INDIANAPOLIS -- The New York Jets could be open for business well ahead of the 2019 NFL Draft.
The Jets currently own the No. 3 overall pick, but the team is willing to entertain scenarios to let them move down, perhaps even with the crosstown rival New York Giants, who own the No. 6 pick.
"Yeah, I think I would be open to any team as long as the trade made sense to us," Jets general manager Mike Maccagnan said Wednesday at the NFL Scouting Combine. "There is nothing that would stop us from doing that."
The Jets are in a good position to entertain offers for a high draft pick with a view to accumulate more picks if they elect to move down.
The selection of quarterback Sam Darnold last year at the No. 3 spot affords Maccagnan some luxury to move down and accumulate picks, after the Jets found themselves moving up in the 2018 draft to get Darnold. The trade with the Indianapolis Colts cost the Jets the No. 6 overall pick, two second-round picks and a 2019 second-round pick.
With Kyler Murray and Dwayne Haskins likely to command attention from quarterback-needy teams, the Jets could very well field offers ahead of the league's annual selection process and make a move if the price is right.
And it's a scenario Maccagnan knows well, having traded for the No. 3 pick just a year ago with the intention of securing a franchise quarterback.
"I think when you think back to last year -- I think I may have said this before in other settings with you guys -- we felt very good about trying to position ourselves at three and part of it was what we'd have to give them in terms of compensation," Maccagnan said. "We thought, honestly, that extra spot from three to two would probably cost us our future one, but also at the time, we also tried to do the trade that we felt was maybe at the time when most people weren't looking to do that. So, if you draw more attention to it, sometimes the cost becomes higher. You get closer to the draft, the same thing happens or on draft day."
Regardless what happens with the No. 3 pick, the Jets will likely be on the lookout to build the talent around Darnold in free agency and the draft.
A high draft pick certainly helps the quest in the latter scenario, and potential additional picks acquired by a move out of the No. 3 spot would further boost the effort.
