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They have watched as the roster has been dismantled around them, and they've surely heard the dire predictions. The Jets are in rebuilding mode this season.
But the players left on the roster still believe they can do some winning, too.
The NFL offseason may be off to a slow start, but things are surely about to pick up with cuts and contract restructures on their way, and with the scouting combine just two weeks away.
With that in mind, here is our weekly look at some of the biggest questions facing the Jets, what's new about them, where they stand on finding an answer, and if any of the issues have changed.
They of course haven't answered this yet, but they did answer who'll be coaching the quarterbacks: new offensive coordinator John Morton and new quarterbacks coach Jeremy Bates. Neither has an extensive resume at their current positions -- or really working with quarterbacks -- which is interesting if they're going to be entrusted with developing a young quarterback.
Ralph Vacchiano, SNY:
Now that the Super Bowl is over, the New York Jets can begin cleaning up the wreckage from their 5-11 season and start yet another rebuilding project. Despite being on the cusp of the playoffs a year ago, they seem farther away than ever now.
With that in mind, here are some of the biggest questions the Jets must answer this offseason. We'll check back in each week to see how they're doing, whether any of the questions have been answered, and whether any have changed:
Ralph Vacchiano, SNY:
It has been 48 years and two weeks since the Jets shook up the world and changed the NFL with their victory in Super Bowl III, and they have since taken their fans on a long, depressing and at times torturous run. It's been so painful at times that it's easy to forget the Jets went to back-to-back AFC championship games just six years ago.
Of course, since then they've brought the pain: Six straight seasons without a playoff berth, only one season with a winning record, and it was all capped off by a miserable 5-11 season that felt worse since the Jets had so much optimism after going 10-6 in 2015.
Ralph Vacchiano, SNY:
It still seems unlikely that Ryan Clady will return as the Jets' left tackle next season, but the team has bought itself a little extra time to make that decision.
The Jets and Clady recently restructured his contract, eliminating a $2.5 million roster bonus he was due next month and rolling that non-guaranteed amount into his 2017 salary, which is now scheduled to be $10 million, according to NFLPA records.
It's a minor tweak, as first reported by ESPN, but it means the Jets have a little extra time to evaluate Clady's health and their own roster and salary cap situation.
Ralph Vacchiano, SNY:
Rebuilding the New York Giants' defense cost them a ton of money last offseason, and keeping it from falling apart again might cost a little more.
But it's the price they have to pay if they want to win another championship in the Eli Manning era. And that's why between now and the start of free agency in March, the Giants have to do their best to re-sign Johnathan Hankins and Jason Pierre-Paul.
Ralph Vacchiano, SNY.tv
Brian Winters would've been one of the better guards on the free agent market and he could've cashed in even bigger than the four-year, $29 million deal he got from the Jets.
But instead of looking for more money and maybe a better situation, the 25-year-old Winters decided to stay put because he believes that, despite the misery of the Jets' 5-11 season, there are much better days for the franchise ahead.
12:15PM: Winters received a four-year, $29 million contract extension, including $15 million guaranteed, according to Dan Graziano of ESPN.
The $15 million guaranteed is the tenth-largest guarantee for a guard.
Ralph Vacchiano, SNY:
Coming off a miserable season, the Jets are in a difficult offseason position. They don't project to have much cap room, at least until they start cutting some high-priced players. And whatever cap room they do create might have to be spent on the quarterback they so obviously and desperately need.
And since they'll have to replace many of the players they cut, they may not have much room to re-sign their own players. The good news, though, is coming off a miserable, 5-11 season it's not like they have a lot of unrestricted free agents they absolutely can't live without.
There are a couple worth bringing back, though. Here's a look at their list of free agents, and how hard they might try to re-sign them...
We've looked at some of the roster decisions facing the Jets as we head into the offseason over the past few weeks. Readers overwhelmingly voted to keep Eric Decker, Nick Mangold and David Harris and to dump Darrelle Revis, but were torn on Brandon Marshall and Sheldon Richardson. How about some of the other decisions facing the front office and coaching staff?
Of course young players like Leonard Williams and Darron Lee or players that performed well in 2016 like James Carpenter and Bilal Powell will return in 2017, but that about those whose performance was more disappointing?
The New York Jets lost to the Los Angeles Rams, 9-6, Sunday at MetLife Stadium. Here is a position-by-position analysis of the game that dropped the Jets to 3-7 on the year heading into a bye week.
In this week's BGA, Bent analyzes Week 9 performances by Todd Bowles, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Bryce Petty, Brandon Marshall, Ben Ijalana, Matt Forte, Bilal Powell, Jalin Marshall and the Wide Receivers, Leonard Willians, Julian Stanford and the Special Teams, among others, all which you can read here...
