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Mike, Rex, Joey Put a Bow on Draft Weekend

Mike Tannenbaum, Rex Ryan and Joey Clinkscales came downstairs from the war room one final time this draft weekend to share their thoughts with the Jets reporters still holding their draft vigil in the media wing of the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center.

No one knows better than Mike T of the perils of any draft and how it may or may not work out. But as he summed up for reporters and fans alike: “I do like what we got accomplished.”

The Jets made five picks today since Mike and Joey (minus Rex, plus Terry Bradway) made their last appearance. They did talk about those third-day picks, but questions naturally still involved those three studs drafted in the first three rounds.

“I’m going to be excited to see what these guys,” Tannenbaum said, referring to Rex and his coaches, “do with Quinton [Coples] week in, week out. Stephen Hill, he gives us something we haven’t had in terms of size and speed. Demario Davis, what we liked about him was that he’s a little bit different than what we have. He has speed that Bart [Scott] and David [Harris} don't have."

Ryan fielded a question about Hill, the Georgia Tech wideout, being considered a starting WR from day one. Rex didn't flinch, and his answer segued into an interesting discussion of what Coples' presence now means for the defensive line.

"Do I think Stephen Hill will start? Yes, I do," Ryan said. "I think anytime you draft a guy that high ... I used to tell [Ravens GM] Ozzie Newsome the same thing: ‘How are the teammates going to look at it?’ Well, they proved in college that’s why you had them there [on the board]. You had a vision for those players. That’s why you took them.”

And Ryan added, with Coples, the North Carolina DE, that’s what you’re looking at, too, a new starter in the front line of defense. And yet it’s not quite as cut and dry as that.

“It doesn’t mean this player or that player’s not going to start. There’s so many different roles, so many things they can start on, sub team, things like that. They’re all going to play significantly.”

The Coples introduction into the D-line rotation, for example, could impact Mike DeVito. Ryan acknowledged that, yet certainly sees DeVito in very important roles ahead.

“I can tell you this about Mike DeVito — he’s an outstanding football player, no question about it,” the coach said. “Some guys come in as free agents and are real success stories. Mike’s one of those players. I know he’s a tremendous player. But to explain his exact role, I really don’t feel I can do that right now.”

It’s all about the packages.

“Sione [Pouha]‘s in the middle, Kenrick [Ellis] is in the middle and all that. We do have unusual depth right now,” Ryan said. “We really have it set up where we can do a lot of things with those fronts. Quinton Coples, he’s not going to play 70 snaps a game for us, but he’s definitely going to have a huge role in our defense.

“I remember Bill Walsh would take nine defensive linemen to games. I’m not saying we only need seven offensive linemen, but you want to have guys that are fresh to rush the quarterback, ideally in the fourth quarter. I think the more of these guys you get, the better it is for your team. We’re excited to have all these guys, excited to have the depth we have.”

Another thing that excites Ryan is the Demario Davis deal. He went through the measurables and then added some intangibles of the ILB from Arkansas State.

“He’s a gifted athlete without question. And he’s a very mature young man, a leader in their locker room. He’s got a great presence about him,” Ryan said. “He reminded me of a young Bart Scott when he came in. You see a lot of the same qualities that Bart possesses. I just think it’s going to be great, Bart as a mentor for this young man. I think it’s an ideal situation to come in to with him and David. Nick Bellore I thought was a tremendous pickup for us last year and he’s been outstanding this year in the weightroom. And Josh Mauga. We’re as deep as we’ve ever been there at the inside linebacker position.”

Tannenbaum summed up today’s picks with a few observations that will be elaborated on in the coming weeks as these players arrive for next weekend’s rookie minicamp, get integrated into the veteran core for the mid-June full-squad minicamp and training camp beyond:

S Josh Bush: “We feel good about Josh. He’s going to come in and compete.”

RB Terrance Ganaway: “We feel good about him and about Robert Griffin, who were Baylor teammates. He’s a bigger back and we were looking for something different from the rest of the depth chart.”

Griffin: “He had a great visit. Rex and Joey and I, we like him a lot.”

S Antonio Allen: “We were pleasantly surprised we could get him where we did. He was very productive at South Carolina, very versatile.”

