The Jets’ 2000 draft has always been called the “Four Aces Draft,” but each of the four first-round cards they played that year just as easily could have been characterized as high-rise hotels in a rich run of Monopoly real-estate building. On the 25th anniversary of that draft, we look back to a normal approach to those proceedings that, as things often do in the NFL at this time of year, quickly developed into something huge and historic before the dust had settled late in Round 1.
The Jets began it all by holding just their own first-round pick, 18th overall, based on their strong 1999 finish to claw their way back to 8-8.
But shortly after the 19-9 win over Seattle on Jan. 2, 2000, a new storyline emerged to add the next playing card/hotel piece. Bill Parcells was shifting from head coach to the non-coaching, full-time director of football operations, the de facto general manager. In that role, he contractually elevated Bill Belichick from defensive coordinator to head coach.
That ascension didn’t last long, as Belichick stepped down as “HC of the NYJ” a day later, ultimately to be hired as New England’s head coach. The NFL stepped in to determine compensation due from the Patriots for signing Belichick away. The Jets sent two low picks to the Pats and in return received their No. 1 pick, 16th overall, in 2000, plus two more choices in ’21.
The Jets sat pretty for about 2½ months with two mid-first-round picks. Then in April, Parcells and Mike Tannenbaum, the director of player contracts who had added the title of director of pro player development that year and set the table for much that transpired in the draft, began rolling the dice.
On April 10, the Jets dealt talented but unhappy WR Keyshawn Johnson, the former first pick in ’96, to Tampa Bay. In exchange, the Buccaneers sent the Jets two first-rounders, No. 13 (originally from San Diego) and No. 27. The Jets then had four Round 1 picks, 13, 16, 18 and 27. But the Tuna and Trader Mike weren’t done.
Two days later, the Green & White struck a deal with San Francisco, sending that No. 16 from New England plus the Jets’ own second-round pick to the 49ers to move up four slots to No. 12.
The Jets went into that first round on April 15, 2000, with those four selections, 12, 13, 18 and 27. And then they converted those choices into versatile and powerful DL Shaun Ellis, dominant edge rusher John Abraham, accurate and inspirational QB Chad Pennington and productive and durable TE Anthony Becht. It remains the only time an NFL team has selected players with four first-round picks in one draft.
And when Becht (May 26), Ellis and Abraham (July 10), and finally Pennington (July 13, reporting day) inked their rookie contracts, the Jets became the first NFL team to sign four first-rounders from one draft, and all in time to make the opening practice of that summer’s Hofstra University training camp. They were joined by Laveranues Coles, the Florida State WR taken in Round 3 who went on to become another Jets favorite pick from that bountiful crop.
The night of Pennington’s signing that concluded three months of nonstop negotiating, Tannenbaum said that at last, “I slept like a baby.” Yeah, like a toddler holding four of a kind.
Following are reflections from each of that year’s top five choices on the 25th anniversary of one of the best first rounds enjoyed by any team in the history of NFL drafts.