Jets betting on production and athleticism with Isaiah Davis draft pick

Jets’ fifth round pick has some serious upside potential

Let’s look at two different ways to write an equivalent sentence:

1. With the 172nd pick in the 2024 NFL draft, the New York Jets selected running back Isaiah Davis from South Dakota State.
2. With the 172nd pick in the 2024 NFL draft, the New York Jets selected PFF’s top rated running back in the NFL draft.

Wait… what? They drafted the running back with arguably the best on-field play in the class in the 5th round?

Yep, it’s true, Isaiah Davis was PFF’s top rated running back in this draft and the Jets took him in round 5.

At this point I am going to assume many of you are asking a very valid question: “If he was so good, then why did he fall to the 5th round?”

That’s a great question. Often the answer to this is that the player wasn’t athletic, but Thomas is a very good athlete based on his relative athletic score, so it isn’t that.

So what was it then?

Well, it’s that South Dakota State plays in the FCS rather than the FBS. The FBS is the highest level of college football, while the FCS is the second highest level and has less talented rosters on the whole. While that’s a valid concern, numbers and consistency like Davis’ don’t just happen by accident but rather because a guy at a lower level is simply better than the guys lining up opposite them. This gives reason to think Isaiah Davis might be the outlier FCS player who can perform at the NFL level.

All that said, I have no idea how Davis’ career will turn out at the end of the day, nor does anyone, given the general expression that drafts can’t be evaluated for three years. What I can say is that this is the type of high upside player that I love using a late round pick on. Kudos to General Manager Joe Douglas and his staff for what I would call some excellent process around this pick.