WR Jordan White: “He’s a great kid and we think he can come in and not only play but help us on special teams.” White returned punts his last two seasons at Western Michigan.

Clinkscales wasn’t called on much at this newser until the end, when the Jets’ vice president of college scouting was asked if, now that the draft is over, he can clear up those rumors about him leaving for the Oakland Raiders to work under new GM Reggie McKenzie, his former Tennessee Vols teammate back in the Eighties.

“I expect to be here,” Clinkscales said. “My job is talent evaluator. I understand where the connection comes in. Reggie and I played high school ball and college ball together. I’ve known Reggie forever. But this is where I started and this is where I intend on being.”

Hill Travels in Some Big-Name, Big-Number Circles

Stephen Hill showed a remarkable skill with some impressive namedropping during his first news conference as  a Jet at the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center.

“Yeah, definitely Calvin Johnson,” Hill, the Georgia Tech wideout, told reporters at midday today when asked if he agreed with VP of college scouting Joey Clinkscales’ likening of Hill to “Megatron.” the Madden NFL ’13 cover dude. “And if I can say a little old school, I’d say Jerry Rice.”

If you look at one set of Hill’s Yellow Jackets numbers, his receptions, you’d say, well, good luck with that. In Tech’s triple-option offense he totaled only 49 career receptions, an average of 16.3 per season, 1.3 per game.

But look at another set and you might say, why not? Hill had nine touchdown receptions in his college career, each of which went for an average of 55.2 yards per catch. As a junior last year, he had five TDs for a 64.0 average per catch. His 29 total catches averaged 29.3 yards per catch, leading all of college football.

That Georgia Tech offense was feast and famine for a wideout of Hill’s skills, but as he said about shifting gears from the triple option to whichever pro offense he was ticketed for, “I’ve been away from school for four months. I did a lot of transitioning, especially going down to the IMG campus, working hard six days a week. My only transition is just playing faster and playing against great guys.”

And to help him with that transition, well, Hill dropped a few more names, this time of some quarterbacks.

“I worked out with Ryan Tannehill, Russell Wilson and Kirk Cousins,” Hill said. “And Vinny Testaverde kind of threw it to me, too.”

Yes, that Vinny T, the Jets’ own former QB who helps out some young up-and-comers at the Bradenton, Fla., complex.

“Oh, yeah, definitely Vinny can still spin that thing,” Hill told Eric Allen for newyorkjets.com. “It’s amazing to see a guy who played so many years and still moves so great. He gave me a lot of tips, on how to get in and out of breaks. And he told me to just stay in my place, go out there and be a pro.”

Hill, who just celebrated his 21st birthday the day before the draft began, has a great head start on that goal. Every player is more than the sum of his numbers, but in Hill’s case some additional numbers pop out and tell a little something more about how the 6’4″, 215-pounder from Lithonia, Ga., may adapt to North Jersey and a New York state of mind:

4.36 — That was Hill’s announced 40 time at the February combine, although he was told one watch had him at 4.28. “I’ve had that speed since I was a kid. I just keep working, working, no days off. I’m in a no-days-off period. I knew I was fast when I started running track at the age of 6,” he told reporters. To EA he agreed, “It’s good to have this type of speed. It’s a blessing to have this type of speed.”

11’1″ — That’s Hill’s broad jump distance. Sound like a long way to leap? That’s tied for the seventh-longest broad jump at the combine at all positions since 2006. I won the states in my junior year and in my senior year I came in third behind Eric Berry and Brandon Boykin. Jumping against those guys was such a boost to my confidence.” As a senior Hill set the Georgia state long jump record at 25’8¾”.

39’5″ — His announced vertical leap at the combine. That’s just a merely impressive stat, tied for fifth-highest among all positions at this year’s workouts. But wait, there’s a catch. “I really thought I had a better jump, but they had me redo it.” He said his best vertical came in high school,  a 42’0″ leap. That would have been in the top 10 for verticals in the last seven combines.

84 — That’s the uniform number Hill is expected to  wear as a Jet. Why 84 after he wore 5 at Georgia Tech and 25 at Miller Grove High School? “I wore 84 in high school for an All-America bowl game after my senior season. My dad, Henry Hill, wore it when he was in high school, and I had a big game wearing it. Now I’m getting to wear it again.”

