The Jets at the top of day three of the NFL Draft have selected University of Miami tight end Chris Herndon with their fourth-round pick, No. 107 overall.
"It feels great," Herndon told Jets reporters on a conference call about becoming a Jet, adding that he visited New York City once when he was 10 or 11, "but I haven't been since. I know it's about to be fun."
Christopher Herndon IV (6'4", 253) was on the Hurricanes roster for all four seasons. He played little as a freshman, then increased his profile over the last three seasons, from 18 receptions to 28 as a junior when he shared the position with Cleveland Brown-to-be David Njoku to career highs of 40 catches for 477 yards and four touchdowns as a senior.
He was named to the All-ACC second team at the end of his senior season but a knee injury in Miami's final game kept him out of the Senior Bowl and limited him to the bench press at the NFL Combine.
"I feel like I'm good to go," he said of his rehabbing knee. "But it all depends on what the coaches and training staff think I can do."
For his Miami career he had 40 games (26 starts), 86 receptions, 1,048 yards (12.2 yards/catch) and seven TDs.
Meet the Jets Fourth-Round Draft Pick
In high school, he had a basketball focus until he transferred and helped Norcross HS to the Georgia 6-A state championship in 2014.
Herndon graduated last year with his degree in sociology.
He joins the Jets' TE room that currently includes Jordan Leggett, last year's fifth-round pick, Neal Sterling, Eric Tomlinson, Clive Walford — also a Miami product, acquired on waivers from Oakland — and first-year man Bucky Hodges.
Herndon is the 12th Miami player to be drafted by the Jets and the first since LBs Jonathan Vilma (Round 1) and Darrell McClover (Round 7) in 2004. S Burgess Owens (Round 1, 1973), WR Santana Moss (Round 1, 2001) and TE Glenn Dennison (Round 2, 1984) also became Jets out of the Hurricanes program.
Round 4 has been a very productive spot for the Jets over the last 20 years. Among the players that came to the Green & White from that round were T Jason Fabini (1998), WR Jerricho Cotchery (2004), S Kerry Rhodes (2005), WR Brad Smith and RB/KR Leon Washington (2006), RB/KR Joe McKnight (2010) and RB Bilal Powell (2011).
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