The Jets, with all the talk of trades developing in the NFL Draft, executed the first trade of the night, switching spots with No .11 Minnesota, which moved up to No. 10.
And with the 11th overall selection, the Jets selected Penn State tackle Olu Fashanu to compete for a starting job and help with the depth and quality of the offensive line to protect quarterback Aaron Rodgers and move head coach Robert Saleh’s offense as the Green & White head toward the 2024 season.
“We’re really excited to welcome big Olu to the Jets,” general manager Joe Douglas told reporters shortly after the trade and the 11th selection were completed.
Fashanu was a four-year player and a two-year starter at left tackle for the Nittany Lions. After an injury-shortened 2022 season in which he was named second-team All-Big Ten Conference, the focused, driven young man put it all together last season with 12 starts, and at the end of the year he was selected by The Associated Press as a first-team All-American and named Big Ten Offensive Lineman of the Year. He was also a finalist for the William V. Campbell Trophy, a.k.a. “the Academic Heisman.”
“It was such a unique draft class at the tackle position,” Douglas said. “We really felt there was a handful of guys that were unbelievable players. Olu being a left tackle, what he does in pass pro, very low pressure rates, playing in one of the top conferences in the country, he’s just a really high-level pass protector. And I don’t think he gets enough credit for his run-blocking. He’s just a big body, a very tough, competitive young man.”
“You know me by now. O-line, Dline, the more the merrier,” head coach Robert Saleh said. “You can never have enough.” Saleh added that having recently acquired veteran tackles Tyron Smith and Morgan Moses helps with Fashanu’s transition to the pro game. “They have so much wealth of experience, not only in technique but in also how to be a pro and prepare at this level. The young man’s only 21 years old. He hasn’t even scratched the surface yet.”
Besides the 10th overall pick, the Jets also sent their sixth-round selection, 203rd pick to the Vikings, and they received in return the Vikes’ 11th pick as well as their fourth-round choice (129th) and their fifth-rounder (157th).
“The added ammo is great. It gives us more flexibility,” Douglas said. “We’ll assess how the rest of this round goes, we’ll put our board together for tomorrow night, and there are going to be five or six scenarios as far as moving up, moving back. Having those extra picks gives us a lot of flexibility to do different things.”
The Jets have gone to the Happy Valley well often over the years, with Fashanu the 28th Nittany Lion to be drafted by the Green & White. Many of the noteworthy Penn State Jets draftees played on the defensive side of the ball, beginning with LB Ralph Baker (43rd, 1964), followed by DE John Ebersole (98th, 1970), LB Greg Buttle (67th, 1976), LB Lance Mehl (69th, 1980), S Harry Hamilton (176th, 1984) and DT Lou Benfatti (94th, 1994).
More recently, PSU offensive players have predominated: TE Mickey Shuler (61st, 1978), RB Blair Thomas (2nd, 1990), OL Roger Duffy (196th, 1990), FB Richie Anderson (144th, 1993), TE Kyle Brady (9th, 1995), T Kareem McKenzie (79th, 2001) and most recently QB Christian Hackenberg (51st, 2016).
The last time the Jets took a tackle in Round 1 was Mekhi Becton out of Louisville 11th overall in the 2020 draft. The last time the Jets selected a tackle higher than 10th was when they plucked D’Brickashaw Ferguson out of Virginia fourth in 2006. The other fourth overall tackles in Jets history were LT Chris Ward (Ohio State, 1978) and RT Marvin Powell (Southern Cal, 1977), who started 84 of 93 games together as the Jets’ bookend tackles from 1978-83.
Other Jets Round 1 tackles who played for the team included Dave Cadigan (8th, 1988), Mike Haight (22nd, 1986) and from their AFL days, Dave Foley (26th, 1969) and William Yearby (13th, 1966).
