Draft History: Jets feature a mix of current and past stars in top pick list
Draft History: Jets feature a mix of current and past stars in top pick list
The New York Jets have drafted their share of top players, including two members of the “New York Sack Exchange,” four elite players from the first decade of the 2000s and the franchise’s most iconic star.
BEST
10. Keyshawn Johnson, WR (Round 1, Pick 1 in 1996) – Like many wide receivers in recent times, Johnson had a bit of arrogance. He penned an autobiography after his rookie season and its title, Just Give Me the Damn Ball, became a quote that both fans and detractors used when referring to his play. The 1995 All-American was targeted 533 times during his four-year stay in New York, snaring 305 receptions for 4,108 yards and 31 touchdowns. He had a pair of 1,000-yard seasons (1998-99) that both resulted in Pro Bowl selections, and he had nearly 200 yards and a score in the playoffs, helping the Jets to the 1998 AFC Championship Game (a loss to the Broncos). Johnson was traded to the Buccaneers prior to the 2000 season and spent four years in Tampa Bay, two in Dallas and one in Carolina before retiring in 2006.
9. John Abraham, DE (Round 1, Pick 13 in 2000) – The Jets got back two first-round picks for Johnson and used one of them on Abraham, who earned three Pro Bowl and two All-Pro honors in New York. The South Carolina product had 4½ sacks in an injury-plagued rookie year, then was an All-Pro in 2001 after posting 13 sacks (including tying a team record with four in a game) and a league-high six forced fumbles. Abraham ranks second in franchise history with 19 forced fumbles and third with 53½ sacks in just 47 games.
8. D’Brickashaw Ferguson, T (Round 1, Pick 4 in 2006) – The University of Virginia graduate was one of the most durable players in the NFL during the past decade. Over his 10-year career, Ferguson didn’t miss a game and played all but one of New York’s 10,708 offensive snaps during that time. He started two AFC Championship Games (2009 and ’10) and was selected to three Pro Bowls. Ferguson was quick for an offensive lineman, holding a black belt in karate and a brown belt in taekwondo.
7. Joe Klecko, DT (Round 6, Pick 144 in 1977) – Klecko was a Temple product who didn’t have to go far for his NFL destination. He earned AFC Defensive Player of the Year, All-Pro and Pro Bowl honors in 1981 after posting an “unofficial” league-leading total of 20½ sacks (the league would first recognize the stat the following year). Joined by fellow defensive line stars Mark Gastineau, Abdul Salaam, and Marty Lyons, Klecko helped ring the opening bell on Wall Street in November, leading to the group being called the “New York Sack Exchange.” In all, the four-time Pro Bowler and two-time All-Pro had 24 official sacks in 11 seasons with the Jets. Klecko faced several knee injuries during his career, especially a ruptured patellar tendon that cost him seven games in 1982 and caused him to miss the AFC Championship Game loss to the Dolphins.
6. Wesley Walker, WR (Round 2, Pick 33 in 1977) – Walker ranks second in team history with 8,306 yards and 71 touchdowns and is fifth with 438 receptions. After a solid rookie year, the California product made his first Pro Bowl and earned his only All-Pro selection after posting eight scores and leading the NFL with 1,169 yards. Walker was also a Pro Bowler in the strike-shortened 1982 season, then posted at least 145 yards and a touchdown in two straight playoff games before Miami shut him down in the AFC Championship Game.
5. Marvin Powell, T (Round 1, Pick 4 in 1977) – Powell was an exceptionally strong and smart player who started 123 games in nine seasons. He made five straight Pro Bowls and three All-Pro teams from 1979-83, and he also appeared in five playoff games. During his career, Powell was the president of the players’ union and spent his offseasons getting a degree from New York Law School.
4. Darrelle Revis, CB (Round 1, Pick 14 in 2007) – Revis was an excellent cornerback at Pittsburgh, but he was best known for a 73-yard punt return touchdown in which he broke several tackles. ESPN voted the play as college football’s best during the 2007 season. Revis earned a reputation as a shutdown corner in the mold of former Jet and Patriot Ty Law. Before long, he was nicknamed “Revis Island” for his ability to take the other team’s best receiver out of the play. In eight seasons in New York, Revis had 25 interceptions and returned three for touchdowns. He was traded to Tampa Bay in April 2013, but the three-time All-Pro returned two years later and made his fifth Pro Bowl with the Jets.
