MISSING THE MAC

This week’s cuts will reveal too many draft whiffs for GM

DURING his time as Jets general manager, Mike Maccagnan has held onto his draft picks tighter than his ubiquitous cup of coffee.

Maccagnan has been reluctant to cut his picks, but that might change this week. NFL teams must cut their rosters from 90 to 53 players by Saturday. Looking at the Jets roster, it is clear Maccagnan is going to have some difficult decisions to make on players he has drafted. At least eight of his draft picks appear to be on the roster bubble. He has cut only one draft pick on previous cutdown days.

When the Jets hired Maccagnan as general manager, they did it with his scouting pedigree in mind. The Jets felt their drafts were lacking under his predecessor, John Idzik, and the later years of Mike Tannenbaum, both guys with backgrounds in salary-cap management, not scouting. This week could highlight some of the failings in Maccagnan’s drafting, though.

He has had hits at the top of his drafts with Leonard Williams in 2015 and Jamal Ad a m s and Ma r c u s Maye in 2017, but those are the highlights. The 2018 class has a lot of potential, led by quarterback Sam Darnold, whose success or failure will ultimately define Maccagnan’s legacy.

But look beyond those headliners and the results are not great.

The 2015 class outside of Wil- liams could be entirely wiped out this week. Lorenzo Mauldin and Deon Simon are both longshots to make the roster. The 2016 class will be remembered for the selection of Christian Hackenberg in the second round. Maccagnan and the Jets will get a reminder of how awful that pick was Thursday night, when they face the Eagles. Hackenberg is Philadelphia’s f ifth quarterback and should see some action against his former team. Let’s call it “The HackenBowl.” Juston Burris and Charone Peake are on the bubble from the ’16 class this week.

Maccagnan has cut only one draft pick before that player’s second season with the team. That was 2015 f ifth-round pick Jarvis Harrison. There are f ive members of the 2017 class, though, who could be goners before their sophomore years. Wide receiver Chad Hansen, linebacker Dylan Donahue and cornerbacks Jeremy Clark and Derrick Jones could all go t hi s weekend. Wide re ceive r ArDarius Stewart will be spared because he is suspended for the first two weeks, but he could be cut when he returns from the suspension.

Now, Ma c c a g n a n could argue the reason these draft picks are on the way out is that the team has bette r depth, for which he deserves the credit. To some degree, that is true. But it is not the only reason they are being cut. Some of them simply are not any good. That will be underlined this week. Take away the 2018 draft class fo r now because they are going nowhere. In his f irst three years, Maccagnan drafted 22 players. Four of them have already been cut or traded — Harrison, Devin Smith, Bryce Petty and Hacke nberg. If f ive more get cut, 40 percent of his draft picks will no longer be on the roster. Maccagnan’s draft s hort- comings are showing up t his summer, too, in the form of giant holes on the Jets. Start with pass rusher, where they have no one who is getting near the quarterback. Maccagnan has drafted three outside linebackers, none before the third round. Jordann Jenkins is a solid starter but is not a great pass rusher. Mauldin is history, and Donahue is best known for driving the wrong wayy in the Lincoln Tunnel.

Now, take a look at the Jets’ offensive line. It is shaky at best and has no depth. Starting left tackle Kelvin Beachum should go in and ask for a raise right now because his value has risenn watching his backups play this summer. Maccagnan has drafted just two offensive linemen in 28 picks and only one is still on the team — Brandon Shell.

One of the most interestingg camp battles has been at wide receiver, where guys signed offf the street have zipped past Maccagnan’s draft picks onn the depth chart. Tre McBride, who is on his third NFL teamm in three years, and Charles Johnson, another journeyman, h ave o ut p l aye d Hans e n a n dd Stewart. We won’t even get into Smith, who was cut this springg after three injury-f illed years. Maccagnan’s best draft momentt at wide receiver was signingg Robby Anders o n after he went undrafted. Maccagnann has been able to mitigate the failures at drafting receivers with Anderson, a goodd trade (Jermaine Kearse) and a player he inheritedd (Quincy Enunwa). Maccagnan may someday just be remembered as the man who drafted Darnold. He should hope so. That will make people forget some of these other picks.