NFL source: Jets would want to move down in first round of draft, not up

If the New York Jets decide to make a trade with their first round pick Thursday night, it in all likelihood they won’t be moving up, a league source tells Metro New York.

The Jets hold the No. 6 overall pick in this week’s NFL Draft, a pick that is brimming with possibilities. There is the possibility that Marcus Mariota, the Heisman winner as the nation’s top college football player, might fall to their pick. In addition, prospects such as Vic Beasley or Amari Cooper might also entice general manager Mike Maccagnan in his first draft with the Jets.

But with all that being said, the better path might be for the Jets to deal the pick. While moving up with the pick might be enticing, it in all likelihood isn’t the direction Maccagnan will choose to go.One league executive, speaking to Metro New York on Monday, said that he was privy to a conversation between his team and the Jets about possibilities including “them trading back in the first round.”

“It sounded like they were a team not looking to go up in the draft,” the director said. “It was a conversation that sure sounded like a team that wanted to get more picks and move back. Certainly not desperate but actively looking – maybe due diligence is the way to put it – and getting more picks. But they very much wanted to talk about what might be out there in terms of trading down out of that pick.”

The source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, would not divulge what the Jets were looking for in order to give up the sixth overall pick.

This news isn’t a huge surprise, especially given the comments from Maccagnan last Friday during his pre-draft press conference. He talked about building a portfolio and stockpiling draft picks to ensure a better haul of prospects.

“What we’re going to do this week is reach out, obviously, to the teams ahead of us and, quite frankly, teams behind us,” Maccagnan said. “These are the phone calls we have when we’re touching base with every team in the NFL. Other teams put out very vague feelers in terms of, ‘Hey, are you guys interested in moving out of six?’ And I don’t want to necessarily go into who’s said what.

“Again, ironically, it’s quite early in the process. But this all heats up the next five days and, quite frankly, when you get to the draft, every once in awhile you have something come out of left field that you weren’t expecting with a team. But for the most part, teams at least try to gauge your interest or your feeling to moving around in the draft.”

Where this puts the Jets, apparently, is a team looking to continue its offseason overhaul and add talent to its two-deep, something that will require plenty of draft picks. The Jets currently have their original first four picks as well as two selections in the seventh round, a far cry from last year when they had 12 total draft picks. Yet that draft failed to produce one impact player from any of the rookies selected.All of which means that the Jets have to start stockpiling young talent to compensate for a couple of dud drafts.

“Clearly they have work to do. It was a really good offseason for them, really [freaking] good,” the source said. “From the outside looking in, they did a nice job in free agency. But they aren’t a young team, which is a problem when you are rebuilding. So they need some home runs from this draft.

“They’ve got [Darrelle] Revis and [Antonio] Cromartie and the offensive line guys like Nick Mangold and then they trade for Brandon Marshall. Plus they’ve got David Harris, who was someone who was great to bring back. So they’ve got a few years where they can be good and be a playoff team. They’ve got a window here.

“But they need to start bringing in and developing that next generation of players so that when those guys move on or retire, they can just keep moving along. Getting more picks is the way to do that. It’s smart thinking for where they’re at.”