The first five of the Jets’ seven draft picks last week focused on the offensive side of the ball. Luckily, they were able to add a number of defensive rookies who fell out of the draft as undrafted free agents. Here are the 17 players heading to New York as UDFAs:
- Shemar Bartholomew, CB (Georgia Southern)
- Al Blades Jr., S (Duke)
- Jimmy Ciarlo, LB (Army)
- Tyler Harrell, WR (Miami)
- Peewee Jarrett, QB (West Florida)
- Tre Jenkins, LB (San Jose State)
- Tyreek Johnson, DE (South Carolina)
- Myles Jones, CB (Duke)
- Brady Latham, G (Arkansas)
- Braiden McGregor, DE (Michigan)
- Jarius Monroe, S (Tulane)
- Marcus Riley, WR (Florida A&M)
- Lincoln Sefcik, TE (South Alabama)
- Jackson Sirmon, LB (California)
- Leonard Taylor, DT (Miami)
- Willie Tyler, T (Louisville)
- Eric Watts, DT (Connecticut)
Latham, a four-year starter for the Razorbacks spent nearly all of his time as a left guard at the collegiate level. His father was an All-Conference center for Oklahoma back in the 1980’s, and some NFL teams thought Latham had potential to follow his father’s footsteps as a center at the next level.
Many saw McGregor as a draft-and-develop prospect that could go on Day 3 of the draft, but instead the 22-year-old leaves Ann Arbor as an undrafted free agent. He’s long, fast, and explosive but will need to get coached up in order to turn those attributes into starting potential.
Taylor falling out of the draft altogether was one of the more surprising outcomes from last weekend. A former 5-star recruit for the Hurricanes, Taylor racked up five sacks and 20.0 tackles for loss in his first two seasons. A disappointing junior year had teams questioning whether the lack of production came from discipline on the field or perhaps an inability to buy-in. Still, the raw talent available to Taylor was thought to warrant at least an early-Day 3 selection. Instead, he falls to the Jets, where he could find rotational playing time behind two excellent role models in Javon Kinlaw and Quinnen Williams.
Taylor is joined in New York by two former teammates who spent time in the transfer portal. Harrell only spent one year in Coral Gables after transferring from Alabama, where he also spent only one season. A burner with track experience, Harrell showed the most potential during his final year at Louisville in 2021, when he averaged 29.1 yards per catch and caught six touchdowns. Blades spent his final year of eligibility at Duke but played his first four seasons at Miami. He had two strong seasons for the Hurricanes in 2019 and 2020, nabbing four interceptions and 13 passes defensed, but was quiet the following two years until he transferred to Durham, where he led the Blue Devils in passes defensed with 10 in 2023.