FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) — The New York Jets now have a pair of big, physical, first-round building blocks for their offensive line.
Missouri offensive tackle Armand Membou was taken by the Jets with the No. 7 overall pick in the NFL draft on Thursday night. The addition of Membou comes a year after New York drafted Olu Fashanu with the 11th overall pick.
“I think the Jets' O-line has a good, young foundation,” Membou said during a video call a few minutes after he was drafted. “I feel like adding me to it, you know, the work I'm going to put in to this organization, we'll be very good up in the trenches.”
With the Jets entering the draft with several needs, including at right tackle, new general manager Darren Mougey and coach Aaron Glenn opted to continue upgrading the offensive line.
“He’s mean, he’s nasty, he’s tough,” Glenn said of Membou. “What we’re trying to do on offense, he really fits what we’re trying to do, so it was a no-brainer. I mean, once the pick was there for us, man, it was like, this is the guy.”
Fashanu started at both offensive tackle spots last year, but played well late after he took over on the left side for the injured Tyron Smith. Fashanu will stay at left tackle and Mougey said Membou will compete to take over on the right side.
“I had a feeling this was going to be my home,” said Membou, who added he had good conversations with the Jets leading up to the draft.
New York has an opening at right tackle after Morgan Moses signed with New England as a free agent last month. New York also has Carter Warren, Max Mitchell and Chukwuma Okorafor who could play right tackle, but the 6-foot-4, 330-pound Membou could be a plug-in and play option.
Membou has terrific speed and body control and has been impressive as a pass blocker. He was a second-team All-SEC selection last season after starting 12 games at right tackle for Missouri. He also allowed no sacks last season as a junior and should help provide protection for new Jets quarterback Justin Fields.
“They're getting a mauler, for sure,” Membou said. “A mauler in the run game and then in pass pro, I'm someone who's very consistent. I'm going to make sure to keep my quarterback clean.”
Membou’s selection at No. 7 marked the first time the Jets have taken a player in that spot in the NFL draft.
“It's definitely been long and was a little confusing at first because I wasn't sure where I'd go,” Membou said of his journey to the draft. “I was still debating whether I was going to go back to school or not. But in my heart, I knew I was ready. I just knew it was my time to go and I'm glad I trusted my decision.”
Glenn has said he envisions an offense that includes a physical rushing attack behind the Jets' trio of running backs with Breece Hall, Braelon Allen and Isaiah Davis. And Membou thinks he'll fit right in.
“Like I said, I'm a mauler,” he said. “So, whatever they need to do, it don't matter — just run behind me, really.”
Glenn pointed out that teams in his previous stops as an assistant in New Orleans and Detroit were successful after building their offensive lines, something he and Mougey are trying to do in New York. Glenn also sees some resemblances in Membou to Lions two-time All-Pro offensive tackle Penei Sewell.
“The mentality and the demeanor of the player is exactly the same,” Glenn said. "That’s what attracted me to that player, first and foremost. And then you start seeing, athletically, how he moves, and then that attracts you. And then when you get a chance to talk to the player and get to know exactly who he is as a person, then that attracts you also.
“So it was like a perfect storm on that guy being a Jet.”
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
FILE - Missouri offensive lineman Armand Membou (79) sets up at the line of scrimmage during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Alabama, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (AP Photo/Vasha Hunt, File)
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell stands on stage after announcing Armand Membou after he was chosen by the New York Jets with the seventh overall pick during the first round of the NFL football draft, Thursday, April 24, 2025, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
BERLIN (AP) — Erich von Däniken, the Swiss author whose bestselling books about the extraterrestrial origins of ancient civilizations brought him fame among paranormal enthusiasts and scorn from the scientific community, has died. He was 90.
Von Däniken's representatives announced on his website on Sunday that he had died the previous day in a hospital in central Switzerland.
Von Däniken rose to prominence in 1968 with the publication of his first book "Chariots of the Gods," in which he claimed that the Mayans and ancient Egyptians were visited by alien astronauts and instructed in advanced technology that allowed them to build giant pyramids.
The book fueled a growing interest in unexplained phenomena at a time when thanks to conventional science man was about to take its first steps on the Moon.
"Chariots of the Gods" was followed by more than two dozen similar books, spawning a literary niche in which fact and fantasy were mixed together against all historical and scientific evidence.
Public broadcaster SRF reported that altogether almost 70 million copies of his books were sold in more than 30 languages, making him one of the most widely read Swiss authors.
While von Däniken managed to shrug off his many critics, the former hotel waiter had a troubled relationship with money throughout his life and frequently came close to financial ruin.
Born in 1935, the son of a clothing manufacturer in the northern Swiss town of Schaffhausen, von Däniken is said to have rebelled against his father's strict Catholicism and the priests who instructed him at boarding school by developing his own alternatives to the biblical account of the origins of life.
After leaving school in 1954, von Däniken worked as a waiter and barkeeper for several years, during which he was repeatedly accused of fraud and served a couple of short stints in prison.
In 1964, he was appointed manager of a hotel in the exclusive resort town of Davos and began writing his first book. Its publication and rapid commercial success were quickly followed by accusations of tax dodging and financial impropriety, for which he again spent time behind bars.
By the time he left prison, "Chariots of the Gods" was earning von Däniken a fortune and a second book "Gods from Outer Space" was ready for publication, allowing him to commit himself to his paranormal passion and travel the world in search of new mysteries to uncover.
Throughout the 1970s von Däniken undertook countless field trips to Egypt, India, and above all Latin America, whose ancient cultures held a particular fascination for the amateur archaeologist.
He lectured widely and set up societies devoted to promoting his theories, later pioneering the use of video and multimedia to reach out to ever-larger audiences hungry for a different account of history.
No amount of criticism dissuaded him and his fans from believing that Earth has been visited repeatedly by beings from Outer Space, and will be again in the future.
In 1991 von Däniken gained the damning accolade of being the first recipient of the "Ig Nobel" prize for literature — for raising the public awareness of science through questionable experiments or claims.
Even when confronted with fabricated evidence in a British television documentary — supposedly ancient pots were shown to be almost new — von Däniken insisted that, minor discrepancies aside, his theories were essentially sound.
In 1985 von Däniken wrote "Neue Erinnerungen an die Zukunft" — "New Memories of the Future" — ostensibly to address his many critics: "I have admitted (my mistakes), but not one of the foundations of my theories has yet been brought down."
Although his popularity was waning in the English-speaking world by the 1980s, von Däniken's books and films influenced a wave of semi-serious archaeological documentaries and numerous popular television shows, including "The X-Files," which featured two FBI agents tasked with solving paranormal mysteries.
His last major venture, a theme park based on his books, failed after just a few years due to lack of interest. The "Mystery Park" still stands, its man-made pyramids and otherworldly domes rotting as tourists prefer to explore the charms of the nearby town of Interlaken and the imposing Swiss Alps that surround it.
Erich von Däniken is survived by his wife of 65 years, Elisabeth Skaja, Cornelia and two grandchildren.
FILE - Erich von Daeniken, co-founder and co-owner of Mystery Park, poses in front of the Panorama Tower at Mystery Park in Interlaken, Wednesday, April 23, 2003. (Gaetan Ball)/Keystone via AP, File)