Hill’s dad, mom and family came up from Georgia with him for his introduction to the area today. And he’ll be back for next weekend’s rookie minicamp here at the Jets facility, where we’ll get to see No. 84 start working on some new numbers and achievements at the next level.

With First 3 Picks, Speed Is Added to the Mix

There have been and will continue to be a variety of opinions on the Jets’ first three selections of their 2012 draft. But one thing the draft triumvirate of GM Mike Tannenbaum, VP of college scouting Joey Clinkscales and senior personnel executive Terry Bradway stressed in their Draft Day 2 wrapup news conference late this evening was that the threesome provided a commodity the Jets need.

“One thing we did today and yesterday,” said Bradway, “was that we improved the speed of the team.”

“First of all, we wanted to get the best player available, stick to our board as much as possible,” said Clinkscales. “But I’m sure that was in our mind. We wanted to get faster. The league is getting faster, and it’s important for us to add that as well.”

North Carolina DE Quinton Coples put his get-the-quarterback 4.78-second speed on display at the NFL Combine in February. Hill has a rare combination of size and speed that enabled him to, well, not exactly boast but predict to Clinkscales that he would turn in a 40 time in the 4.3′s.

“In our interview at the combine, that’s exactly what he said,” said the Veep, “and he did it.”

And Demario Davis flashed anywhere from 4.5-4.6 speed at linebacker to help him flash to opposing ballcarriers, whether they’re heading into the hole of for the flanks, and then apply his strength and tackling skills to drop them in their tracks.

“I think we’re off to a good start,” said Tannenbaum. “We got Quinton on the first day, then Stephen Hill, we were excited about that. And we feel we improved the athleticism at the inside linebacker position. There’s other things we want to get done. We’ll see what happens. Not to manage expectations but Matt Slauson, a starter for us, we got in the sixth round.”

One position not addressed yet is the O-line. Mr. T was asked about that and replied:

“There’s a number of young players on our offensive line. Wayne Hunter’s back for another year and he’ll be competing for a position here, and there’s Caleb [Schlauderaff], Austin [Howard], Vlad [Ducasse]. We really did stick to our board, and at the time we took the highest-rated player on our board all three times.”

Asked to clarify his statement about Hunter competing for the RT position, T said, “I’d say Wayne’s our right tackle now. The offensive line we’ve said we’ll continue to monitor.”

And Vlad? “He’s at right tackle now, too. We’ll look at that once we get through the draft.”

One thing Tannenbaum assured, no surprise really: “I think our roster will continue to evolve. We’ll try to sign another veteran player here and there, depending on how tomorrow and on how the spring goes.”

Every rock, every day.

Draft Notes

With no fourth- and fifth-round picks now, the Jets will enter Saturday and the final day of the draft with five selections — three in the sixth round (Nos. 187, 202 and 203) and two in the seventh (Nos. 242 and 244). Assuming they use all five, they will have spent eight picks on players this year, the most in a draft since Tannenbaum, in his first draft as the Jets’ GM, used 10 picks.

Hill is only the fifth Georgia Tech player selected by the Jets in the draft. The last Yellow Jacket taken was also the Jacket taken highest by the Jets, DE Coleman Rudolph, who was grabbed with the 36th selection of the 1993 draft.

In case you didn’t catch this UNC trivia, Quinton Coples is only the seventh North Carolina player to be drafted by the Jets and the first first-round Tar Heel. The last time the Jets went to Chapel Hill for a Heel, they took two. In the 1997 draft they tabbed DT Rick Terry with the first pick of Round 2, the 31st selection overall, and two rounds later they tabbed “The Natural,” RB-KR Leon Johnson, in Round 4. One other popular Carolina player drafted by the Jets was LB Eddie Mason, a sixth-rounder in 1995.

Live Draft Chat Tonight on NewYorkJets.com

The NFL is about to kick off Day 2 of the draft, and we invite you to join us live for a live chat at 7 p.m. ET.

Jets Nation can follow Rounds 2 and 3 here on newyorkjets.com as we’ll take questions and comments now and live as comments here on the Radar, on Twitter@nyjets and on Facebook.com/Jets.

