Jets Had 'Good Smokescreen' To Hide Armand Membou Pick

The New York Jets landed a significant boost for the offensive line with the No. 7 pick in the National Football League Draft in Armand Membou.

For weeks, there was buzz about the possibility of Membou landing in New York. A good chunk of the multitude of mock drafts that were shared involved Membou in some way. But, as the draft approached, another offensive tackle started to get mentioned as a potential option as well. Kelvin Banks Jr. was another guy talked about for the offensive line.

ESPN's Jeremy Fowler weighed on the team's decision and shared that they viewed Banks as a "good smokescreen."

"In the days leading up to the draft, several executives were linking the Jets to offensive tackle Kelvin Banks Jr," Fowler said. "Wrong tackle. The Jets -- who were aware of that perception and figured it was a good smokescreen -- went with Armand Membou, whose length and football traits remind multiple scouts I trust of a young Jason Peters. 'We were fine with people guessing what we were going to do,' said a team source, who added Membou is 'just scratching the surface' of his potential.

"The Jets aren't overthinking this one: They are keeping Membou at right tackle, noticing that teams sometimes get in trouble when switching a lineman's position too often. (News flash: Playing tackle is hard)."

Membou clearly has fans in the Jets' front office and he'll have a chance to show why that's the case with a big role in 2025.