New York Jets GM Mike Maccagnan cut his teeth as a personnel executive in the NFL as a member of the Houston Texans, a franchise that provides perhaps the prime example of the major impact a bell cow running back can have for a professional football team.
While Texans running back Arian Foster was an undrafted free agent, Maccagnan and new Jets head coach Todd Bowles may not be willing to risk waiting until the end of the 2015 NFL Draft to nab their future three-down ballcarrier.
Maccagnan is reportedly very high on Alabama's T.J. Yeldon, a fast-rising running back prospect who seems to have cemented himself as the third-best back in the draft, according to Charlie Campbell of Walter Football.
"Jets general manager Mike Maccagnan is said to really like Yeldon and feels he could be an Arian Foster-type runner. Maccagnan came from the Texans and knows that an elite runner can help compensate for weakness at quarterback. Our sources said that it would be surprising if Yeldon got past the Jaguars or Jets at the top of the second round," writes Campbell.
The Jets are currently set to select at No. 37, the fifth pick of the second-round.
Yeldon, per NFL.com's Lance Zierlein, is currently projected as a second or third-round pick, though of course recent reports suggest that he's making a late climb up draft boards.
"Instinctive, athletic running back who has the foot quickness to create for himself when lanes constrict or blocks are missed," writes Zierlein, who notes that Yeldon lacks ideal top-end speed and ball security - issues which may hamper his stock with certain teams.
While Chris Ivory, Stevan Ridley and Bilal Powell comprise a running back depth chart that seems to leave the Jets without a particularly glaring need, none of those players, with perhaps the exception of Powell, looks likely to be the future at the position for New York, meaning Yeldon, or another ballcarrier, is likely to be added in the 2015 NFL Draft.
Meanwhile, Campbell also reports that the Jets and Maccagnan are focused on trading down from their pick, No. 6-overall, in the first-round, adding picks and thus increasing their chances of hitting on an impact player or two.
"Sources say that the Jets are open for business at pick six," Campbell writes. "General manager Mike Maccagnan loves to have lots of picks at his disposal and New York will be eager to field offers for the sixth pick. New York is hopeful that Amari Cooper or Kevin White will go before they are on the clock. That could create a need for a team to trade up to land the other receiver in front of the Bears."
Should either or both of Cooper or White go within the first five picks, or should one of the draft's top two quarterbacks, Jameis Winston or Marcus Mariota, fall Maccagnan and the Jets could be in a prime position to trade down, amass a major haul of picks and/or veteran players and then get to work reaping the benefits of the middle of what has long been touted as a very deep draft.
