A clear favorite is emerging for the New York Jets’ 10th overall draft pick
NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah released his mock draft 2.0, and he is sticking with the prediction he made for the New York Jets in his first mock draft.
Jeremiah again has the Jets selecting Oregon State offensive tackle Taliese Fuaga with the 10th overall pick.
Explaining the pick, Jeremiah writes, “I tried to connect different players to the Jets, but I keep coming back to the same one. Fuaga is a plug-and-play right tackle.”
In Jeremiah’s mock, two offensive tackles are already off the board before New York’s pick. Jeremiah has Notre Dame’s Joe Alt going to the Chargers at No. 5 while Penn State’s Olu Fashanu goes to the Titans at No. 7. After Fuaga, Jeremiah sees Alabama’s J.C. Latham as the next tackle off the board, going four picks later to New Orleans.
Fuaga is rapidly picking up steam as the potential favorite to be selected by New York in round one. He’s being connected to the Jets in several ways.
Jeremiah’s vote of confidence is certainly worth noting, as he used to work with Joe Douglas as a scout in Baltimore and has built a reputation for accurately predicting Douglas’ moves. Jeremiah nailed the Jets’ selections of Mekhi Becton and Sauce Gardner in his final mock drafts of 2020 and 2022, respectively.
In January, ESPN reported that Douglas has an “affinity” for Fuaga and has been “eyeing him for months.” Fuaga then participated in the Senior Bowl, where Jets defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich was present as a coach. The Jets have developed a reputation for drafting players who appeared at the Senior Bowl, especially when their staff was last present in 2022. That year, four of the Jets’ seven draft picks were Senior Bowl participants.
Fuaga put on a dominant show at the Senior Bowl in front of Ulbrich and other members of the Jets’ organization who were in attendance. We still have the combine and pro days left to go, but in the early goings of the draft process, Fuaga’s stock is rising quickly – and he seems to be on a collision course with the Jets at No. 10 overall.