New York Jets: Grading the 2018 draft class pick by pick
Chris Herndon
For some reason I found this one to be a surprise. It shouldn’t have been. The Jets lost Austin Seferian-Jenkins to free agency and hadn’t yet replaced him. Jordan Leggett is back for 2018 but didn’t play a single snap. In the Jets tight end room, the player with the most receptions has a whopping eight. The room could afford to improve.
| Receiving | Rushing | Scrimmage | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | School | Conf | Class | Pos | G | Rec | Yds | Avg | TD | Att | Yds | Avg | TD | Plays | Yds | Avg | TD |
| *2015 | Miami (FL) | ACC | SO | TE | 10 | 18 | 237 | 13.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 237 | 13.2 | 1 | |
| *2016 | Miami (FL) | ACC | JR | TE | 13 | 28 | 334 | 11.9 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 28 | 334 | 11.9 | 2 | |
| *2017 | Miami (FL) | ACC | SR | TE | 11 | 40 | 477 | 11.9 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 40 | 477 | 11.9 | 4 | |
| Career | Miami (FL) | 86 | 1048 | 12.2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 86 | 1048 | 12.2 | 7 |
The stats show a guy who could be a threat in the red zone, but not a real influence stretching the field up the seam. His career yards per reception was 12.2 which amounts to a short to intermediate threat. That equates Herndon to being similar to Seferian-Jenkins. He could be a safety valve for Darnold but not a very dangerous threat.
He also isn’t known to be a great blocker. That makes using him on every down difficult. If Herndon can’t be trusted to block in the run game, the defense will know the Jets are throwing the football when he comes in. This could work out quite well but it may have been too late to select an impact tight end.