Jets live dangerously, grab another safety
For the Jets, It’s safety first … and second.
One night after selecting safety Jamal Adams in the first round, the Jets took Florida safety Marcus Maye in the second round, with the 39th overall pick.
It was a bizarre decision by general manager Mike Maccagnan to take two safeties back-toback, even though the Jets’ secondary desperately needed a makeover. Perhaps head coach Todd Bowles, a former NFL safety, took control of the war room.
Despite needs at edge rusher, cornerback and tight end, to name a few, Maccagnan added another safety.
“If a player is highly rated and sort of stands apart from the other players on the board, from my experience, you take the best player available and you build the team that way,” Maccagnan said about taking two safeties.
The Jets traded down in the third round — making a deal with the Vikings to drop nine spots in exchange for a fifthround pick from Minnesota — before picking Alabama wide receiver ArDarius Stewart with the 79th pick. They made another trade, sending the second of their third-round picks (No. 107) to the Buccaneers for a fourth-rounder and a sixthrounder, giving them six picks Saturday.
Maye had one interception for the Gators last year in nine games before suffering a seasonending broken left arm. He did not participate in the NFL Scouting Combine because of the injury.
While Adams’ strength appears to be as a strong safety, Maye is more of a free safety. But are the Jets really going to start two rookie safeties?
Maye said he looks forward to teaming up with Adams, who he competed against in the SEC.
“I feel like we’ll do great,” Maye said in a conference call. “He’s a competitor. He’s a great ballplayer. He has a lot of talent. Being out there with a guy like that, he’s just going to make you be great as well. I’m going to try to be the best that I can be and he’s going to be the best that he can be.”
Maye visited the Jets during the pre-draft process and received interest from the team. Still, he was surprised they took him after they grabbed Adams the night before.
“A little bit [surprised],” Maye said. “I was just waiting for that call and it was with the Jets. The fact that he picked he and I, I feel like we can do great together.”
This likely means the end of Calvin Pryor’s time with the Jets. The 2014 first-round pick is now expendable. USA Today reported Friday the Jets were trying to trade Pryor. It seems un- likely they will be able to move Pryor, but they may end up just cutting him after the draft. However, Maccagnan said this does not mean the end of Pryor, and Bowles added the Jets could use more three-safety packages. The Jets also have Marcus Gilchrist, who is coming off a major knee injury.
“I would say simply we’re going to try to make every position as competitive as possible,” Maccagnan said. “To me, you can’t have enough good players at any position. We’ll let this thing play itself out and see how things develop.”
The Jets’ secondary needed major upgrading after a 2016 season, during which they allowed 30 touchdowns and had just eight interceptions. By drafting Adams and Maye, the Jets hope they have fixed that problem.
“We feel like we added two good players,” Bowles said. “We’ve got to play the season to get better. We were disappointing last year in the secondary. Hopefully, these two guys will help make us better going forward. That’s what we got them for.”
There was speculation the Jets could trade out of the 39th spot, either up or down, but they decided to stand pat and make the pick. There had been speculation about quarterback Davis Webb or DeShone Kizer, but they passed, to again address their defense.