Welcome to March Madness, NFL edition.
The NFL Combine is in the books as the offseason rolls along with free agency and the new league year on the horizon.
The New York Jets made the first official trade of the offseason during the Combine, a rare 1-for-1 deal as they received defensive tackle T’Vondre Sweat in exchange for edge rusher Jermaine Johnson.
With Johnson now headed to Tennessee pending a physical by both players, Jets head coach Aaron Glenn and GM Darren Mougey will have now traded two of the four players from the highly-touted and successful 2022 draft class in former first-round picks Johnson and cornerback Sauce Gardner. Wide receiver Garrett Wilson signed a contract extension last offseason, and running back Breece Hall, despite being a impending free agent, will likely get tagged by the team.
It’s clear following the trades of Gardner, Johnson and Quinnen Williams over the course of the last few months that Glenn and Mougey are establishing their own culture with players they draft and showing they are more than comfortable trading away stars from the previous regime.
With 11 picks in the 2026 NFL Draft less than two months from now, the duo in charge will have the Jets looking like their own version of the rebuild sooner rather than later.
Using the Pro Football Network Draft simulator, here’s our second go at a mock draft for the Jets.
Situated as one of the top-five teams with the most cap space in the NFL, it must be noted that free agency can and likely will alter what prospects the Jets draft, depending on how much they spend and at which position they target.
In my initial mock, I had the Jets selecting pass rusher Rueben Bain Jr. out of Miami (Fla.) with the No. 2 pick.
However, I could see Glenn and Mougey deciding against drafting Bain after he measured with only 30 7/8-inch arms, the third-shortest arm length at the position since 1999. There hasn’t been a player with arms shorter than 31″ to post double-digit sacks in any season for the last 20 consecutive years.
With that being said, I believe the Jets will pass on Bain but draft an edge rusher. This time it’s Texas Tech’s David Bailey.
Bailey led all of Division I with 14.5 sacks and had a 20.2 percent pressure rate in 2025, the best in college football.
The Stanford transfer dominated his lone season with the Red Raiders, as he added 19.5 tackles for loss (TFLs) to his resume at Texas Tech. Bailey also has great size as he measured in at 6-foot-3, 251 pounds and 33 3/4″ arms while running a 4.51 40-yard-dash time at the NFL Combine.
Following the trade of Johnson, and with fellow edge rusher Michael Clemons being a free agent, I expect Glenn and Mougey to attack this position not only in free agency, but also invest in it by drafting one of the premier pass rushers available in Bailey with the second overall pick.
Bet you didn’t expect to see this one, huh?
The Jets have a stockpile of picks in the first round after the Gardner and Williams trades prior to last year’s deadline.
In this scenario, the Jets make a decision at the quarterback position in either free agency or in the trade market, deciding not to wait until the draft, with Cardinals QB Kyler Murray being one of the top trade targets on the board and Packers backup QB Malik Willis being the hottest commodity among the underwhelming free-agent QB class.
With all the noise about the Jets potentially moving further back in the draft, why not have some fun and experiment with them moving up with their QB situation already settled in this situation.
After wide receivers Carnell Tate of Ohio State and Jordyn Tyson of Arizona State go back-to-back late in the Top 10, the Jets make the bold decision to trade up and get a playmaker.
Trade: Jets send Pick No. 16, Pick No. 44 and Pick No. 103 to Miami Dolphins for Pick No. 11, 2027 2nd round pick and 2027 4th round pick
Yes, the Jets traded for wide outs Adonai Mitchell and John Metchie III last season. However, given the draft capital they have, they opt to move up here and get another weapon, sending the latter of their second-round picks this year and acquire two more picks in the 2027 NFL Draft to add USC wide receiver Makai Lemon.
Lemon was the clear No. 1 receiver for the Trojans over the course of the last two seasons, which concluded with him posting 79 receptions, 1,156 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns in his junior year.
At 5’11” and 195 pounds, Lemon is one of the best route runners in this class and is a great 50-50, jump-ball wide out with great hands.
While there’s a chance one of the receivers could fall to the Jets at No. 16, they’re proactive by leap-frogging teams ahead of them (Rams, Ravens and Buccaneers) that could each potentially select a wideout if they fell.
