The New York Jets took 23-year old DT Kenrick Ellis out of Hampton with the 94th overall pick (3rd round) of the 2011 NFL Draft.  Ellis is a huge man at 6’4″, 338 pounds and he plays with a big time mean streak.  Apparently though, he is also fired up off the field as he has failed drug tests and he’s facing an assault charge this summer for a fight on campus at Hampton.  Ellis played in 10 games (all starts) at Hampton last year and he had 94 tackles, 15 tackles for a loss, 2 sacks, 2 forced fumbles and 2 fumble recoveries.  Ellis played in 4 years at Hampton & South Carolina in which he played in 44 games (28 starts).  In those games, Ellis had 195 tackles, 37.5 tackles for a loss, 7 sacks, 4 batted down balls, 3 forced fumbles and 2 fumble recoveries.  Ellis will have to keep his nose clean with the Jets and he’ll also have to adjust to the big step up in competition.  This is a boom or bust pick for the Jets.

The New York Jets selected 22-year old DT Muhammad Wilkerson out of Temple with the #30 overall pick in the first round of the NFL Draft last night.  Wilkerson is 6’4″, 305 pounds and he fills a big need for the Jets as he will likely line up over the center as the NT.  Wilkerson played in 12 games (all starts) for Temple last year and he had 70 tackles, 13 tackles for a loss, 9.5 sacks, 3 batted balls, 2 forced fumbles and he had 1 fumble recovery.  Wilkerson played 3 years for the Owls and he played in 36 games (25 starts) in which he had 144 tackles, 26 tackles for a loss, 17.5 sacks, batted down 11 balls, forced 3 fumbles and he recovered 3 fumbles.  The Jets are ecstatic with this pick as they thought Wilkerson was going to be long gone by the time they were going to draft.

The New York Jets are never afraid to trade up on draft day to get the player they really want.  This is probably going to be a little different this year because they can’t deal players for picks.  With that in mind, the Jets might stick where they are more than usual in this draft.  Here is who I saw the Jets landing in my mock draft:

1st round (#30 overall) – Jabaal Sheard, DE, Pittsburgh

3rd round (#94 overall) – Greg Salas, WR, Hawaii

4th round (#126 overall) - Lance Kendricks, TE, Wisconsin

5th round (#161 overall) – Ronald Johnson, WR, UCLA

6th round (#194 overall) – Sealver Siliga, DT, Utah

7th round (#208 overall) – T.J. Yates, QB, North Carolina

With the Jets picking so late in the draft, I think it will be hard for them to trade up to fill needs.  With that in mind, I think they will resort to taking the best player available.  Sheard would likely be a starter from Day #1 for the Jets, but the rest of the guys project to be backups in 2011.