The New York Jets have selected Texas A&M DL Micheal Clemons with the 117th overall pick of the 2022 NFL Draft.
Clemons (6-5, 263) was a team captain in 2021 and tallied 7 sacks, 11 TFLs, 1 forced fumble and 2 pass defenses in 10 games (nine starts). His college career began at Cisco Community College in 2015 before spending the last five seasons at A&M. He played in 39 games (25 starts) and totaled 93 tackles, 12.5 sacks, 21 TFLs, 1 FF and 2 PDs.
"With Bike Mike, I feel like he's one of the nastier player in the entire draft," general manager Joe Douglas said. "His physicality, the edge that he plays with, the toughness that he brings, we don't think you can have enough of that on this team."
Clemons began his football career as an underweight running back and added 40 pounds his redshirt year at community college, transitioning to defensive end. He received offers from Auburn, Missouri, Ole Miss and Tennessee, among others, but landed with the Aggies.
"This guy plays so hard, you can see why Robert Saleh would fall in love with him, with the effort that he plays with coming off the edge," NFL Network's Daniel Jeremiah said. "He plays with his hand down, he'll stand up on occasion. A lot of times he's asked to play run-to-pass, he doesn't get to just cut it loose as a rusher. It's all about strength and power. He's not the most nimble, not a great bender, but to me, the thing that stands out is he plays tough."
Clemons is the 12th Texas A&M player selected by the Jets since 1969, perhaps appropriate as he comes from the "12th man" school. The first and most recent were both punters — Steve O'Neal in '69 and current P Braden Mann in 2020. In between, several Aggies had strong Jets careers, including RB Johnny Hector (Round 2, 51st overall, 1983), CB Aaron Glenn (Round 1, 12th, 1994) and CB Ray Mickens (Round 3, 62nd, 1996).
