re probably quite happy that unlike in so many professions around the world, the accuracy of their reporting is never put under the spotlight.

I don’t think you should ever hand out grades immediately after the draft, but that doesn’t stop outlets from doing just that.

Looking back at the 2023 draft, here are some of the things said about the Jets draft class that included the following players:

Iowa State edge Will McDonald IV (No. 15 overall)
Wisconsin C Joe Tippmann (No. 43)
Pittsburgh OT Carter Warren (No. 120)
Pittsburgh RB Israel Abanikanda (No. 143)
Western Michigan LB Zaire Barnes (No. 184)
LSU CB Jarrick Bernard-Converse (No. 204)
Old Dominion TE Zack Kuntz (No. 220)