Jets trade rumor gets pushback news from ESPN insider

Jets trade rumor gets pushback news from ESPN insider originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The New York Jets have two picks in the first half of the first round of the NFL Draft.

It's the one at No. 16 that has a lot of intrigue around it, potentially as part of a trade package to move the Jets' second pick of the first round up even earlier.

Those rumors, in some places, have centered around Ohio State WR Carnell Tate.

Tate is viewed as the top wide receiver in this draft class, and it'd be a fitting pairing with the Jets alongside another former Buckeye, Garrett Wilson.

Maybe it's time to slow the roll on those rumors, though.

ESPN's Rich Cimini pushed back Tuesday morning in a post on X.

"I’d be surprised if the #Jets trade up for Tate, as some are speculating," Cimini wrote. "(Not saying it couldn’t be another WR.) They could take him at 16, in the unlikely event he falls that far."

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It would be wild if Tate fell to 16.

The reality is that he might go too early to make it a reasonable trade cost for the Jets. And whatever team potentially decides to take Tate in the 5-8 range probably isn't interested in giving him up. If they're taking the OSU standout there, he's exactly the guy they want, and they wouldn't just give that up.

The Jets have failed for years now at finding Wilson a logical WR2 partner, and so it's fair for fans to want them to go get someone good.

Tate might end up just a bit in a range where the Jets can't really make him a part of their team.