well of all people don't think anyone had lee as jets first pick. Mac was a scout for years and years though so have to trust him.
Because we run a base 3-4 there are certain front seven players I automatically remove from consideration the moment the draft process starts to unfold, because there are specific types of players (i.e. bigger than 4-3 prospects) you ordinarily consider, the rest need not apply. I had Lee in that latter "need not apply" group.
In fairness, I did not entertain the idea of a switch to ILB in the 3-4, having viewed him strictly as a 4-3 OLB, and you don't need the same kind of size that you look for in 3-4 OLB's. Lee is still a little small for the position, traditionally speaking, but I understand that the book is being re-written and speed trumps size, its just not something I gave much thought prior to the draft. I was looking at 3-4 linebacker prospects thru the traditional prism and I viewed Lee as your standard 4-3 OLB, as did just about every draft site and draft expert on the web, so the pick caught me by complete surprise.
That doesn't mean the player did not carry a TOP 20 Grade (he did) or that this can't workout for the Jets, its obvious Bowles has a plan in mind for Lee along the lines of Deone Bucannon in Arizona, another unusually smallish backer in the 3-4 who has been wildly successful, again breaking the mold of what people normally think of as a 3-4 backer, so yeah, it may have been unexpected, but now we just have to trust that these guys know what they are doing.
