People say the holidays are the most wonderful time of the year.
But if you’re a Jets fan, this time continues to be the most depressing.
Organizations like the Patriots, Jaguars, and Bears, all of which had losing records in 2024, are all playing late, meaningful December games. Meanwhile, the Jets are losing by more than 20 points to teams thought to be in the same tier.
On Sunday, the Jets lost 29-6 to a Saints team with a rookie second-round quarterback, Tyler Shough, and in a first year of a rebuild under coach Kellen Moore. As close as the game was at halftime, it never felt like the Jets were poised to win the game. Even after Jets coach Aaron Glenn fired defensive coordinator Steve Wilks and made Chris Harris the interim defensive coordinator earlier in the week.
Gang Green was down 9-6 at halftime, but New Orleans scored 20 points in the second half to cruise to the 23-point victory. It was the third consecutive week the Jets lost by more than 20 points to an opponent.
I have been on the Jets beat for just four seasons, but fans seem like they have less optimism than any time I can remember.
In 2022, when they lost six straight games to end the season, the Jets’ defense was among the best in the NFL. Three seasons later, the Jets are 21st in points and 30th in points allowed. On Sunday, that same Jets defense set a new NFL record by not intercepting a pass for the 15th straight game.
Aaron Rodgers got hurt in 2023, and Robert Saleh and Joe Douglas were both fired in 2024, but it still appeared to be a silver lining with the Jets after both years.
What hope do the Jets fans have entering an offseason full of questions? Some fans are down on Glenn, but he is not going anywhere, with the organization remaining committed to him. Glenn makes too much money and Jets owner Woody Johnson is not going to fire Glenn, pay him, and someone else to coach the Jets in 2026.
The Jets are going to give Glenn more time to find the right players for his system and, potentially, draft a franchise quarterback, maybe like Oregon’s Dante Moore or Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza, in April’s draft. And Glenn deserves more time because the Jets were never going to be a quick fix, especially with the lack of talent on both sides of the ball.
What’s troubling, as Glenn’s first season draws to a close, is that it doesn’t seem like the Jets are getting better. Offensively, they struggle to score against the worst defenses. Most of that has to do with Brady Cook, an undrafted rookie free agent out of Missouri, who started the last two games. But neither Tyrod Taylor nor Justin Fields set the world on fire offensively, as evidenced by the Jets’ 3-12 record.
“I think he gives us the best chance to win, but we also want to evaluate where he’s at,” Glenn said about Cook. “There are a lot of guys on this roster that we’re trying to evaluate where they are 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 gives the Jets the best chance to win is crazy talk. We all have eyes, and clearly, Cook is not ready to be an NFL starting quarterback. Maybe he could succeed as a backup quarterback in this league, but the Jets’ starting quarterback is not on this roster.
Maybe the Jets’ draft capital for the next two years is enough to give fans some glimmer of hope for the future. They have two first-round picks this year and three in 2027 after trading Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams at the trade deadline. But the Jets were in a similar position in 2021 and 2022 with few results.
After trading Jamal Adams to the Seahawks in 2020, the Jets had multiple first-round picks the following two years. They also had a third first-round selection in 2022 after trading back into the first round.
Those five first round picks were used on Zach Wilson, Alijah Vera-Tucker, Gardner, Garrett Wilson, and Jermaine Johnson. The Jets are 26-56 since 2021 and continue to have the longest playoff drought in North American sports. They also haven’t recorded a winning season since 2015 (also the longest in the NFL).
Zach Wilson became one of the biggest draft busts in Jets history, Vera-Tucker has had three season-ending injuries with the Jets, and Gardner was traded to Indianapolis.
Garrett Wilson remains one of the best players on the Jets, but he was limited to seven games this season due to a knee injury. Johnson has dealt with various injuries and hasn’t yet lived up to being a first-round pick. It’s great to have draft flexibility, but it means nothing if the team doesn’t choose the right players.
With the Jets just playing the string out, fans will be happy to know they have moved into the top four in terms of draft position after the loss to the Saints. But in a year where first-year coaches Ben Johnson, Liam Coen, and Mike Vrabel will all be guiding their teams to the playoffs, it has been difficult for Jets fans to stomach another lost season with very little hope in sight.
