AS JETS GET LEE
Ohio State ILB 6-1, 232
Brings muchneeded speed to the Jets as he ran a 4.47 at the scouting combine. Is good in coverage. Though he’ll play as a weak-side inside linebacker normally, he’s versatile and can play in different spots on the field.
Undersized at just 232 pounds. Isn’t as good against the run as he is against the pass. Played just two seasons at Ohio State as he is a redshirt sophomore. THE JETS went defense yet again.
Gang Green took Ohio State inside linebacker ebacker Darron Lee with the 20th overall pick in the first round of Thursday’s NFL draft, giving Toddd Bowles some of that speed the coach had craved. The Jets passed on big names like Memphis QB Paxton Lynch and UCLA LB Myles Jack, who were both on the board when they made their selection. This was the seventh straight year the Jets took a defensive fensive player in the first round.
Lee fills a need for the Jets, who are without three of the four linebackers that started for the teamam at the beginning of last season. Though he was s classified in the draft process as an outside linebacker, acker, Todd Bowles and Mike Maccagnan said Lee will play inside linebacker for Gang Green, who play ay a base 3-4 defense. Lee will begin on the depth chartrt behind Erin Henderson, Bowles said, in the spot that Demario Davis used to occupy.
“All my dreams are finally coming true,” Lee said a few minutes after being selected. “It was a great moment for me.”
At the end of last year, Bowles had said he wanted anted to add speed to his team, and Lee — who ran a 4.47 47 at the NFL Scouting Combine — fits the bill.
“He makes us a lot faster and you can do a lot of things with him,” Bowles said. “He’s a very good od pressure guy, he’s a very good cover guy and he runs sideline to sideline.”
Those cover skills are just what the Jets’ linebacking corps need.
Lee, who was a redshirt sophomore and only played two seasons at Ohio State, is undersized for a traditional NFL linebacker at 6-1 and 232 pounds, but that smaller build allows him to have an impact defending against the pass. He was a high school quarterback and actually started his college career as a linebacker/safety who sometimes was used in the slot.
“We’re going to use him a lot of different places, too,” Bowles said.
The downside of Lee’s smaller size is that he could be vulnerable against the run. But Lee did not share that concern, and Bowles said he did not have any issue with the linebacker’s current weight.
“We have a heck of a defensive line in New York and the guys up there are hungry,” Lee said. “We have a whole defense that’s hungry so I feel that I’ll be fine stacking up against the run. I’m not really worried.” Maccagnan also sees Lee’s age, 21, as a positive. “He’s a very young player, when you find players from an age standpoint, kind of like (Leonard Williams) from last year,” Maccagnan said. “These guys not only are good players potentially now, but again, being younger, as they still continue to mature and develop, we do feel they have quite a bit of upside to develop into a much better player going forward.”
No doubt the Jets hope Lee’s career works out better than the last Ohio State linebacker they took in the first round round: Vernon Gholston.Gholston
NO DEAL: Thursday’s first round came and went without a Muhammad Wilkerson trade. And there almost certainly won’t be one to come, either. “I would not envision that happening,” Maccagnan said. “To attempt to trade a franchise tag player, it’s a little more complicated,” Maccagnan said. “You can’t trade the player, per se, because he hasn’t signed his tender yet. If you were to do a trade it would probably be in advance of the draft as opposed to during the draft.”
That means in all likelihood Wilkerson will be playing for the Jets this season — either under the franchise tag or on a long-term deal if he can reach an agreement with the team.
NO SIT FOR FITZ: Ryan Fitzpatrick has every intention of playing football in 2016, according to sources.
The veteran free-agent quarterback has been deadlocked in contract negotiations with the Jets for months. Earlier Thursday there had been a report that Fitzpatrick might choose to sit out if the Jets don’t raise their current contract offer to him.
It still seems likely that the Jets will work something out with the quarterback because there simply isn’t another team that would make Fitzpatrick the unquestioned starter the way the Jets would.
Right now, the difference between the two sides is believed to be around $7 million per year.
A journeyman 11-year pro, Fitzpatrick enjoyed the best season of his career playing with the Jets last season under familiar offensive coordinator Chan Gailey. After the Jets traded for him with the Texans last offseason, Fitzpatrick broke the franchise record for touchdown passes in a single season (31) and won 10 games.