New York Jets Reportedly Preferred Different WR Than Malachi Corley

The New York Jets left Detroit after the NFL draft finished feeling good about what they accomplished.

They got an offensive tackle of their future, added an offensive weapon on the perimeter, boosted their running back room, and took a chance on a low-risk quarterback.

Based on some of the glaring needs they had, they addressed many of those concerns.

Every year after the draft takes place, information starts to come out about the approach and processes of different teams centered around what they actually wanted to do and the players they really wanted to select.

Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated has peeled back the curtain a bit on what the Jets were weighing in their war room, and it seems like their third round selection, Malachi Corley, wasn’t their preferred target.

“And once [Olu] Fashanu was aboard, their attention turned to receiver. Similarly, that call came down to a few guys. The Jets actually liked Texas’s Adonai Mitchell, but got focused on the best run-after-catch guys they could find in range of their second pick at 72,” he wrote.

What’s interesting is that it was already known New York had an eye for Rome Odunze and likely would have taken him with their 10th pick if he was available.

He didn’t fall in the draft, but Adonai Mitchell did.

After being routinely mocked as a first round pick, the 6-foot-2 playmaker didn’t hear his name called during Round 1 and had to wait the following day to get drafted.

Unfortunately for the Jets, their next selection wasn’t until the third round.

Mitchell eventually was taken in the bottom half of Round 2 by the Indianapolis Colts with the 52nd overall pick.

“And that’s where Western Kentucky’s Malachi Corley and Michigan’s Roman Wilson came into focus, with Corley getting the edge because, where both were wired the right way and competed, he was 30 pounds heavier and, accordingly, played with more violence,” Breer added.