3. Nick Mangold, C (Round 1, Pick 29 in 2006) – He joined Revis and Ferguson on a Jets team that reached the AFC Championship Game in back-to-back years. Like Ferguson, Mangold was a stalwart on the Jets’ offensive line, starting 164 games in 11 seasons. The seven-time Pro Bowler and two-time All-Pro faced multiple knee injuries, including one that ended his 2016 early and ultimately led to his retirement.
2. Mark Gastineau, DE (Round 2, Pick 41 in 1979) – Despite playing three seasons before sacks became an official NFL statistic, Gastineau is New York’s all-time leader in the category with 74. He unofficially had 20 in the 1981 season, which ended with the first of his five straight Pro Bowl selections. The leader of the “Sack Exchange” defensive line led the NFL in sacks twice (19 in 1983 and 22 the following year). Gastineau earned AFC Defensive Player of the Year honors in 1984, lost time to arthroscopic knee surgery two years later and earned the ire of teammates when he (along with Lyons and Klecko) crossed the picket line during the 1987 player’s strike. The next year, he was leading the NFL with seven sacks in seven games when he abruptly retired mid-season, citing Brigitte Nielsen, an actress who was his fiancée at the time, having uterine cancer (a claim that later proved to be exaggerated – she had a condition that, if left untreated, could have turned into cancer). Since his NFL career, Gastineau failed to make it in the CFL and as a boxer (his opponents were told to take dives when they faced him), was arrested for picking up amphetamines in an airport, went to jail after striking his wife and failing to attend anger management, and has stated he is battling a litany of illnesses, including dementia, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and colon cancer.
1. Joe Namath, QB (Round 1, Pick 1 in 1965) – The only Hall of Famer on this list, Namath is a five-time Pro Bowler, an All-Pro in 1968 and the utterer of arguably the most famous proclamation in American sports history. Namath learned under the great coach Paul “Bear” Bryant at Alabama and led the Crimson Tide to a 29-4 record overall, as well as the 1964 National Championship. He was drafted by both the Jets and the Cardinals, but St. Louis wanted him to bypass playing in the Orange Bowl and winning the title, so he chose New York instead. Namath was an AFL All-Star as a rookie and led the league in passing the next two years, including a 4,007-yard season that set the record for football’s junior circuit. He earned his only All-Pro selection the following year. “Broadway Joe” threw three touchdown passes in the AFL Championship Game against the Raiders, then guaranteed victory over the heavily favored Colts in Super Bowl III. Matt Snell was the workhorse (121 yards and a score), but Namath earned MVP honors with a 206-yard performance in the 16-6 victory, giving the Jets their only title to date. The flamboyant quarterback also played in the first Monday Night Football game in 1970 and spent one year at the end of his career with the Rams before transitioning to acting. The AFL Player of the Year in 1968 and ’69 struggled with alcohol later in life, but has remained one of the NFL’s most recognizable icons.
WORST
10. (tie) Alex Kroll, C/T (Round 2, Pick 13 in 1962) and William Yearby, DE (Round 1, Pick 13 in 1966) - Kroll was expelled from Yale after getting into a physical altercation with an associate professor his sophomore year. He served two years in the Army before playing with Rutgers. After being drafted in the second round, Kroll played for one year on the New York Titans (in the final season before becoming the Jets). He soon focused on his other career, rising through the ranks to eventually become chairman and CEO of the advertising company Young & Rubicam. Yearby was a two-time All-American at Michigan, but injured his knee in a college All-Star game. After one year as a reserve, the Jets sent Yearby to the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Bridgeport Knights, where he suffered another injury to his knee that ended his career.
9. Dave Cadigan, G (Round 1, Pick 8 in 1988) - Cadigan was a 1987 All-American at USC, and he played 82 games over seven seasons, six with the Jets. The Vikings drafted Hall of Famer, 12-time Pro Bowler and seven-time All-Pro guard Randall McDaniel at pick 19.
