In a recent three-round mock draft from Chris Trapasso of CBS Sports, the Jets land top wide receiver Rome Odunze from Washington at pick 10 and offensive tackle Kiran Amegadjie from Yale in the third round.
By signing Mike Williams and rebuilding the offensive line over the last week-plus, the Jets have given themselves a lot more flexibility in the NFL Draft. No longer is taking a tackle at 10th overall a must. Nor is taking a receiver.
However, having said that, continuing to address both of those positions in the draft would still be a prudent move by Joe Douglas.
Both Williams and Tyron Smith have dealt with injuries in the last few seasons. On top of that, the draft is about planning ahead, and Williams, Smith, and Morgan Moses are only under contract for 2024.
If Odunze is on the board at pick 10 for the Jets, Douglas should only need a few seconds of the 10-minute time allotment that he has to make this selection.
In what is a loaded wide receiver class, Odunze is considered to be WR2 or WR3 – behind Marvin Harrison Jr. and Malik Nabers – depending on where you look. Contributing to Odunze’s “fall” to 10 in Trapasso’s mock draft were three quarterbacks, two tackles, and a cornerback taken in the top 10.
Odunze measures in at 6-3 and weighs 212 pounds. He put together an impressive NFL Combine performance, which included a 4.45-second 40-yard dash and an almost perfect Relative Athletic Score of 9.92 out of 10.
Odunze spent the majority of his snaps lined up on the boundary but can play from the slot. Over the last two seasons, he caught 67 percent of his 250 targets at 16.5 yards per catch with 20 touchdowns. In 2023, specifically, Odunze totaled over 1,600 receiving yards at nearly 18 yards per catch with 13 touchdowns.
“Rome Odunze out of Washington,” said Ben Solak of The Ringer when asked who his ideal prospect for the Jets would be. “I like Rome better than (Malik) Nabers. I expect Nabers to go first, but Rome’s the guy I prefer. They’re both unbelievable players. It’s a matter of preference and taste.
“So if Rome is the guy who goes third among receivers, after Marvin Harrison Jr., after Malik Nabers, I think his floor is 10, and if he makes it down there, that’s an excellent pick.”
The combination of Odunze, Williams, and Garrett Wilson would give the Jets an elite trio at receiver for the 2024 season and set them up with a legitimate long-term one-two punch with Odunze and Wilson still in the early part of their careers.
With the Jets’ next pick at 72nd overall, they bolstered their offensive tackle depth with Amegadjie, whose 2023 season was limited to just four games due to a quad injury that required surgery.
Over the previous three seasons, Amegadjie, who measures in at 6-5 – 318 pounds, played just shy of 1,600 snaps. In 2021, 669 of those snaps came at left guard, but he spent the last two years at left tackle.
As a left tackle, Amegadjie didn’t give up a single sack and allowed only 10 combined pressures during that span. Among all FBS and FCS tackles in 2022, Amegadjie ranked fifth in both PFF pass-blocking grade and pass-blocking efficiency. At the FCS level, he ranked 73rd out of 176 tackles in run-blocking grade.
The addition of Amegadjie would give the Jets some needed depth at likely both the tackle and guard positions for the upcoming season. Beyond 2024, he could be a potential long-term answer at the tackle position with both, as already mentioned, Smith and Moses only under contract for one year.
