It is rare, quite rare, for the Jets to be the talk of pro football. At least since Super Bowl III, when Joe Namath flexed his forefinger as he jogged out of the Orange Bowl.
But the Jets shook up the league by making a massive trade to move up from the No. 6 spot to the third spot in the NFL draft next month. After asking my editor when was the last time the Jets and Giants had two of the top-five picks in the draft, you could hear his eyebrow arch, pound his keyboard and come back with the answer. In fact, he gave me all the times Gang Green and Big Blue were in such positions.
Most of you will remember the last time our local NFL clubs stunk enough to draft so highly. In 1996, the Jets, with the No. 1 pick, plucked a USC wideout named Keyshawn Johnson, who had a robust career, even winning a Super Bowl -- after he left the Meadowlands. The Giants, at No. 5, grabbed Cedric Jones, a defensive end from Oklahoma, whom some sites assert was the worst pick in franchise history.
You must take the time machine back to 1981 for the previous instance when the Jets and Giants had two of the top-five draft picks. With the No. 2 selection, the G-Men bagged the best linebacker, if not the best defensive player, in NFL history, in Lawrence Taylor, who won NFL Defensive Player of the Year multiple times and two Super Bowls and left a conflicted legacy of greatness on the gridiron and madness away from it. The Jets did poorly only in contrast to the Giants, as UCLA running back Freeman McNeil was a fine tailback for years, and quite worthy of the third pick.
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The phenomenon happened in 1977 as well, when the Jets took offensive lineman Marvin Powell out of USC with the fourth pick. Powell played in five Pro Bowls from 1977 to 1983. (Why can't the Jets make these kinds of picks these days?) In the fifth slot, the Giants nabbed Powell's college teammate Gary Jeter, a defensive lineman, who (naturally) had his best years after he was traded from the Giants to the Rams. (Jeter died in 2016 at age 61.)
In 1965, the Giants and Jets both had the No. 1 overall picks. How's that possible, you ask? Well, it was 1965, when Gang Green and Big Blue literally played in two different leagues. The Jets picked that Namath guy, who went on to be a Super Bowl MVP, the most celebrated player in team history and the club's only franchise quarterback to date.
The G-Men? They chose Auburn running back Tucker Frederickson, whose claim to fame was winning the Jacobs award as the best blocking back in the Southeastern Conference. (In all fairness, he was also the runner-up in the 1964 Heisman voting.) Frederickson played in the NFL until 1971 and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1994. In six years with the Giants, Frederickson ran for 2,204 yards, averaged 3.4 yards per carry and scored nine rushing touchdowns. You can decide if he was worth the pick. (He wasn't.)
Fast forward to 2018, and there are picks aplenty for our two local NFL teams. Will the Giants bag Saquon Barkley, the freakshow running back from Penn State who's built like a fullback with the feet of Reggie Bush? Or will they pick the big-ticket quarterback? Or will they just taunt the Jets into trading up one more spot with no intention of taking a QB?
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The Jets moved up to take a quarterback. Although they haven't admitted to it publicly, there is no doubt about that. And give Gang Green credit, for the aggression and, heck, for having a plan. No more toiling in the second or third round for a Geno Smith, Christian Hackenberg or Bryce Petty. You need a sublime signal-caller, and the Jets put themselves in position to get one. You only hope the Jets love three of these QBs, not two. If the Browns and Giants take Sam Darnold and Josh Rosen, who would the Jets get? Josh Allen? Baker Mayfield?
The Jets shoved their draft chips to the middle of the table. Here's hoping this gamble finally works, and they get their next, and their first, franchise QB since Broadway Joe.
Follow Jason on Twitter at @JasonKeidel
