The New York Jets finished the 2023 season with a 7-10 record and missed the playoffs for the 13th straight year. It was a very long season for the Jets and their season was effectively over after just 4 plays when 4 time league MVP Aaron Rodgers went down for the year with a torn achilles. The Jets didn’t prioritize a backup quarterback prior to the 2023 season and when Rodgers went down – former number 2 overall pick Zach Wilson took over and that went about as expected. The hype for the Jets heading into the 2023 season was at times – unprecedented – and understandably so. This franchise has went over a decade without going to the playoffs and unfortunately for the Jets – all 31 teams have been to the playoffs in this span. The Jets have the longest postseason drought out of any NFL team and 2023 was supposed to change that. But it didn’t. And the hype for this team is very real entering 2024. And to be honest – it should be. This team is absolutely loaded with talent, but when you have next to zero contribution from the most important position in sports – your season is going be altered – and in a big way. And I know some people don’t think the Jets can go all the way this year for this or that reason. But I think it is worth noting – the Jets still won 7 games last year against all odds. And this was with an absolutely atrocious offense. And having said that – that brings us to the question of – how far can the Jets go this year? Well, we’re going to break everything down in today’s video
And we are starting today’s video by breaking down who the Jets brought in in free agency and who they lost in free agency. After how the 2023 season went – it should not come as a surprise that the Jets prioritized the offensive line – and the backup quarterback position. And to be fair it also helps that this team is really good defensively so that they didn’t have to go out and sign or invest heavy draft capital in defensive players – but the Jets biggest free agent signing was veteran quarterback Tyrod Taylor. Tyrod is the definition of a good back up quarterback. He started his career out with the Ravens all the way back in 2011 when he was a 6th round pick from Virginia Tech, then started a few years for the Bills, and has been a few places since. And he’s a solid veteran option if Aaron Rodgers goes down. And i thought Tyrod had a better year last year with the Giants than his numbers would indicate – as he threw just 5 touchdowns to 3 interceptions – but this is about the top of the line in terms of backup quarterbacks. And I thought the Jets would prioritize either Tyrod or Jameis Winston to backup Aaron Rodgers – and Tyrod was the guy. They also brought in John Simpson from the Ravens who was a 4th round pick back in 2020. Simpson played a few years for the Raiders before being released in December of 2022, then started for the Ravens in 2023. Simpson – to me – is an ok player and the definition of a guy who’s going to guy to have hot streaks throughout the season and have his share of cold streaks too. And I know that may sound cliche – or that every player has those moments – but I mean it in the sense of John Simpson being an average player – where as somebody like Quinnen Williams is obviously going to have more great stretches than poor stretches – and his poor plays are very few and far between. But the big thing for the 2024 Jets with John Simpson is – he’s going to be an upgrade from what they had last year along the offensive line. And what also needs to be noted – is – Aaron Rodgers wasn’t the only player who got hurt last year. This team played 14 offensive lineman throughout the 2023 season and had 12 players take 100 or more snaps along the offensive line. The continuity was not there, and they only had 3 players play 10 or more games along the offensive line. They also brought in veteran left tackle Tyron Smith, and traded for former Ravens right tackle Morgan Moses – who also played with the Jets back in 2021. The Jets also signed former Chargers receiver Mike Williams to a one year deal. And he is coming off of a torn ACL – but the good news is – he was recently cleared and should be good to go for their week 1 game in San Francisco.
I liked this signing because it was a low risk high reward deal for both sides. If Mike has a great year – he could go for over 1,000 yards which he has done twice in his career. And if he doesn’t- and has a bad year for whatever reason – then it’s only a one year deal. In the best case scenario – Williams has a great year and gets a bigger pay day next offseason. One other signing that surprised me the Jets made – and the surprise comes from how much they paid him – was giving former 49ers defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw a one year deal for over $7 million dollars – with $6.9 of it being guaranteed. Now Javon had a disappointing tenure with the 49ers – relative to where he was drafted – but Robert Saleh was his defensive coordinator in his rookie season back in 2020 – and if there is any place for Kinlaw to succeed – it’s going to be with the Jets. We often talk about setting quarterbacks up for success and point to the Bengals as an example – but with Kinlaw having guy like Quinine Williams, and Jermaine Johnson along the defensive line – this is a great place for him to succeed – if he is going to ever have consistent success at the NFL level. I didn’t think it was a bad signing because obviously Robert Saleh and Joe Douglas would have more intel on whether or not they can get something out of him than I do – but I thought it was interesting based on how much they gave him in free agency.
