Blockbuster trades can reshape a team's draft selections. How has this week's completion of the Aaron Rodgers trade from Green Bay to the Jets shaken up the Green & White landscape in the 2023 draft?
Setting aside next year's Jets second-rounder, which could become a first-rounder depending on how much Rodgers plays this season, the five picks that general manager Joe Douglas and his draft team will spend from Thursday through Saturday look somewhat similar, although less top-heavy, than they did earlier this week, before the Rodgers trade finally came together.
Round 1 (15th overall)
The Jets dropped two rungs in the first round, from 13th to 15th in the swap of No. 1's with the Packers.
The Jets have had two 15th-overall selections in their history, the most recent coming in 1992 when TE Johnny Mitchell arrived from Nebraska to play four seasons, start 42 games and make 158 catches for 2,086 yards and 16 touchdowns in green and white. Fourteen drafts before that, DE Ron Faurot was taken at No. 15 out of Arkansas in the 1984 draft but lasted two seasons and 20 games before departing the Jets and the NFL.
One omen if the Jets see a defensive tackle they like at this position. Only one Pro Football Hall of Fame player was drafted 15th overall: DT Alan Page, selected by the Vikings in the first round of the first AFL-NFL Common Draft in 1967.
Round 2 (43rd)
The Jets sent the second-round choice they received from Cleveland in the WR Elijah Moore trade to the Packers as part of the Rodgers trade. They still hold their own second-rounder, 43rd overall.
The Jets' top all-time selection at 43 overall: LB Ralph Baker, a sixth-round pick out of Penn State in the 1964 American Football League draft.
Round 4 (112th)
The Jets have retained their own Round 4 selection, which will be the 10th pick of the round near the start of Day 3 drafting on Saturday.
The Jets have had a good run of fourth-rounders, with their best at No. 112 being RB Joe McKnight out of Southern California in the 2010 draft.
Round 5 (143rd)
The Jets continue to hold their own fifth-round selection. Their top pick at No. 143 in their history was S Erik Coleman, who came to the Green & White in 2004 and played his first four seasons, 50 starts and 63 games for the Jets before moving on to Atlanta and Detroit.
Round 5 (170th)
The Jets haven't had many compensatory draft picks over the years and were awarded none this year as well. But part of the Rodgers trade was the Jets sending their sixth-rounder to Green Bay and receiving the Pack's fifth-round compensatory pick to help balance the trade.
The Jets have had only two 170s in their history, both from Michigan State. HB Wayne Fontes was plucked by the Titans of New York in Round 22 in 1961, played nine games for them in '62, then moved on to a career in coaching that included seven seasons as defensive coordinator for Tampa Bay and then Detroit, then eight-plus seasons as the Lions' head coach from 1988-96. RB Jim Earley was taken in Round 7 in 1978 and played just two games as a Jet and in the NFL.
