For over a month there’s been a debate over whether New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick deliberately traded back with the Pittsburgh Steelers in order to deprive the New York Jets of offensive tackle Broderick Jones during the 2023 NFL Draft. But new evidence contradicts that.
In the latest episode of One Jets Drive, cameras took us inside the Jets’ War Room during the first round of the draft. At one point, Jets general manager Joe Douglas can be heard telling his staff that his draft board has Iowa State defensive end Will McDonald IV first, Notre Dame tight end Michael Mayer second and Georgia’s Broderick Jones third between the three of them.
Douglas then anticipates that someone will trade in front of the Jets – who had the 15th overall pick at the time – to take Jones 14th overall. He laughs as he surmises that the Patriots will be the one to make the trade and that Pittsburgh will be the team to trade up.
When the fateful trade finally happens, Douglas and the rest of the Jets war room is all smiles.
Joe literally predicted the future 😲
E2 of Flight 23: Ascension ➜ https://t.co/R9JoMgOdMe pic.twitter.com/pHelL02ATH
— New York Jets (@nyjets) May 26, 2023
But while some are painting this as Joe Douglas and the Jets not valuing Jones over McDonald, who they wound up taking 15th overall, there’s another way to look at it.
Douglas may have simply been coping with the knowledge that he had no way of getting Jones, and decided to move him down his draft board in order to reflect his inability to get him.
By just about every analyst’s evaluation, the Jets reached in a big way for McDonald while Jones is a ready-made offensive tackle who could have started for the Jets right away.
It may take months or even years for Douglas to be vindicated here. Though if his team doesn’t make the playoffs in 2023, chances are he won’t be with the organization long enough anyway.
For now though, it seems that the notion that the Patriots decided at the last minute to screw over their division rivals has less weight to it.