Well, that would surely give Joe Douglas something to think about, no?
There are many reasons why you might consider yourself considering DeVonta Smith with the second choice in the draft. Conventional wisdom says that you should not choose wide receivers so highly. Conventional wisdom says that if you choose so high, you better take a cornerstone position – quarterback, edge rusher, left tackle – to make sure you are not that high again.
Conventional wisdom says: if you can trade the choice for a quantity of assets, then call and make a deal.
Funny thing: conventional wisdom, however, does not take into account what we all saw Monday night when Smith looted the Ohio Buckeyes for 12 catches and 215 yards and three touchdowns in the first half, setting the Crimson Tide on fire on the way to a 52-24 stroke that won the sixth Bama championship in the Nick Saban era.
Conventional wisdom does not explain how Smith – who only won the Heisman Trophy last week, who was only the sole dominant force in college football – is somehow running against the state of Ohio. Maybe they did not have a story about the Heisman winner in the Columbus Dispatch last week.
Or maybe Smith is not that good.
If you watched Smith this year, if you saw him score 20 touchdown scores (34 over the last two years), if you saw him always succeed in making a play, wringing good defense, coaches hold their breath when a kickoff or point is heading in his direction, you know how good he is.
The Heisman voters knew it and gave him the big trophy, even in a year when Trevor Lawrence was the young man of the sport, and deserved the award. And it was not very close, Smith got twice as many votes in the first place as Lawrence and brought him out 1 856-1 187.
What should Douglas do then?
There are many years in which a 2-14 season would be a fast track to the No. 1 pick. But the Jaguars were not cooperating, leading 1-15, and so they will draft Lawrence. If the choice is Lawrence vs Smith, there is no choice: you go with the generation quarter.
No. 2 is another animal. It looks like the earth has shifted to Columbus for ten days, thanks to the eternal game that Ohio Fields quarterback Justin Fields placed against Clemson, in which he completely surpassed Lawrence. There was a feeling that people who felt that way could talk themselves into it, and Fields was not overwhelming against Alabama on Monday night. He can still be an excellent pro. But at number 2?
Zach Wilson of BYU is the other buzzworthy quarterback; is he a franchise-worthy choice at number 2? Oregon’s Penei Sewell could work with Mekhi Becton for a formidable pair of tackles (although Becton’s presence means Sewell is likely to play the right suit, another view would oppose conventional wisdom at No. 2). There is no franchise-changing edge grid.
Would it really wander so far outside the envelope to simply pick the best footballer – or at least the best not named Trevor Lawrence – at number 2? Because it’s based on his career, based on this season, based on an epic first half that stood for his night’s work after disrupting a finger of his first target of the second half, it seems DeVonta Smith to be.
And something else?
Behind the Jets, at No. 3, the Dolphins choose Miami, which picks Houston’s first round. It is certainly not inconceivable that they want to reunite Smith with his colleagues, Tua Tagavailoa. And then the Jets will have the special pleasure of getting there face Smith twice a year for the foreseeable future.
Look, that would not be easy for Douglas to make. He opened himself up to the same criticism that Dave Gettleman expressed three years ago when he put Saquon Barkley on no. 2, with conventional wisdom to shout that you can find a good setback lower in the draft, often from the first round, the same as a star width.
But in that case, the idea was that the Giants lost a golden opportunity to pick a franchise quarterback. They chose to wait a year to meet the need as none of the candidates threw them down (this was probably right in the case of Sam Darnold and Josh Rosen, less so when it comes to Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson ).
If there’s a quarterback who catches Douglas’ luxury, and he’s 100 percent sure, it’s one thing. If a team offers an abundance of choices, this is definitely something to consider.
But if it’s April 29 and the Jets are thinking about who’s the best player on the board? We saw him Monday night. He wore number 6 in red. He might look very good with the old number of Mark Sanchez in green.