Throughout the offseason, NewYorkJets.com reporters Eric Allen, Ethan Greenberg, Randy Lange and Caroline Hendershot will give their responses to a series of questions regarding the Jets.
Today's question: What are your thoughts on the Jets roster ahead of the 2025 NFL Draft?
EA: Let youth be served. With the recent addition of veteran WR Josh Reynolds, 30, the Jets have five players on their roster 30-plus years old. Take it a step further and three specialists – LS Thomas Hennessy, 30, K Greg Zeurlein, 37, and P Thomas Morstead, 39 – account for three of those five slots. The Jets signed P Austin McNamara, 24, to compete and they could add another kicker. The ageless Tyrod Taylor, 35, may back up Justin Fields this season and you want some veteran moxie in the QB room. We'll see how it all shakes out come September, but the Jets will likely go into the season with one of the NFL's youngest rosters. As we approach the NFL Draft next month, I'm curious to see how the Jets attack several positions. With the addition of Fields, will the Green & White select a developmental passer and how early? Chukwuma Okorafor could battle for the RT spot, but the Jets could go tackle early (Will Campbell or Armand Membou are popular names) or perhaps TE with Penn State's Tyler Warren. The Jets also made moves at WR, DT and S in free agency, but I think additions in those spots make sense if value and need intersect.
EG: I think the Jets have positioned themselves well to not be pigeonholed into taking a need at No. 7 overall in the draft. Could I see the team adding a tackle to compete for the starting job at right tackle? Sure, and the same goes for other positions like safety and tight end. But if GM Darren Mougey decides to draft a player at either of those positions, I don't think it will be out of need. Missouri T Armand Membou and LSU T Will Campbell are worthy of being top selections as is Penn State TE Tyler Warren and Georgia S Malaki Starks. I think Mougey, in his first offseason as GM, targeted young players with intriguing traits without mortgaging the future in terms of the salary cap. Making a big splash in free agency can be a dangerous game and the Jets did not play it. They added quality starters, competition across the board and are, as a result, in a favorable spot with the draft less than a month away.
RL: GM Darren Mougey, HC Aaron Glenn and their staffs have given themselves flexibility to start building the team they want. For instance, by adding Justin Fields to the QB room along with Tyrod Taylor, they could still take their "QB of the future" if he's there for them in Round 1, but they don't have to reach this year if the value isn't there when they draft. On the O-line, they could be in the market for the big body who can play RT "for the next 10 years," but they theoretically could field a fresh starting five after adding Josh Myers to the interior mix on a line that already includes Olu Fashanu, John Simpson, Joe Tippmann and Alijah Vera Tucker. On the D-line, they might desire the monster run-stuffer and pocket-pounder to line up inside next to Quinnen Williams, but with the signings of Derrick Nnadi, Byron Cowart and Jay Tufele, they have experience, youth and competition at that spot in case that beast proves elusive on Day 1one. Does this mean the Jets are set at most positions? No, but it looks to me as if the Jets have set themselves up to let the draft come to them and take best available, be that QB, RT, DL, WR, TE or DB.
CH: I am excited about the Jets roster a month out from the draft but still feel like Darren Mougey and Aaron Glenn are nowhere near finished rounding out the roster. The offense has been shaping up to be more complete with the additions of QB Justin Fields, WR Josh Reynolds and T Chukwuma Okorafor. I think they still need to attack the defense and will do so through the draft. While they signed CB Brandon Stephens, S Andre Cisco and DT Derrick Nnadi, among others, I think they could still target those positions in the draft.
