Following their finding of three diamonds in the rough in the first round – David Bailey, Kenyon Sadiq, & Omar Cooper Jr. – the Jets looked to continue building the foundation for their future in the second round of the 2026 NFL Draft. While they did have three picks in the first round, as they do in next year’s draft, they only had one pick on Day 2. With the 50th overall pick in the second round, the Jets picked up the star cornerback from Indiana, D’Angelo Ponds.
There is a lot to like about this pick. New York entered Night 2 of the 2026 NFL Draft at No. 44 overall, before striking a deal with the Detroit Lions to move back to No. 50 overall. New York netted an extra fourth-rounder, receiving the 128th overall pick in the deal. Ponds was there for the taking to help bolster the Jets’ defense. Here’s how he fits into the NY defense.
How does D’Angelo Ponds fit into the NY Jets defense?
When drafting D’Angelo Ponds, head coach Aaron Glenn had to feel pretty good about his pick. Mainly because it felt like he drafted himself in this generation, standing at 5-foot-9, Ponds shares a striking resemblance to Glenn. While Ponds may have been one of the smaller cornerback prospects in this draft, he plays much bigger than his listed size, very similar to Glenn when he was an active player.
Just take a look at this excerpt from a scouting report by Daniel Harms of Bleacher Report:
“D’Angelo Ponds is the type of competitive, athletic, and playmaking cornerback that coaches want in their secondary. He plays bigger than his size and doesn’t back down to any receiver. With great footwork, feel for space, and timing, Ponds continuously makes plays on the football and frustrates receivers with his closing speed and attention to detail.”
Glenn built his career on competitiveness, elite footwork, physicality that outweighed his size, and an edge that allowed him to thrive against bigger receivers. Line Glenn up against any big receiver or tight end, and he will put in some serious work to lock him down when he was a competitive player. Those are the same traits that now define Ponds’ game.
The Hoosier started his collegiate career at James Madison before following head coach Curt Cignetti to Indiana when he got the gig in 2024. In three years in college football, Ponds hauled in seven interceptions and broke up 33 passes. On a team where there were zero interceptions in all of last year, this may come in very handy as the 2026 NFL Season rolls around.
The 2025 season was Ponds’ best season by far. In many more ways than one. He finished the season as Pro Football Focus’s eighth-highest rated cornerback among a whopping 897 qualified players. This is a major testament to how hard Ponds has worked to become one of the best defenders in all of college football.
Indiana CB D’Angelo Ponds is headed to the Jets
Ponds reunites with Indiana teammate WR Omar Cooper Jr. in New York
pic.twitter.com/1PdGDXptsY
— B/R Gridiron (@brgridiron) April 25, 2026
Then you add on that he was a key contributor in Indiana’s run to the College Football National Championship this past season. He picked off Oregon’s quarterback Dante Moore, in the Peach Bowl to help get Indiana to the big dance earlier this year. In the championship game against Miami, he also showed up and showed out, breaking up three passes at pivotal points in the game.
The Jets entered the offseason with a projected starting cornerback trio of Brandon Stephens, Azareye’h Thomas, and Jarvis Brownlee. However, there’s still plenty of room to add to this position. They hoped to add a young gun to this spot at the 2026 NFL Draft, and they found someone who has a high ceiling. Come Week 1, the only current cornerback locked in to a starting role is Stephens. The rest is fully up in the air.
Ponds now makes his way into the Jets’ cornerback room with no clear starter across from Stephens. New York has 2025 third-round pick Azareye’h Thomas in-house and signed Nahshon Wright to a one-year deal this offseason. This will also mark the Jets’ first-ever full season without Sauce Gardner, which opens up a significant hole that has to be filled at the cornerback position. This is still very much a trade where fans have a lot to be annoyed at the new regime about, considering Gardner was supposed to be a franchise player. So, it remains to be seen how they build up the team from here.
Is it out of the realm of possibility that Ponds could compete for a starting spot right away? Not even close. He’s really only competing with Thomas, who’s still very inexperienced, and Wright, who’s been a very iffy defender in coverage. So, don’t be shocked to see him starting across from Stephens come Week 1 of the 2026 NFL Season.
We’ll see how things all play out for Ponds in New York. The NFL Draft is a roll of the dice, especially in rounds after the first. However, if Glenn can take him under his wing right away, thanks to their physical similarities, we could have a special player on our hands for the Jets to continue to build their young team around, in order to get ready for their future quarterback in the 2027 NFL Draft.
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