New York Jets: Justin Herbert staying increases value of pick

The New York Jets best case scenario may be to trade down, but their options are now limited with the announcement that Justin Herbert will stay at Oregon.

The New York Jets are going to have to go all-in on free agency, because their options in the 2019 NFL Draft just got thinner. The quarterback class in 2019 was already thin to begin with, but the news just came down that Justin Herbert will stay at Oregon.

Now the best quarterback that’s definitely available will be Missouri’s Drew Lock. There is a chance that Dwayne Haskins of Ohio State will be available, but he has yet to make a decision on his status for the draft. There won’t exactly be a race to the top for Lock, because he’s not widely considered a top of the first round pick, but that doesn’t mean teams won’t overpay if he’s the best available. The same goes for Haskins.

The quarterback position is slightly overvalued in today’s NFL, and that doesn’t change based on who is at the top of the draft. That may put pressure on a team like the Jaguars to move up past the Buccaneers, who, according to Tankathon, are the first team that legitimately needs a quarterback at the sixth overall pick.

If the Jets lose to the Patriots, they will most likely have the No. 3 overall pick. That’s the prime position to be in, because it would take so much to move to No. 2 or No. 1, and that’s even if they 49ers or Cardinal would even consider such a move, which is slim at best.

Quarterbacks are at a premium, since there are so few good ones, and the Jets got one last year. They don’t have a second round pick, and they could get a haul of picks for their No. 3 pick. They’re in the cat-bird seat now.