The Jets brought an end to Zach Wilson‘s disappointing New York tenure when they traded their former No. 2 overall selection for a mere pick swap on Day 3 of last month’s draft. According to ESPN’s Rich Cimini, Wilson’s camp was, in the run-up to the 2021 draft, deeply worried about Gang Green’s history of failure to develop young quarterbacks and how that would impact Wilson’s own career, but the BYU product was convinced he would be the player to buck that trend.
Of course, that was not the case, and Wilson will now try to resurrect his career in Denver. Per Cimini, one of the lessons that the Jets learned from the Wilson experience is that, regardless of the round in which they draft a QB in the future, they will want to give that player legitimate competition for his role and, preferably, the opportunity to learn on the sidelines (benefits that were not afforded to Wilson).
GM Joe Douglas also said prior to the 2024 draft that, “I’d love to be a quarterback factory,” referencing the 1990s Packers that selected QBs in the later rounds of a draft, developed them, and flipped them for new draft capital down the road. To that end, the Jets selected Florida State passer Jordan Travis in the fifth round of the 2024 draft. Travis sustained an ankle injury in November that prematurely ended his final collegiate season, though he is expected to be healed by the start of training camp.
Travis will be learning behind newly-signed backup Tyrod Taylor and QB1 Aaron Rodgers, whose success will drive the Jets’ fortunes in 2024. Blocking for that group of passers will be rookie OT Olu Fashanu, whom New York selected with the No. 11 overall pick of the draft. As Cimini details in a separate piece, Fashanu is not expected to start right away thanks to the recent additions of Tyron Smith and Morgan Moses, but since both veterans will be on modified offseason programs, Fashanu will get plenty of reps at both left and right tackle during the spring and summer (Douglas suggested that Fashanu could even get looks on the interior, as Cimini relays).
The Jets did have the No. 10 pick in the 2024 draft, but they traded down one spot and selected Fashanu once Washington wide receiver Rome Odunze went off the board to the Bears, who held the No. 9 selection. That suggests that Odunze was New York’s preferred target, and though Douglas would not confirm as much, Cimini says that the Jets did try to trade up for the former Huskies pass catcher.
The club did eventually land a receiver when it nabbed Western Kentucky talent Malachi Corley in the third round. As Adam Caplan of Pro Football Network writes, some teams viewed Corley as a slot-only option, though the Jets plan to get him some reps outside the numbers as well. The club is clearly high on his ability, with Cimini reporting that Douglas started making calls about a possible trade-up to take Corley when the Packers were on the clock with the No. 45 selection. Ultimately, Douglas got his man with the No. 65 pick. Head coach Robert Saleh concedes that Corley will need to refine his route-running, but he is excited to find creative ways to use him (via Cimini).
Speaking of wide receivers, the Jets never levied tampering charges against the Chiefs for Kansas City’s pursuit of Mecole Hardman, as Cimini reported back in March. Hardman, a second-round pick of the Chiefs in 2019, signed with the Jets in the 2023 offseason. But after Rodgers was lost for the season four snaps into the 2023 opener, the Jets’ offense was in shambles, and Hardman later acknowledged during an appearance on Ryan Clark‘s The Pivot podcast that he begged Chiefs brass to “come get me” (via Cimini).
The Jets traded Hardman back to KC in October, and Douglas admitted that Hardman’s comments to Clark “resonated with us” (meaning, presumably, that the Jets may have considered tampering charges at some point).
‘Tampering’ in the NFL has got to be the dumbest rule they have. There so many grey areas and it’s never levied evenly amongst the league….Players and Coaches talk, text, etc. There’s nothing you can do about it. It’s against the rules 11:59pm on Monday, but not against the rules 12:01am on Tuesday smh. So dumb.
That’s a bold claim. Competition for the NFL’s dumbest rule is pretty stiff.
Lol that is a very valid point!
The best tampering story in history very well could the Falcons talking w/ Cousins, giving him $100m, then drafting his replacement 6 weeks later!
It’s not tampering when you trade the guy. You could have sent him anywhere.
Tampering is them communication with Hardman while he is under contract with the jets without the jets knowledge or approval prior to a trade.
If the jets granted hardmans camp the right to seek a trade tampering wouldn’t apply.
But if hardman reaches out to other teams and they reply without jets approving them to talk to Hardman about a trade, it’s tampering.
Team representatives can’t speak to players under contract from other clubs without approval of the team that holds the contract in some form. The gray area is do other players count as team representatives.
My (uneducated) guess is that Douglas felt badly, because Hardman was probably signed partially for the allure of playing with Rodgers, only to be basically not to be utilized in any fashion after. I suppose that he thought that it’d be low, or at least not worth it, to go after the Chiefs for a player that the Jets didn’t end up using.
While you are correct in what you say, the Jets did give Wilson and his agent to OK to explore and work out a trade themselves, after the Jets found no interest in what they wanted in return (reportedly they wanted at least a 2nd rounder back, which was never gonna happen). That’s when Wilson’s agent reached out and the best deal they could get was the Denver deal. So it is not tampering when the club gives permission to the agent and player. This happens a lot when an unhappy player wants out.
Tampering does exist and KC’s GM is a fool for even taking a call from another team’s player. Once the call turned to how Mecole was unhappy KC should have shut the call down. If the rules aren’t strictly enforced you’ll have the inmates running the asylum … like the NBA.
Who was the NBA player several years ago that flat out said “don’t worry I’ll be back” after getting traded? Rasheed Wallace maybe?….He gets included in a trade, his contract is then bought out and he immediately resigned with the contending team he was on. Now that’s Tampering and the players running the league lol
That “fool” did win a SB or 2 or 3. Js.
It’d be hard to prove anyone tampered to get Hardman, who’d risk tampering to pick him up, sounds more like him boasting than anyone tampering, he still thinks he’s got some juice and teams would actually be salivating to get him
Does anyone really think a “lack of competition” was the reason that Zach Wilson washed out? If that was one of the lessons the Jets learned from the his failure I would suggest they pay more attention in class. The Jets started Wilson’s tenure with a rookie head coach (with a DC background) and a rookie OC, no pro bowl players on the roster, and a handful of marginal NFL recievers.
band aid excuses for a cannonball-sized problem