Jets general manager Mike Maccagnan was willing to reveal one thing about the team’s draft plan at Tuesday’s pre-draft session with reporters.
“We’re obviously not going to be taking a quarterback in the first round,” Maccagnan said. “In case anybody was wondering about that, I can break that to you. I know everybody was waiting for that one.”
That probably won’t affect too many mock drafts. Other than that, Maccagnan was evasive with the 2019 NFL draft closing in on Thursday. He was not emphatic about wanting to trade back, as he had been earlier this offseason.
“When you’re sitting where we’re sitting, I think we’re going to do anything we feel is in the best interest of the team,” Maccagnan said. “If we stay at three and pick a player, we feel really good about the potential players that are going to be there. If we have an opportunity to move back and acquire more draft capital, I think we’d be interested in that, too. I think it really depends on what we feel is in the best interest of the team going forward.”
The Jets are expected to take a defensive lineman if they remain at three. Quinnen Williams, Josh Allen and Ed Oliver are considered the most likely choices unless Nick Bosa surprisingly drops to them.
Maccagnan did not address any specific players, but said the defensive line/edge rusher class is “quite a talented group.”
Most of the work is now done, Maccagnan said, but teams are still fishing for information.
“You make a lot of phone calls,” he said. “You try not to tip what you’re thinking, but you’re also trying to gain an idea of what it would take to move up and get somebody.”
The division of power with the Jets leaves Maccagnan in charge of the 53-man roster and the draft. That is not to say new coach Adam Gase has no role. Maccagnan said Gase’s opinion carries more weight than others.
“I’m here to help when I’m asked to help,” Gase said. “[Maccagnan’s] given me plenty of guys to evaluate. That’s my part of the process. It’s really no different than what I’ve done in the past. This is their expertise. These guys wait all year to do this. They spend so much time on backgrounds and everything, between the scouts and Mike and Brian [Heimerdinger], they watch way more film than any of us ever could. That’s what they do all year around. I know it’s an exciting thing for those guys because they get to see their work pay off. It’s a lot of work to draft six, seven guys.”