(SportsNetwork.com) – Whether it’s second-year man Geno Smith or veteran Michael Vick at quarterback for the New York Jets won’t really matter unless the team continues to add playmakers around them.<\/p>\n
Signing wide receiver Eric Decker and running back Chris Johnson during free agency was a good start but more work needs to be done, specifically getting a true burner on the outside and a legitimate seam threat at tight end.<\/p>\n
With the 18th overall pick, North Carolina star Eric Ebron, an athletic tight end in the mold of a Vernon Davis, looks like a terrific fit.<\/p>\n
Of course no matter how much Vick and or Smith will want another skill position difference-maker, it’s hard to imagine Rex Ryan going into a season with Dimitri Patterson as a possible starter at cornerback. So, also keep an eye on outside defenders like Bradley Roby, the kind of big, press corner who could excel in a Ryan defense.<\/p>\n
“We remain open minded,” Jets general manager John Idzik said. “We’re going to evaluate each pick and the players that are available to us at that pick, and we’ll pick who we think is the best player.”<\/p>\n
2013 Record: 8-8<\/p>\n
Top Needs: WR, CB, TE<\/p>\n
First Three Picks: No. 18, No. 49, No. 80<\/p>\n
Number of Selections: 12 (1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 4, 5, 6, 6, 6, 6, 7)<\/p>\n
CALLING THE SHOTS: Idzik enters his second-year as general manager here after learning the ropes for 20 years in Tampa Bay, Arizona and Seattle. He’s amassed a war chest of 12 picks so he should be able to address the depth of what was a very thin roster which overachieved a season ago.<\/p>\n
RECENT FIRST ROUND HISTORY: 2013 – Dee Milliner (CB, Alabama); 2012 – Quinton Coples (DE, North Carolina): 2011 – Muhammad Wilkerson (DE, Temple); 2010 – Kyle Wilson (CB, Boise State); 2009 – Mark Sanchez (QB, USC); 2008 – Vernon Gholston (OLB, Ohio State), Dustin Keller (TE, Purdue); 2007 – Darrelle Revis (CB, Pittsburgh); 2006 – D’Brickashaw Ferguson (OT, Virginia), Nick Mangold (C, Ohio State); 2005 – none; 2004 – Jonathan Vilma (LB, Miami-Florida); 2003 – Dewayne Robertson (DT, Kentucky); 2002 – Bryan Thomas (DE, UAB).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
(SportsNetwork.com) – Whether it’s second-year man Geno Smith or veteran Michael Vick at quarterback for the New York Jets won’t really matter unless the team continues to add playmakers around them. Signing wide receiver Eric Decker and running back Chris Johnson during free agency was a good start but more work needs to be done, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[129,59,128],"class_list":["post-18082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nfl","tag-jets","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-jets"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stub.com\/hq\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stub.com\/hq\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stub.com\/hq\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stub.com\/hq\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stub.com\/hq\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.stub.com\/hq\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18082\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stub.com\/hq\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stub.com\/hq\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stub.com\/hq\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}