The Jets have released Friday's injury report:The following players will be out on Sunday against the BrownsLB Darron LeeLB Bruce Carter
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FLORHAM PARK, N.J. - For the first time in the 11 days since he pulled his hamstring, Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis did individual drills at practice and ran full speed. The good news is he "felt good," even if he still has no idea whether he'll be ready to play in Arizona on Monday night.
"I think I feel better than I actually did last week," Revis said. "Today was actually the first day I ran at my top speed and actually it felt good. (No setbacks) at all. It was good to be back on the field."
Ralph Vacchiano | Facebook | Twitter | Archive
THE GAME: The Jets (1-3) at the Pittsburgh Steelers (3-1) at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh on Sunday, Oct. 9 at 1 p.m.
THE WEATHER: It should be a perfect fall day in Western Pennsylvania, with plenty of sun and temperatures in the low 60s.
Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis and wide receiver Eric Decker sat out practice Wednesday with injuries, and they're both uncertain for New York's game at Pittsburgh on Sunday.
Revis is dealing with a hamstring issue that caused him to miss most of the fourth quarter of the Jets' 27-17 loss to Seattle last Sunday. New York faces the possibility of facing Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers' strong passing game without the leader of its secondary.
Decker remains week-to-week with a partially torn rotator cuff in his right shoulder. He was originally injured at Buffalo in Week 2, but the shoulder worsened at Kansas City and Decker sat out the game against Seattle.
Brandon Marshall told reporters he switched off Thursday night's Texans-Patriots game because it was "disgusting." If he relives the film from Sunday's 24-3 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, he's probably going to end up throwing his TV set in the trash.
Let's get into our position-by-position review of what went wrong with the team's offense...
The offensive line had some good success Sunday against a formidable Bengals front. They paved the way for the running backs to rack up 137 rushing yards and also contributed by getting out in front of a few screen passes. In addition, the pass protection was good, with the Bengals picking up just one coverage sack.
In the running game, the Jets had some success with zone blocking concepts. On the play shown below, the line moves in unison to the right and James Carpenter uses his man's momentum to drive him upfield and create a cutback lane for the run back up the middle. Ryan Clady also contributes by making a cut block at the second level.
Welcome to the fifth installment of the BGA: 2016 NFL Draft series. As we head to the draft, I'll be sharing thoughts and observations about draft prospects for each position group. In our previous installment, we looked at this year's safety class and we now move on to look at guards and centers.
I'll be discussing whether the Jets are likely to have a need at these positions and reviewing some of the top prospects along with some players that might be options later on.
These articles are not necessarily meant to be exhaustive, so if you wish to bring some other prospects into the discussion, please do so in the comments section below.
Over the next few weeks we will be looking at each position on the New York Jets roster and seeking your input on who you think should stay and who you think should go. Up next, the Jets' offensive linemen.
Overview: In short, the Jets line is in trouble and the front office needs to find ways to get the group substantially younger and better this offseason. Center Nick Mangold is still the crown jewel of the group and D'Brickashaw Ferguson is a passable left tackle, but the rest of the group you could easily do better. For the Jets the problem will be navigating the salary cap with cap clogging contracts in the offing for Muhammad Wilkerson and Ryan Fitzpatrick. The most efficient course would be to use some early draft picks to draft talented linemen as it would save them in free agency. If there is one good thing, it is that the John Idzik and then Mike Maccagnan regimes have used numerous late-round draft picks on offensive linemen. This is the time for them to either make a contribution or they could be out the door.
Expected to Return (10)
The offensive line got off to a rough start as the Bills controlled the clock for much of the first half. D'Brickashaw Ferguson whiffed on a block as the first run of the day was stuffed and it didn't get much better from there. In fact, I didn't have a single positively-graded play for any of the offensive linemen until the second quarter.
The second quarter got off to a better start, as James Carpenter initially doubled with Ferguson and then peeled off to seal his man at the second level to the outside. Ferguson and Nick Mangold controlled their blocks at the point of attack to create a huge lane for Chris Ivory's long run.
The Jets didn't dominate up front like this very often though. Brian Winters had a couple of good run blocks at the point of attack, but also missed a couple of times at the second level.
Right from the outset, the Jets were on the front foot in the trenches, creating some excellent running lanes and controlling the point of attack. This enabled them to pick up some good yardage between the tackles early on. The running game wasn't quite as effective in the second half, but still continued to grind out yardage, even after Chris Ivory had suffered an injury.
The line fared well in pass protection too, doing a good job of limiting the amount of pressure Ryan Fitzpatrick was under and only allowing him to be sacked once.
