Every solid NFL general manager has their own calling card.
Howie Roseman is known for his aggressiveness, while Brad Holmes has established himself as an elite scout. Eric DeCosta has built a reputation for his patience, and Les Snead has excelled at training future assets to capitalize on short-term windows.
While New York Jets GM Darren Mougey has yet to come anywhere close to the accomplishments of the names listed above, he has begun to carve out what may become his calling card: finding value in the bargain bin.
Throughout two offseasons as the Jets’ GM, Mougey has done a strong job of finding value in the margins. In two consecutive years, he has acquired valuable talent around cutdown day for negligible draft compensation.
Mougey’s “calling card”
Over the past two cutdown days, Mougey has turned four sixth-round picks into Harrison Phillips, Jowon Briggs, Jordan Meredith, and three seventh-round picks.
Briggs and Phillips each played a crucial role on the team’s defensive line in 2025, while Meredith will provide much-needed offensive line depth for the 2026 season.
Phillips’ 76.2 run-defense grade from Pro Football Focus finished sixth among 134 qualified defensive tackles last season, while his leadership skills off the field are invaluable. While the Jets face an interesting decision regarding his contract, he has proven to be a very important piece.
On the other hand, Briggs emerged as one of the league’s best pass-rushing defensive tackles last year, and his cap hit is just over $1 million this season before he hits restricted free agency.
Among 96 qualified DTs in 2025 (minimum 200 pass-rush snaps), Briggs ranked eighth in PFF’s signature metric called “Pass Rushing Productivity.” It tracks pressure generated per snap while weighing sacks twice as heavily.
Phillips is a very useful veteran who should be viewed as an extension candidate, while you could argue that Briggs could turn into one of the Jets’ long-term defensive tackles with a strong 2026 campaign.
This year, Meredith enters the fold after being acquired in a trade with the Las Vegas Raiders during Sunday’s cutdown day. He is a highly valuable depth piece for a Jets team that lacked experience on its second-string offensive line.
During the 2024 season, the 28-year-old graded out as one of the best guards in the league according to PFF. He finished sixth among 66 qualified guards (minimum 500 snaps) in their overall grading system (80.8), 10th in run blocking (78.4) and 11th in pass protecting (75.7).
When the Raiders moved him to center, though, in 2025, his play fell off. Throughout 11 starts, he finished the season 32nd among 40 qualifiers in PFF’s overall grade while allowing four sacks and 20 pressures. Meredith also committed four penalties.
It was just two seasons ago that Meredith looked like a high-end starter. The fact that Mougey was able to acquire him in exchange for a late-round pick swap is another perfectly executed trade by the Jets’ GM.
Mougey also made a strong pickup on the waiver wire Sunday with linebacker Trevin Wallace. The 23-year-old was a third-round pick in the 2024 NFL draft and has a legitimate path to becoming the Jets’ LB3 this season.
Wallace has already started 20 out of his 25 games in two NFL seasons while compiling 125 combo tackles (72 solo, 7.0 for loss) alongside 3.0 sacks, four pass deflections, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery.
The former Panther also possesses tremendous athletic upside, boasting a 9.33 RAS (Relative Athletic Score) along with a 4.51 40-yard dash and a 37.5-inch vertical. Bringing in that level of upside for no cost is another wise move, given the team’s need at the position. Since the position group has several question marks, Wallace has a legitimate chance to make some noise.
Mougey has found his niche: optimizing the cutdown day market.
