Throughout the offseason, NewYorkJets.com reporters Eric Allen, Ethan Greenberg, Randy Lange, Caroline Hendershot and John Pullano will give their responses to a series of questions regarding this year's Jets.
Today's question: Which OT or WR is the best fit for the Jets in the 2024 NFL Draft?
EA: The answer lies in philosophy. If the Jets take one of the top young tackles at No. 10 overall, how much would he play in Year 1? Tyron Smith (33) and Morgan Moses (33) are starters at left tackle and right tackle, respectively. Last season, Smith started 13 games for Dallas and Moses started 14 contests in Baltimore. If you get that kind of availability in 2024, you'd need someone for seven starts, and Carter Warren and Max Mitchell are young depth options. Smith and Moses will have expiring contracts, so it might be a long-term investment to draft an offensive lineman. I doubt Joe Alt (Notre Dame) will be there after the first nine selections, but I think Olu Fashanu (Penn State), Troy Fautanu (Washington) and Tailese Fuaga (Oregon State) all make a lot of sense and are talented prospects with the right mindset. But could a receiver make more of an immediate impact in 2024? Mike Williams (30 in October), also on a one-year deal, is returning from an ACL injury and the Jets plan on having him ready to go for Week 1. This feels like a rare WR class with Marvin Harrison Jr. (Ohio State), Malik Nabers (LSU) and Rome Odunze (Washington), but I don't envision a scenario with Harrison or Nabers are there at No. 10. This is an extremely deep WR class, though, and this could factor into the equation. Aaron Rodgers makes players better and there are going to be value finds in this WR group down the line.
EG: The best fit for the Jets at OT, for this season, is someone who offers positional versatility. If the Jets were to draft someone like Oregon State's Taliese Fuaga or Washington's Troy Fautanu, they could back up both Tyron Smith and Morgan Moses as well as John Simpson and Alijah Vera-Tucker. Fuaga and Fautanu each played tackle in college, but draft experts believe they could play guard at the pro level. The Jets need depth up front and those players fit the bill especially since the Jets want to keep Vera-Tucker, who has played four of the five positions on the offensive line, at one spot in the 2024 season. Notre Dame T Joe Alt and Penn State T Olu Fashanu, who would be welcome additions to the Green & White for the long term since Smith and Moses are on one-year deals, project as tackles. At WR, Marvin Harrison Jr., Malik Nabers and Rome Odunze offer different strengths, but I don't think one makes more sense for the Jets than the other.
RL: Being greedy, I would say either Notre Dame T John Alt or Ohio State WR Marvin Harrison Jr. Being a realist and no doubt a draft cheapskate, I wouldn't want to spend high-draft-pick capital from the coming years to move up and position the Jets to take either player, especially since GM Joe Douglas & Co. have answered the immediate needs at the positions during the free agency period. So I am fairly sure, fingers crossed, that I'd be looking at WR Rome Odunze from Washington as my best-fit WR at No. 10 on April 25. Odunze was a Huskies team captain and first-team All-American with great size, ball skills, production (FBS-best and school-record 1,640 receiving yards last season) and toughness (took a bye week to rest from a broken rib and punctured lung, then returned to action). He sounds ideal to team with Garrett Wilson and tide the Jets over if Mike Williams needs a little more time to rehab his knee. And if Mike Dub is ready to roll? As Robert Saleh has been known to say about other positions around his roster:, "The more the merrier."
CH: I think that there are several offensive tackles that would fit well with the Jets, but I think that if one of the top three wide receivers falls to No. 10 the Jets will pounce. The one player that I could see falling to No. 10 is WR Rome Odunze from Washington and I think he is the perfect fit with the Jets. Odunze plays well through contact, uses his length and frame to win contested catches, and can be a red zone threat. He has the size (6-3, 216), athleticism and speed to make him a threat wherever he plays on the field, but what sets him apart to me is his mindset. Odunze played through a broken rib and punctured lung throughout the entire 2023 season. When he arrived at Washington, he looked up all of Washington's receiving records and was able to break Reggie Williams' single-season record for receiving yards. His locker room presence and leadership were also highly respected by his teammates. He would be a great fit.
JP: Jets general manager Joe Douglas addressed a majority of the team's outstanding needs in free agency, but with players who have questions surrounding their health. Much of the conversation has been about veteran LT Tyron Smith, who played 13 games last season after playing just 22 between 2020-22, and pushing the Jets should use No. 10 overall selection to bolster the tackle position behind the 33-year-old future Hall of Famer. However, with Smith coming off a second-team All-Pro selection in 2023 it is fair to believe that at his age, he has found a practice and rehab plan that works for him and keeps him on the field. I think the draft conversation should really be centered on which wide receiver is the best fit. The Jets added WR Mike Williams in free agency, but he's coming off a torn ACL he sustained in Week 3 last year. Williams said he expects to be ready sometime during training camp but a date for his return remains uncertain. With the Jets wide receiver group currently made up of Garrett Wilson (a rising star), Williams, Allen Lazard and a pair of undrafted free agents in Jason Brownlee and Xavier Gipson, it will be important for the team to add a reliable pass catcher to strengthen the group in case Williams return timeline is altered.
