This week we parsed the more putrid draft picks made by the New York Giants. So it seems only fair we do the same for the Jets. If you think the Giants — with five trips to the Super Bowl (and four wins) since 1986 — have made some woeful picks, imagine the draft baggage that has grounded the Jets over the years.
Since we scanned Big Blue’s draft busts since 1980, it feels proper to do the same for Gang Green.
Getty Images The Jets wrapped the 13th and 22nd overall picks to move up to the No. 4 pick to grab the defensive tackle. He had a decent career — 258 total tackles and 14.5 sacks in five years — but not close to justifying the place where he was picked.
Gang Green missed out on a gaggle of really good players, from Terrance Newman to Terrell Suggs to newlynminted Hall of Famer, Troy Polamalu. Heck, the Jets could have just gotten a much better tackle by drafting Kevin Williams, whom the Vikings snagged with the ninth overall pick.
9. TE Johnny Mitchell, 1992
Mitchell wasn't awful, catching 158 balls for 2,056 yards and 16 touchdowns in four years with the Jets, but surely the Jets predicted more when they picked him with the 15th overall pick in the 1992 NFL Draft. His New York tenure was finished at age 24, but his career did not last much longer as Mitchell caught one more pass the next year, with the Cowboys, then no más.
Right after the Jets drafted Mitchell, the Raiders bagged Pro Bowl DE Chester McGlockton. Other Pro Bowlers picked after Mitchell include Dale Carter, Carl Pickens, Darren Woodson and Levon Kirkland (the last three were picked in the second round). If they still wanted a tight end the Jets could have waited until round four and stole Mark Chmura out of Boston College.
8. TE Kyle Brady, 1995
It was Rick Kotite, of course, who nabbed the Penn State alum with the ninth overall pick of the 1995 NFL Draft. Over four years with Gang Green, Brady never caught more than 30 passes in a season or gained more than 315 yards. The hulking tight end had 10 touchdown passes in 63 games played. His worst Jets season came in 1996, when he started 16 games, had 15 catches for 144 yards and one touchdown. There are backup tight ends today who get better stats. Yet somehow Brady lasted 13 years in the NFL.
Brady may not be quite the bust like other members of this list, but he's an eyesore when you consider whom the fans wanted, were cheering for when it happened, and the player the Jets passed over to pick Brady. That would be Warren Sapp, who only had a stellar career for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, won a Super Bowl, and was easily voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
7. DE Quinton Coples, 2012
Selected by the Jets with the 16th overall pick in the 2012 NFL Draft, Coples came up during the rabid rush for edge rushers. The former North Carolina DE posted 5 1/2 sacks in his rookie season. Then the Jets drafted the wildly talented but wholly tormented Sheldon Richardson. They moved Coples back to linebacker in Todd Bowles' 3-4 defense, and he was never the same player. Gang Green released Coples in November 2015, just 3 1/2 years into his NFL career. He spent a few weeks with Miami, a training camp with the Rams, and was never seen on a gridiron after the summer of 2016.
Some of the players the Jets passed on include Melvin Ingram, Chandler Jones, David DeCastro, Harrison Smith, Alshon Jeffrey and Bobby Wagner.
6. DB Calvin Pryor, 2014
Gang Green grabbed Pryor with the 18th overalll pick in the 2014 NFL Draft. He played three mediocre seasons, and was then dealt to the Cleveland Browns. Even the Browns booted him before the season began. Pryor was picked up by the Jacksonville Jaguars, but has since sat with injuries and hasn't played a down since 2017, and has registered one tackle since 2016.
Players the Jets could have taken with the same pick: Ha-Ha Clinton Dix, Dee Ford and DeMarcus Lawrence.
5. WR Johnny "Lam" Jones, 1980
What makes this pick most pungent is what bounty the Jets dealt to get Jones in 1980. They traded the 20th and 13th overall pick to the San Francisco 49ers for the second overall pick, which they packaged to bag Jones, who was a wideout in a run-first college program (Texas) and was best-known for helping the U.S. Olympic 4x100 relay team win a gold medal in 1976.
