The Jets' final pick of the 2019 NFL Draft this afternoon is cornerback Blessuan Austin from Rutgers.
Austin (6'1", 198) hails from Queens, NY. The true junior reinjured his knee in the Scarlet Knights' 2018 season opener that short-circuited his final season.
He played in 24 games In his first three seasons on the banks of the Old Raritan, with his best season coming as a true sophomore in 2016 when he totaled 43 tackles, an interception and 14 pass defenses. For his RU career Austin racked up four INTs, 18 PDs, two sacks and five tackles for loss.
See the Best Photos of the Former Rutgers Cornerback
Austin is the fourth Rutgers player drafted all-time by the Jets and the first out of RU taken since flanker Jack Emmer was selected in 1967. C Alex Kroll is the best-known Rutgers player drafted by the franchise, taken 13th overall in the 1962 AFL Draft and playing 14 games for the Titans of New York that season.
The Jets' last pick of this draft came in the trade package they and the Raiders put together six weeks ago in which G Kelechi Osemele came east to the Green & White.
One other name recognizable to Jets fans was taken with the 196th pick. That was when C Roger Duffy was plucked in the eighth round out of Penn State in the 1990 draft. Duffy went on to play in 123 games with 70 starts for the Jets.
With three trades this year, Jets GM Mike Maccagnan has executed 15 in-draft trades in his five drafts as GM.
Barring any unexpected Round 7 developments, the Jets' 2019 draft is now one for the books. Unlike in recent years, the Jets under new head coach Adam Gase will not hold a rookie minicamp. Instead, the six rookie draft choices plus undrafted free agents will participate in a rookie orientation from Thursday through Sunday, May 9-12.
Then the rookies will be integrated into Organized Team Activity practices in late May and the first half of June. And they will join the veterans for a full-squad minicamp at the Atlantic Health Training Center from June 4-6. Then all the players will get their last free time until the start of Gase's first Jets training camp starting up in late July.
