2022 NFL Draft Will Make Or Break Joe Douglas' Career With Jets

New York's general manager is preparing for a pivotal draft, desperate to make the right picks to lead this team to results in 2022.

The upcoming draft will be Jets general manager Joe Douglas’ defining moment at the helm.

Hired in June of 2019, Douglas has had nearly three full years to make this his team.

The results have been 7-9 (2019), 2-14 (2020) and 4-13 (2021).

That is the bottom line.

Unless Douglas pulls a rabbit out of his hat in the draft, the sand in the hourglass of his tenure in New York may very well be running out.

New York has two first round, two second- round, a third-round, two fourth-round and two fifth-round picks to work with.

The Jets have to hit on these picks considering the division the team plays in, the AFC East, is loaded with talent and they are already on the bottom looking up.

Miami traded for superstar wide receiver Tyreek Hill. Buffalo is considered by most to be a Super Bowl team. New England is New England.

READ: Three Trade Proposals For Jets to Acquire San Francisco 49ers WR Deebo Samuel

All Douglas has done to add to New York’s arsenal of offensive weaponry is sign a couple of tight ends in free agency this off-season.

That is not going to cut it.

Douglas needs to do whatever it takes to bring in a game breaking wide receiver who plays to quarterback Zach Wilson’s strengths and who more importantly, caters to his weaknesses.

It is written all over Wilson’s game film that he throws his best passes in the short range and he gets more erratic with his ball placement the further he throws downfield.

Wilson needs a receiver who has a huge catch radius (can catch passes thrown too high or too low), someone who excels at all three route levels (short, intermediate and deep) and this receiver needs to excel at picking up yardage after the catch.

Whether Douglas trades for San Francisco’s Deebo Samuel, Seattle’s D.K. Metcalf or selects Ohio State’s Garrett Wilson in the first-round Douglas must walk away from this draft with one of these three receivers.

We all already know what the rest of the returning offensive nucleus produced last year, 4-13.

It is simple math.

There is no way New York can keep pace with Buffalo, New England or Miami nickel and diming down the field with tight-ends and a $40 million dollar guard (Laken Tomlinson).

If the team cares about Wilson’s long-term health, they must additionally address both the left and right tackle positions within the first three rounds. Left tackle Ikem Ekwonu would be a huge first-round win for the Jets.

READ: Ex-Jets Scout Explains Why New York Should Draft OT Ikem Ekwonu

The current depth chart at offensive tackle is a hodgepodge of guys nobody in their right mind would bank on to protect Wilson.

Defensively, Douglas needs to get a pocket-wrecking disruptive pass rusher and a viable cover-corner.

I’m sorry, but the free agency signing of EDGE Jacob Martin is anything, but an answer from my evaluation. Even if you just look just at Martin’s raw statistics, he is a pass-rusher who has only managed to put up 13.5 sacks in four seasons.

Head Coach Robert Saleh needs a Nick Bosa type of pass rusher, if his defensive scheme has any chance of working. It was true when Saleh was the defensive coordinator in San Francisco and it will ring true in New York.

In 2021, the Jets defense ranked No. 25 in the league in the category of average sacks per game (1.9).

That equaled having the worst defense in the league that gave up 6,760 yards.

The Jets need to trade for Vikings’ superstar pass rusher Danielle Hunter. If not, they need to select Aidan Hutchinson, Kayvon Thibodeaux or Cameron Thomas. Somehow, someway, Douglas needs to walk away from this draft with one of them.

What Douglas and the Jets will do on both sides of the ball will all come out in the wash soon enough.

The 2022 NFL Draft begins this Thursday evening.

All the months of speculation will sort itself out and for better or worse, so will Douglas’ legacy. 

MORE:

• Why New York Is Perfect Fit For Kayvon Thibodeaux’s Development
• Five Day Three Targets for the Jets
• Jets GM Joe Douglas Addresses Deebo Samuel Trade Rumors

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