Leger Douzable Beat the Drum for RT Armand Membou as Top Pick; Brian Baldinger Breaks Down the Mason Taylor Selection

Jack Bell

Two of the most astute NFL Draft gurus -- Brian Baldinger of NFL Network and Leger Douzable of CBS Sports -- watched the three-day extravaganza unfold from Green Bay, but always with their eyes on the Jets basketful of hopeful draft choices.

Baldinger summed it up on a new edition of "The Official Jets Podcast" when he told team reporter Eric Allen: "Do it and then just let it go." He added: "Everybody wants to have them in the Pro Bowl, they're just getting started."

What follows is an assessment of the Jets' seven draft picks via comments from Baldinger and Douzable.

TArmand Membou(Rd. 1, No. 7 overall)

Douzable, from the get-go, was all in on Membou, the massive and talented right tackle from Missouri.

"Yeah, me and Baldy were kind of kidding. We kind of always knew that was going to be the pick. You got to think and just read in between the lines. [HC] Aaron Glenn, coming over from Detroit. How did they build it? Throughout the trenches. They had one of the best offensive lines in football. And there was one void on that [the Jets'] offensive line, and you had a player that could easily fill that void in Armand Membou. It wasn't a guy that you had to take and then crosstrain him to the other side, because he hadn't done it. He's played right tackle his whole career, so, it just made too much sense when you talk about him being young, the upside, the athletic ability, and then just the dog mentality that he has fits what Aaron Glenn wants to do."

Baldinger, too, gushed about Membou.

"I think he can get stronger in the upper body where he just locks guys out and then he just ends the pass rush. You can see it in flashes, where he can do that, and he has done that, but you just love his movement. There's so many things you can do with an athletic tackle. I mean, the perimeter game, the quick game, getting to the second level, cutting off on the backside."

TEMason Taylor(Rd. 2, No. 42)

"Anybody that's watched Detroit the number one offense in football, [TE] Sam LaPorta the day he came out of Iowa, and what he has been able to do in that offense, all the crossing routes all the movement and things that they do, the two tight end sets that you'll get with [Jeremy] Ruckert and Mason Taylor, they [the Lions] were big two tight end set helped in the run game," Baldinger said.

Douzable: "Mason Taylor is going to be the Sam LaPorta that [OC] Tanner Engstrand had in Detroit. So, I could definitely see them coming out in two tight ends. Even some 13 personnel near the red zone and the goal line. ... So it'll be interesting to see how inventive Tanner Engstrand can be with this tight end group of [free agent signing] Stone Smartt, Mason Taylor and Jeremy Ruckert."

CBAzareye'h Thomas(Rd. 3, No. 73)

In Baldinger's view, you can never have enough good, long cornerbacks.

"Thomas was their next best player at number 73 and so they took the best player available. Everybody needs four corners, four corners that can play. And so, we know they've got three starters out there, especially with getting Brandon Stephens in free agency [plus incumbents Sauce Gardner and Michael Carter II] . You got yourselves a press corner, whether you're going up against a team that's playing 10 personnel in Buffalo. You might need that fourth corner on the field, but in the rotation, you'd love to have a guy that has that ability and that length at that position."

In the days and weeks leading up to the draft, Douzable and others touted the depth of talent at defensive tackle, but. ...

"They looked at their board for who the next defensive tackle was maybe. And they said Thomas on the board was significantly higher than the next defensive tackle. So, we're going to get the most bang for our buck with the value of getting Thomas here. And I think that's why they took him in the third round."

WRArian Smith(Rd. 4, No. 110)

Baldinger kept it short and to the point: "Can't teach this type of speed [4.36 seconds in the 40-yard dash], the prototype guy that can fly, not polished yet, but the raw talent is there. ... He's got world-class speed."

If there's a knock against Smith, it was dropped passes this past season.

Douzable: "It's more of a mental confidence thing. There seems to be a mental block once you drop one pass, then you drop another, then you drop another, and the only way to get over that is to continue to go out there and try to catch the football. Once you finally catch the ball, your confidence is going to go out of this world. For him, it's a mental thing, and he has one of the best receivers coaches [Shawn Jefferson] to help instill some of that confidence into him to hopefully get him over that hump."

SMalachi Moore(Rd. 4, No. 130)

After Baldinger had to bounce to another engagement, Douzable had the room to himself.

"Malachi Moore is a free safety, but because of the lack of foot speed, and I don't say that disrespectfully, because he has great instincts, and he tracks the ball extremely well," Douzable said. "I believe he transitions to strong safety because he's a tone setter in that secondary, like when he hits you, you feel it, and you can tell he plays with a tenacity of physicality that Aaron Glenn and [GM] Darren Mougey were looking for in this draft."

He added: "Let's not forget that at Alabama, not only was he a starter on defense, but he was a starter on special teams. So, he has elite game experience when it comes to being a special teams player. So I think he'll make an immediate impact."

LBFrancisco Mauigoa(Rd. 5, No. 162)

"This is a physical [6-2, 233], another physical player, right?" Douzable said. "Those were the attributes they were looking for. This is a guy that gets downhill in a hurry. Now, he has struggled at times when it comes to disengaging off offensive linemen, but he's a guy that they also use in blitzing at Miami frequently, and he's a really good blitzer, and knows how to get to the quarterback."

DETyler Baron(Rd. 6, No. 186)

"A guy I really like. I think his comp [comparison] is similar to Jermaine Johnson when he was coming out, a very physical guy. He bends tight ends backward at the point of attack. He's a guy that also rushes with power. ... When you look at the edge group right behind Jermaine Johnson, who's coming off a major [Achilles tendon] injury, and also Will McDonald, who had double-digit sacks [10.5]. There's a lot of young guys, so we want to be able to add to that room, especially if you think there's really good value with Tyler Baron in the fifth round."