The Jets will host the Browns in Week 9 following their bye week.
However Gang Inexperienced has already begun to show the web page to 2026 after two gorgeous blockbuster trades forward of Sunday’s recreation in opposition to Cleveland.
With 9 video games remaining and a 1-7 report, the Jets traded Sauce Gardner to the Colts and dealt Quinnen Williams to the Cowboys. The Jets acquired extensive receiver Adonai Mitchell from the Colts and Mazi Smith from the Cowboys.
What the Jets additionally acquired was draft capital, which basic supervisor Darren Mougey and coach Aaron Glenn hope would be the catalyst to assist the group emerge from the perpetual black gap they’ve been in for the previous 15 seasons.
When he turned coach, Glenn informed followers to “Get used to winning.” This week, he utterly backpedaled by saying he didn’t imply instantly.
“Once you get involved and get your team, you start to figure out exactly how you want your team to look and how you want it to operate in totality,” Glenn stated on Wednesday. “To me, once more, it is a recreation of change, and it doesn’t matter what the scenario is, we’re going to look to do the whole lot we will to enhance our group, and nonetheless we will try this, me and Mougey are going to speak about it and we’re going to decide to maneuver ahead.
“There’s talent here, we understand that. When guys call and they inquire, our job is to listen, and this is one of those opportunities where we had two of our high-profile guys that we got pretty good compensation for, and we listened and we talked through it, and we just made the move. We’re going to continue to operate that way, no matter what the situation is, but more than anything, we want to make sure that we build this team in our vision the way that we see it.”
The Jets could also be downplaying the concept that they’re in rebuild mode, however that’s the fact after buying and selling Gardner and Williams. Each have been fashionable gamers who have been beneath contract for the subsequent few years.
Positive, the Jets acquired younger expertise in Mitchell and Smith, whom they may consider to find out if they are going to be a part of their long-term future. Nonetheless, Sunday’s recreation in opposition to the Browns, and actually the final 9 video games of the 2025 season, are inconsequential by way of the Jets’ future.
“I wouldn’t call it a teardown,” Mougey stated on Tuesday.
However it’s a teardown. One thing Mougey and Glenn ought to have executed and been forthcoming about after they have been employed again in January. Positive, the Jets followers would have complained. However this was by no means going to be a fast repair.
Glenn and Mougey shortly launched Aaron Rodgers weeks after turning into coach and basic supervisor. In addition they launched linebacker C.J. Mosley and extensive receiver Davante Adams. That’s when the Jets ought to have simply totally ripped the Band-Help off a roster that completed 5-12.
This season has been an utter catastrophe, however the Jets have been driving excessive the final two weeks. In Week 8, Gang Inexperienced gained its first recreation of the season after an emotional comeback victory in opposition to Cincinnati.
Justin Fields performed properly in opposition to the Bengals (21-of-32 for 244 yards and a TD, however the Jets’ long-term answer at quarterback will not be on this roster. With 5 first-round picks between 2026 and 2027, the Jets have all of the ammunition to maneuver up the draft boards to pick out any quarterback of their liking. In addition they have sufficient picks to go after a veteran quarterback.
Now, they may look to search out their subsequent franchise quarterback, who might help them attain the playoffs for the primary time since 2010. The Jets have tried to discover a franchise quarterback in varied methods over the previous seven years. That they had drafted Sam Darnold, just for Todd Bowles and Adam Gase to be fired, after which they employed Robert Saleh. Together with GM Joe Douglas, Saleh in the end selected to discover a quarterback of their very own, and so they traded Darnold and drafted Zach Wilson with the No. 2 general choose within the 2021 NFL Draft.
The Jets have additionally seen this film earlier than, after having 5 first-round picks in 2021 and 2022 (Wilson, Alijah Vera-Tucker, Gardner, Garrett Wilson, Jermaine Johnson). However since that point, the Jets have a 24-52 report.
Gang Inexperienced completed with a top-five protection beneath Saleh for many of his tenure earlier than he was fired in October of 2024. The Jets’ protection is at the moment twenty first in yards (335.4) and twenty seventh in factors allowed (27.6).
But when the Jets don’t discover a franchise quarterback within the subsequent two years, nothing else will matter.
Glenn has been right here earlier than when he was with the Lions. Earlier than his first season as defensive coordinator, and earlier than Dan Campbell’s first recreation as coach, Detroit traded Matthew Stafford to the Rams in alternate for a first-round draft choose in 2022 and 2023, a third-round choose in 2021, and quarterback Jared Goff. The transfer labored out for each the Lions and Rams, who stay Tremendous Bowl contenders years after the commerce.
Pretty or unfairly, the success of the Glenn and Mougey period can be decided not solely by how productive the Jets can be on the sector, but in addition by whether or not they can lastly discover a franchise quarterback. If they can’t do both of these, the Jets will stay in the identical hamster wheel of mediocrity they’ve been within the final decade and a half.
