*Updated, 12:40 a.m. ET
*The most recent event to discuss when Mike Maccagnan and Todd Bowles spoke with reporters at the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center after the NFL Draft's Round 3 tonight was the Jets' trade out of their compensatory pick at the end of Round 3 with Tampa Bay.
But the reporters hadn't spoken with the Jets GM and head coach all day. And they wanted to know about the two safeties, Jamal Adams in Round 1 and Marcus Maye in Round 2, taken to kick off the Jets' 2017 draft.
"You build a board that's value-based," Maccagnan said. "If we're going to build this through the draft with young players, then if a player who's highly rated stands apart from other players on the board, you take the best player available. There were some other players around [Maye, taken at No. 39], but we felt there was separation between him and other players. We identified him early and liked him from a football standpoint and also from a personal standpoint."
Both Maccagnan and Bowles declined to say that those two picks meant that incumbent S Calvin Pryor might be vulnerable. Bowles added that all three could be on the field at the same time.
"Yeah, we have a bunch of packages where we play three safeties at a time, or would like to. We didn't have the luxury last year," the coach said. "As we get them all in and start messing around with the pieces, that will work itself out."
Both men also sang the praises of the one third-round pick they did spend, No. 79 after a trade with Minnesota, on Alabama WR ArDarius Stewart.
"He has toughness for the ball. He's tough, he can run routes, he can run with the ball in his hands after the catch, he's a good teams player," Bowles said. "He brings a lot of attitude to that side of the ball."
Then there was the wheeling and dealing with the 107th overall pick, the last of Round 3. It was the Jets' only compensatory pick this year, and they were on the clock preparing to spend it at tonight's NFL Draft.
But this is the first year the NFL has allowed the trading of compensatories, and that's what the Jets did, trading it to Tampa Bay for two Buccaneers selections.
The first was the Bucs' fourth-round pick, 19th of the round and 125th overall. Since the Green & White traded their own four in this draft to Washington last year in order to draft T Brandon Shell, they are now back in Round 4 when the final day of the draft begins Saturday shortly after noon. And a fourth-rounder was a selection that Maccagnan was definitely interested in adding to the Jets' Day 3 roster.
The Jets also received the Bucs' sixth-round pick, No. 204 overall to complete the trade.
In keeping with Maccagnan's expressed desire to optimize the Jets' options, he grew the Jets' seven choices heading into Thursday's first round into nine picks. The Jets on Saturday now have one pick in Round 4, two in Round 5 (their own at 150 and Minnesota's at 160), two in Round 6 (191 and Tampa's 204), and one in Round 7 (224).
That 107th pick was the Jets' first compensatory pick since 2014, their 14th since 2004, and their second-highest compensatory behind the third-round choice in 2006 (97th overall) with which they selected S Eric Smith. Now it will be a part of NFL draft history as one of six compensatories that were traded tonight.
