Joe Douglas knows the best teams build through the draft.
“Ultimately for us to get to where the great teams are, the most consistent teams are, you do that through the draft,” he said back in May. “It’s the most team-friendly market in sports.”
He then demonstrated that mentality even more in free agency. While Douglas has spent $75 million already – the fourth-most in the league – he didn’t try and fix every problem with money. The Jets had holes across the roster but Douglas targeted positions he thought he couldn’t solve early in the draft, like receiver, defensive line and safety, instead of pouring all the Jets’ cap space into blue-chip players like guard Joe Thuney or edge rusher Bud Dupree. He gave out big contracts, but manageable ones that wouldn’t cripple the Jets in the future.
Douglas will now set his eyes set on the draft to solve the issues he couldn’t resolve in free agency: offensive line, cornerback and quarterback.
Leaving those incredibly-important positions for the draft makes sense from a financial and team-building perspective. Douglas already has a pretty solid track record in drafting after years as a scout for the Ravens and running the Eagles’ draft prior to their Super Bowl run. He even performed well in his first Jets draft: Mekhi Becton, Bryce Hall and Denzel Mims all look like pieces to build around.
Douglas’ ability to identify and draft a quarterback, though, remains the most important. The last and seemingly only quarterback Douglas helped scout and lobby for was Joe Flacco. That was with the Ravens in 2008. That worked out well for Baltimore, but only because the rest of the team around Flacco was already established. Douglas won’t have that luxury with the Jets. He’ll have to find his franchise quarterback while simultaneously building the team around him.
Douglas must come out of this draft with at least three starters at the positions mentioned earlier for his spending approach to be worth it. Fortunately, all three of the biggest holes for the Jets heading into the draft can be solved with the Nos. 2, 23 and 34 picks. If Douglas hits, the Jets’ future under him and Robert Saleh will look promising. But if he fails, many will wonder why he didn’t go after the more important positions in free agency. It’s a big risk, but one Douglas seems content with betting on given his faith in himself and Saleh.
