The New York Jets re-shaped their wide receiver room over the past few days. That work included trading 2021 second-round pick Elijah Moore and a third-round pick (No. 74) in this year’s draft to the Cleveland Browns for a second-round pick (No. 42). Was it a good trade for the Jets?
On the one hand, you can say the Jets finally granted Moore his trade request from October. On the other, it’s still getting rid of a talented receiver that never really had a chance to shine due to the play at the quarterback position. However, the writing seemed to be on the wall once news broke that former Chiefs wide receiver Mecole Hardman was joining the Jets. Hardman is a speedy slot receiver and so questions immediately came up as to what the roles for Hardman and Moore would be. As it turned out, Hardman more or less took Moore’s role. So it evens out in a sense, but Moore still has some untapped potential that Cleveland will hope to find with Deshaun Watson throwing him the football.
On the flip side, the Jets did improve their draft capital a bit. They didn’t gain any picks, they simply moved up about 30 spots, going from No. 74 to No. 42. The Jets now hold back-to-back picks in the second round with 42 and 43. Needless to say, that probably won’t stay, since at least one of those picks is almost certainly earmarked for Green Bay when the Aaron Rodgers deal finally goes through. Could both picks be on the move? Ideally, and most likely, not. This at least gives the Jets the ability to stay in the top 50 picks even after the trade. It’s just that now, after their pick in the second round, they don’t pick again until No. 112 overall in round four.
Overall, we’ll give this trade a B. It’s not a bad trade thanks to the improved positioning in the draft and the chances of Moore being shipped out went up after the Hardman signing. There were thoughts he would be part of the Aaron Rodgers deal. Still, Moore could have done well in this offense under the right circumstances, but that was the problem. He never fully had those right circumstances. Perhaps a fresh start in Cleveland will do him good, where he can be a good complement to Amari Cooper.
The Jets did well to get a second-round pick from Cleveland, but they had to give up a top-75 pick to do so and there’s a good bit of talent in the 50-100 range in the draft that the Jets may now miss out on as a result. However, all that said, getting that second-round pick for a receiver that seemed like he was on his way out anyway is a pretty good job by Joe Douglas. We’ll see how they attack the draft now, in what is an extremely important season for the team.
