DraftFix: Outside the top 50

As has been widely publicized, the Jets have four picks in the top 50 of next week's NFL draft and it's a rare opportunity for them to upgrade their roster more than everyone else.

For context, less than half the league (14 teams) have more than one pick in the top 50 and the only other team with more than two is the Browns.

However, the draft doesn't end there. The Jets also have work to do after those four picks have been made. Barring a trade, there's a pretty long gap until their next pick but then they still have these five as things stand:

Round 4: No. 103

Round 4: No. 140

Round 5: No. 179

Round 7: No. 228

Round 7: No. 242

What could the Jets expect to get from these picks?

Going back to 2022, (since four years is the length of any rookie deal for a player drafted after 50) we can see that 11 future pro bowlers were selected after that pick in that year. Although, five of these were picked in the top 100 and the Jets don't have a top-100 pick, diminishing the odds.

Looking at 2021 and 2023 for comparison purposes, 2021 was similar (10 pro bowlers after 50, five of which went in the top 100) but 2023 wasn't as good (six pro bowlers after 50, four of which went in the top 100).

Finding a pro bowler would obviously be great, but it would be a big deal just to get some positive contributions from these picks. In recent years, players like Jamien Sherwood, Isaiah Davis and Jeremy Ruckert have been about as good as they've got after 50, although there is hope for Azareye'h Thomas and Malachi Moore to continue to ascend.

Current Jets general manager Darren Mougey came from a Broncos organization which has had good success after the top 50, headlined by selecting Nik Bonitto at 64 when Mougey was still with the team. Other later selections such as Quinn Meinerz, Baron Browning and Luke Wattenberg have become starters on a team that would have been in the Super Bowl a few months ago if Bo Nix didn't get hurt.

Mougey also deserves credit for bringing in some serviceable talent in lieu of mid-to-late round draft capital in some of the Jets' recent trades. T'Vondre Sweat, Jowon Briggs and AD Mitchell could all prove to be a good use of draft capital (or good options that were acquired instead of draft capital).

The Jets need a good output from their four high picks and the 2022 class (Sauce Gardner, Garrett Wilson, Jermaine Johnson, Breece Hall) is something they'd love to emulate here. Hopefully they get more from the rest of this year's class than they did back then though (Ruckert, Max Mitchell, Micheal Clemons).

If you have any day three prospects you think the team could or should target, let us know in the comments...