NY Jets’ Fashanu pick sheds light on disappointing group of fans

Some New York Jets fans are more concerned with being right than rooting for the team

On Thursday night, the New York Jets made the safe play. By drafting Olu Fashanu out of Penn State, the Jets strengthened their depth at the most important position in football outside of quarterback.

Considering the Jets have two high-end tackles on the roster with injury concerns and a combined age of 66 years old, I think it was the right call once the top three wide receivers went off the board. By all accounts, the Jets tried to trade up and were unsuccessful. It takes two to tango and in this scenario the Jets were dancing on their own.

But this won’t be a breakdown of the position depth and Olu’s skillset. It’s more about the reaction from some Jets fans that was generated follow the pick. As for a breakdown, I would say:

• 50% of Jets fans loved the pick
• 30% of Jets either like or are fine with the pick, but would’ve preferred a pass catcher
• 19% are pissed
• 1% are deranged lunatics that will never be happy and actually want bad things to happen to the Jets

And for the 20%, I would like to ask some questions.

If your preference was to trade back or draft Brock Bowers out of Georgia, that’s a perfectly reasonable take. What isn’t reasonable is declaring this a terrible draft pick 60 seconds after he was drafted.

The Jets didn’t draft a kicker. The Jets didn’t draft a defender. The Jets didn’t make a low-value trade back and get an underwhelming prospect. They got a LT for the future and an amazing insurance policy for the 2024 team.

Now, if Olu Fashanu doesn’t play a lot this year… isn’t that a good thing? It means the Jets’ high-end OTs are healthy, and if that is the case, this team has the talent to win 11+ games. Odds are, though, he is going to play meaningful snaps late in the fall, and I trust him more than Carter Warren or Max Mitchell.

Olu Fashanu is a consensus All-American. He is a scholar athlete who excelled academically. His interviews are always first class and by all accounts he seems like an awesome 21-year-old kid. He signed up for it and I understand the NFL can be cutthroat, but seeing dozens of tweets and replies saying he’s immediately a bad pick is just lame.

No one can tell you how to be a fan. It’s America, we live in a free country. You have your right to an opinion. I also have my right to say a portion of fans are being sensitive babies because they didn’t select the guy you wanted.

I’m excited to see this guy flourish at One Jets Drive.

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