With the 117th pick of the draft …
… the Jets select Leon Washington. I will fill out this post more later, but wanted to provide a link to some information on Washington. I am watching the draft and I saw Sal Pal interview Mangini about the draft and Sal asked a question to the effect of “running back of the future.” Mangini pretty much shrugged off his question and said that Leon will “bring the team depth.” As usual, another non-answer. That being said, even though Washington has instincts, he has size and has durability concerns.
The Jets were fine not to draft a “running back of the future” this year. Here's why:
- Top flight RBs have an NFL life-span of probably six years.
- RB is probably the position at which a rookie is most capable of contributing at a high level immediately.
- The Jets will will be lucky to win six games this year.
Given those three suppositions, it would make no sense to spend a high draft pick on a stud RB. Why waste one of his six years of top-level performance in a season that you're not going to compete anyway. (WRs and QBs, by contrast, need a few years to develop, so you take them now with an eye towards them stepping up in two or three years.)
Look for the Jets to select a stud RB in the first two rounds next season, in what will hopefully prove to be the finall piece needed for competitiveness.