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'When I get on that field I just flip the switch'

The Jets introduced their top draft pick offensive tackle Armand Membou at a news conference on Friday.  Credit: Jeff Bachner

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — Aaron Glenn was in his first season as Lions defensive coordinator when Detroit drafted right tackle Penei Sewell with the seventh overall pick. In Glenn’s first draft as a head coach, the Jets took someone who reminded him so much of Sewell.

The Jets selected Missouri right tackle Armand Membou on Thursday night, coincidentally with the No. 7 pick. Membou is 6-4, 332 pounds. When Sewell was taken, he was 6-4 1⁄2 and 331 pounds, but to Glenn, the similarities go well beyond measurements.

“The mentality and demeanor of the player is exactly the same — that’s what attracted me to that player first and foremost,” Glenn said. “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 that was like a perfect storm on that guy ending up being a Jet.”

Glenn and the Jets hope Membou follows a career path similar to that of Sewell, who has made three Pro Bowls and been All-Pro first team the past two years.

Membou mentioned former Cowboys and Jets tackle Tyron Smith, Giants tackle Andrew Thomas and Chargers tackle Rashawn Slater as the players he has watched the most.

Membou referred to himself as “a mauler” and said he has an attacking mentality on the field.

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“I just flip a switch,” he said Friday at his introductory news conference. “No friends out there, so just get after everybody.

“It’s something that I developed over time,” he added. “For me, it’s just once I get on that field, you just get into a different mindset, like it’s kill time.”

Membou is a freakish athlete, particularly for a man of his size.

He played tennis and basketball and wrestled in high school. Membou impressed with his performance at the NFL Combine, running a 4.91-second 40-yard dash and posting a 34-inch vertical leap.

Then there are the clips of Membou being a people-mover and blocking guys downfield that Glenn enjoys watching.

“Absolutely love it. Absolutely love it,” Glenn said. “We have some guys that operate like that too, so it’s really our identity.”

The Jets’ offensive line is complete with the Membou selection. He joins four returning starters: right guard Alijah Vera-Tucker, center Joe Tippmann, left guard John Simpson and left tackle Olu Fashanu.

That group has the potential to be one of the best offensive lines in recent Jets memory and should be able to give new quarterback Justin Fields time to throw the ball and open up holes for the running game.

“We have our left tackle, we have right tackle and we have our guards,” Glenn said. “Listen, I know this: Every skill player on offense is excited right now just because of what we have up front. You build it inside out. I’m a firm believer in that.”

Membou exudes confidence. He said he knew after his freshman year at Missouri that he would make it to the NFL. He said he originally wasn’t sure when he would get drafted, and that his Combine performance helped him climb up the board.

“After the season, I was hearing like second-, third-round grades,” Membou said. “I was kind of debating whether I should go back or not, but I was confident in my film from the season prior and just confident in myself.

“I feel like once people seen the athleticism I showed at the Combine, they probably took that second look at the film and was like, ‘Whoa, he is that athletic.’ ”

That’s just part of what drew the Jets to him.

“We’ve always kind of admired the film, his physicality,” general manager Darren Mougey said. “We knew he would be a physical fit.”

Membou hasn’t met or spoken to any of his new teammates yet. He’s looking forward to that and blocking for the mobile Fields, who is one of three quarterbacks in NFL history to rush for 1,000 yards in a season.

“I’m very athletic,” Membou said. “So me with an athletic quarterback are going to be able to do some pretty fun things.”