NFL Draft 2022: Biggest winners

Jets head coach Robert Saleh and general manager Joe Douglas

5. New York Jets

The Jets ended up with two top ten prospects in Cincinnati cornerback Sauce Gardner and Florida State edge defender Jermaine Johnson II, along with number three wide receiver Garrett Wilson. You can see that they understood the board and got ahead of the wide receiver run and then traded back up late into the first for Johnson, who was reportedly a consideration for them with both of their top-ten picks.

Looking at the value of that trade, getting pick 101, where they drafted tight end Jeremy Ruckert from Ohio State in exchange for early third- and fifth-round picks, to move up those nine spots is a solid move.

Giving up another fifth-rounder to move up two spots in the second and draft Iowa State running back Breece Hall has been criticized. But most believe the Texans would have taken him in that spot in-between, so this is prime territory for that position.

Also consider how he and last year’s fourth-rounder Michael Carter Jr. complement each other and combined will probably take up less than five million dollars per year. Perhaps they should have traded back with one of their fourth-round picks, since that’s when they made their final selections, but at worst they should get a high-quality swing tackle in Louisiana’s Max Mitchell. He can play both sides at a high level and is a high-energy number three edge rusher, who should see the field on a lot of passing downs.