Eric Allen will host  the video portion of the chat in Round 2 and newyorkjets.com editor-in-chief Randy Lange is scheduled to make an appearance as well.  Then we’ll continue with a text-based chat in Round 3 as we continue to provide round-the-clock coverage of the Green & White.

We’ll take questions and comments early, so fire away.

Quick Breakdown of Newest Jet Who Goes By ‘Q’

Perhaps the first thing you notice about Quinton Coples standing next to him is how large a well-proportioned human being he is. He stands 6’6″, 284, with a 33¼-inch arms at the end of which are 10¼-inch hands.

His body is all business and quite impressive when draped in his draft-night sartorial choice of a silver business suit and powder-blue tie.

Not to mention pointed black leather shoes that went on forever. How big is his foot?

“Size 15,” “Q” said a his little laugh. “It helps me with my balance.”

Body aside, he has that engaging chuckle. No doubt that bugged a few draft watchers, who felt Coples was a little inconsistent, maybe a little less than 100 percent serious about the game. But it’s a little personal trait that also may well endear him to fans and reporters after he takes down Tom Brady once or twice to prompt a new Jets cheer of “Kyooooo!” — and indicates an ability to handle the slings and arrows that he’s already faced leading up to the draft and will feel again if he has a few sackless games as the Jets’ Sweet 16 first pick.

“I definitely let it run off my back,” he said of criticism, adding that coming to New York from Kinston, N.C., and Chapel Hill will not faze him. “Not at all. I know in New York you’re under the microscope all the time. I know there are a lot of things going on. But at the end of the day I just want to be the best player I can be and help the Jets get to the Super Bowl.”

He also had a smile or two for the Jets fans in the Radio City Music Hall balcony, who seemed to greet him with a generally favorable reaction although there was an undercurrent of boos from those who wanted such other pocket pummelers as Melvin Ingram, Courtney Upshaw or Chandler Jones, who all were still on the board when the Jets selected at 16.

“Jets fans? They’re definitely fantastic,” he said, using another one of his trademarks, “definitely.”

Definitely there will be a lot on Coples’ shoulders as he begins his career as a New York Jet in earnest beginning Friday when he is scheduled to make his first appearance at the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center in Florham Park, N.J. His play has drawn mostly awed but still mixed reactions. NFL Network’s Mike Mayock, for instance, has said:

“I did not like his senior year tape. I’ve been highly critical of him. However, he showed up at the Senior Bowl and showed he could play like Julius Peppers.”

Peppers, of course, is the 11th-year Panther and now Bear who, before his 100-sack career, was a terror for the Tar Heels.

“I don’t know Julius well but I’ve run into him before,” Coples said, adding with a little smile of healthy pride, “We’re the only two Carolina defensive linemen to be named first-team All-ACC twice. The only two. Ever.”

Coples has a more recent relationship with another Jet that he’ll be joining on the D-line soon. He and DE Muhammad Wilkerson were teammates at Hargrave Military Academy in Virginia. “Wilk” was there as a post-grad, Coples as a high school senior.

“We didn’t room together but we stayed in the same dormitory,” Q said. “We’ve definitely talked. I saw him at the players’ association party last night.”

One other thing that seems to be a part of the Coples package is a willingness to please, to improve and to impress. His New Year’s resolution is “to take advantage of my opportunities.” And he said that, his silver and blue theme aside, he’ll look good in green and white.

“When Rex got me on the phone tonight, he asked me if I was ready to be a Jet,” Coples said with that infectious smile. “I definitely said yes.”

Sweet 16 (?) in the Draft? Mendelsohn Monitoring

A busy night is ahead for all of us NFL fanatics as the 2012 Draft comes barreling toward us in a few hours. For me, I’ll officially kick off the night with an appearance with my partner, Eric Allen, at the top of this year ‘s Draft Web Show on newyorkjets.com. The show will start at 6 p.m. ET and wrap up with plenty of time for all to get refreshed, restocked and rehydrated before Commissioner Goodell takes the podium at Radio City around 8 p.m.

