3 first-round picks Patriots bafflingly passed on to select Cole Strange
By Adam Weinrib
2. Jermaine Johnson
Again, Pats Nation was presented with a classic Patriots scenario developing late Thursday.
Sure, Walker had been swiped. The Packers, not the Pats, had queued up for Quay. All the while, though, a different national nightmare scenario was developing.
What does America hate more than the Patriots getting the player they’d targeted atop the board? The Patriots watching a top-10 talent slip all the way to their cozy spot at the back of the first round, which happened as Florida State pass rusher Jermaine Johnson silently slid down the draft board.
Around the mid-20s, the world realized what had happened. And seconds later, a team slid in and scooped him up. Not just any team, either. The AFC East’s most annoying bottom-feeders, the New York Jets, added Johnson after swapping picks with the Tennessee Titans at 26.
That’s after selecting Sauce Gardner and Garrett Wilson at 4 and 10, of course. Three top-10 talents on the Jets, the third coming at the tail end of the first round?! And with Belichick waiting at the altar, too, ready to pounce on some supposed character and motor concerns to nab a game-breaker.
How did the Jets win Thursday night’s first round while the Patriots selected an FCS offensive lineman? Is this the Multiverse?