By Tom Terzulli

NFL Draft time is almost here again and the New York Jets find themselves in a familiar position: with a high pick. Just two years removed from a 10-6 season where they barely missed the playoffs, the Green and White are seemingly back to square one. With journey-man Josh McCown as the favorite at quarterback and needs at almost every position, there has been no shortage of debate centering on who New York should take with the sixth pick. Let’s break it all down!

First, we have to determine what position the Jets have the biggest need in. That’s no easy task considering how barren the roster currently looks. Obviously there is quarterback, which has pretty much been an issue since Namath. McCown is a passable at best signal caller, while Bryce Petty and Christian Hackenburg have showed that they’re not quite ready for primetime. However, if there was ever a draft to avoid taking a QB high up it would be this one.

There is no player that is considered to be a day-one starter at the position.Why take on a third young project when they already have Petty and Hackenburg?

Whoever the QB will be this coming season, as of now he won’t have a solid unit backing him up. For years, New York had a reliable offensive line on the backs of players like long-time center Nick Mangold and D’Brickashaw Ferguson. But, with Mangold being released and Ferguson retiring, the Jets have only one remaining offensive lineman from their 10-6 season two years ago, that being Jason Carpenter.

Yet, just like at the quarterback position, there is a severe lack of talent at the top when it comes to O-lineman. Cam Robinson of Alabama is really solid, but not worth drafting with the sixth pick. There will be plenty of prospects at the position that New York could snag with their later picks, maybe even with their 39th pick in the second round. Utah’s Garett Bolles, Wisconsin’s Ryan Ramcyzk and Florida’s David Sharpe are all solid names if they’re still around.

There has definitely been plenty of turmoil surrounding the offensive line. But, at times it was hard to even remember that the Jets had a tight end. It’s a position that has been completely de-empahsized under Chan Gailey’s system, as Jet tight ends have only caught 26 total passes in the last two years. The position’s lack of importance coupled with the uncertainty at quarterback make me believe New York shouldn’t draft a tight end with their top pick. Alabama’s O.J. Howard might be available at six, but he’d have a better impact elsewhere.

That brings us to where I believe the Jets should spend their sixth pick: the secondary. During the Rex Ryan years, the Green and White were always dominant at the cornerback position and pretty barren at safety. Ryan just didn’t put a lot of emphasis on safeties in his hard-blitzing schemes, but absolutely needed the coverage at corner to get away with it.

Now, the Jets have strength at neither position. If they go with either of the two spots with the sixth pick I’ll be a happy guy. Well, at least as happy as a Jets fan could be.

Malik Hooker from Ohio State really jumps off the page at safety. Todd Bowles’ defense really struggled with allowing the deep ball last season. It seemed like at least once a game a speedy wide receiver would burn the Jets deep. The numbers show it too. New York had the third worst touchdown passes allowed to interception ratio in the league, allowing 32 touchdowns to only 10 interceptions.

Hooker could be a step in the right direction to readying this epidemic. He has tremendous range and ball skills, good for seven interceptions in 2016.