New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh experienced his first real scare since taking the job, and it came during the fourth round of the NFL Draft.
Saleh revealed that he’d briefly believed the team drafted the wrong player to start day three of the draft. The Jets zeroed in on North Carolina running back Michael Carter, and opted to make him the pick. After the selection was announced, ESPN flashed up the graphic for another Michael Carter — this one being Michael Carter II, a Duke defensive back who also happened to be in the draft pool.
That was enough to scare Saleh in a big way.
“When we took Michael Carter the running back, ESPN threw up Michael Carter II on the screen and we were like, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute,’ and checked the notes and made sure we made the right pick,” Saleh said after the draft, via Jeff Kerr of CBS Sports. “But, lucky for us, Michael [ Carter] II ended up falling to us and we were able to scoop him up. So, like I said, we’re excited to have them both.”
As Saleh noted, the Jets ended up drafting the other Carter a round later, so in a certain sense, everything worked out perfectly.
The Jets are certainly prone to hilarious screw-ups. You certainly wouldn’t have put it past them to accidentally turn in the wrong card.
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