While they fared well as a unit, not everyone on the line had a great individual performance. Right tackle Breno Giacomini, in particular, had his struggles. He was beaten for the sack which led to Fitzpatrick's fumble and Jamie Collins's touchdown return, and got beaten a few other times in pass protection. He was also inconsistent in the running game, letting his man get off the block to get in on a tackle or leverage him into the path of the runner on a handful of occasions.
With the array of all-pro talent that the Jets' offensive line has had to deal with in recent weeks, this game must have come as something of a relief. While Jurell Casey is underrated, the Jets managed to limit the damage he was able to do as each of the starting linemen contributed towards a performance that saw the Jets give up just one sack and rush for 183 yards.
I said earlier the Jets "went through the motions" in the second half and the blocking up front in the running game was one place where that appeared to be the case. After consistently creating big running lanes in the first half, enabling the Jets to average over seven yards per carry, they were held to just 56 yards on 16 carries (an average of 3.5) in the second half.
Center Nick Mangold led the way, controlling the point of attack in the running game all day and doing a solid job in pass protection. The only sack of the day was a miscommunication, as he tried to pass off his man to James Carpenter in order to pick up the man stunting underneath, but Carpenter didn't react in time. Other than that, the Titans didn't have any quarterback hits.
Unexpectedly, the Giants opted to line Jason Pierre-Paul -- who had played at right defensive end all season -- on the left side. The Jets perhaps weren't prepared for this, because right tackle Breno Giacomini had a horrible time with him. Pierre-Paul was wielding his protective mitt like a weapon, something which is supposedly against the rules these days, and he rocked Giacomini over and over again as he racked up consistent pressure all game long.
This was the source of most of the Jets' issues on the offensive line on the day. Giacomini didn't give up a sack, but the amount of times he got beaten in pass protection was well into double figures. Right guard Brian Winters was able to save him a couple of times but Pierre-Paul still got home on a couple of the plays where Winters came over to double-team him.
It was a strange game for Winters, who started the game pretty well but then had a series of really bad plays in quick succession -- allowing two run stuffs, a sack and a quarterback hit. Then he seemed to settle down again, although he also got called for a hold and had a poor second half in the running game. Is it unique to consider an offensive lineman as "streaky"?
Facing the formidable Ndamukong Suh for the second time this season, the Jets once again handled the Dolphins' front seven by limiting the damage he was able to do. Suh had four tackles (one for a loss) and a quarterback hit, but Miami only had one sack as a team and the Jets were able to rush for 137 yards.
The Jets opted to take a different approach to the challenge of mitigating Suh this time, relying a lot more often on quick-developing plays and hoping their linemen could handle him one-on-one in those situations. There were mixed results here, with right guard Brian Winters getting badly owned by him a few times, including on fourth and short on the first drive and early in the third quarter where he got driven into the backfield and his holding penalty negated a long run.
Manish Mehta of the Daily News tweeted after the game that Winters "won the head-to-head match-up" with Suh both times this season, based solely on Suh's numbers, but the reality was that he rarely had to block him one-on-one and often got blown up when he did. Nevertheless they asked more of him this time than last time, which could be a sign that he's developing and settling into that starting right guard role. I wouldn't go overboard with the praise yet though, because this was still an extremely uneven performance from him.
Entering this game, it was pretty obvious that the Jets were going to have to figure out a way to slow down J.J. Watt. That didn't go so well, as Watt racked up two sacks, five quarterback hits, five tackles for loss and led the Texans in total tackles.
However, they did figure out one way to slow him down, as they ran 26 plays in the fourth quarter and he had just one tackle (on a four yard run) and one quarterback hit. The Jets had run 37 plays in the other three quarters, during which he did the rest of that damage. He wasn't rested in the fourth, nor is he typically the type of player who will wear down over the course of the game. They were simply able to slow down his influence by upping the tempo and throwing more quick passes. That begs the question; why didn't they do that from the start?
Winters tore an ACL in the third quarter Sunday in the loss to Denver. He was in his second season after being drafted in the third round of the 2013 draft out of Kent State. Earlier Monday, the Jets put defensive back Dee Milliner on IR.
The Steelers took Johnson in the fifth round of this year's draft. Johnson (6-foot-5, 297 pounds) was named All-SEC last season at Vanderbilt.
There were whispers that the Jets were looking to upgrade their line and that the Peterman signing was contingent on not drafting a guard in the first two rounds. ?So while there's now a number of draftees and veterans that Winters will compete against, he's a player that the team feels confident can contribute to the team early on in the process.
So, Who Exactly Is He?
