There’s one NFL draft error Darren Mougey’s dicey Jets strategy won’t withstand

Perhaps someday we’ll look back at Nov. 4, 2025, as the day Jets general manager Darren Mougey planted the seeds of a turnaround.

That Election Day afternoon, Mougey traded two of the team’s biggest stars, Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams. He got a haul in return — an additional first-round pick in 2026 and two more in 2027, plus a second-round pick in 2026 and players.

It was a bold swing by the first-year GM and it became clear that day that the Jets were banking on having five first-round picks in the next two years to jump-start a turnaround for a franchise that has not been to the playoffs since 2010. 

Now comes the hard part: turning picks into players and potential into production.