Al Iannazzone: Jets' four picks in first and second rounds have common trait — they're playmakers
Jets head coach Aaron Glenn looks on prior to a game against the Saints at Caesars Superdome on December 21, 2025, in New Orleans, La. Credit: Getty Images/Sean Gardner
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — General managers and coaches always feel good about their roster additions during the NFL Draft, but Aaron Glenn was absolutely beaming over the Jets early round picks, and for good reason.
The four players the Jets selected in the first and second round have some common traits. They’re all playmakers and were impactful on winning programs.
The Jets need players like that. Glenn needs players like that for sure.
Glenn will enter the season as the coach most likely to be fired. His seat will get hotter with every loss and will be blazing if the Jets aren’t competitive.
The four young men are far from saviors, but this coach and franchise need as many good players who know how to win or helped turn around programs as they can find.
“Usually when you come from a winning program, you really know how it looks,” Glenn said. “When you join another program, you bring that same mentality to that program to help that program elevate to where it is. Any time you can do that with a number of players, it just only elevates your team.
“They're going to practice and they're going to go through meetings. They're going to go through walk-throughs like winners do, and that permeates throughout your whole team.”
The draft is a three-day Super Bowl for the Jets and their fans. The franchise has missed the playoffs for 15 straight years so all anyone looks forward to is the draft and hope for improvement.
It’s hard not to look ahead to next year when the Jets have three first-round picks in a quarterback heavy draft. Let’s get it out there now: the Jets will take their next franchise quarterback, a potential game-changing receiver and either a top edge rusher or offensive lineman.
It’s also hard not to say that the Jets had a very good Day 1 in this draft. They started out with two first-rounders and traded back to acquire a third.
The Jets turned those picks into Texas Tech edge rusher David Bailey, Oregon tight end Kenyon Sadiq and Indiana receiver Omar Cooper Jr. That’s an impressive haul and a reason for optimism.
Bailey, the No. 2 overall pick, is the best pure pass rusher in this draft. Sadiq is the top tight end and his speed and versatility should open up the Jets’ passing game. Cooper was Fernando Mendoza’s favorite target and the leading receiver for the unbeaten National Champs.
On Day 2, the Jets chose Indiana cornerback D’Angelo Ponds in the second round. He has been compared to Glenn. Ponds is undersized at 5-9, but he plays bigger.
General manager Darren Mougey said they asked receivers during the draft process who was the best cornerback and “numerous guys” answered Ponds. Sadiq played against Indiana twice last season, and he felt the same.
“He’s the best corner I’ve played against all year,” Sadiq said.
Those four players combined to lose four games last year. The Jets reached that total in Week 4. All four competed in the College Football Playoffs. The Jets haven’t made the playoffs since 2010.
Bailey helped Texas Tech to a program-best 12-win season and first-ever Big 12 Championship. Sadiq played for a perennial power. Oregon reached the CFP semifinals this year, losing to Indiana. Cooper and Ponds helped turn around Indiana under coach Curt Cignetti. The Hoosiers never won more than nine games before 2024 and were the No. 1 ranked team for the first time last year.
“When you get a chance to bring that into your locker room, it speaks volumes,” Glenn said. “All of those guys have done something within their career. They either won the game. They take over a game. But they come from winning programs, and that was a huge to be able to get guys like that.”
Cooper’s background at Indiana and playing for a team that enjoyed a meteoric rise after winning just seven games his first two seasons was something he and Glenn talked about when they met before the draft. Cooper has an idea of what it takes to achieve the type of change that Glenn is trying to accomplish with the Jets.
“That's the point of me being drafted,” Cooper said. “That's his plan and goal for the team. Now that I've been drafted to play for them that's the goal that I want to do.”
Cooper said it will be “even more special” if his history repeats itself in the NFL. The Jets hope it does and that these four players help bring positive change to a franchise and coach that need it.
Al Iannazzone covers the Jets for Newsday after spending nearly two decades on the NBA beat with Knicks and Nets.
