It was getting to that point where Charone Peake had succumbed to the fact he was not going to be drafted. So the former Clemson wide receiver, who worked his back from two knee injuries to have a great senior year, started fielding calls on perspective free agent opportunities.
Then he got a phone call from the New York Jets. The AFC East team, who missed the playoffs by one game last season after going 10-6, selected the 6-foot-2, 209-pound receiver with the 241st overall pick in the seventh round of the 2016 NFL Draft on Saturday.
“I was getting a lot of calls on becoming a free agent,” Peake said on his media conference on New York Jets.com. “It was just a blessing to actually get drafted and I’m glad the Jets did make that call.”
Peake will add depth to a Jets’ receiving crops that already has veteran pro bowlers Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker.
“My intensity with the ball in the air, with the ball in my hand, hopefully I can help in many different ways and by being a team player,” Peake said.
Besides strength, Peake will also bring speed. He ran a 4.37 at Clemson’s Pro Day in March.
This past season he had career year in helping the Tigers reach the College Football Playoff Championship Game as he hauled in 50 receptions for 716 yards and five touchdowns. He finished his Clemson career with 99 catches for 1,172 yards and 10 scores as he averaged nearly 12 yards per catch.
But Peake wasn’t just about catching the football. He was without a doubt the Tigers’ best run blocker on the edge, making memorable blocks against Notre Dame, Georgia Tech and Miami that sprung Wayne Gallman and Deshaun Watson for long runs.
Peake was part of near record draft class for Clemson as nine total Tigers were taken during the three-day event. The nine selections are the second most in one season in Clemson history and the second most in the nation this year. Only Ohio State, with 12 draft choices, had more selections than Clemson.
The only season that Clemson had more draft choices was the 1983 draft when 10 Tigers were selected.
Peake is the eighth Clemson draft choice by the Jets over the years and the fourth of the new millennium after cornerback Justin Miller (2005), wide receiver Chansi Stuckey (’07) and quarterback Tajh Boyd (’14).
The most famous New York Jet that came from Clemson was running back Bill Mathis, who was in the starting backfield for New York when it upset the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III.
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