The New York Jets

Record: 4-12

Division: AFC East

Statistics

Draft Picks

Free Agents

Other free agents include: Tanner Purdam, Phillip Adams, John Conner, Jermaine Cunningham, Kenrick Ellis, Bilal Powell, Greg Salas, and Jaiquawn Jarrett

The New Men in Town

The Jets fired Rex Ryan and John Idzik following the 2014 season and hired Todd Bowles from Arizona and Mike Maccagnan from Houston to replace them.

General

The 2014 season for the New York Jets was the final season in Ryan's six-year tenure as head coach. The Jets entered the 2014 offseason with their wallets fatter than Damon Harrison and the fans were just as hungry expecting second-year general manager Idzik to bring home some big snacks in the free agent market. Wide receiver Eric Decker left Peyton Manning to benefit from the passing of a more complete quarterback in New York, but the move wasn't indicative of what was to come.

Cornerback was the biggest hole on the roster following the departure of Antonio Cromartie and Darrelle Revis in consecutive years. By the time injuries to Dee Milliner and 3^rd rounder Dexter McDougle had set in and free agentsigningg Dimitri Patterson fell into the Bermuda Triangle, the Jets defense resembled a circle with its total lack of corners. Despite this need and the Jets massive amount of cap space, highly-touted free agent Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie left his interview without a contract and subsequently signed with the Giants.

The lack of big-name free agent signings was the catalyst to one of the biggest storylines during the Jets season: the campaign to “Fire Idzik”

Perhaps the biggest on-field story line with the Jets season was quarterback position. Sophomore Geno Smith and veteran Michael Vick entered the season as starter and backup, but the expectations were not high for the performance of either. Both quarterbacks had opportunities to start throughout the season, but going into 2015, quarterback is even more of a question mark than before.

The Jets entered the season with a roster that some analysts called “completely devoid of talent”, a head-coach that had narrowly escaped 2014 with his job, and a general manager who’s job was in question even before the draft. Suffice it to say, the writing was on the wall.

High Points

• The Jets defensive line, which was already the best 3-4 unit in the NFL, took a step forward with 2013 DROY, Sheldon Richardson improving his pass-rushing and earning a Second Team All-Pro nod. The unit is young, nasty, and they look to maintain that under new head coach Todd Bowles.

• The Jets jumped out to a big early lead in Week 2 against the Green Bay Packers. This showed the potential of the offense firing on all cylinders, but it was short lived.

• Center Nick Mangold returned to his dominating form. He was named to the Pro-Bowl and PFF graded him as the Best Center in the NFL.

• Geno Smith posts the only perfect passer rating of the season against the Dolphins Week 17.

• On November 9^th, Jaiquawn Jarrett beat the Pittsburgh Steelers by himself. He recorded two interceptions and two tackles for loss, one of which was a sack on the final drive of the game. He came out of nowhere and single-handedly stopped the hottest offense in the NFL at the time and dragged the Jets to one of their four victories on the season.

• Nicholas Alexander Folk "Hero"

Low Points

• The Jets secondary. With injuries to Dee Milliner and Dexter McDougle, the unit was filled with people who had no business being on an NFL field and made the mediocre likes of Teddy Bridgewater and Kyle Orton look like MVPs.
• The Jets finished the season 1-5 in the division with two heart-breaking losses to the eventual Super Bowl Champion Patriots.
• Trade acquisition Percy Harvin added to a wide receiver corps that was much better on paper than on the field.
• Geno Smith threw 3 interceptions on 8 attempts against the Bills in one of the worst games in NFL history.
• The Jets lost 31-0 to San Diego in the season’s first shutout and Michael Vick plays his first snaps as a Jet (I was in attendance, and I was sad.)
• The Titans and Vikings games were some of the lowest points in the season on both sides of each matchup. Especially in the Titans game, it appeared that no one wanted to win and the goal was to play the sloppiest, most undisciplined football, and the winner would get the highest draft pick. In the Vikings game the teams combined for six fumbles and two interceptions, and in a fashion befitting the total shit-show of a game, the Vikings won on an 87-yard touchdown pass in overtime.