In fact, I’ll depart from the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center shortly after helping EA kick off the draft show and will then wend my way into the city and eventually end up at 51st and Sixth to take in the night’s proceedings, which should include meeting up with the Jets’ new first-round selection, whoever it is and wherever that choice is made, for some quality time in between his making stops at the draft headquarters and then down the street at the SNY studios.

Will the Jets spend that No. 16 pick? Who knows. We’ve heard the Jets might move up, might move back, might sit tight. If the Jets do spend the 16th selection, it will be only the third time they’ve used that pick on a player in their history.

The previous two Sweet 16s did well for the Green & White for a short while and have had good careers since their Jets days:

■ DE Hugh Douglas, who came to the Jets at No. 16 out of Central State in Ohio in 1995, left after the ’97 for the Eagles, and in all had a 10-year, 80-sack career and now is an ESPN talking head.

■ WR Santana Moss, No. 16 in 2001, who’s still going after playing his first 11 seasons for the Jets and Redskins and making 639 regular-season receptions combined. ‘Tana also holds the distinction (until perhaps Jeremy Kerley breaks it) of having the most recent punt-return touchdown for the Jets, on Jan. 15, 2005, in the playoff loss at Pittsburgh.

And the No. 16 the team had in 2000 only counts if you add an asterisk. The Jets parlayed that pick and their 48th choice in the ’00 draft and sent it to San Francisco for the 49ers’ 12th overall pick. With that choice they selected DE Shaun Ellis, who until last season was a longtime contributor to the defensive cause.

Keep Hangin’ In There, Steve

As always, reality intrudes into the Jets’ and the NFL’s world. Tonight when I take time out from draft developments, I’ll offer a quick prayer to Steve Mendelsohn as he follows the draft from his Dumont, N.J., home.

I detailed Steve’s battle with pancreatic cancer before the start of last season in a story on newyorkjets.com. The Jets’ frequency coordinator since 1999 had already beaten doctors’ prognoses that he had a year to live due to a lung sarcoid six years ago and three to five months to go from the cancer back in January 2011. His goal then was to make it to the Jets’ next playoff game. They didn’t get the postseason, of course, but Mendelsohn and his extended green family did go into the offseason together.

Steve was sent home from the hospital last week with a new prognosis of two to six weeks to live. He admitted to me that he was pretty down last Friday. But a list of Jets visiting his home this week, led by general manager Mike Tannenbaum and head coach Rex Ryan, has reinflated his spirits. His new goal: to attend one of the Jets’ early OTA practices the week after next.

“The GM made the request that I come out and have lunch then,” Steve said. “God has made my life plentiful these last weeks. I don’t take bad news easily when I know I can overcome it. So I’m coming out. Whatever it takes.”

Have a great draft tonight, Steve, and we’ll see you here soon.

McElroy, Posey Do the Honors

QB Greg McElroy and DB Julian Posey will team up with the N.J. Department of Agriculture to honor Dwight Morrow High School in Englewood on Friday morning for being one of the winning schools in the 2011-12 “Eat Right, Move More” contest. The program encourages Garden State schoolkids to take advantage of healthy foods in their school cafeterias and become more active.

Maybin Wants to Be Considered a ‘Complete Player’

Aaron Maybin proved last year that he could thrive as a situational pass rusher. Now after signing his restricted free agent tender, the 6’4”, 240-pounder wants to take his game to another level.

“By the end of this offseason and going into this next year, I want to be considered a complete player,” Maybin told newyorkjets.com. “With everything that’s gone on my whole career, I feel like I’m finally in a place where I’m going to have a position to flourish as a complete player and really have that opportunity. Coming into this offseason, I really want to focus on every single part of my game to make sure I am that complete player when preseason rolls around.”

It was just last summer when many wondered if Maybin’s NFL career was over. After being selected No. 11 overall in the 2009 draft, the Penn State product went sackless in 27 games with the Buffalo Bills and was released in August. The Jets signed him and he made the 53-man roster on cutdown day before being let go before the opener. But he re-signed with the Jets in Week 4, appeared in 13 games and experienced his professional breakthrough.

