Jets GM Joe Douglas quotes mentor when explaining best player available draft approach
Joe Douglas’ draft strategy is simple: he’s looking to take the best player available.
While that idea is simple and very much an overused phrase in the NFL, Douglas explained his belief by channeling his old boss, former Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome.
“Ozzie used to always have a saying, ‘A luxury today can be a necessity tomorrow,'” Douglas said Thursday. “So if you get away from your process – if you get away from your board – that’s when you can get into a real jam.”
Douglas cut his teeth in the NFL as a scout for the Ravens from 2000-2014, during which he helped Newsome build rosters that consistently won double-digit regular-season games and competed in the postseason. He undoubtedly learned a lot during his time in Baltimore, and Newsome’s “best player available” approach helped the Ravens become a perennial powerhouse.
The Jets will have ample opportunities to apply what Douglas learned from Newsome in the 2022 draft if they keep all of their picks. The Jets own five top-70 picks, including two picks in the top-10 and two more picks in the early second round. New York has a lot of needs, so it shouldn’t be too hard to find a player who is both the best player left on the board and who solves a problem on the roster.
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