Joe Douglas gave Sam Darnold another toy to play with this season by taking Denzel Mims on Day 2 of the NFL draft.
Somehow, Mims fell all the way to the 59th pick after the Jets traded back from the 48th. Now he’ll join Breshad Perriman as the Jets’ second outside receiver with Jamison Crowder in the slot. Mims is a big-bodied receiver at 6-foot-3, 215 pounds who was incredibly productive in four seasons at Baylor. There he totaled 186 career receptions for 2,925 yards and 28 touchdowns.
This was the right pick at the right time to replace the production of Robby Anderson. Adam Gase got one speedy wideout in Perriman in free agency and now he gets another fast pass-catcher who has an enormous catch radius. Mims excelled at snatching passes away from defensive backs and tied for second in the country with 20 contested catches on 41 targets.
Mims doesn’t come without his flaws. Though he finished with 186 receptions in Baylor’s pass-heavy offense, he dropped 12.9 percent of his targets the past two seasons. He’s also a little more limited with his route tree – he’s great at slants, posts and go routes, but not much else. Mims’ production also dipped considerably between his sophomore and junior seasons, though he rebounded with a sensational senior season at Baylor.
Mims is a Day 1 starter for a Jets’ offense that’s been starved of a powerful receiver for some time. Darnold should have a lot of fun in 2020 with Mims joining a receiving corps that was in serious need of talent.
