2015 NFL Redraft: Should Jets Have Picked Brandon Scherff Over Leonard Williams?

A fresh look at the 2015 NFL draft by Pro Football Focus shows the Jets missed a chance at Brandon Scherff, who turned into a five-time Pro Bowl pick. The team picked Leonard Williams instead.

"Scherff moved from tackle to guard upon entering the NFL and quickly became one of the league's better players at the position," according to PFF.com. "Over his first seven seasons, all with Washington, he earned an 85.6 PFF grade."

The Jets' blocking unit ranked near the bottom that year, 26th among 32 teams. Four years later, things got worse. Their quarterbacks hit the ground 52 times in 2019, making them the fourth-worst protected group in the game.

Williams, now with Seattle, spent five years in green before a trade sent him across town to the Giants. The Jets got third and fifth-round picks back. His best year came early - a Pro Bowl spot in year two.

The new draft picture puts Williams at number two with Tennessee. Had this happened, Scherff would have been there at six for the Jets. His stats tell the tale, just one season where he let more than three sacks slip by.

By 2019, the Jets tried eight different line combinations. Big-money signings like George Fant and Ryan Kalil didn't fix things. Draft picks flopped too: Cameron Clark never played much after going in round four, while first-round choice Mekhi Becton missed 33 of 51 games.

Eight straight years of trouble followed. From 2016 to 2024, the line stayed weak. Not one season saw them crack the top 20 in rankings. New coaches came and went. Different blocking plans failed. Free agents couldn't turn it around.

Still, picking Williams worked out fine. "Anytime the prospect you selected goes earlier in a redraft scenario, you know you made the correct decision," wrote Justin Melo of Jets Wire.