Folks say the vacations are probably the most great time of the 12 months.
However should you’re a Jets fan, this time continues to be probably the most miserable.
Organizations just like the Patriots, Jaguars, and Bears, all of which had shedding data in 2024, are all taking part in late, significant December video games. In the meantime, the Jets are shedding by greater than 20 factors to groups considered in the identical tier.
On Sunday, the Jets misplaced 29-6 to a Saints workforce with a rookie second-round quarterback, Tyler Shough, and in a primary 12 months of a rebuild beneath coach Kellen Moore. As shut as the sport was at halftime, it by no means felt just like the Jets have been poised to win the sport. Even after Jets coach Aaron Glenn fired defensive coordinator Steve Wilks and made Chris Harris the interim defensive coordinator earlier within the week.
Gang Inexperienced was down 9-6 at halftime, however New Orleans scored 20 factors within the second half to cruise to the 23-point victory. It was the third consecutive week the Jets misplaced by greater than 20 factors to an opponent.
I’ve been on the Jets beat for simply 4 seasons, however followers look like they’ve much less optimism than any time I can bear in mind.
In 2022, after they misplaced six straight video games to finish the season, the Jets’ protection was among the many greatest within the NFL. Three seasons later, the Jets are twenty first in factors and thirtieth in factors allowed. On Sunday, that very same Jets protection set a brand new NFL report by not intercepting a go for the fifteenth straight sport.
Aaron Rodgers bought harm in 2023, and Robert Saleh and Joe Douglas have been each fired in 2024, however it nonetheless gave the impression to be a silver lining with the Jets after each years.
What hope do the Jets followers have coming into an offseason filled with questions? Some followers are down on Glenn, however he isn’t going anyplace, with the group remaining dedicated to him. Glenn makes an excessive amount of cash and Jets proprietor Woody Johnson isn’t going to fireside Glenn, pay him, and another person to teach the Jets in 2026.
The Jets are going to present Glenn extra time to seek out the best gamers for his system and, probably, draft a franchise quarterback, possibly like Oregon’s Dante Moore or Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza, in April’s draft. And Glenn deserves extra time as a result of the Jets have been by no means going to be a fast repair, particularly with the dearth of expertise on either side of the ball.
What’s troubling, as Glenn’s first season attracts to a detailed, is that it doesn’t look like the Jets are getting higher. Offensively, they battle to attain in opposition to the worst defenses. Most of that has to do with Brady Cook dinner, an undrafted rookie free agent out of Missouri, who began the final two video games. However neither Tyrod Taylor nor Justin Fields set the world on fireplace offensively, as evidenced by the Jets’ 3-12 report.
“I think he gives us the best chance to win, but we also want to evaluate where he’s at,” Glenn mentioned about Cook dinner. “There are plenty of guys on this roster that we’re attempting to guage the place they’re at too.
“Again, we had guys that were hurt, our two quarterbacks and we know that, but I do think he gives us a chance to win games. He wouldn’t be in there if he didn’t give us a chance to win.”
Saying Cook dinner offers the Jets the very best probability to win is loopy discuss. All of us have eyes, and clearly, Cook dinner isn’t able to be an NFL beginning quarterback. Possibly he may succeed as a backup quarterback on this league, however the Jets’ beginning quarterback isn’t on this roster.
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – DECEMBER 21: Jonas Sanker #33 of the New Orleans Saints intercepts a go meant for John Metchie III #3 of the New York Jets within the fourth quarter of a sport at Caesars Superdome on December 21, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Picture by Chris Graythen/Getty Photographs)
Possibly the Jets’ draft capital for the following two years is sufficient to give followers some glimmer of hope for the longer term. They’ve two first-round picks this 12 months and three in 2027 after buying and selling Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams on the commerce deadline. However the Jets have been in an identical place in 2021 and 2022 with few outcomes.
After buying and selling Jamal Adams to the Seahawks in 2020, the Jets had a number of first-round picks the next two years. Additionally they had a 3rd first-round choice in 2022 after buying and selling again into the primary spherical.
These 5 first spherical picks have been used on Zach Wilson, Alijah Vera-Tucker, Gardner, Garrett Wilson, and Jermaine Johnson. The Jets are 26-56 since 2021 and proceed to have the longest playoff drought in North American sports activities. Additionally they haven’t recorded a successful season since 2015 (additionally the longest within the NFL).
Zach Wilson grew to become one of many largest draft busts in Jets historical past, Vera-Tucker has had three season-ending accidents with the Jets, and Gardner was traded to Indianapolis.
Garrett Wilson stays the most effective gamers on the Jets, however he was restricted to seven video games this season as a result of a knee damage. Johnson has handled numerous accidents and hasn’t but lived as much as being a first-round decide. It’s nice to have draft flexibility, however it means nothing if the workforce doesn’t select the best gamers.
With the Jets simply taking part in the string out, followers might be joyful to know they’ve moved into the highest 4 by way of draft place after the loss to the Saints. However in a 12 months the place first-year coaches Ben Johnson, Liam Coen, and Mike Vrabel will all be guiding their groups to the playoffs, it has been tough for Jets followers to abdomen one other misplaced season with little or no hope in sight.
