With the quarterback and salary cap situation still very much unsettled, Mike Maccagnan’s 2016 NFL Draft strategy should be very interesting.
By Robby Sabo
This is where the bosses make the big bucks.
The NFL is a league in which the NFL Draft not only supplements future personnel, but does an extraordinary amount to alter present success.
For Mike Maccagnan and the New York Jets, many paths can be chosen on Thursday night.
The question on everybody’s mind at the moment surrounds Big Mo, or Muhammad Wilkerson (as you may know him by).
By most accounts, Wilkerson is as good as gone. He’s not happy. Nobody would be after severely outplaying his rookie contract and constantly receiving the “non-star” treatment by the Jets. Whether or not Mikey Mac is able to ship Big Mo out of town prior or during the draft will be question number one.
Question number two revolves around the quarterback position.
Ryan Fitzpatrick, the franchise’s single-season touchdown record holder, is still a free-agent. Many assume he and Mac have a “wink-wink” agreement already in place, as the new deal won’t be signed quick enough once the $15.701 million salary is shed from Big Mo’s franchise tag.
Although some think New York has wandering eyes for Memphis’s Paxton Lynch in the first round.
Others, like NFL Network’s Ian Rappoport, are hearing Gang Green could be targeting a wide receiver in Round 1:
Sounds like the #Jets could be targeting a WR in the first round. Names to watch: #TCU's Josh Doctson & #ND's Will Fuller
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) April 27, 2016
Smokescreen? Well, considering Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker are in the fold and one’s contract is completely immovable, it’s doubtful they’ll look to wide-out that early.
So many questions, not one answer.
That is, until we finally get to Thursday night.
Today, we rank the New York Jets 10 most realistic draft options at No. 20:
