Kick 'Em Out 2025: New York Jets

For the 15th consecutive season, the New York Jets have taken their usual spot among the early eliminated on the NFL ledgers.

Turn out the lights, the party’s over.

With a little help from Willie Nelson, former NFL quarterback and narrator Don Meredith would routinely herald closing time before it was cool on the original editions of Monday Night Football. Alas for all but one of football’s 32 finest, it’s over before the desired Vince Lombardi Trophy hoist, as the season, or at least the championship-contending portion of it, has come to an end.

With that in mind, TeamFB7 goes over the season that was for the fallen, looking at what was, what is, and what could be. A mainstay in the early portions of a list like this would be the New York Jets, who are next to get such a treatment …

Team: New York Jets
Record: 3-14
Date of Playoff Death: Dec. 7
Last Playoff Season: 2010

Aaron Glenn New York Jets — Megan Briggs/Getty Images

What Went Wrong

It’s the Jets. What didn’t go wrong?

Expectations were relatively tempered for the Jets this season: they had hired a first-time head coach in Aaron Glenn and moved on from the failed Aaron Rodgers era by replacing him with the low-risk, high-reward Justin Fields. The continued development of homegrown young playmakers (i.e. Breece Hall, Garrett Wilson) was something to keep an eye on but it was expected to be another year of build-up en route to long-desired, long-sought postseason redemption.

While Fields flubbed what will probably be his final opportunity to be a franchise quarterback, there were several character-building occasions on the Jets’ ledger: they lost five of their first seven games by one possession and three of that subgenre were against future playoff teams. The highlight of the season was undoubtedly a 39-38 thriller over Cincinnati, which granted the Jets their first win of the year mere hours after the passing of franchise legend Nick Mangold.

But the bottom fell out shortly after that. Even by the Jets’ overly-cursed standards, and the fact that they willingly subjected themselves to an in-season retool (trading defensive foundational pieces Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams to Indianapolis and Dallas respectively), things got more brutal with each passing week. Wilson, signer of a nine-figure contract extension over the offseason, finished the year as the Jets’ top receiver … despite his cleats last touching the field in mid-November.

From bad to worse

The Jets spent the rest of this season making history that was impressive in its ineptitude: New York led the league with four games of fewer than 100 yards passing (somehow landing in the red in the category during an overseas loss to Denver) and a franchise so renowned for its defensive work (i.e. the New York Sack Exchange, Revis Island) somehow went an entire year without recording a single interception. The Jets have unique company in such an “accomplishment,” as a group of eight in 1932 was the last to pull that off.

All the while, the Jets had to watch ghosts of green past (i.e. Davante Adams, Sam Darnold, Robert Saleh, even Rodgers himself) embark on lucrative runs elsewhere. It’s quite possible, in fact, that Darnold becomes the one thing that stands between the Jets and another celebratory parade in honor of the Patriots, who managed to find return to the playoffs, find a false messiah in the post-Tom Brady era and then find the arguable GOAT’s successor in the same span it took New York to win a mere 28 games.

Glenn also carried on with a sense of unearned swagger that quickly wore thin, though management still has faith in him. Defensive coordinator Steve Wilks wasn’t so lucky, as he was bid farewell after a 48-20 decision in Jacksonville.

The losses were not those of a healthily-rebuilding team: forced to finish the year with a mix of Tyrod Taylor and undrafted rookie Brady Cook in lieu of the benched Fields, the Jets posted a point differential of minus-157 in their final eight games. Rock bottom, or perhaps the merciful end, came in the final week of the season when Buffalo backups, working with nothing to play for with their playoff seeding locked up, put up 35 on Gang Green before a late, meaningless touchdown and 2-pointer somewhat beautified the dreadful affair.

Silver Linings

– It always seems to be a question of who they’ll be protecting (and those queries won’t fully disappear after this season). But the Jets finally seem to have some semblance of consistency and a foundation on the offensive line. Metropolitan meddling with the football gods seemed to be in full effect when Alijah Vera-Tucker was lost for the season with torn triceps before Week 1, but the line remained almost fully healthy after that. The Jets had the same five men start all 17 games, becoming the fourth team to pull that off since an extra game was added to schedules. The Jets’ kids’ appear to be particularly alright: Olu Fashnu found a groove on the blind side as the year went on while his fellow first-round choice Armand Membou immediately hobnobbed with some of the league’s elite in his own debut on the other side.

– Deadline day is one of the few events where the NFL’s edition falls short of the hype its counterparts produce. But the Jets are still sitting relatively pretty after making the best of transaction embargo by unloading Gardner and Williams: four of the first 44 slots on the Pittsburgh draft board currently feature the Jets and they also carry three first-round choices on the 2027 marquee. The Gardner trade with the Colts also yielded Adonai Mitchell, who is under contract for next season. Despite the turmoil at quarterback, Mitchell showed hints of being a complementary catcher on the road ahead, joining the likewise muted but potential-packed arsenal of John Metchie III and tight end Mason Taylor.

Looking Ahead

Notable Free Agents: S Andre Cisco, EDGE Micheal Clemons, K Nick Folk, RB Breece Hall, WR John Metchie III, RG Alijah Vera-Tucker, LB Quincy Williams

Potential Cap Cuts: QB Justin Fields ($10 million*), DT Harrison Phillips ($7.5 million), C Joe Tippman ($3.85 million), OG John Simpson ($2.9 million)

With another lost season on the ledgers, the question becomes exactly how aggressive the Jets want to be on the transactional front. They’re fifth in cap space but the quarterback market is relatively light, packed with projects and potential retirements (i.e. Rodgers). But a season like the one the Jets just endured is primed to feature plenty of gaps, so there’s plenty of work for general manager Darren Mougey.

On the homefront, the Jets have big decisions to make about several homegrown talents after giving Wilson big money last summer. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see them bid farewell to the oft-injured Vera-Tucker (which could lead them to the guard department headlined by Braden Smith of Indianapolis) but Hall feels like a prime candidate for a new deal. Metchie, another deadline acquisition, will probably be easy to retain and is worth analyzing in a full season of work.

The draft is a bit easier to clear up, as the Jets hold the second overall pick after the Las Vegas Raiders presumably take Fernando Mendoza. Many were quick to chime in on the Murphy’s Law nature of the Jets when Oregon’s Dante Moore pledged to return to his incumbent green team, but that could wind up be a blessing in disguise for New York, as it will be in prime position to draft the top defensive helpers in Rueben Bain or Arvell Reese, both of whom could help a pass rush that’s 29th in pressure over the last two seasons. The pick could also be prime trade bait with the secondary help that will probably be around later in the premiere stages.

Is There Hope?

Hope springs eternal, especially in the NFL. A season like the one the Jets’ latest rebuild has just endured, however, hints that some things may be meant to last forever.

It’s simply a tough time to take steps back in a modern renovation: the most prized veteran passing prospect is probably Green Bay backup Malik Willis, the pass rush is far from fearsome, and the secondary needs several new coats of paint. The Jets simply fell too far this year to fix everything in a single offseason. Sure, instant leaps aren’t out of the question (again, look no further than New England) but the Jets’ latest offerings granted few hints of relief.

The truly sad part about this sordid metropolitan affair is that the Jets have engaged in some solid asset accumulation: a healthy Wilson stands as one of the league’s most dangerous playmakers, he has intriguing depth behind him, and the blocking investments appear to be paying off. The Jets, especially Glenn (who will no doubt hold one of the hottest seats among the coaching incumbents), need some type of throat-clearing gesture that will put the league on watch. This year made it clear that they’re not quite capable of even that yet, putting their leadership in a compromising spot.