Why Was 2023 Jets Rookie Minicamp Different?

Before the Jets’ 13 undrafted free agents and dozens of tryouts took the field for the final workout of rookie minicamp on Saturday, HC Robert Saleh told the hopefuls about the story of Seahawks DE Benson Mayowa. Ten years ago, Saleh, then a quality coach for the Seattle Seahawks, attempted to sign the Idaho product as undrafted free agent. But the Seahawks had no more money in their UDFA pool and Mayowa was forced to take the tryout route.

“I actually called him to be a UDFA and it was like $1,000,” Saleh said. “Then Coach (Pete) Carroll and (GM) John (Schneider), we had to take the money away because there was no money left. We basically had to pull the UDFA offer and long story short, he wanted the invite to rookie minicamp, and he was awesome in rookie minicamp, got to the 90-man roster. You guys remember, that was the 2013 Super Bowl team, and he made that 53-man roster with that d-line. Now he’s 10 years later in the league. So, you never know where they’re going to come from, it’s a cool weekend.

What is certain is the Jets have come a long way since GM Joe Douglas hired Saleh in January of 2021. After embracing a youth movement and flipping the roster, the Jets have significantly improved their depth.

“In the first two years, best available was probably the biggest need,” Saleh said of the draft. “Whereas this year, best available may not have been a need. But shoot, we’re not going to stop from that principle. It’s really cool because you don’t have to rely on a rookie, you can let him develop. It’s also good for the rookies because we have a really cool mixture of veterans and rookies where there are a lot of really good examples on this football team of what it’s supposed to look like. Foundation’s there, we’ve got to stack and keep that thing going. But no, it’s much different.”

Following the same philosophy as last year, Saleh kept his seven-player draft class out of the on-field fray. Many of the draft picks were spotted pulling sleds the past two days…