The 2018 New York Jets did not do so well. They finished with a 4-12 record with nine of their last ten games being a loss. This is a usual New York Jets season. Utterly painful. Some of these losses were close, but when the season was already over. While some losses were blowouts and showed why Todd Bowles would not be coaching the Jets in 2019.
The defining moment of this season was against the Matt Barkley-led Buffalo Bills in Week 10. The final score was 41-10. A humiliating loss for the Jets who managed to have only one converted third down in the entire game, where Sam Darnold was inactive due to injury. The defense is supposed to be respectable in at least some way, but in this game, they allowed a total of 451 yards to Matt Barkley, who was signed to the Bills October 31st and just had two weeks to learn an offense before this game. After this game, the fans and the Jets themselves knew, the Todd Bowles era was over.
Todd Bowles was fired the day after the season ended, and they hired former Miami Dolphins coach, Adam Gase after going through a plethora of candidates that included former Packers coach, Mike McCarthy, former Lions coach Jim Caldwell, Baylor coach Matt Rhule, and a few others.
Peyton Manning called the Jets to let them know that Gase should be their guy. Manning and Gase worked together for most of Peyton’s time in Denver, 2012-2014, when Gase left. His record with the Dolphins is not outstanding, 23-25, but he knows how to work with Quarterbacks.
He has worked with Tim Tebow, who won a playoff game which no one thought he could, he helped elevate Peyton to have one of his best years in 2013 and helped Jay Cutler to be an above average Quarterback in 2015. His issues during his Miami tenure were the weapons around Ryan Tannehill and Tannehill’s injury prone issue. Tannehill only played in 24 games of the 48 games Gase coached, so he could never truly help Tannehill grow into what he could’ve been.
Gase now has a young Quarterback in Sam Darnold he can help groom and hopefully, turn into the Pro Bowl caliber type of player we saw glimpses of throughout the year, like the revenge game against the Bills in Week 14.
Gase wanted a head coach type of person for his defense. He sure got one by getting Gregg Williams as his Defensive Coordinator. Gregg Williams has been best known for his work with the Cleveland Browns last year, and the New Orleans Saints Super Bowl run in 2009. Williams brings a ferociousness and a discipline to a Defense that desperately needs both.
Mike Maccagnan needs to help his young Quarterback by adding pieces around him so Gase can properly develop him.
The biggest needs for the Jets in my mind, are Wide Receiver, Offensive Line, and an Edge Rusher.
The main Wide Receivers for the Jets right now are Quincy Enunwa, Jermaine Kearse, and Robby Anderson. Anderson is a Restricted Free Agent, and Kearse is an Unrestricted Free Agent. Planning for the future should always be a priority. Kearse was not used much in the 2018 season with a stat line of 37 receptions, 371 yards, and only one touchdown. The year before was his best year as an NFL player, so him being so underutilized last year is pretty astonishing. Robby Anderson was not as effective as he was in 2017, so just having insurance for a backup plan would be nice. Enunwa was signed to a contract extension at the end of the season, which was a great contract if you look at the details and not just the salary and guaranteed money. They do not have much consequence if Enunwa gets injured again and can just release him, but they have a lot of rewards if he returns to his former production in 2016 where he has 58 receptions and a total of 857 yards along with four touchdowns. The Wide Receiving corps could add much-needed depth and potential. Mike Maccagnan tried to accomplish that with his 2017 draft by drafting two wideouts in the 3rd and 4th round. Those two picks are off the team.
Edge Rusher has been evasive for the Jets for years. We always seem to never be able to draft a great player for the Edge Rusher position. In 2008, the Jets drafted Vernon Gholston with the 6th overall pick which turned into one of the biggest busts in recent history. In 2012, they tried again with Quinton Coples with the 16th pick. He was off the team by 2015. They drafted Leonard Williams in 2015 with the 6th pick, which was a steal at the time. However, He only has 17 sacks in four years since he was drafted. There is hope with Williams still, but we need to get this 3rd overall pick right with so many great Edge Rushers in this draft.
Offensive Line is a concoction of veteran players but has never truly lived up to expectations on their former teams. Pro Football Focus ranked the Jets offensive line as the 25th best, with their highest graded player being Kelvin Beachum with a 66.0 grade. That is not too great. So Jets please draft an Offensive Lineman in this draft early on or something. Just make this offensive line like it was a decade ago, a strong suit for the team.
All three of these positions do need to be filled one way or another in free agency or the draft. Whatever works for Mike and the team overall, works for me. We have a lot of money to spend, so we should be aggressive with it in free agency.
In the draft, I feel like we have a few options with the 3rd pick in the draft. We can stay and draft the best player for the Jets, or we could accumulate picks since we do not have a 2nd round pick, and trade back a few spots for a team that needs a QB, like the Jaguars or the Giants. I would love for the Jets to go this route, just to get a few picks back from the Sam Darnold trade of last year, which seems worth the price right now.
Overall, the Jets still need some work to do. This is why we fired our head coach and got a new one, and this is why Mike Maccagnan probably is on the hot seat if things go awry. However, we will see as the season goes on how well Mike used his cap space and draft picks for the future of the team.
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