ESPN’s Mike Greenberg has long been a torchbearer for suffering Jets fans, so it was fitting that his reaction to Tuesday’s franchise-altering fire sale was somewhat mixed.
After all, the Jets’ decisions to part with cornerback Sauce Gardner and defensive tackle Quinnen Williams before Tuesday afternoon’s trade deadline generated a wide range of feelings across the fan base.
“It’s hard to argue with #Jets holding a fire sale — season is long over, and they got a lot in return,” Greenberg wrote on social media. “There has been no evidence so far they have the right coach to mold the new team they will assemble, time will tell. But we have hope, I guess. Which is all we ever have.”
For Gardner, the Jets (1-7) received two first-round picks and a young wide receiver in Adonai Mitchell from the Indianapolis Colts.
For Williams, the Jets received a 2026 second-round pick, a 2027 first-round pick and defensive lineman Mazi Smith from the Dallas Cowboys.
All told, the Jets own five first-round picks and three second-rounders over the next two drafts. But it cost them a pair of franchise cornerstones at premium positions in Gardner, 25, and Williams, 27, to compile that haul.
“We can’t develop any young talent,” said Tim Andrews, 53, of Park Slope, who has been a Jets season-ticket holder since 1990, and whose family’s season tickets pre-date the Joe Namath era.
“Everyone’s happy, ‘Hey, they’ve got a bunch of draft picks.’ Really, they were cutting salaries, and they’re gonna screw up the draft picks. Zach Wilson, take a look.”
Concerns over the Jets’ ability to maximize these draft picks is a common sentiment among fans, even if the bulk of the base seemed to support — or at least accept — the trades.
If the season ended today, the Jets would hold the No. 3 pick in the 2026 draft, though they should now have ample ammunition to trade up to No. 1 if a less quarterback-needy team ends up in that slot.
“The team wasn’t going anywhere this year. It’s not going anywhere next year. It’s not going anywhere until we get a foundational quarterback,” said Seth Beacher, 33, also of Park Slope.
But Beacher described his feelings as “difficult to parse out” because of the emotional connection he felt to the players, and with Williams in particular.
“We’ve been pretty poor in our draft picks lately, so taking a risk on that in our post-Joe Douglas era doesn’t seem like it makes a ton of sense to me. The biggest thing that I come across with the Sauce trade, at least, is that I don’t see a world in which, come three or four years, he’s still not the best player out of that trade, including the two first-rounders.”
Others saw the return for Gardner as too good to pass up.
That contingent even included ESPN’s Rich Eisen, another notorious Jets fan, who said he “pounded the table” for the Jets to draft Gardner with the No. 4 pick in 2022.
“If you’re the Jets and this is what you can get in return, you send Sauce Gardner to Indianapolis,” Eisen said on “The Rich Eisen Show.”
“I never thought I would say this, because I pounded the table for him and I loved watching him play, and I’m not gonna denigrate him by saying that the Pro Bowler and All-Pro hasn’t been consistently showing up over the last couple of years. It’s been a whole host of Jets, and issues from the franchise top all the way down, that has resonated amongst the fire of the dumpster.”
Gardner signed a four-year, $120.4 extension with the Jets last offseason. Williams is under contract through 2027, with cap numbers of $21.8 million in 2026 and $25.5 million in 2027.
Next year’s draft is considered deep at quarterback, with Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza and Oregon’s Dante Moore among the top prospects at the position.
The 2027 draft is considered even better across the board.
“The 2027 NFL draft class has the potential to be one of the best EVER,” ESPN draft analyst Matt Miller wrote on social media. “And the Jets now have 3 first round picks to use.”
Still, the departures of Gardner and Williams will make the Jets less competitive in the interim.
And that’s bad news for season-ticket holders like Andrews, even if he left little doubt about whether he plans to continue going to games.
“Oh, of course,” Andrews said with a laugh.
