The Jets were wondering why USC RB Joe McKnight was plummeting in the NFL Draft, so they turned to his former teammate for answers.
GM Mike Tannenbaum said the Jets talked to QB Mark Sanchez, who played with McKnight at USC, before trading up in the fourth round to pick the explosive running back.
“We are sitting there thinking, like Shonn Greene a year ago, geez, we got a really high grade on this guy,” Tannenbaum said in a WFAN interview Tuesday morning.
“As a teammate, a pass protector, it’s easy for me to go over to Sanchez and say, ‘Do you want this guy protecting your backside?’ And Mark said, ‘Absolutely.’ So, Mark thinks he is an excellent teammate, his tape is compelling, he makes a lot of guys miss, catches the ball well. Why he fell so far is hard to say, but for us it was an easy decision to give up a sixth-round pick.”
The selection of McKnight paved the way for the Jets to trade versatile Leon Washington to the Seahawks.
“Once we had McKnight we felt we could move on from Leon,” Tannenbaum said. “Once we had McKnight we felt all those jobs were taken care of.”