New York Jets Draft Review – Round 3 (cont)

ROUND 3 {#97 Overall}
S Eric Smith
Michigan State University

I don’t know how else to say it so I’ll just say it, I thought this pick was both brutal and senseless. I still can’t believe we took a safety on day one, any safety, but especially one who carried a borderline 3rd RD Grade at best, and I you’ll have a hard time finding anyone who projected this player in RD 3 or even RD 4 for that matter.

Truth is, I would have been surprised had we taken a safety in any round lest one who offered awesome value just happened to slide into our laps. But in this spot, 97 Overall, you still had players on the board who offered value and need, players like OG Max Jean Gilles who might have been a great pick in that spot.

This is not a knock on Eric Smith, mind you. Yes, I think he’s a reach at 97, but I am well aware of fact that he was rising up the board in the closing weeks. So even if you want to tell me it was not the reach it appeared to be, and even if you’re right about that, I still can’t see a safety in that spot unless he’s the mother of all steals. And in my opinion that’s what he needs to be in order to justify this pick, a steal, someone who wins a starting assignment and becomes a darn good starter for the NY Jets.

Anything short of that and it was a bonehead pick in my view.  The Jets just had too many other needs, safety was perhaps their deepest position with youth.  There appeared to be some darn good prospects still left on the board who might have addressed an area of greater need while also providing better value.

Now I’ve seen Eric Smith on film. I’ve actually watched some of his highlight videos following the draft, just to get another look in the hopes that I would see something that could explain this selection?

Alas, while I saw a nice player who hustles, and I know he possesses outstanding character {big plus with Tangini}, I saw nothing that said “3rd RD Pick” and it has to be “character within reason”. By that I mean I’m a pretty nice guy, I like to think I possess strong character, but the Jets would be nuts to draft me, much less draft me on day one.

That’s obviously an exaggeration to make a point, point being, character is nice, I’m all for drafting strong character guys across the board.  A mixture of character and ability should still be the mission on day one, if not across the board.  At some point your own depth chart has to be taken into account as well.

Lastly, I’m a BAP GUY {Best Available Player} from way back when. No one needs to explain that philosophy too me. I’m all for drafting the BAP, but it has to be the BAP within reason. So even if you want to tell Eric Smith was the BAP {not buying it}, you still have to consider your own depth chart to some degree {however slight}, the amount of young safeties we have on the current roster, as well as our other needs and the value that is still on the board in those spots.

When I do those things, I just can’t make any sense of this selection. This pick baffled me when it was made, and it baffles me just as much today.

But like I said, if Eric Smith comes in and wins a starting assignment, then proceeds to become a heck of a player for the NY Jets, this pick will have been entirely justified and I will have been dead wrong. If not, this was just a dumb pick in my view.
Rounds 1 & 2 – Mangold, Clemens

Round 3 – Anthony Schlegel

Round 4 – B. Smith, Washington

Rounds 5, 6, 7 – Pociask, Coleman and Adams

UDFA Signings 

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