“This is the most excited I’ve been my whole career for the start of a season. Just because coming into last year, a lot of things were uncertain for me,” he said. “Coming into the situation this year, knowing that I’m in a brand new situation, I’m a lot more comfortable with the team now having almost a full year under my belt. I’m just excited to really get a whole year behind me and really get a chance to get out there and help us win football games.”

The best pass rushers have good vision and Maybin isn’t wasting any time looking behind him. While he led his new club with six sacks, four forced fumbles and 24 QB hurries, the Jets stumbled down the stretch and narrowly missed a trip to the postseason.

“Really, as soon as the season ended, all I could do was start putting down goals for next year. It ended with a little bit of a sour taste in our mouth,” he said. “With me personally, I’m excited as I’ve ever been, but I definitely didn’t spend too much time reflecting. It was really on to next year as soon as possible.”

A new face last year, Maybin said he is welcoming his new teammates with open arms and the team is moving ahead with a “singular mindset.” He was particularly happy that NT Sione Pouha received an extension and he also believes unrestricted free agent signee LaRon Landry can be a valuable addition in the defensive backfield.

“Me being from the DC area, I had a chance to watch him for a few years out there in Washington,” Maybin said of the former Redskin. “I’m excited to have a chance to play with a guy like that because you think about guys who can really patrol that secondary and it’s an imposing task for a quarterback to have to make some of those throws sometimes. Anything to make the quarterback hold onto the ball a little bit longer, I’m in favor of.”

On Tuesday night, some of Maybin’s artwork was showcased at the fifth annual Fashion and Football Gala and Runway Show in New York City.

“It’s been a big year for us. As far as the art goes, it’s really taken off for us this year,” he said. “Being in the New York market now and being as big as art is in the city, there’s been a lot of opportunities for me to get some of my stuff out and people have been very receptive to it, so it’s exciting.”

Tone’s Focused ‘to Make Change, Make It Better’

With just six NFL seasons under his belt, Santonio Holmes is hardly a graybeard. But the 28-year-old Holmes is the Jets’ oldest receiver and he suddenly is the longest-tenured player amongst the WR corps.

“It’s now time to start over,” Holmes told me. “It’s a fresh start, new faces here, and I think it gives me better insight to myself, knowing I can lose a few pounds and come back in as if I’m the younger guy around here. I’m the oldest vet at receiver on our team right now, but I think those guys look up to me because I still have that young man’s mentality that I’m going to work every day, I’m going to outwork you, and if you try to be better than I am, I’m going to make sure I’m better than you at the end of the day.”

Many pundits believe the Jets will add another receiver in the early rounds of the draft and GM Mike Tannenbaum has 10 selections at his disposal. The Jets have the No. 16 overall selection on Thursday night and Oklahoma State’s Justin Blackmon, Notre Dame’s Michael Floyd, Baylor’s Kendall Wright and LSU’s Rueben Randle are expected to be targeted by teams early. But Holmes is happy with the Jets’ current group that includes former Raider Chaz Schilens, sophomore Jeremy Kerley and veteran Patrick Turner.

“I love my group. These guys, the attitude they bring toward me is they want to compete harder than what Tone’s doing. They want to know if Tone did it this way, how can we do it that way plus a little bit more than Tone,” he said. “They’re asking questions, ‘Tone, what do I do here, What do I do here?’ and I just refer back to myself looking up to Hines Ward over the years and playing in Pittsburgh.”

The Jets offense has a new commander in 2012 as Tony Sparano has replaced the departed Brian Schottenheimer as coordinator. While you can expect a commitment to a physical running attack, Sparano has also stressed the importance of producing chunk plays down the field.

“His attitude, the way he grabs our attention just by his voice, he doesn’t even have to look at us or say much. It’s the tone that he uses with us that grabs everyone’s attention and we’re focused,” Holmes said. “We’re excited to have a new guy around, a bunch of new faces, just that whole drive to make change and make it better. I think everybody is open for it. I’m definitely open for it. I’m excited. I hope Mark is and the rest of the guys that want to stick around and be around these Jets for the next few years.”

Even before the Jets were back at work here in Florham Park, Sanchez and a few of the Jets’ skill players met up with Holmes in Orlando to get an early start on 2012.

