It is April 29 and the second round of the 2022 NFL Draft is about to start. Jets general manager Joe Douglas and assistant GM Rex Hogan are sitting in the back of the team’s war room discussing the possibility of trading up to take running back Breece Hall.
“That’s why we did what we did,” Hogan said. “Draft leverage.”
Douglas looks back at him and says, “To go get [bleeping] difference-makers.”
A short while later, the Jets would make that trade up and select Hall, completing a haul at the top of the draft the team could only have dreamed about. Over the span of about 23 hours, the Jets drafted four of those difference-makers Douglas referenced — cornerback Sauce Gardner, wide receiver Garrett Wilson, defensive end Jermaine Johnson and Hall.
