New York Jets: The ten plagues of the NFL Draft part II

Stephen Hill

32 years after the selection of Lam Jones, history repeated itself, albeit in the second round as opposed to the second pick. The Jets were looking for a receiver to take the top off of the defense with Braylon Edwards off the team since 2010. Stephen Hill was fast and averaged 25.5 yards per catch. However, he never caught more than 28 passes in a season. This should have raised red flags, but it didn’t so he was the choice in the second round.

Hill became one in a litany of reasons why the Jets and the second round don’t get along. It looked like Hill was a good pick in his debut when he caught six passes and two of them for touchdowns. The trouble is he only caught two more touchdown passes over a two-year timeframe. He joined the Panthers the following year but never caught a pass. He was then out of the league, and cemented his title as a draft bust.

If the Jets wanted a receiver, Hill was far from the only one. Two picks later, the Chicago Bears selected a young man named Alshon Jeffery. Who would you have rather had, looking back? Hill caught a couple of bombs in college and that was about it. What were they thinking? Other receivers chosen later include T.Y. Hilton, Mohamed Sanu and Travis Benjamin. Ho, hum.