“When you’re in the business world and things aren’t working out, you go and talk to each other,” Holmes said. “If things don’t look good or feel right, you go and talk to them to make sure it is so when it’s time for the presentation to come, you’re not having these same problems that you were dealing with a long time ago.”

Holmes has never been one for down time. He told me he took less than two weeks off after the season ended and then it was back to work. But he was happy his teammates joined him this spring for a few days.

“For the simple fact that Mark, Dustin, Patrick — guys who came down to work out with me — I loved it, man. We had a great three or four days working out together,” he said. “We had a chance to go out to Disney and Universal, spend some time together and just have fun. I think that’s a part of us growing up and accepting our roles as part of this team.”

Wesley Walker at Podium for Rounds 2-3 Picks

Wesley Walker, an outstanding second-round draft choice for the Jets out of California in 1977, will be announcing the Jets’ second- and third-round selections on Friday night, the second night of this year’s NFL draft, as part of the continuation of the league’s program begun last year in which each Round 2 selection was announced by a former player of the team that made that pick.

In all, the NFL announced today that 33 legendary NFL alumni — one for each team and two WRs, Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt, splitting the duties for the St. Louis Rams — will announce their teams’ picks live from Radio City Music Hall in New York.

The alumni scheduled to be on hand to make the announcements from the podium feature six Pro Football Hall of Famers, including two from the Class of 2012 — C Dermontti Dawson for the Steelers and T Willie Roaf for the Saints.

Any team would be happy to get the kind of Round 2 production that Walker gave to the Jets as the ’77 draft’s 33rd overall selection, the fifth pick of the second round. Walker played his entire 13 NFL seasons in the green and white. He totaled 438 catches for 8,306 yards for a 19.0-yard average that is the franchise career record.

And in his best season? Walker had several — he had 1,169 yards on 48 catches in ’78 for a 24.4-yard average that is still the franchise season mark. But he also had 61 receptions in ’83 and 12 touchdown catches in ’86, which included his franchise-record four-TD game in the classic 51-45 home overtime victory over the Dolphins.

Walker played in two Pro Bowls and was named All-Pro first-team WR in 1978.

A Jets Draft that Pat Kirwan Would Love to See

It’s always great to catch up with Pat Kirwan, a major talking head for Sirius/XM NFL Radio and, back in the day, a member first of the Jets coaching staff and then of the front office. I did that catching up on Friday and one of our topics was the Jets in the upcoming draft.

“I like the draft for them,” Kirwan told me, by which of course he meant that he likes the draft if the Green & White fill certain needs during the seven rounds. Those needs, he enumerated, are pass rusher, wide receiver, running back and tackle. “If they come out of this with outside linebacker and tackle starters, and running back and wide receiver role players, then I think they’ve had a successful draft.”

Who to fill those spots in the first four or five rounds? That’s always the best part, listening to Pat talk about the players he interviewed and watched back in January at the Senior Bowl and who are now getting ready for their introduction into the NFL. You’re familiar with the names although maybe there a few Pat mentioned that you weren’t thinking of for the Jets on Days 2 and 3.

Prefacing his remarks about the pass rusher, Kirwan said, “I talked with Aaron Maybin recently. He gave them more than they thought he would last year. I didn’t know that Aaron’s relationship with Rex Ryan goes all the way back to his high school days. He’s a plus for the Jets.

“But they still have to go get another one. And they’re not going to do it with a 5-technique, so they’ll do it with an outside LB.”

Which ones if the Jets stay at 16?

“If they’re thinking about the position in the first round, it’s either Nick Perry or Courtney Upshaw. I think one of those two guys will be there,” Kirwan said. “If they say OLB in the second round, you’re probably talking about Shea McClellin. He’s kind of in the mold of guys that played for Rex in Baltimore, Jarret Johnson, for example.”

And if that need goes unfulfilled until Round 3, No. 77 overall? “You’re probably talking about Bruce Irvin,” he said of the 6’3″, 245-pounder from West Virginia. “And he may be the biggest diamond in the rough of them all.”

Moving on to the next potential starter, “The right tackle I like is Bobby Massie from Mississippi. He’s played the right side and at some time he may play the left. His stock grows,” Kirwan said, adding as an aside, “I’ve got 15 teams that want to come out of this draft with a [starting] tackle, and I don’t think there are more than eight of them. It’s a supply-and-demand issue. Mike [Tannenbaum] is aware of it. There’s just not enough of them available.

