The results are in, with their first 2014 draft pick the Jets have taken Calvin Pryor, a FS out of Louisville. It looks like my predictions
Will Pryor's aggressiveness be an asset for the Jets or will he prolong drives with penalties?were a bit off, both guys that I was looking at were taken earlier in the first round. Call it wishful thinking I guess. Free safety was not the position that I thought the Jets would address early in the draft but their secondary can use any help available.
Taking a look at Pryor, he is an intimidating force on the football field. He is going to lay down some huge hits and he also has good playmaking ability. The downside is that he plays recklessly and to me he looks like a player who will be flagged incessantly. This stuck out to me so much that I had listed him as one of my potential busts of the NFL draft.
Needless to say this is not my favorite draft pick. I am by no means surprised that the Jets went for a defensive player, that is part of what makes them the Jets. But I also think that they took a typical Rex Ryan type player. He is a guy who comes onto the field and plays with swagger and intensity. Hopefully these attributes will be contagious as I think that the Jets have lost a bit of their swagger over the past couple of seasons.
As far as the experts' draft sheets go, Pryor was one of the highest rated secondary players available at this point in the draft. If I turn out to be wrong about his aggressive playing style having detrimental effects he could be a tremendous asset to a weak pass defense. In the upcoming rounds the team will still need to acquire a cornerback to help out. They have their physical presence, now they need to focus on a cover specialist.
There are several nice looking cornerbacks still on the board. Which one they look at will depend on where the Jets go in the second round. I still think that they need to get another wide receiver in one of the early rounds. But if they choose to focus on the secondary they could look at someone like a Jason Verrett from TCU or perhaps Keith McGill from Utah. One thing is for certain, we're a long way from finished here.
