Well, that should certainly give Joe Douglas something to think about, right?
There are many reasons why you can convince yourself not to consider DeVonta Smith as the second choice of the draft. Conventional wisdom says that you don’t choose wide receivers that high. Conventional wisdom says that if you choose that height, you’d better assume a cornerstone position – quarterback, edge rusher, left tackle – to make sure you don’t catch that high again.
Conventional wisdom says: if you can exchange that choice for a batch of assets, make the call and close the deal.
Funny thing, though: conventional wisdom doesn’t explain what we all saw Smith do on Monday night, when he scoured the Ohio State Buckeyes for 12 receptions and 215 yards and three touchdowns in the first half, starting the Crimson Tide on the way one thrashed by 52-24 who 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 the only dominant force in all of college football this year – somehow fled savagely against the state of Ohio. Maybe they didn’t have a story about the Heisman winner at Columbus Dispatch last week.
Or maybe Smith is that good.
If you watched Smith this year, saw him score 20 touchdowns (34 in the past two years), saw how he always manages to make a move, make good defenses wince, make coaches catch their breath whenever a kick or a punt comes towards you, you know how good it is.
Heisman voters knew, giving him the big trophy even in a year when Trevor Lawrence was the young blond man in the sport and completed a season worthy of the award. And it wasn’t especially close, Smith getting twice the vote for first place than Lawrence and winning him between 1,856-1,187.
So, what should Douglas do?
There were many years when a 2-14 season would have been a quick route to number one choice. But the Jaguars were totally uncooperative, they were 1 to 15, and then they are going to recruit Lawrence. If the choice is Lawrence vs. Smith, then there is no choice: you go with the generation quarterback.
Number 2 is a different animal. For 10 days, it looked like the land had shifted towards Columbus, thanks to the game forever that Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields posted against Clemson in which he completely defeated Lawrence. There was a feeling that people who felt this way could be convinced of that, and Fields was not overwhelming against Alabama Monday night. He could still be an excellent professional. But number 2?
BYU’s Zach Wilson is the other valuable defender; is it a choice worthy of a franchise at number 2? Penei Sewell, from Oregon, could join Mekhi Becton for a formidable pair of tackles (although Becton’s presence means that Sewell would probably play from the right, another position conventional wisdom would argue against as No. 2). There is no edge reducer that changes the deductible.
So, would it really be going that far from the envelope to simply choose the best football player – or at least the best one who isn’t called Trevor Lawrence – in second place? Because based on his career, based on this season, based on an epic first half that represented his night of work after he injured his hand on his first target in the second half, that certainly seems to be DeVonta Smith.
And something else?
Behind the Jets, in third place, are the Dolphins, Miami with the choice of Houston in the first round. It is certainly not unthinkable that they might want to reunite Smith with his college quarterback, Tua Tagavailoa. And then the Jets would have the distinct pleasure of reaching face Smith twice a year for the foreseeable future.
Look, it wouldn’t be an easy choice for Douglas to make. He would expose himself to the same criticism Dave Gettleman made three years ago, when he took Saquon Barkley as number 2, conventional wisdom screaming that you can find a great running back down in the draft, often outside the first round, even as a star width.
But in this case, the idea was that the Giants were missing a golden chance to choose a franchise quarterback. They chose to wait a year to try to fill that need, since none of the candidates surprised them (they were probably right in the case of Sam Darnold and Josh Rosen, least of all when it comes to Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson).
If there’s a quarterback who captures Douglas’ fantasy and he’s 100 percent sure, that’s one thing. If a team offers an abundance of choices, of course, this is something to consider.
But if it is April 29 and the Jets are wondering who is the best player on the board? We saw him on Monday night. He wore No. 6 in red. He can look great using the old Mark Sanchez number in green.