No one expected the Jets to be quite this bad in 2014 but their season is in complete shambles. Many saw an aging and over the hill Michael Vick quarterbacking the team at some point this season and sure enough he’s now the starter for this 2-8 team. It’s hard to believe this is the same team that was able to make back to back NFC Championship games in 2009/2010. Their drafting is catching up with them and their luck as run out. Here are five picks in recent history that haunt the franchise:
5. Kyle Wilson, DB, Boise St. – 29th pick overall in 2010
Wilson hasn’t been a starter since 2012 and has three career interceptions. When you get lower in the first round it tends to be a little more hit or miss, but Wilson was not worthy of a 1st round selection. Alterraun Verner is a corner that would have been a much better selection.
4. Mike Nugent, K, Ohio St. – 47th pick overall (2nd round) in 2005
Who takes a kicker in the 2nd round? It’s not that Nugent was bad, he made 81.5% of his kicks as a member of the Jets, but an injury finished his tenure with the team in year four as they preferred Jay Feely over him once he healed up. What a waste of a 2nd round pick. A couple picks later the Rams took Ron Bartell and the Packers took Nick Collins. That class included Shaun Suisham and Robbie Gould, both who went undrafted. That means the Jets could have gotten a better kicker without using a draft pick. Six picks later in that same draft the Jets would land Justin Miller, who turned out to be a stud. Hard to believe the Jets valued Nugent higher than Miller.
3. Geno Smith, QB, West Virginia – 39th pick overall (2nd round) in 2013
Are we ready to call Smith a bust? He’s still young and he can still improve, but his future with the Jets may be short lived. In two seasons he has 19 touchdowns and 31 interceptions and he’s already been benched in favor of Michael Vick. Clearly throwing him into the fire as a rookie was a bad decision. It was time to move on from Sanchez, sure, but there’s almost no way he would have performed as badly. Of course you suffer through an investment period sometimes with young quarterbacks but Smith’s 55.9% career completion percentage suggests accuracy will always be an issue. If the Jets insisted on a quarterback at that pick, Mike Glennon is nothing special but so far he’s been much better than Smith.
2. Mark Sanchez, QB, USC – 5th pick overall in 2009
The real issue with the Jets over the last 5 years is who they’ve decided to go with at quarterback and the guys they’ve picked up just haven’t worked out. Sanchez did have some big wins during his career but his fall from grace was swift and pronounced. The reality is he was largely holding back a roster that was loaded with talent around him. His 33-29 record in four years with the Jets may seem decent, but almost any starting quality quarterback would have done better. Unbelievably his completion percentage for four years was worse than Geno Smith’s so far (55.1%) and he threw for a very mediocre 68 touchdowns and 69 interceptions. This quarterback class is a very poor one but one has to wonder if Josh Freeman would have done better with the same team around him those first few years. Or the Jets could have selected any number of perennial Pro Bowlers selected after Sanchez. When you have a top 5 pick you have to do better than this.
1. Vernon Gholston, DE, Ohio St. – 6th pick overall in 2008
He played three seasons, never registered a sack and only started 5 games. He’s not out of the league. Gholston is one of the biggest top 6 pick 1st round busts of all time. The Jets essentially took a 6th overall pick and flushed it down the toilet. There are too many big name Pro Bowlers to list that were drafted after him. Suffice to say pretty much anyone in the 1st round that year would have been a better pick, though.
Check out our other installments:
Five draft picks why the Bucs won’t make the playoffs
Five draft picks why the Vikings won’t make the playoffs
Five draft picks why the Rams won’t make the playoffs
Five draft picks why the Raiders won’t make the playoffs
