As the 2024 NFL Draft nears, all the hardest work is behind the Jets staff. Jets general manager Joe Douglas, who started his career as an NFL scout with the Baltimore Ravens, knows this process well.
"This is a scout Super Bowl," Douglas said. "You've been, you've been working for this moment ever since May of 2023. You flip the page on last year's draft and you start working on this year's draft. It's an all-consuming thing. You're crisscrossing the country, you're gone 180 days a year and every day is different. You're talking to different coaches every day, you're seeing how different programs are run every day and you're getting such quality information. Then you have to have conviction on the guys that you really love and the guys you feel are going to come in here and stand for the right things and help the Jets win a Super Bowl. It's a really special day and special weekend for the scouts."
The work has been ongoing all offseason for the Jets coaching staff. For Douglas, a lot of work was done over during free agency to prepare for the draft. In that time the Jets acquired LT Tyron Smith, RT Morgan Moses, WR Mike Williams and others to reinforce the team's depth.
"Free agency definitely impacted [the draft pick]," Douglas said. "What you don't want is you don't want a ton of glaring holes on your roster leading into the draft so teams can lock in on you needing a specific position and trading in front of you to try to get someone that they might like that they think you're going to draft. So, I feel like we're going into this draft without any glaring holes or weaknesses on the roster that teams might look to try to get in front of us for."
The Jets enter the NFL Draft with seven selections, which includes their pick at No. 10, as it currently stands. Douglas is always open to answering the phone and seeing what teams have to offer, and he has gone through every likely scenario leading up to draft day.
"We're in a good position, I feel like we're ready for anything," Douglas said. "You know, if a lot of quarterbacks go, you know that that's great, if not a lot of quarterbacks go, we're still going to be just fine. A lot of discussions that we've had over the last couple of weeks is that we want to make Thursday, Friday and Saturday just almost surgical. Just that we know what we're doing, we've had all these discussions, and we've talked about every single scenario. Now we're letting the board follow us and we're just executing."
The job doesn't stop after the draft end, that's when the Jets will try to secure undrafted free agents who can potentially be added to the roster. Just last year, WR Xavier Gibson and WR Jason Brownlee were two UDFAs the Jets signed and made the final 53-man roster.
"I mean, that that really is the cherry on top," Douglas said of UDFAs. "I mean, that's where you really make your hay is finding undrafted free agents that can make your team. That's a special thing. The last few years our pro scouting staff and our coaches have done a really good job of recruiting these guys here after the draft. We've had guys that come in and really help us, you know, Bryce Huff, Xavier Gibson and Jason Brownlee. So, when you have a guy that's an undrafted free agent that makes your team, it's always a special thing.
Douglas and the Jets have evaluated the prospects and are ready for Thursday night 's first round.
"I think in terms of evaluations, pretty much the hay's in the barn," Douglas said. "You're just working last second talking to teams about possible trade scenarios, you're having conversations with agents, but in terms of actual player evaluations, those are pretty much done. Now we're just talking about draft day scenarios."
