Jets Fans Brace Themselves for Draft Weekend, Scarred by Past Horrors

Two Great Tastes That Taste Awful Together

Kyle Brady...Johnny Mitchell...Blair Thomas...Roger Vick...Ken O'Brien...Dewayne Robertson. The list is long and undistinguished. Rattle off the names to the casual NFL fan, and they likely will not register as anything more than a random listing of mediocre NFL players.

But, to a Jets fan, one need only mention one of these men and a sharp pain begins to reverberate from deep in our souls. With each subsequent name, the agony grows more acute, as if we were a voodoo doll getting jabbed by a razor-sharp ice pick...Brady (Ow!)...Mitchell (Ugh!)...Thomas (oh, please stop!).

For most, the weekend of the NFL Draft is a day of excitement...of rapt wonder...of nervous anticipation...of hope. For JetNation, it is a day of dread. One might think that the specter of a the #6 overall pick, coupled with a busy offseason filled with free agent signings and the "action" Jets fans were clamoring for, would calm our respective nerves. One would be wrong.

Instead, the looming sense of dread is stronger than ever. Why you might ask? If Gholston is around, you add an ideal piece to the 3-4 who just flat out looks like a bad-ass mofo. Should the Jets select Darren McFadden, I won't be particularly upset either. Is it their biggest need? Probably not. But it's been way too long since the Jets have had an offensive game-breaker of any sort that opposing defenses needed to game plan against. It's hard to pass up the opportunity to snatch a guy who weighs 215 and ran a 4.27 40.

Should things get wacky, neither Dorsey, Long or even Matt Ryan would be a completely baseless pick. And that's what makes this 2008 NFL Draft more frightening than any Jets draft in recently memory. It seems like they can't possibly make a bad move considering their position and likely candidates. This is precisely when the Jets have surprised us in the past.

When we say "surprise," this is not the good kind. This is not the little kid heading into Chuck E. Cheese and "surprise!" all your friends are there for your birthday pizza party.

Instead, it's the kind of you-gotta-be-f-in-kidding-me surprise of...well...just watch and you'll get it. Let's see if I can sleep tonight.