Mel Kiper Jr. gives Jets and Aaron Glenn lofty grade for 2026 NFL Draft class originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The New York Jets came into the 2026 NFL Draft with some of the best draft capital of any team. They owned the No. 2, No. 16, No. 33, and No. 44 overall picks. They wound up making just two of those selections after some trades.
In Round 1, they took David Bailey over Arvell Reese, and then made a somewhat surprising selection of Kenyon Sadiq with the 16th pick. After a trade-up for Omar Cooper Jr., the Jets had made a few big splashes already.
Then, following one pick on Day 2 and four on Day 3, ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr. handed out a grade for Aaron Glenn and Darren Mougey, which saw the Jets receive one of the best grades of the 2026 NFL Draft. He gave the Jets an A-.
The Jets draft class saw Bailey be the pick at No. 2, Sadiq at No. 16, Cooper at No. 30, D'Angelo Ponds at No. 50, Darrell Jackson Jr. at No. 103, Cade Klubnik at No. 110, Anez Cooper at No. 188, and CJ Payne at No. 228.
Not only did the Jets land three players in Bailey, Sadiq, and Cooper who can be instant-impacts for the team, they also landed players who could be solid pieces down the road.
Ponds might need to adjust to the NFL level, but with his NFL comp in Aaron Glenn being his head coach and defensive play caller, his transition to the league should go well. Kiper "loved" this pick for the Jets as well.
Jackson is a massive interior defensive lineman, Klubnik is some nice QB depth behind Geno Smith, Cooper is ever-useful OL depth, and Payne is an intriguing DB prospect.
More: Jets 'absolutely cooked' in Round 1 of NFL Draft, according to ESPN analyst
Overall, this was a great draft from the Jets. While there were questions about Bailey over Reese, and Sadiq over someone like Makai Lemon, the overall outcome of the draft for the Jets was a very good one.
They addressed their WR need with Cooper, added more offensive upside with Sadiq, got their edge rusher in Bailey, more defensive backfield help with Ponds and Payne, and got trench depth with Cooper and Jackson.
It was a great draft for the Jets, and is setting them up well for a ton of success if they can hit on a quarterback in next year's draft when a ton of great QBs are expected to come out.
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