Interesting to see the contrast of opinions on our draft by "analysts" vs fans.
Fans (outside of this forum) are feeling negative about our draft mostly because they reached one WR and didn't draft a DT.
Analysts draft grades are very positive ranging from A to the worst I've seen was a B by Kiper. Albeit, draft grades are pretty meaningless at this point, but hey it's part of the football draft cycle.
If you really want to see how some non-fans view our draft, go to Walter football.
https://walterfootball.com/nfldraftgradesteam.php Walter C has always despised the Jets with a passion (Dolphins fan I think), but even he gave it an "A".
Personally, I was hoping for some combo of OT-TE-WR in the draft. I would have liked HIggins in the second or K Williams in the third. Both went a few picks before our selection. We needed a TE, so I'm ok with taking Taylor in the second.
Maybe we should have traded up in the third for Williams, but I can see the value in drafting Thomas in the third round even if CB wasn't a need right now. I guess we have to look at the big picture. We're not competing for the Super Bowl next year, so maybe Thomas provides more long term value.
I do get the criticisms by the fans though. WR2 still looks like a need. I don't think we're going to throw that much, so I guess we can get by this season and draft a WR next year. Maybe we sign someone like Cooper.
As far as not drafting a DT, we had too many needs to take one with the top 3 picks.
Were any of those DTs in the 4th round any better than the guys we have on the roster already? We added some rotational DT fatties to stop the run. None look great, but still better than what we had last year. Maybe Leonard Taylor who looked pretty decent last year is ready for the next step.
Personally, I'd like to give the new coach/gm a chance to see what they did with those 4-6th round picks before complaining about them. I saw some article that only 20% of third rounders become quality players. It was 10% of less starting in the 4th round, so if these guys don't pan out, it's probably much ado about nothing.
If we get 3 starters and a couple of contributors, then it was a good draft. Let's see if we add any other free agents now that there is no draft compensatory component to signing them.