The Jets got a haul for Jamal Adams. The two first-round picks they received by trading the safety to Seattle marked only the eighth time since 2000 a team earned two first-rounders for a player.
That’s a lot for one guy (the Jets also sent a fourth-round pick and acquired Bradley McDougald and a third-rounder), but those picks will likely be late in the first round because Seattle is a contender and Adams makes them much better. In reality, the Jets probably got two picks that will be between Nos. 20 and 32 considering the Seahawks have not drafted before the 27th pick in the previous five seasons thanks to their 67 percent winning percentage.
This severely lowers the value the Jets received in exchange for Adams. The ability to identify and draft top-tier talent that late in the first round is tough for any team or general manager and the Jets will need those picks to hit if they want to turn around their franchise.
Fortunately, if anyone can identify talent late in the first round, it’s Joe Douglas. The first team he worked for – the Ravens – drafted their first pick in at least the 20s in nine of the 15 seasons he was a scout. While Douglas can’t be credited with all of the Ravens’ late-round picks, he played a part in scouting some of the players they took in the first round and learned to scout from legendary GM Ozzie Newsome. Then, when Douglas ran the Eagles’ draft from 2016-2019, he drafted after the 20th pick twice.
With some worry over just how valuable the picks the Jets just acquired will be, let’s take a look at some of the better late-first round selections made by Douglas’ previous two teams.
QB Joe Flacco
The Jets’ current backup quarterback is also a former Douglas pick. The Ravens drafted Flacco 18th overall in 2008 despite his small-school pedigree from Delaware. Douglas is credited with finding, scouting and convincing the Ravens to draft Flacco, who went on to play 11 seasons in Baltimore and win a Super Bowl 2012.
The pick came in the middle of the first-round, but Flacco is one of only three players from that draft picked in the back-half of the round still active in the league. This pick is less about Douglas’ ability to find super-late in the round and more about his ability to find a player he likes and grab him as soon as possible.
OT Michael Oher
Douglas found the Ravens’ starting tackle for five solid seasons with the 23rd pick in the 2009 draft. Oher played and started in every game from 2009-2013 and then missed five games in the final year of his time in Baltimore.
Offensive linemen are incredibly hard to draft in the NFL, and Douglas found one of the best over a good stretch of time late in the first round. It’s a trend he continued during his time in Philadelphia.
OT Andre Dillard
Before he joined the Jets during the 2019 offseason, Douglas drafted offensive tackle Andre Dillard for the Eagles with the 22nd overall pick out of Washington State. Dillard only started four games his rookie season, but the Eagles felt confident enough in his game to let veteran tackle Jason Peters walk in free agency after 11 years and seven Pro Bowls in Philadelphia. The Eagles eventually re-signed Peters to play guard.
Douglas showed once again his prowess in finding quality offensive line talent late in the first round. He drafted two linemen for the Jets in 2020 but could easily look for more in the drafts to come.
CB Jimmy Smith
The Ravens found a lock-down cornerback late in the first round of the 2011 draft in Jimmy Smith. Douglas had become a high-ranking scout by this point in his Ravens tenure and Smith ended up being one of the best cornerback prospects Baltimore drafted considering he’s played there for the past nine seasons.
Douglas doesn’t get all the credit for Smith, but he was with the team who saw enough in Smith to draft him late in the first round despite all of the concerns over his off-the-field behavior and then were able to coach him well enough to become a top-flight cornerback for years to come.
