In the NFL, when things are going great and, just as important, when the season is a struggle, it is instructive to take a close look at how a team's draft class is doing. Is it contributing? Is it sitting on the sideline? Is it whole or has it been hit by injuries and other departures?
In short, what appears to be in the future, next week and next year, for that class and that team?
For general manager Darren Mougey, head coach Aaron Glenn and the Jets, their 2025 draft class has been a horde coming over the horizon. Two of the greatest abilities in pro football are availability and capability. And the seven-member class collectively has shown both traits through the season's first eight games heading into this weekend's bye.
"A lot of these guys, you would want them to progress and learn and get the right reps to be able to get better," Glenn said. "And most of those reps, you'd want them to be in practice. But for some odd reason, all those guys have had to play a key cog in what we're doing. Kiko Mauigoa has been starting for us for a while. AZ [Azareye'h Thomas] is now going to be a starter.
"When they play well, like Kiko's done, man, that only helps your team."
Thomas, joining the Jets' starting lineup in the win over the Bengals for Sauce Gardner, who was in the concussion protocol, became the sixth member of this year's draft class to get a start. The last time the Jets had a class with at least six starters by midseason was in 2021, when the 10-member class featured eight starters. Before that, the closest the Jets got by midseason was five drafted rookie starters, in 2013 (headed by first-rounders Dee Milliner and Sheldon Richardson) and 2006 (led by first-rounders D'Brickashaw Ferguson and Nick Mangold).
The current class also has six members who have played in all of the first eight games, something that may not have happened in Jets history going back to the 1967 AFL-NFL Common Draft. Something that has happened just twice before: The Jets have gotten 30 starts out of this year's group, with the '21 class exceeding that with 40 combined starts and the 17-member Class of '76 coming in with seven starters and 35 starts in that season's first eight games.
A final metric on this year's draft choice availability: The seven members have averaged 285 scrimmage snaps and 342 total snaps (including special teams), the best averages over a season's first eight games dating to 2011 when NFL snap counts became readily available.
Breaking down the 2025 Jets Draft Class:
| Round | Player | GP / GS | Scrim / ST / Total Snaps |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | T Armand Membou | 8 / 8 | 514 / 28 / 542 |
| 2 | TE Mason Taylor | 8 / 7 | 428 / 3 / 431 |
| 3 | CB Azareye'h Thomas | 8 / 1 | 101 / 93 / 194 |
| 4A | WR Arian Smith | 8 / 4 | 277 / 27 / 304 |
| 4B | S Malachi Moore | 8 / 5 | 336 / 90 / 426 |
| 5A | LB Kiko Mauigoa | 8 / 5 | 265 / 127 / 392 |
| 5B | DL Tyler Baron | 4 / 0 | 75 / 27 / 102 |
And here are snapshots of all seven players:
T Armand Membou, Round 1
Armand Membou has the most starts (8) and the most snaps (514 scrimmage, 542 total) in the class at the bye. He has played all but one of the offense's 515 snaps, that one coming at the end of Game 4 at Miami when the Jets went with an all-hands line on the game's last play. Membou had some penalties in Weeks 5-7, but he's been flagged for just 2 holds (one declined), unofficially allowed 1.5 sacks, and is a mauling member of the O-line that has helped lift the Jets rushing attack after Cincinnati to second in the NFL in yards/game (143.6) and third in yards/carry (5.20).
TE Mason Taylor, Round 2
Mason Taylor has played in all 8 games, starting 7, all except Tampa Bay. He had his career highs to date of 12 targets, 9 catches and 67 yards vs. Dallas, made his first TD catch — the eventual game-winner from Breece Hall — at the Bengals, and has at least 1 catch in each game. He is on pace for 61 catches, which would set the franchise rookie TE record, and 514 yards, not far off Pete Lammons' 1966 rookie TE mark of 565 yards.
CB Azareye'h Thomas, Round 3
Azareye'h Thomas saw extended defensive time vs. Carolina and got his first pro start at Cincinnati for Sauce Gardner. He wound up playing all 59 D-snaps plus 9 more on specials, and finished with 5 tackles and a pass defense — his third of the season — while applying half of the double coverage to hold the dangerous Ja'Marr Chase to 12 catches but fewer than 100 yards.
WR Arian Smith, Round 4A
Arian Smith, a college speedster, has made 4 starts. He has 6 receptions for 47 yards but vs. the Bengals his sole reception from Justin Fields went for 23 yards on the first play of the fourth-quarter go-ahead drive that ended with Taylor's TD grab. More explosive plays are certainly ahead considering his Georgia career average of 19.9 yards/catch.
S Malachi Moore, Round 4B
The versatile Alabama DB has made 5 starts the last 3 weeks in the base defense at S alongside Andre Cisco. Besides his 336 defensive snaps, Malachi Moore's racked up 28 tackles, a team-leading 8 of them coming against the Bengals, plus 6 more tackles on kick coverage. He notched his first PD and first TFL as a Jet the week before vs. the Panthers.
LB Kiko Mauigoa, Round 5A
Did anyone say baptism by fire? Kiko Mauigoamoved into the starting lineup when Quincy Williams went on IR after an injury vs. the Buccaneers and has started the past 5 games. Mauigoa's got 246 defensive snaps, on which he's recorded 31 tackles, with a season-high 8 vs. Denver, and he's made 1.5 stops for loss/no gain.
DL Tyler Baron, Round 5B
Working his way into the D-line rotation that has a number of veterans ahead of him on the depth chart, Tyler Johnson's been deactivated for 3 games and didn't play vs. the Stripes. Yet he's still gotten the call for 4 games and has logged 102 total snaps (75 defensive, 27 special teams). He has 6 tackles, with 1.5 tackles coming on plays of no gain.
One veteran who's kept a close watch on this draft class is DL Harrison Phillips and he's said the Jets group stacks up against the best sets of young players he's been around in his eight-year NFL career.
"I've been around a lot of them who are just as talented as some of the players we have," Phillips said. "But not as many of them are willing to learn and willing to hear the hard things and willing to just have that growth mindset of what we've gone through for seven weeks. In the NIL world, it's 'I want to get out of here.' I don't see that from this class. I see them leaning in harder, taking all the things we're trying to do leadership-wise, so I would never put ceilins on any of those guys."
Glenn put some icing on the cake of his youthful gang of Green & White after their first half-season as pros.
"Listen, they're still learning and they're going to make mistakes, and we know that," Glenn said. "But we're going to own those mistakes, we're going to improve, and we're going to keep going.
"We're excited about those guys getting the reps in."
