Jets' collection of draft picks doesn't guarantee long-term success

The New York Jets stole the show on NFL trade deadline day by making two franchise-altering blockbuster trades. 

The first saw them send cornerback Sauce Gardner to the Indianapolis Colts for two first-round draft picks and wide receiver Adonai Mitchell.

The second resulted in defensive tackle Quinnen Williams going to the Dallas Cowboys for a first-round pick, a second-round pick and defensive tackle Mazi Smith.

In total, it gives the Jets five first-round draft picks over the next two years and sets the stage for what could be a massive rebuild. 

It will be easy to look at that haul of draft picks and try to count the Jets as winners at this year's deadline because it positions them so well to add major pieces over the next two years. Maybe they will be. Maybe they will get it right with those selections. 

That "maybe" is the key. Those picks are only as good as what the Jets do with them, and how they complement the rest of the roster around them.

Recent history is not promising.

Jets have been in similar position with picks and squandered it

You only have to go back as far as 2021 and 2022 to find the last time the Jets were in this position. Those two draft classes saw the Jets make five first-round picks (two in 2021 and three in 2022) to hopefully reshape and rebuild their organization. 

Those selections ended up being used on:

• Quarterback Zach Wilson (No. 2 overall in 2021)
• Offensive lineman Alijah Vera-Tucker (No. 14 overall in 2021)
• Cornerback Sauce Gardner (No. 4 overall in 2022)
• Wide receiver Garrett Wilson (No. 10 overall in 2022)
• Linebacker Jermaine Johnson II (No. 26 overall in 2022)

Along with those picks, the Jets also had early second-round picks in each year, selecting wide receiver Elijah Moore (No. 34 overall in 2021) and running back Breece Hall (No. 36 overall in 2022).

Over a two-year span, that is seven picks taken in the top 36 of their respective draft classes, a haul that you might imagine become the foundation of a contending team.

Instead, all the Jets have done since 2022 is go 20-39 overall and put themselves into a position where they have to start yet another rebuilding phase.

It is not even that they whiffed on all of those picks. Vera-Tucker has been a solid starter on their offensive line. Wilson and Gardner are star-level talents. Hall is an outstanding running back with big-play ability.

They landed a lot of good players.

The problem is the Jets whiffed on the most important of those picks (the quarterback, Wilson, at No. 2 overall) and did not do enough with the rest of the roster around the picks they did get right. 

The Jets clearly needed to shake up their roster, and they certainly put themselves in a position to make big changes in future seasons. But they have been in this position before, and they have failed with it. 

This could either be the start of a new era of Jets football or the continuation of their perpetual ineptitude.