8. (tie) Russell Carter, CB (Round 1, Pick 10 in 1984) and Ron Faurot, DE (Round 1, Pick 15 in 1984) - Carter spent six seasons with the Jets and Raiders, posting six sacks, four interceptions, and three fumble recoveries. New York tried to convert Faurot from linebacker to defensive end, but the transition resulted in just two sacks before the Jets released him early in the 1985 season. He never latched on with another team, but owns a sports bar in his home state of Texas. An alternative draft could have included three-time Pro Bowl linebacker Wilber Marshall (originally taken at 11 by the Bears) and Kevin Ross (round seven, pick 173 by the Chiefs), who made two Pro Bowls at cornerback.
7. Kyle Brady, TE (Round 1, Pick 9 in 1995) - A high school and college All-American, Brady combined for 949 yards and 10 touchdowns in four years with New York. Unfortunately, those stats are not what you are looking for from a top 10 pick, and certainly not what Jets fans were looking for with future Hall of Famer Warren Sapp still available. Brady went on to have his best years in Jacksonville, including 2000, when he had 64 receptions and 729 yards. He played in back-to-back AFC Championship Games in 1998-99 and appeared in Super Bowl XLII with the Patriots in his final season.
6. Christian Hackenberg, QB (Round 2, Pick 51 in 2016) - The Penn State product never appeared in a regular-season NFL game and was active for only five contests in his three seasons in New York. He did not latch on with the Raiders, Eagles, and Bengals and struggled with the Alliance of American Football’s Memphis Express before the league ceased operations in April 2019.
5. (tie) Carl Barzilauskas, DT (Round 1, Pick 7 in 1974) and Dewayne Robertson, DT (Round 1, Pick 4 in 2003) - Barzilauskas started 48 games in four years with the Jets, but he did not register a sack (even though the stat was unofficial, some organizations still kept totals) and had five fumble recoveries in six years. The Jets traded picks 13, 22 and 116 in 2003 to move up and draft Robertson. He had 14½ sacks and 261 tackles in five years with the Jets before knee issues slowed him down. Five picks later, Minnesota once again got the best player at the position, this time it was six-time Pro Bowler and five-time All-Pro Kevin Williams.
4. Blair Thomas, RB (Round 1, Pick 2 in 1990) - Despite being in a running back committee with the Jets, Thomas actually played well his first two years, totaling 1,348 yards and four touchdowns. Injuries limited him over the next two seasons, and he played two more campaigns with three teams before he was out of football. Thomas went on to coach running backs at Temple, run several football camps (including one at the northernmost incorporated area in the U. S., Barrow, Alaska), and he also co-owns a chain of sports bars in Pennsylvania.
3. John “Lam” Jones, WR (Round 1, Pick 2 in 1980) - The former Texas star won a gold medal as part of Team USA’s 4x100-meter relay team at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. The Jets decided against drafting offensive tackle Anthony Munoz after he failed a physical due to reconstructive knee surgery. Jones had 2,322 yards and 13 touchdowns in five years with New York, but hamstring, collarbone and finger injuries cost him half of the 1984 season, plus all of the next two campaigns. He was traded to the 49ers (who originally sent the draft pick used on Jones to the Jets), but never played in the NFL again. Meanwhile, Munoz was a Hall of Famer who was selected to 11 Pro Bowls, nine All-Pro teams and played in two Super Bowls with the Bengals.
2. Dee Milliner (Round 1, Pick 9 in 2013) - The 2012 All-American and two-time National Champion with Alabama did not meet expectations in the NFL. Milliner was benched three times as a rookie, but recovered to post three interceptions in the final two games. Over the next two seasons, he played just eight games thanks to an ankle sprain and a torn Achilles tendon in 2014 and wrist surgery the following year. He never latched on with another team after the Jets released him in September 2016.
1. Vernon Gholston, DE (Round 1, Pick 6 in 2008) - Gholston was the Big Ten Defensive Lineman of the Year after registering 14 sacks in 2007. He was expected to do well as an outside linebacker with the Jets, but did not mesh with Rex Ryan’s defensive scheme. Gholston started just five out of 45 games in three seasons with the Jets, and he did not have a sack in his NFL career. The Cardinals got Calais Campbell, a five-time Pro Bowler whose 88 sacks are the most in the 2008 Draft, at pick 50.
Next: Las Vegas Raiders
-By: Kevin Rakas
Writer