Bill Belichick wasted little time conspiring against Aaron Rodgers.
After last 12 months’s draft, In Joe Douglas You Trust, but you may understand if there have been groans within the Jets’ war room when the last elite offensive tackle went off the board right in front of them.
And you may understand if Rodgers himself might need set free a small groan wherever he was when the Jets used the fifteenth pick on pass rusher Will McDonald IV as a substitute of a recent toy akin to Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
It was the swap of picks within the Rodgers trade — No. 13 to the Packers, No. 15 to the Jets — that cost Douglas the prospect to purchase insurance for offensive tackle Mekhi Becton with Georgia’s Broderick Jones.
Because that swap of picks enabled Belichick, scheduled to choose 14th overall, to permit the Steelers to leapfrog the Jets so Jones could be a bodyguard for Kenny Pickett.
Douglas, with only five picks on this draft, worked the phones looking for a trade partner, but quarterback Will Levis didn’t move the needle for anyone trying to move up.
We’ll learn much afterward whether McDonald was the higher play over Georgia edge Nolan Smith and Pitt defensive tackle Calijah Kancey.
Jets fans can at the very least be comforted by the proven fact that Douglas didn’t panic. Douglas did what Douglas all the time does, what the higher GMs all the time do:
“We let the board come to us,” Douglas said.
The board gave the Jets a 6-foot-4, 236-pound freak with length and athleticism who has made jumping over cars a hobby at Iowa State.
The excellent news for Rodgers is he won’t should worry about McDonald sacking him.
Robert Saleh was completely satisfied because he subscribes to the idea which you could never have enough pass rushers.
Meet up with the whole list of Jets picks from the 2023 NFL Draft, including round-by-round evaluation.
“We come at you in waves,” Saleh said.
And the hope is that those waves will wash over opposing quarterbacks once Rodgers forces them to play catch-up.
“We got a man that may close the door on some offenses and get to the quarterback,” Saleh said.
NFL Network ace Daniel Jeremiah: “Will McDonald has the very best bend ability of any edge rusher.”
McDonald didn’t start playing football until his junior 12 months of highschool. He grew up in Milwaukee, so here comes a Rodgers tribute.
“I wasn’t a Packer fan,” McDonald said, “but I used to be an Aaron Rodgers fan.”
Get the whole list of first-round 2023 NFL Draft picks, with evaluation and more from the Recent York Post.
No rush to judgment is so as. Not after Sauce Gardner, Garrett Wilson, Jermaine Johnson and Breece Hall, who played with McDonald.
“We’re not gonna force anything,” Douglas said. “We’re hopeful to have double-digit leads late, and we are able to have different waves of pass rushers to attack offensive linemen. Fresh legs, fresh pass rushers can really help us.”
So Rodgers being Rodgers will enhance McDonald’s value. If Rodgers is indeed Rodgers, it could make Belichick pay for haunting the Jets.
“This kid has elite ability to get after the quarterback,” Saleh said.
If the Jets are right, perhaps Belichick higher worry about keeping Mac Jones secure.
