After the Jets spent big money this summer, making splashes with the additions of Le'Veon Bell, C.J. Mosley, Jamison Crowder and Quinnen Williams, there has been a renewed buzz around Florham Park.
Meanwhile, their stadium-mates, the Giants, continued their roster revamp in controversial fashion - they said goodbye to stars Odell Beckham Jr. and Landon Collins, drafted a quarterback sixth overall and turned the keys over to an extremely young defense.
While the Giants are still rebuilding, the Jets are going all-in with a young quarterback, a budding defense and a new coach.
So, why did a new ranking from Pro Football Focus and ESPN+ place the Jets' roster as the second-worst in the league (31), and four spots lower than the Giants' squad (27)?
Yes, the Giants notched one more win than the Jets' four last year, but the consensus has been that the Jets had a better offseason this year. It's bad enough for the Jets that they were ranked lower than the Giants, but second-worst in the league? That doesn't seem right after this summer's spending spree.
Pro Football Focus rankings are a hand-curated formula used to rank individual players based on their in-game performance. They allow for handy comparisons of players that play the same position on different teams, as well as overall "team talent."
A rating in the 70s is considered "average," the 80s are "high-quality" and the 90s and up are "elite." The Giants had seven average starters and one high-quality starter, while the Jets clocked in with two high-quality starters and six average starters. The Jets only had three starters ranked in the 50s (below-average) one better than the Giants. No team had any "elite" starters. It seems like an even split.
The Giants' PFF profile was as expected: the writers called Saquon Barkley the team's biggest strength, Eli Manning the team's biggest weakness and Sterling Shepard the team's X-factor - all things the team has heard before.
For the Jets, the writers said the team's biggest strength was its starting safety duo of Marcus Maye and Jamal Adams, but the team's poor run blocking and the unpredictability of a young quarterback hurt the team's offensive ranking. On the other hand, the Jets expect the addition of Bell to open things up for the team on offense, so we'll see who's right once the season begins.
Bell was given an average grade, which was based on his 2017 season.
After the Jets' offseason overhaul, PFF and ESPN ranking them the second-worst roster in the league will only provide more bulletin-board material for the team. Meanwhile, the Giants hope the ranking will still hold true when they play the Jets this coming November.