By all accounts, New York Jets head coach Aaron Glenn and general manager Darren Mougey had a strong first draft together, as experts mostly gave Gang Green solid marks for their seven-man class.
New York had plenty of needs to address during the three-day event, with wide receiver being one of them. However, the team didn’t address that need until the fourth round, when they took Georgia’s Arian Smith at No. 110 overall.
But that pick did not go over well with The Sporting News’ Dan Treacy, who named Smith one of the worst value picks of the entire 2025 NFL draft.
“It’s hard to find many positive traits for Smith outside of his speed. Speed matters, but it rarely outweighed the drop issues Smith had at Georgia,” Treacy wrote. “The 23-year-old routinely hurt the Bulldogs with drops in 2024, and the Jets can ill afford to add another unreliable player to a receiving corps that has very little outside of Garrett Wilson. The occasional big play might make Smith a worthwhile pick at No. 110, but he has the profile of far too many receivers who have flamed out in the NFL.”
Smith is no doubt an intriguing player who offers speed and a big-play element for New York’s offense, something the unit sorely needed. However, he only had one season of solid production in five years at Georgia.
And that one season of solid production wasn’t eye-opening by any stretch. Smith tallied a personal best 817 yards and four touchdowns in 2024. In the four years before that, he never broke 200 yards in any campaign.
Smith has the kind of speed that could make him an impact player in the NFL, but the fact that he didn’t produce much in college is a major concern, and that makes him a very risky pick in the fourth round.
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