Free Agency/Draft Concerns

Quarterback

It’s going to be talked about. Going into the offseason, Geno Smith is the only quarterback on the active roster. The Jets are holding the 6th overall pick in the draft and many draft experts are looking at them to spend it on either Marcus Mariota of Oregon or Jameis Winston of Florida State University. It’s unclear which of these would be a better fit in new offensive coordinator Chan Gailey’s system. There are also several options in free agency including Jake Locker, Christian Ponder, and former Jets QB Mark Sanchez.

Cornerback

Dee Milliner and Dexter McDougle are promising young talent at corner but that’s where the unit’s promise ends. Reports are all over about former Jet Antonio Cromartie wanting to return to the team after working with Bowles in Arizona. Other free agents the Jets might look at are the Texans’ Kareem Jackson and the Chargers’ Brandon Flowers.

Outside Linebacker

Calvin Pace and Quinton Coples have handled the traditional pass rushing duties over the past few seasons, but Pace doesn’t have much left in the tank and Coples has been less than stellar outside of his traditional 4-3 background. With Bowles background as a coach, this might be addressed in the draft, but if they were to go to free agency, Jason Worilds and Brian Orakpo are the biggest names likely to be available.

Safety

Dawan Landry is a free agent, 1^st round pick Calvin Pryor was less-than-stellar and Antonio Allen has shown himself to be a role player, so the Jets will probably be looking into bringing in a safety. If I can put on my homer glasses for a moment, safety Derron Smith out of Fresno State has been the model of consistency for every snap he’s taken and he will be an amazing safety at the NFL level. That being said, a Jets fans dream would be bringing in Bernard Pollard to mentor Pryor and destroy the Patriots while someone like Devin McCourty patrols center field.

Guard

Oday Aboushi and Willie Colon were the starters for most of 2014. Aboushi was serviceable replacing Brian Winters and Colon is a free agent. The Jets will look to strengthen this position. Mike Iupati is the dream here. He would look great between Nick and the Brick.

Final Thoughts

The Jets regressed in 2014 especially on the defensive side of the ball as they bolstered the most inept unit of Ryan’s tenure. The team has truly wiped the slate clean and going into 2015, things can only go up.

Mike Maccagnan was the product of a hiring search conducted by Charlie Casserly and Ron Wolf rather than a singular effort by Woody Johnson. Wolf is regarded as one of the best talent evaluators in NFL history. Todd Bowles worked with the Jets previously and has already assembled an impressive defensive staff including the defensive line coach from Miami and the linebackers coach from Arizona. The two gelling together shows promise, because Maccagnan was so excited to meet Bowles that he drove to the airport. This gesture is apparently fine for Maccagnan but when I do it, it's creepy.

Many people will focus on the things that are going to change with the 2015 squad, so let's take a second to look at some things that will remain consistent. The productive power running game with Chris Ivory should remain more or less the same, although there is speculation of Chan Gailey bringing CJ Spiller into the committee. The defensive line will be the same dominant unit, if not better, that it's been for the past two years.

So, with all the new that the future holds, the fans of Gang Green are like Taylor Swift. As teardrops hit their guitars they somberly croon, "Last offseason, I gave you my heart, the very next day, you gave it away." Will these be another failed chapter in Woody Johnson's ownership? Or is this the group that will make the Jets into a contender once again? And Will Rex Ryan change his tattoo when the Bills wear throwback jerseys?

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Shoutouts to People who helped

Special thanks to /u/soggypoptart for helping put together the statistics and for not ruining my toaster with his moist breakfast-ness

and to /u/yangar and /u/aedeos proofreading because no one else was awake.

and my girlfriend doesn't have a reddit username, but shout out to her for not making fun of me for saying the sentence, "i'm gonna be up late, I have something due on reddit tomorrow"

and of course /u/skepticismissurvival for being the bestest ex-mod not named /u/napoleonbonerparts and for having the fortitude to send out 32 messages to organize this thing. You da man.