Jets Draft OT/OG Vladimir Ducasse in Round Two, Release Faneca

The Jets selected Massachusetts offensive lineman Vladimir Ducasse with their second-round selection (No. 61 overall) in the NFL Draft.

The 6’4”, 332-pound Ducasse was a three-year starter for the Minutemen and was an Associated Press All-America first-team selection on AP's Football Championship Series team.

"I'm happy, I'm very excited," he said tonight on a conference call with reporters. "The Jets are a good team. My family will be coming to watch my first game. I'm very excited."

As a junior, Ducasse started 12 games at left tackle and was credited with 94 knockdowns/key blocks. Arriving at UMass in 2006, Ducasse didn’t play until the Minutemen’s fourth game and saw mostly reserve duty before becoming a full-time starter at LT as a sophomore.

"I feel like I'm still a student of the game, still learning," he said. "From last year until now, I feel like I learned a lot from that. From the Senior Bowl, I learned a lot from that." 

 

Ducasse, a Haitian native, never played football until coming over to the United States and participating on Stamford High School’s team. While also excelling on the basketball court and in track and field, Ducasse started the final 20 games of his high school career and earned Connecticut all-state first-team honors from the Connecticut High School Coaches Association.

Even though he was a college tackle, some have projected Ducasse as a guard on the next level. At the Indy combine, he ran a 5.21 in the 40-yard dash and had 29 reps on the 225-bench press.

"He'll start out at right tackle and left guard," said GM Mike Tannenbaum. "We're going to keep playing around with that. We feel we have some flexibility on the line with Rob Turner and Wayne Hunter, and Matt Slauson played some center at Tampa Bay last year."

 

While his father, two uncles and some cousins still reside in Port-au-Prince, Ducasse hasn’t been back to Haiti since moving to Stamford along with his older brother when he was just 14. Coincidentally, a trifecta of Jets players — S James Ihedigbo, WR David Clowney and LB Vernon Gholston — traveled to Port-au-Prince in March on a humanitarian mission following the 7.0 earthquake that rocked Haiti and claimed more than 230,000 lives.

Ihedigbo, a fourth-year player, is also a Massachusetts product and Jets GM Mike Tannenbaum graduated from UMass with a degree in accounting.

"He's a really interesting guy," Tannenbaum said of Ducasse. "He's originally from Haiti. He's an incredible worker. From what he's been through in his life, you'd never bet against him."

With the selection of Kyle Wilson at No. 29 overall on Thursday night and Ducasse at No. 61 last night, the Jets spent their own picks in the first two rounds of a draft for the first time since 2002.

With their third-round pick going to Cleveland in last season's trade for WR Braylon Edwards, the Jets had no more picks scheduled for last night.

"We want to keep an eye on a couple of players," said Tannenbaum at the end of Round 2. "If a player or two are there, we may try to take a shot here." But the third round is over and done with and the Jets did not make any trades. 

They now have the 26th pick of Round 4, 124th overall, which they acquired in their trade of S Kerry Rhodes to Arizona.

In related news, as a ripple effect of the drafting of Ducasse, the Jets have released nine-time Pro Bowler and starting left guard Alan Faneca. 

The news came as no surprise, as the Jets had been trying to trade Faneca for several weeks. They found no team willing to pay his $7.5 million salary for 2010.

Faneca made two Pro Bowls for the Jets, but they ended up paying him an exorbitant amount of money. In 2008, Faneca was the centerpiece of a blockbuster free-agent class, signing a five-year, $40 million contract that included $20 million in guaranteed money. The Jets were a little concerned about his age (he's 33 now), but they felt they could get at least three productive seasons out of him.

They got two, although they felt his play had diminished. Faneca allowed 6½ sacks last season, according to STATS -- an unusually high number for an interior lineman. But he still was effective as a run-blocker and was considered a team leader, instrumental in the development of linemates D'Brickashaw Ferguson and Nick Mangold.

The Jets are taking a risk, messing with the chemistry on arguable the best line in the league. But the deed is done.

As the saying goes, why mess with it if it's not broken? Well clearly the Jets thought it was, or on its way towards being that way. Ducasse will now compete with last year's sixth round selection Matt Slauson for the starting left guard slot.

I am not really sure yet if I agree with this move to release Faneca. Yeah, maybe he was on a steep and quick decline, but if he was the weakest link on an offensive line was the best, paved the way for the best rushing attack in the NFL and led them to the AFC Championship, why shake it up? It doesn't make too much sense to me, but I guess we'll see how much sense it makes come training camp time.

Ducasse, though, is a project, and although he played tackle in college, many people project him to be a guard in the NFL.

For now I will give the Jets a B on the drafting of Ducasse only because they drafted a position they didn't need to upgrade, but one where they only needed depth. Essentially they come out of the draft with what they had coming in; the same amount of offensive linemen.

All I can say is that Ducasse or Slauson better be ready for the season opener because they have big shoes to fill in replacing Alan Faneca.