{"id":44934,"date":"2019-06-07T17:33:51","date_gmt":"2019-06-07T21:33:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jetnation.com\/?p=44934"},"modified":"2019-06-07T18:25:03","modified_gmt":"2019-06-07T22:25:03","slug":"adams-is-hit-of-jets-2017-class-who-else-could-emerge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/2019\/06\/07\/adams-is-hit-of-jets-2017-class-who-else-could-emerge\/","title":{"rendered":"Adams is hit of Jets 2017 Class, Who Else Could Emerge?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>While there will always be a small percentage of maniacal fans who write off any young player who makes a mistake or two in his first pro season (See Chris Herndon, 2018), most fans tend to reserve judgement until a player completes his third NFL season.&nbsp; This would mean the Jets 2017 draft class is about to enter their pivotal third season, well, for those that remain anyway.&nbsp; Jamal Adams is already one of the best players in the NFL, but is there anyone left who can make a name for themselves?&nbsp; Let&#8217;s take a look.<\/p>\n<p><strong>S Jamal Adams- Rd 1 (6th overall):&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Adams has already been to one Pro Bowl and was named as an All-Pro alternate in year two.&nbsp; In just two seasons, Adams has shown that he can play the run, the pass, and pressure the quarterback, allowing him to be a tone-setter on defense for years to come.&nbsp; Few players in the NFL can match what Adams brings on game day.&nbsp; Should he continue to improve in the coming years, there&#8217;s little doubt that Adams will go down as one of the best to step on the field.<\/p>\n<p><strong>S Marcus Maye- Rd 2 (39th overall):<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Having missed most of the 2018 season, playing in just six contests, many fans seem to have forgotten that in his rookie season, Maye didn&#8217;t miss a single game and outplayed the above-mentioned Adams.&nbsp; After missing ten games in year two, Maye will have to show that the injuries were a fluke. If so, he could team with Adams to make up one of the top safety tandems in the NFL, and certainly the best to ever suit up for Gang Green.<\/p>\n<p><strong>WR ArDarius Stewart- Rd 3 (79th overall):<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This pick was&nbsp; a failure in so many ways.&nbsp; There were better players at positions of need on the board but Mike Maccagnan went with Stewart.&nbsp; It was reported earlier this year that Maccagnan made the pick after offensive coordinator John Morton pleaded with the former GM.&nbsp; So what did Morton do?&nbsp; He used Stewart as a gadget player who never really lined up to be a true wide receiver.&nbsp; Maccagnan would have been better off ignoring Morton and drafting a cornerback in what was a deep class.&nbsp; As we <a href=\"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/2017\/05\/25\/did-new-york-jets-football-maccagnan-pull-an-idzik-in-draft\/\"><strong>suggested at the time<\/strong><\/a>, passing on a corner in that spot was akin to John Idzik failing to come up with an impact wide receiver in one of the deepest classes in history just a few years before.&nbsp; Stewart was cut after one season and remains a free agent.<\/p>\n<p><strong>WR Chad Hansen- Rd 4 (141st overall):<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Another wasted pick, Hansen was a Jet for one season, catching 9 passes for 94 yards.&nbsp; Like Stewart, Hansen is now a free agent after spending a few minutes with the Broncos and Patriots.<\/p>\n<p><strong>TE Jordan Leggett- Rd 5 (150th overall):<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Leggett is a player that some fans will be keeping an eye on this season.&nbsp; After missing his rookie season due to injury, Leggett played sparingly in 2018 and was rarely targeted in Jeremy Bates&#8217; offense.&nbsp; He was cut loose by Adam Gase a few weeks ago and was claimed by five different teams, landing with the highly respected Bruce Arians in Tampa Bay.&nbsp; There were many who felt Leggett should have been given a look in training camp considering Chris Herndon will be facing a suspension and Neal Sterling has a history of concussions.<\/p>\n<p><strong>OLB Dylan Donahue- Rd 5 (181st overall):<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Talk about a bust.&nbsp; Donahue had more DUI&#8217;s (2) than seasons with the Jets (1).<\/p>\n<p><strong>RB Elijah McGuire- Rd 6 (188th overall):<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Viewed as a potential steal when drafted, McGuire has done some good things with the Jets despite playing behind one of the worst run blocking offensive lines in the NFL.&nbsp; McGuire&#8217;s play up to this point suggest he can be a quality running back and he appears to have a fan in Adam Gase.