On Wednesday, we gave you the reasons to be hopeful. Now it’s time to take a hard look at the New York Jets’ shortcomings. They are plentiful — hence, the 5-11 record — but we’ve narrowed it down to these five:
1. No quarterback: We’re not breaking new ground here, but it bears repeating. The Jets don’t have a starter on the roster and the quarterback is everything in today’s NFL. You saw it in the postseason: No quarterback, no shot. Christian Hackenberg won’t be ready to compete until 2018, if then. Bryce Petty, recovering from surgery on his non-throwing shoulder, is viewed by the organization as a future No. 2. This means the Jets will be active shoppers, looking for a starting quarterback. The problem is, it’s almost impossible to find a savior among veteran castoffs. Year after year, the market is saturated with bridge quarterbacks, which explains why the Jets have spent more time on bridges than toll takers.
2. A shortage of blue chips: Every championship-caliber team needs a few impact players on each side of the ball. The Jets have one: Leonard Williams. Muhammad Wilkerson and Sheldon Richardson used to belong to that category, but they regressed last season. Nearly a decade of bad drafting has gutted the roster. On offense, the last skill-position player drafted by the Jets to make the Pro Bowl (in a Jets uniform) was Keyshawn Johnson in 1999. Forget the Pro Bowl; the only good skill player from the past six drafts was Quincy Enunwa. Ask yourself this question: How many Jets would start on the Patriots? I say no more than five: Williams and James Carpenter for sure; Wilkerson, Richardson and Brian Winters are maybes. That’s it.
3. Few assets: Other than having the sixth pick in the draft, the Jets are short on team-building resources. They have only six draft picks, and they’re not expected to receive any compensatory picks, according to a projection by overthecap.com. The only noteworthy bargaining chip is Richardson, but he likely won’t fetch more than a third-round pick. You can laugh at the Browns, but they have 13 picks, including four in the first two rounds.
4. Two problem areas: Coach Todd Bowles likes to play man-to-man coverage in the secondary, but his cornerback situation is bleak. He wants to employ a balanced offense that can rely on the running game but can’t count on that because the offensive line is in shambles. When a coach can’t do what he wants to do, that’s a problem. The offensive line and secondary used to be areas of strength, but they’ve eroded faster than the beaches on the Jersey shore. Anchors Nick Mangold and Darrelle Revis got old, creating uncertainty in both position groups. Looks for major turnover in both areas.
5. Lack of winning culture: What is the Jets’ identity? What do they stand for? It’s hard to tell. You can blame Bowles and general manager Mike Maccagnan for allowing the train to veer off the rails, but it goes higher than that. It goes all the way up to owner Woody Johnson, whose team-building philosophy changes from regime to regime. He hasn’t created a winning environment; one division title in 17 years isn’t getting it done. He means well — he spared no expense with a state-of-the-art facility — but having a smoothie station in the cafeteria doesn’t win championships. Bowles will need to be a miracle worker to get this turned around in a must-win year.
Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.
