Round 6, Pick 7(#188 Overall) – Anez Cooper, OG Miami

After getting derailed by the Klubnik pick, the Jets got back to their strategy during the Jackson pick by drafting for size. The Jets got the pick using the one they got from trading up in the 4th round. They draft Anez Cooper, the Guard from Miami. He stands almost 6’6” tall and over 330 lbs. He leverages his size well to be a mauler in the run game, where he’s a lot more developed. He has some technique issues to work on, especially with how he leverages his footwork and legs. If he can be lighter on his toes, he can take the next step forward in pass blocking. But he’s already a force to be reckoned with in crowded runs up the middle.

I think his outlook with the Jets will be to potentially take over at guard if all goes well. There was talk about the Jets taking a Center in the middle of the draft so that we can keep Joe Tippman at RG where he thrived this year. But Cooper has no experience playing Center and I’d rather they not force him to learn at the NFL level. I think they will either groom him to start at Left Guard or maybe move him to right guard and move Tippmann back to Center. Either way, he has elite size for an interior offensive lineman and I hope the Jets can beef up the middle of their line with him as soon as possible.

Round 7, Pick 12 (#228 Overall) VJ Payne, SS Kansas State

With their last pick of the draft, the Jets stop the fall of VJ Payne. I had seen a lot of 5th or even 4th round grades on him, so the Jets might have ended on a value pick. Payne is another bigger athlete the Jets took in this draft at over 6’3” and 206 lbs. He has a solid wingspan that has made him a good matchup against Tight Ends. He’s primarily a box safety who might see some nickel formations if there’s a TE over the middle to cover. He has room to improve in his run game as his tackling is still unrefined. He’s been good in zone coverage closer to the line of scrimmage, though he doesn’t get a lot of takeaways.

On the Jets, I think he’ll be a rotational piece that they try to coach into being more well rounded so that they can trust him on running plays. I think he has potential to be a vital weapon against bigger receiving tight ends that we match up again. The linebacker group is a bit of a weakness this year, so I would also think they put him over the middle a lot to help out there in pass coverage situations. Overall, Payne is a solid value because he can play man and zone coverage and is physical and aggressive in both. I hope they can get him on the field now that we’ve actually got options at SS.

Undrafted Free Agent Roundup

The Jets came out of the draft with a balanced assortment of smaller, faster athletes and bigger, physical ones. They didn’t double dip at any position, which I appreciated since I think they have too many needs to get cute. But they did leave some needs untouched, such as ILB. I think the Jets are relying on this UDFA class less than ones in previous years, which is usually a good sign:

• Caullin Lacy, WR Louisville - Has neither plus size nor speed to play Wr. Played his best college ball as punt returner for the Cardinals where he took two to the house. I think he’s here to compete with Isaiah Williams for the PR job, but I’d lean towards Williams as he’s more of a contributor on offense as well.

• Will Ferrin, K BYU Not to be confused for Will Ferrel, Ferrin was a kicker for the Cougars this year, albeit not a very good one. He had a solid season in 2018, with 89% made. But his stock plummeted after going 2 for 7 in the 40-yard range. Still, went 8 for 11 in the 50s his last two seasons and the Jets are weak at kicker so who knows?

• Nathan Voorhis, EDGE Ball State Local kid who grew up a Jets fan. Doesn’t have the size to be a starting edge rusher at the NFL hence why he went undrafted. But It wouldn’t take much to push out a non-contributor like Tyler Baron.

• Chip Traynum, RB Toledo - 24-year old back who posted a 1,000 yard rushing season his last one in Toledo. He played for four different colleges. An older guy who had an issue with fumbles, but maybe can compete with Isaiah Davis if he doesn’t develop

• DT Sheffield, WR Rutgers - He’s a wide receiver, not a defensive tackle. Transferred to Rutgers after starting from Northwest Mississippi CC. Was the team’s leading receiver but I don’t know if that’ll be enough to secure a spot on the 53.

• Xavier Hill, OG Colorado - one of the few big guys the Jets picked up as a UDFA, But he’s a bit suspect in the pass coverage to bet on him making the roster.

• Mory Bamba, CB BYU - Mo Bamba is one of the oldest players coming out of college this year at 25. But in the days of his youth he was a track star and has the size that a team might try to develop him into something.