“If Massie’s gone at 47, the Jets could turn to Mitchell Schwartz. He’s the big Cal kid who I had at the Senior Bowl. He’s a big, strong, physical guy. Jeff Allen from Illinois’s in the conversation later. I liked him at guard. He’s got almost 50 college starts and he can play right tackle. So the Jets can get one of those tackles somewhere in the draft.”

Seeking a Complementary RB

As for the offensive backfield need, Kirwan said, “I think it’s a complementary player. I think there’s got to be some admission of what Shonn Greene isn’t. Last year the complement was LaDainian Tomlinson. At No. 77, I like Isaiah Pead, the Cincinnati kid. An offensive coordinator told me, ‘We like him because we intend on breaking the formation, getting him outside and running empty sets.’ “

Two other RBs he likes are Texas A&M’s Cyrus Gray and, on Day 3, another Ole Miss product, Brandon Bolden.

“Gray is the only back in the draft with over 100 college receptions,” he said. “Then Bolden down there in Mississippi, he’s like BenJarvus Green-Ellis. Poor Ole Miss was overmatched with LSU, Alabama — with just about everybody. It was pretty clear Bolden was the main target. And he still delivered.”

For wideout, Kirwan said, “I happen to be a fan of Marvin McNutt of Iowa, another Senior Bowl player. What I love about Marvin is that he reminds me of Donald Driver — smooth, slick route runner, very mature. I think he’s attainable, but you’d have to push into the bottom of the fourth round, I think.” The Jets don’t have a No. 4 at the moment.

So bear in mind, Jets fans, Kirwan is just like the rest of us independent draftniks, except that in a larger, truer sense he’s better than the rest of us because he’s a smart, engaging NFL observer who does this for a living. But he sees a plan he likes for the Jets on draft weekend:

“Nick Perry in the first round, Bobby Massie in the second, Isaiah Pead in the third, then parlaying into the fourth round for Marvin McNutt … I would be writing a long story about how excited I am for the Jets.”

Check Out Pat’s Book

Kirwan doesn’t apparently need me shilling for fans to buy the long story he has written, “Take Your Eye Off the Ball,” but I will.

“The book is doing very well,” he said of the little cottage industry he’s developed over the past year — he’s written a second edition, “Take Your Eye Off the Ball: Playbook Edition,” and produced a companion audio CD plus an audio book, read along with his “Movin’ the Chains” radio partner, Tim “T-Rock” Ryan.

Of the playbook edition and companion video, he said, “I went into the classroom with a whiteboard and shot four hours of video for the book, X’s and O’s on the board. Then I re-released the book as a spiral-bound for all fans who wanted to make notes in the book, like a playbook. That sold a whole bunch more.”

Kirwan has a second book project percolating, a “Movin’ the Chains” kind of approach with Ryan that he said he’s been discussing as an e-book, releasing a chapter at a time online. More details are sure to come. And if you want a little something to make drive time pass by a little more quickly, check out Pat Kirwan’s Website and order yourself the audiotape.

Dixon, Wilson Pitch In to Play 60

Marcus Dixon and Kyle Wilson are participating in the NFL PLAY 60 Youth Football Festival on Tuesday and Wednesday. Dixon and Wilson will be among the eight current players who will be joined by eight NFL alumni, the 26 draft prospects in the area this week, Commissioner Roger Goodell and more than 600 first-to-eighth-grade students from area schools to help reinforce that area New York/New Jersey kids stay active for 60 minutes a day as part of the league’s youth health and fitness campaign.

The clinics will be held at Chelsea Waterside Park on 11th Avenue in Manhattan. At each clinic, students will learn NFL FLAG drills from USA Football coaches and participate in drills with the players. Dixon will be in clinics on Tuesday afternoon, Wilson in clinics on Wednesday afternoon.

Jets-Bengals Details

The particulars of the Jets’ preseason opener at Cincinnati have been firmed up. The game had been set for Friday, Aug. 10 at Paul Brown Stadium. And the kickoff has just been announced as 7:30 p.m. ET.