The PFT Free Agent Hot 100 doesn’t include Jets running back Bilal Powell. In hindsight, maybe it should have.
Buzz is building for Powell, who does well enough in both the ground and passing game to merit consideration for a respectable contract, with his current team or elsewhere.
The 27-year-old has spent all five seasons of his career with the Jets, and he had more than 700 yards from scrimmage in 2015, appearing in 11 games. His best season cam in 2013, with 697 yards rushing and another 272 receiving.
The fact that he arrived when coach Rex Ryan and G.M. Mike Tannenbaum were working for the Jets makes Powell an obvious dot-connecting candidate for the cross-pollinated AFC East, where Ryan is now with the Bills and Tannenabaum is now with the Dolphins. The versatility could also attract the attention of the Patriots.
While Powell hardly will break the bank, he’s a guy who could find himself gobbled up fairly quickly, with a deal that suggests he’ll have an opportunity to take on a role bigger than the one he has had.