For some of the first two rounds of the NFL Draft on Saturday, and the early part of yesterday’s final five rounds, there was an anticipation that the Jets would draft a quarterback.
Even when Matt Ryan was picked by Atlanta with the No. 3 pick, there was a thought that the Jets would pick one of the second-tier quarterbacks.
Finally, in the fifth round with the 162nd overall pick, the Jets picked a quarterback – Tennessee’s Erik Ainge, the nephew of Danny Ainge, the former NBA star and current Celtics director of basketball operations.
Jets GM Mike Tannenbaum, a rabid Celtics fan from Massachusetts, joked that he picked him so he can get good seats to the Celtics games.
“Oh, he plays quarterback, too?” Tannenbaum joked.
In an interesting twist, Ainge knows both Chad Pennington and Kellen Clemens. He knows Pennington from being in Knoxville, Tenn., and he knows fellow Oregon native Clemens.
Ainge has taken part in some of Pennington’s camps in Tennessee. He also said Clemens was the reason he didn’t stay in his home state to play college football.
“I was going to go to Oregon originally, but [Clemens] was going into his junior year and I didn’t want to wait two years to play,” Ainge said. “I couldn’t be happier than to come play with those guys. There are two good quarterbacks . . . and they’re competing for a starting job. I’ve got a lot to learn from both of them.”
The Jets also used the second day of the draft to address their need at cornerback, drafting San Jose State’s Dwight Lowery in the fourth round. The Jets traded down with the Packers to get Lowery, who had 13 INTs in his last two seasons. They also got the Packers’ fifth-round pick in the deal and used it for Ainge.
They used their sixth-round pick on Kansas receiver Marcus Henry, a tall target at 6-3½ who had a productive senior season with 54 catches, an 18.8-yard average and 10 TDs. Arkansas tackle Nate Garner, a starter for one year in college, where he helped block for Darren McFadden, was their seventh-round pick.