The New York Jets found a diamond-in-the-rough with Rutgers cornerback Blessuan Austin who fell off most draft boards after enduring back-to-back season-ending ACL tears.
That explains how a first-round talent fell to this team’s final selection in the sixth round (196th overall).
The original Mike Maccagnan plan was to “redshirt” the Queens-bred rookie and let him learn the speed of the game during the 2019 season on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list. But Austin insisted he’d be “100 percent” by training camp.
Needless to say, Adam Gase and his coaching staff understood the dearth of talent at cornerback on the roster — and were thrilled to discover Austin’s rehab far ahead of schedule.