As an NFL WR, Jones was pedestrian, at best, snagging 138 passes, for 2,322 yards and 13 touchdowns in five years with Gang Green — hardly befitting a high first-round pick. If the Jets kept the 13th pick they could have taken a slightly better wide receiver — Art Monk. They also let another pretty good player slip to the Bengals with the third overall pick: Hall of Famer, Anthony Muñoz.
4. DB Dee Milliner, 2013
If it matters, Louis Riddick — who talked about hip movement and foot placement — didn't like the Alabama cornerback. Drafted with the ninth overall pick, Milliner was supposed to replace Darrelle Revis, one of the very few future Hall of Famers the Jets can call their own. If his sacred slab of turf was called Revis Island, then Milliner's assigned space must have looked like Shutter Island.
Riddick, a former defensive back, NFL exec and current TV analyst, winced at the pick. And he was right. Milliner played in just seven out of 48 possible games and was gone after three years, leaving a legacy of three interceptions — all in his first season — and a collossally bad draft pick by Gang Green.
If you've ever watched the lovely documentary about Bill Belichik and his BFF and coaching doppelgänger, Nick Saban, you heard the Alabama coach lament the fact that NFL clubs rarely call him to ask about his players. He said teams routinely waste high draft picks on players with physical or emotional defects yet never talk to the one man who knows all of them. It seems likely the Jets lost or forgot Saban's digits, or just didn't care to get them.
3a. G Dave Cadigan, 1988
3b. DB Terry Williams, 1988 (second round)
Kudos to Bleacher Report for catching this one. Gang Green grabbed Dave Cadigan with the eighth overall pick in the 1988 NFL Draft. They ignored the fact that Cadigan got pinched for steroids in college. They also missed on Michael Irvin, whom the Cowboys picked three slots later. They also overlooked Randall McDaniel, who played Cadigan's position for the Vikings, but played it well enough to reach the Hall of Fame, where he joined Irvin. In all, eight of the next 11 players picked after Cadigan were selected to the Pro Bowl.
Williams was the Jets' second-round pick in 1988. The cornerback out of Bethune-Cookman played 11 games over two seasons. Even more painful were the two players the Jets passed on in the same round — Thurman Thomas and Dermontti Dawson — both Hall of Famers.
2. RB Blair Thomas, 1990
Drafted with the second overall pick in 1990, Thomas was charged with leading the Jets into the '90s, joining Freeman McNeil and Johnny Hector to make a most holy RB trinity. Or so they thought when they grabbed the Penn State grad. Yet, Thomas never ran for more than 800 yards in a season, scored just six touchdowns in four years, and is among the first names wincing Jets fans shout when debating the biggest busts in club history. Thomas rushed for 2,009 total yards before the Jets said farewell in 1994.
Some of the players the Jets could have picked at No. 2 - Cortez Kennedy, Junior Seau, Emmett Smith. All Hall of Famers.
Getty Images Picked sixth overall in the 2008 NFL Draft, Gholston was built like the Hulk but played football like Bruce Banner. The Ohio State linebacker started five games for Gang Green and never notched a single sack. Considering he was picked by the same folks who drafted Nick Mangold and Darrelle Revis, Gholston's lack of passion and production puts him in the dark side of the archives.
Among the players available when the Jets took Gholston - Jerod Mayo, Aqib Talib, Chris Johnson, Jonathan Stewart, Dominique Rogers-Cromartie, Jordy Nelson, Matt Forte, DeSean Jackson and Calais Campbell. Campbell, in particular, is a marvel and painful reminder of the Gholston pick. After nine sublime seasons with Arizona, the Cardinals sent Campbell packing at age 30, figuring he was finished. Campbell then had his best three seasons with the Jaguars, each one ending in the Pro Bowl, including one year as a first-team All-Pro.
Twitter: @JasonKeidel