Sal Paolantonio’s report that the Jets have Alabama running back Trent Richardson as the top player on their board touched off a wave of speculation that the Jets would make a big move to go up and get him.
It was called unlikely on Wednesday afternoon and there’s even stronger words Thursday from the man who started it all off. Paolantonio reports Thursday that a Jets official told him there is a “0.0 percent chance” that the Jets pay the price they need to pay to get Richardson. The only caveat to that report was that the Jets could change their mind if they get a sweetheart deal, but there’s not a high likelihood of that happening.
As always, this could be misdirection meant to obscure the Jets’ true intentions. The fact remains that the team has too many needs to give up a big part of this draft for one player.
The ESPN report went on to say that the Jets’ top targets with the 16th overall pick are South Carolina linebacker Melvin Ingram and Notre Dame wide receiver Michael Floyd. Both players would fill major needs for the Jets. So would Stanford guard David DeCastro, said to be the team’s fallback option if Ingram and Floyd are already off the board. The Jets would likely move DeCastro to right tackle under that scenario.
