New York Jets 2015 Draft: The Good, the Bad and the Baffling

There are three kinds of moves a team can make in the draft:

• The smart move is to draft the best player available, regardless of what position he plays.
• The dumb move is to reach for a position of need, regardless of who is the best player on the board.
• The baffling move is one that appears nonsensical at the time of the selection but might make a little more sense after the pick is granted some time to prove what he can do on the field.

With that said, picks aren't the only moves that teams made during the 2015 NFL draft. There were also plenty of trades over the course of the weekend, and some of those could be classified as good, bad or baffling, too.

How did the New York Jets fare in respect to those three categories?

The Good: Drafting Leonard Williams

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It would be too easy to knock the Jets for taking defensive lineman Leonard Williams. They've drafted seven straight defensive players in the first round, including two in 2013. They've drafted a front seven defender in the first round in four of the past five years. They have a logjam of defensive linemen.

Yada yada yada.

When one of the top players in the draft is available at No. 6 overall, though, you take a chance on him regardless of whether he plays at a position of need.

The Jets should not be held at fault for drafting a defensive lineman who will be a solid fit in their 3-4 defense. Those linemen are niche players and can be hard to come by.

In all likelihood, the Jets will now pursue the possibility of shopping defensive end Muhammad Wilkerson—a process they've been mulling since free agency, according to Kimberley A. Martin of Newsday.

The Jets have a bevy of defensive linemen in Wilkerson, Williams, Sheldon Richardson, Quinton Coples and Damon Harrison. It's up to head coach Todd Bowles to find a way to use them all.

The Good: Drafting Jarvis Harrison in the 5th Round

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A player with a high grade at a position of need available in the fifth round? Why not?

Sure, there are concerns that Texas A&M guard Jarvis Harrison has motivation issues. Those concerns are founded in reality. The 6'4", 330-pound guard showed up late to his own pro day. With that said, NFL.com's Lance Zierlein gave him a grade of 5.7, meaning he has a "chance to become an NFL starter."

Put it this way: There aren't very many starting-caliber players available in the fifth round.

In a best-case scenario, Harrison comes to Jets camp motivated and ready to knock off Brian Winters, Oday Aboushi and Willie Colon for the starting duty at right guard—assuming James Carpenter slots in at the left guard spot.

In a worst-case scenario, his motivation issues spill over into the NFL and the Jets cut bait.

At the price of a fifth-round pick, the risk is worth the reward.

The Bad: Leaving a Hole at Running Back

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The Jets have three talented and capable backs in the fold: Chris Ivory, Bilal Powell and Stevan Ridley. They do not, however, have any backs who are more than serviceable on passing downs.

The Jets said goodbye to Chris Johnson—the artist formerly known as CJ2K—but have yet to find the scatback they need in order to replace him.

That addition could still be coming in the first wave of undrafted free agency, but with the hole on the roster, the Jets may need to get creative with how they configure their backfield on passing downs. That just so happens to be Chan Gailey's specialty, and the Jets' offensive coordinator will have his hands full with fulfilling that obligation.

Last year, the Jets' running backs combined for only 366 receiving yards. The team will need to get better production out of its running backs in the passing game in 2015.

The Baffling: No Quarterback in the 1st 3 Rounds

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Okay, so the Jets' failure to pick a quarterback in the first three rounds becomes a little less baffling when taken in context.

After all, the Jets drafted the best player available in Leonard Williams in the first round and added another talented pass-catcher in the second round in Devin Smith. While they found a quarterback they like in Bryce Petty in the fourth round, their continued confidence in Geno Smith is at the very least baffling.

After a tough start to his career, Smith is facing what could be considered a make-or-break year as a starting quarterback.

The former second-round pick has compiled a passer rating of 71.5 in his two-year career, and while there were plenty of problems with the 2014 Jets, the quarterback position was perhaps the biggest on the entire roster.

Yes, there's the outside chance that Gailey can find inventive ways to maximize Smith's strengths and mask his weaknesses, but scheme will only go so far.

At some point, the Jets will need to find a talented quarterback who can put the team on his shoulders.

The Jets have done a fantastic job of surrounding their quarterback with as many weapons as he will need, but a big question remains at the biggest position on the roster.

The Good: Lorenzo Mauldin in the 3rd Round

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The Jets have been searching for explosive pass-rushers off the edge for years. At 34 years old, Calvin Pace just isn't going to cut it anymore.

Thankfully, the Jets drafted Louisville linebacker Lorenzo Mauldin with their third-round selection. At 6'4" and 259 pounds, Mauldin has the size to line up on the edge of the Jets' 3-4 defense and hold the point of attack.

He's not the most explosive edge defender to ever suit up for the Jets, as evidenced by his 4.85-second 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine, but he notched 20.5 sacks and 31.5 tackles for loss in his three-year college career.

He's regarded as a high-character player, with NFL.com's Lance Zierlein saying he is "known for strong mental makeup." Zierlein also quoted an NFC North scout as saying, "I'm cheering hard for this kid and I'll bang the table for him when the time is right."

Mauldin may not be the perfect fit for the Jets defense as a rookie, but they can rest easy knowing he will work his tail off to get there.

The Baffling: Trading Up for Bryce Petty

Make no mistake: Drafting Baylor quarterback Bryce Petty may not be the worst pick the Jets made this weekend.

One of the strangest decisions, though, was trading up one spot to get him.

Sure, the Jets may have been tipped off that other teams were interested in Petty—as suggested by NFL.com's Ian Rapoport—but any time you give up a pick to move up one spot and draft a developmental quarterback, there will be some people left shaking their heads.

Petty started the past two seasons for Baylor, completing 520 of his 831 passes (62.6 percent) for 8,055 yards, 61 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. His production is impressive, to say the least.

NFL.com's Lance Zierlein has concerns that Petty is a "product of Baylor's one-read system," makes mistakes "when forced to come off his first read" and "must learn to read defenses and get through his progressions."

That sounds an awful lot like Geno Smith. So, for now, the Jets have given up an extra pick (229th overall) for a player who isn't markedly better than anyone they have on the roster.