&nbsp; The head coach has voluntarily mentioned McGuire on multiple occasions as a player who impressed him when he was game planning for the Jets.&nbsp; He hasn&#8217;t had a chance to show it all that much yet, but McGuire has fantastic hands out of the backfield and could be a perfect complement to Le&#8217;Veon Bell.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CB Jeremy Clark- Rd 6 (197th overall):<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Clark spent his first season on IR and most of last year on the practice squad.&nbsp; It was reported during the season by Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News that the Jets had been working the 6&#8242; 3&#8221; Clark at safety, but no word on where Gregg Williams has been working him at this point.&nbsp; Of the bubble players from this class still on the roster, Clark has done the least, making him the longest of long shots to stick.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CB Derrick Jones- Rd 6 (204th overall):<\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_39701\" style=\"width: 385px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/IMG_5312.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-39701\" class=\"wp-image-39701\" src=\"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/IMG_5312-300x201.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"375\" height=\"251\" srcset=\"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/IMG_5312-300x201.jpg 300w, https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/IMG_5312-scaled-600x402.jpg 600w, https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/IMG_5312-768x515.jpg 768w, https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/IMG_5312-1024x686.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/IMG_5312-450x300.jpg 450w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 375px) 100vw, 375px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-39701\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Derrick Jones has all the physical traits to be a high quality cornerback. Can the Jets coaching staff get the most out of him?<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Jones is the player who can elevate this class significantly all on his own.&nbsp; His physical traits have been discussed ad nauseam, but for some reason, head coach Todd Bowles kept Jones nailed to the bench in a lost season despite a strong showing in training camp.&nbsp; As we pointed out&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/2019\/01\/01\/rarely-used-jets-youngsters-earn-high-marks-in-season-finale\/\"><b>here<\/b><\/a>, Jones played at a high level in week 17 when he <em>finally<\/em> got on the field.&nbsp; Jones can do a lot of things that very few NFL corners can do.&nbsp; He reportedly runs a 4.40 40 at 6&#8217;2&#8221;, but at times in training camp he played faster than that.&nbsp; He displays excellent hands, body control and elevation with a 42&#8221; vertical.&nbsp; All skills that can make him a legitimate starting cornerback if the right coaching staff can get him to put it all together.<\/p>\n<p>At the conclusion of this season, the ceiling for this draft class would have to be a &#8220;B&#8221;, and that&#8217;s only if Adams makes another pro bowl, Maye stays healthy and McGuire and Jones play to their full potential.&nbsp; However, if Maye continues to battle injures and nothing comes of the bottom three picks, Jamal Adams is the only thing that stops the class from being an &#8220;F&#8221;, and the game changing defender brings the grade up to a &#8220;D&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While there will always be a small percentage of maniacal fans who write off any young player who makes a mistake or two in his first pro season (See Chris Herndon, 2018), most fans tend to reserve judgement until a player completes his third NFL season.&nbsp; This would mean the Jets 2017 draft class is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":37215,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[2644,2650,2648,3006,2642,2647,2645,2643],"class_list":{"0":"post-44934","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-featured-editorials","8":"tag-ardarius-stewart","9":"tag-chad-hansen","10":"tag-derrick-jones","11":"tag-eli-mcguire","12":"tag-jamal-adams","13":"tag-jeremy-clark","14":"tag-jordan-leggett","15":"tag-marcus-maye"},"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/IMG_5844.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/peLffi-bGK","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44934"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44934\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44953,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44934\/revisions\/44953"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}