For the Jets, the 1999 NFL Draft comes down to this theme: Find another Fabini.
A year ago, almost by accident, the Jets filled their vacant starting right tackle position with a fourth-round pick out of Cincinnati named Jason Fabini. Today, likely with their first pick, the 57th overall, the Jets will try to find an offensive guard who’s good enough, smart enough and prepared enough to step in as an immediate starter – as Fabini did.
Finding an offensive lineman – even in the first round – who can step right in to start and be effective is one of the truly difficult tasks of drafting.
But the Jets, who are without both of their starting guards from the 1998 season (RG Matt O’Dwyer is still floundering in free agency and LG Todd Burger was recently cut), are in need of step-in help immediately and there’s certainly a hope that lightning can strike twice in two years.
“Maybe they think they can get the same thing this year that they did last year – a guy that can start right away,” Fabini said yesterday.
The player who most likely fits that description is 6-3, 307-pound Arkansas guard Brandon Burlsworth, who despite being a collegiate walk-on is described as a pure guard and has started the last three years against top competition.
Burlsworth is rated as the second-best guard in the draft after Boston College’s Doug Brzezinski, who’s not expected to be available when the Jets pick.
Burlsworth, who played last season after having completed his undergraduate studies and has already finished his graduate degree, is noted by draft observers as a hard worker on and off the field who’s not only bright but a weight-room warrior.
His intelligence is somewhat reminiscent of Fabini’s smarts. Fabini came to the Jets as a guy who took nothing for granted and loved to study the game, two factors that surely made him immediate starting material.
Fabini said he believes his poor scouting combine performance (he ran a 5.65 40) contributed to his late free-fall last year from high draft pick to mid-rounder.
“I performed terribly,” Fabini said. “It seemed like there was a lot of interest and then there was no interest. … I got all kinds of calls before the draft like, ‘If you don’t get drafted, would you come here as a free agent?’ Or, ‘We like you toward the end of the draft.’ I didn’t know what to expect.”
The Jets surely don’t either as they wait all day today for their 57th pick to arrive. And when it comes, they’ll surely be reaching for the gold they struck in Fabini a year ago.