Now for the rest of the defense – let’s just call it what it is – this is one of the best units in the league and I would be shocked if it wasn’t in 2024. This defense has playmakers at every level and if the offense can be remotely competent – which they were not for most of 2023 – they could be the best defense in the league. The Jets offense routinely sees this defense up to fail and had 11 games last year where they had 300 yards or less of offense. And I know there was a whole thing in the Steelers fan base about how many games they went without having a 400 yard game – but the Jets had 300 yards or less of offense in 65% of their games last year. They were 31st in average plays per drive and 32nd in average yards per drive. And despite all of this – the Jets defense finished 3rd in total yards against. Now when you have a combined touchdown to interception ratio of 11 to 15 from your quarterbacks offensively in 2023 – you are going to be behind the 8 ball – and they were – but the Jets defense forced 27 turnovers last year which ranked 8th in the NFL. And they finished top 5 in passing attempts against, 2nd in passing yards allowed, and 4th in passing touchdowns against. And a lot of this was due the cornerback trio of Sauce Gardner, DJ Reed, and Michael Carter. Sauce Gardner to me – is the best corner in the NFL and when you combine how good of a player he is – along with a great pass rush led by big fella Quinnen Williams – it’s going to be a tough day for opposing offenses to score points no matter what. And the Jets run defense last year was also very good considering the circumstances. I personally view average yards per carry higher than total yards allowed as a run defense from one year to the next strictly because of how games can go. Obviously in a game where the Jets lost to the Dolphins 30-0 – Miami wasn’t going to be throwing deep shots to Tyreek Hill up 23-0 play after play hoping he gets the big one. And when you score 13 points or less in 9 of your 17 games – which is what the Jets did last year – teams are going to run the ball on you more often than they pass – and this is a big reason why the Jets finished 30th in rushing attempts against, but only 11th in average yards per carry against. And when you have two tackling machines in CJ Mosley and Quincy Williams at linebacker – who by the way are an incredible duo – you’’re going to be fine. And Quincy is coming off of the best year of his career in which he had over 130 tackles, and was a first team all pro. The Jets also had 4 players have 50 or more pressures last year – including 56 from Jermaine Johnson who had a nice breakout season and was rewarded with a trip to the pro bowl. Now unfortunately the Jets lost Bryce Huff in free agency and traded John Franklin Myers to the Broncos – but I think they will be fine with the potential breakout of second year player Will McDonald. Now I have no idea what to say about the Haason Reddick situation – but per Paul Eden Jr – through Haason Reddick’ holdout – he has already lost nearly $5 million dollars and he would lose approximately $800,000 dollars per week in game checks – and that’s per ESPN’s Rich Cimini. I would imagine Reddick shows up at some point – because I doubt he would want to lose tens of millions of dollars – but what I will say is this – the Jets defense will be fine with or without him. And I don’t think the 2024 Jets relies on Haason Reddick playing or not. This defense is elite, and they’re going to be able to get after the quarterback just fine. Obviously having Reddick would be a big plus, but they will be fine with or without him. The big thing for the 2024 Jets defense is simply having an offense be able to give them some help – and to you know – not put up 13 points in 9 games this year. With how talented this defense is – I truly think if the offense can put up just 17 points in all 17 games – even based off of that- I think they could win 7 games from that alone. And as long as Aaron Rodgers plays the majority of the season – and keeps opposing defenses in check – which will only help out the Jets defense because it keeps them off the field – I would be very surprised if this defense doesn’t finish in the top 5 or 6 in points allowed per game. They can truly do it all.
