New York Jets: Don’t Trade Up in First Round

By Luis Tirado Jr. | Mar 30, 2015

The temptation to trade up in the 2015 NFL Draft is something that plenty of teams across the league are pondering. Two of the top quarterbacks in this year’s draft will most likely be taken off the board by the time the New York Jets are on the clock with the No. 6 overall pick. Jameis Winston will more than likely be drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and it’s right now anyone’s guess where Marcus Mariota’s final destination may be.

Should the Jets trade up to secure their next possible franchise quarterback in Mariota?

Absolutely not.

The Jets currently have Geno Smith, Matt Simms and newly-acquired veteran quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick all on the roster at the current moment. While I think Mariota could possibly be the next big quarterback to hit the NFL, in any offense except a no-huddle spread-oriented one, he might struggle heavily for his first few years.

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Now if let’s say he headed to an offense like the Philadelphia Eagles for example, that’s a different story due to their high-tempo offense which is built for guys like Mariota. Unfortunately the Jets don’t deploy any such thing.

Even with new offensive coordinator Chan Gailey, it’s a possibility the Jets might turn into a spread offense come 2015 but they are built as a power running ground and pound kind of team. To make such a radical change to their offensive playbook will be a learning experience for the majority of the offensive unit.

When I look at the pros and cons of trading up to secure Mariota on the Jets, I just don’t think it would be in the best interest of the team to give up so much to secure someone that might not be an immediate starter. Mariota in this case would be a developmental quarterback that would need at least two years of proper coaching to execute in a pro offense.

The Jets are definitely going to be a much-improved team come next season thanks to all the tremendous defensive upgrades they made in free agency. They completely overhauled their defensive secondary which was a major weakness last season and are seemingly building into a contender in the AFC East.

Feb 21, 2015; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Oregon Ducks quarterback Marcus Mariota throws a pass during the 2015 NFL Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

On that same token, the Jets would actually regress as a team trading up to the No. 2 position in the draft since they would probably have to give up a whole lot to the Tennessee Titans to secure it. They’d probably have to part with a ton of future first-round draft picks and even some of their best players to make such a blockbuster kind of move.

There is also that slight possibility that Mariota could end up being a bust. With the draft you ultimately never know which players that come into the NFL having such tremendous amount of hype that fall back to reality and never live up to expectations.

It would be a disaster for the Jets to give up so much to find out over the first few years of his professional football career that Mariota is not the player he was envisioned to be.

Overall, the Jets shouldn’t trade up in this year’s draft and actually take the best player available with their No. 6 overall draft pick. They could add one of the top pass rushers or even draft one of the best wide receivers and that would be much better than taking a risk trading up for Mariota. Trust me, it’s better to be safe than sorry in this particular situation with everything considered.

Next: New York Jets: Evaluating tight end situation for 2015

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