Jets’ Robert Saleh adds fuel to raging Kyle…

INDIANAPOLIS — One of the great NFL Draft debates for the Jets this offseason is whether to take Notre Dame safety Kyle Hamilton with the No. 4 overall pick.

Hamilton is clearly one of the best players in this year’s draft but taking a safety in the top 10 can be risky. Jets fans still have scars from drafting Jamal Adams with the No. 6 overall pick in 2017. Adams turned out to be a good player but one who wanted a boatload of money at a non-premium position. That led to the Jets trading him to the Seahawks.

Jets coach Robert Saleh did not comment on Hamilton specifically but did not rule out drafting a safety in the top 10.

Adjust your mock drafts accordingly.

“Depends on how good he is,” Saleh said in a Zoom call with reporters Wednesday. “I call them unicorns. I would never want to take a linebacker in the first round, but Tremaine Edmunds was sitting there and I wore his jersey to the draft. He’s a unicorn in the linebacker world. Same thing with a safety.

“I remember there was a hard discussion on Derwin James and the guy is phenomenal. You never want to say no to any position group. Obviously, there’s premium positions when you look at quarterback and edge rusher and corner and O line. Those are the easy ones to check off, but you can never say no to a unicorn and someone who has a tremendous talent and clearly the best possible player you can take at that time. You never want to be stubborn to your thought process. To answer your question about taking a safety, if he’s worthy of it, it will definitely be a discussion.”

Saleh also commented on a few other positions the Jets may address this offseason.

On edge rushers who fit his system: “I think pass rusher is universal. Your ability to win one-on-one. Your ability to win three ways – win with speed, win with counter moves, win with power. There’s some really cool prospects at the top of the draft. I get that there’s not that splash name like a Nick Bosa or Chase Young but these guys are really good. They’re really, really good. It’s going to be exciting to continue to dive deep into all these guys with regard to the direction we go. It’s very deep, too. Don’t count out those guys who fall to late first, early second, too. It’s an exciting group to watch.”

On their ability to fill the tight end spot: “We feel good about it. We felt like our tight ends this year did everything they could. There were some injuries in there. Tyler [Kroft] missed some games. [Ryan Griffin] missed the back half of the year. It does help everybody, from a run game standpoint and then adding weapons. I don’t care where you get the weapon from. There’s an old saying that you’re only as good as your third receiver. Well, that doesn’t mean three wide receivers. It’s three skill guys. Adding to that aspect where you have guys that can win one-on-one coverage in a critical situation whether it be the tight end or a back or a receiver, all helps a quarterback. Obviously, that tight end spot there’s some players in free agency. There’s some really good ones in the draft. It’s just a matter of evaluating and continuing to go through this process to see the direction that we go”.