Adding a 2025 All-American in Lemon will help take the stress off of Garrett Wilson and further solidify this Jets wide receiver core.
With the No. 44 pick gone, the Jets only have the No. 33 pick left in the second round, the first pick of Day 2 in the 2026 NFL Draft.
Gang Green still has a slew of needs, and no more important than at cornerback, where they decide to select Tennessee’s Colton Hood.
Following a season-ending injury to Jermond McCoy, his fellow Tennessee cornerback and a potential first-round pick, Hood stepped up to be the top corner for the Volunteers and shined with the expanded opportunity.
While not the biggest corner (6-0, 195), Hood plays with great physicality, which was shown while racking up eight pass breakups, 4.5 tackles for loss, an interception and a fumble recovered for a touchdown in his lone season in Tennessee.
The addition of Hood to the Jets secondary would be a breath of fresh air for a unit that was consistently under siege in 2025.
After trading No. 44 and No. 103 overall, the Jets will have a long wait until their next pick.
Selecting a quarterback here or at any point in this draft might seem odd, but it shouldn’t.
Even with last year’s starter Justin Fields likely out the door, the Jets will still need more options at most important position.
Brady Cook struggled mightily when he took over for Fields, and Tyrod Taylor shouldn’t be gifted the backup QB spot.
This leads us to Sawyer Robertson, a two-year starter at Baylor who led the Big-12 in numerous categories in 2025, including completions (304), passing attempts (504), passing yards (3,681), passing touchdowns (31) and passing yards per game (306.8).
The quarterback has tremendous size (6-4, 220) and toughness to be a backup option for the Jets heading into 2026.
Three picks later and the Jets are back on the clock.
The front office decides to address the secondary again as they select Charlie Demmings.
At 6’1″, Demmings has good size, and the career statistics to back it up (63 tackles, 35 passes defended, nine interceptions and two tackles for loss).
He’s viewed as a solid run defender and could have an impact on special teams.
Deion Burks started his career at Purdue for three seasons before he transferred to Oklahoma for his junior and senior seasons.
Coming in at 5’11”, Burks posted personal bests in his final campaign, putting up 57 receptions for 620 receiving yards and six touchdowns.
Despite Oklahoma’s first-round loss to Alabama in the College Football Playoff, Burks showed out, as he had a game-high seven catches for 107 yards and a touchdown.
One of the biggest holes on the Jets defense is at linebacker, where they were noticeably slow and struggled against both the run and pass game in 2025.
In this scenario, the Jets have already bolstered their linebacking core by either signing unrestricted free agent Quincy Williams or adding a different linebacker as a free agent.
Still, the Jets will add to the unit late in this draft, starting with Eric Gentry.
Gentry has 52 games under his belt at USC and Arizona State, where he amassed 271 tackles, 26.5 TFLs, nine sacks and nine forced fumbles.
What’s noticeable about Gentry is his size, standing at a towering 6’7″ and weighing 221 pounds.
The Jets continue to add at linebacker, this time with Bryce Boettcher, one of the most experienced linebackers in this class with 55 career games as a member of the Oregon Ducks.
Boettcher started at defensive back his freshman year before being moved to linebacker, as he totaled 269 tackles, 16 TFLs, four sacks and two interceptions.
Boettcher led the Big Ten with 80 assisted tackles in 2025.
The Jets conclude their defensive-oriented 2026 draft class by adding Zxavian Harris with their final selection on Day 3.
Harris is massive, coming in at 6’8″ and weighing 330 pounds.
He was an anchor for the Ole Miss defensive line from 2022-25, where he recorded 123 tackles, 17.5 TFLs and 5.5 sacks.
Given his production and frame, Harris will likely go earlier than this, but in this mock draft scenario, the Jets get a steal late in the seventh round.
This makes six of the Jets’ nine picks in the 2026 NFL Draft used on defense, a unit that struggled mightily and will aim to bounce back in the second year of Glenn’s play calling and first-year defensive coordinator Brian Duker.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NY Jets Mock Draft: Projecting every pick after NFL Combine
