New York Jets: 2 Players On PFF 16 Worst Picks Of NFL Draft

The New York Jets had two picks land on Pro Football Focus’ list of the 16 worst picks of the 2016 NFL Draft; first round pick Darron Lee and second round pick Christian Hackenberg.

The New York Jets hit on a number of needs during the 2016 NFL Draft. But, there were some people not as high on their draft class as others, as the Jets also took some risks with the picks that they made.

Pro Football Focus was one of the groups that were not overly enamored with the Jets 2016 draft class. The website, which relies on advanced stats to hand out grades for players during the game, made up their list of the 16 worst selections of the 2016 NFL Draft.

It is difficult to truly grade a draft class without them getting on the field, but based on prior performance, fit with the team and using their own grading and draft board they selected 16 instances that teams look to have made a mistake with their pick. A number of things, such as scheme fit, need for the team and where the player was selected could go into determining if a pick was poor or not.

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For the Jets, they had two players land on this list, and they were their first two picks of the draft; Ohio State linebacker Darron Lee and Penn State quarterback Christian Hackenberg. Pro Football Focus wasn’t big fans of either pick, providing a small blurb on their reasoning for each player landing on the list.

Here is what they had to say about Lee, who was selected by the Jets with the 20th overall pick and landed at the 16th spot on their list.

"Almost every year we see a fantastic athlete get drafted highly on the premise that teams can teach him how to play linebacker. Sometimes it works out and other times it doesn’t. This year that’s Darron Lee. We say that the Jets will have to teach him to play linebacker, because he didn’t even really play linebacker last year at Ohio State. 45 percent of his snaps came from the slot, and a good percentage more came in an outside linebacker role. His run reads in the box were not close to an NFL level yet, and at a shade over 230 pounds that may never be his forte. Lee was one of the best blitzers in the class, however, so while we can’t endorse the riskiness of this pick in the first round, we can see the upside potential."

According to Dom Cosentino of NJ.com, the Jets are planning on using Lee in a hybrid role, that will see him getting reps not only at linebacker but safety as well. That is something that Pro Football Focus didn’t take into account, as they are going off of what was originally said in that Lee would be playing one of the middle linebacker spots in the Jets’ 3-4 base defense.

If there is bigger plans for Lee other than being placed in the middle, which seems to be the case, it is still tough to argue against some of what was said. Lee is slight for a linebacker, but he has the athleticism to make up for it. If he can realize his pass rushing potential, the Jets should have a good player on their hands as his athleticism will allow him to play sideline-to-sideline from the get go.

The analysis for Hackenberg was much more critical, as Cosentino points out that Pro Football Focus did not even have Hackenberg on their draft board heading into the process. Here is what they had to say about the Jets’ second round pick, who landed second on their list, behind only Roberto Aguayo, the kicker the Tampa Bay Buccaneers selected in the second round.

"Sam Monson already said all we have to say on Hackenberg. He’s not just inaccurate by NFL standards, he was the second-most inaccurate quarterback in college last year. How much is that going to change, no matter how good his coaching is with the Jets?"

Ouch. It was not too long ago that Hackenberg was looked at as a potential No.1 pick, as he has the prototypical size for an NFL quarterback and looked outstanding as a freshman at Penn State. But, once Bill O’Brien left, Hackenberg’s production seemed to leave with him as his production fell off a cliff his sophomore and junior seasons.

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The Jets are hoping that part of the reason for the drop off is that the talent around him plummeted as well, as Hackenberg absorbed an insane amount of hits, getting sacked 83 times his last two seasons at Penn State. If the Jets have any chance of turning Hackenberg around, they will do everything in their power to make sure that he does not see the field as a rookie, or else things could get ugly quick for the Jets.

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New York Jets: 2 Players On Pro Football Focus 16 Worst Picks Of 2016 NFL Draft

By Kenneth Teape | May 5, 2016

The New York Jets had two picks land on Pro Football Focus’ list of the 16 worst picks of the 2016 NFL Draft; first round pick Darron Lee and second round pick Christian Hackenberg.