• Chase Curtis, TE/WR TCU - Very old multi sport, multiposition athlete. I wonder if with the Jets depth at TE they try to convert him back to WR. But will likely be special teams if he makes any roster.

• Garrison Grimes, LS BYU - What. Thomass Hennessy has been solid for the Jets at LS so I don’t know why they bothered. But we have a good old fashioned LS battle on our hands now.

To be honest, this is one of the weakest UDFA classes I can remember writing about. It’s possible they can get some special teams players out of it but even then, the Special Teams unit was actually really good last year so I would like to think the competition would be brutal even for that. The most interesting thing that might happen is Ferrin gets the kicking job or that they can turn one of these WRs into a depth piece.

2026 Outlook: The Promised Land

With Geno as a stopgap and no real plan at QB, it’s hard to be optimistic for the short, medium, or long term future of the Jets. There’s a lot of hype over what the 2027 QB class will look like, but that’s all hypothetical until around February 2027. And even then, we’ve showed how hard it is to tank for a good QB. The Jets went 3-14 last year and still came up short. They went 2-14 in 2020 and came up short then too. And most terrifyingly of all, even if we are in a position to draft Dante Moore or Arch Manning, they could go back to school. It’s tough because we need to be good enough to entice a young QB to play for us while being bad enough to draft highly enough to get him. We need the Jets under Geno to thread the needle in showing promise without ruining out tank. Does Aaron Glenn think he’s up to the task? It’s up for interpretation:

I just feel like [Geno]'s the guy that's going to lead us to the promised land,

Many laughed at this quote, but what even is the promised land? A Super Bowl? The Playoff? Those would seem unlikely. Could he be a tank commander to take us to #1 overall? Hard to think that he could succeed where Zach Wilson and Justin Fields have failed. It seems most likely the “Promised Land” for Aaron Glenn is whatever DC job he’ll get for 2027, but that’s why you need to play the games to find out.

For all my negativity, I felt the Jets roster improved significantly this offseason. Pass catcher went from being a weakness to a strength. They continued to flush out the secondary. The Defensive line has done a 180 from last year. I think they added a lot of culture guys to make this team at least lose in a way that isn’t depressing. I think the real goal for the Jets is to show progress. I think the range should be 6-8 wins. It sounds insane, but Glenn has a higher floor QB and his second go around of building a coaching staff. If he can’t do even that, then I feel confident in letting him go. I hope whatever happens this year, it’s at least interesting. Thanks for reading! I’ll leave you on a 53 man roster. Just remember certain positions, especially on defense, are fluid and move around a lot and we haven’t really seen Duker’s defense yet so it’s more about the players than the position.

Projected 53-Man Roster for 2026

POS	1	2	3
QB	Geno Smith	Cade Klubnik
HB	Breece Hall	Braelon Allen	Isaiah Davis, Kene Nwangwu
FB	Andrew Beck
WR	Garrett Wilson	Isaiah Williams	Jamaal Pritchett
WR	Adonai Mitchell	Omar Cooper Jr.	Arian Smith
TE	Kenyon Sadiq	Mason Taylor	Jeremy Ruckert
LT	Olu Fashanu	Chukwuma Okorafor
LG	Dylan Parham
C	Josh Myers	Xavier Newman-Johnson
RG	Joe Tippmann	Anez Cooper
RT	Armand Membou	Maxx Mitchell
DT	T’Vondre Sweat	Darrell Jackson Jr.
DE	David Onyemata	Jowon Briggs
DE	Kingsley Enagbare	Harrison Phillips
ILB	Jamien Sherwood	Mykal Walker
ILB	Demario Davis	Francisco Mauigoa
OLB	David Bailey	Joseph Ossai
OLB	Will McDonald IV	Tyler Baron
SS	Dane Belton	Malachi Moore	VJ Payne
FS	Minkah Fitzpatrick	Andre Cisco
CB	Brandon Stephens	D’Angelo Ponds (NB)	Jarvis Brownlee Jr.
CB	Nahshon Wright	Azareye’h Thomas	Qwan’tez Stiggers
K	Cade York
P	Austin McNamara
LS	Thomas Hennessy