TAKING STOCK: 2022 NEW YORK JETS

BY ADAM GREENE

As the final whistle of the 2021-22 regular season echoed, the New York Jets saw their season end with a whimper, losing 27-10 to the Buffalo Bills. It was an inglorious start for head coach Robert Saleh’s tenure as head coach in spite of the fact no one had high expectations to begin with.

There were some positives. While New York lost a lot, they did manage to pick up some huge victories, knocking off the eventual AFC No. 1 seeded Tennessee Titans 27-24 and the eventual AFC Champion Cincinnati Bengals 34-31. They also beat the Jacksonville Jaguars and Houston Texans, so congratulations on that, I guess.

NEW YORK JETS

2021-22 Record: 4-13, fourth place AFC East

Playoffs: N/A

NOW WHAT?

Other than a couple of monster upsets, there’s not a ton to hang your hat on if you’re a Jets fan. No. 2 overall pick Zach Wilson was less than spectacular as a starter, going 3-10 and throwing for 2,334 yards, nine touchdowns and 11 interceptions. And while rookie wideout Elijah Moore flashed, no one can get too pumped after a 43 catch, 538 yard season. Though his five TD catches were nice.

Nothing really worked all that well on the Jets offense, which in turn always put the defense in a bad spot. The Jets hit 30 points just twice and were held to 14 or fewer points six times.

FREE AGENCY

Here’s the good news. The Jets have over $44 million in available cap space as of this writing and play in a city human beings actually want to live in. And regardless of how his first season went, Saleh still has some juice in the NFL and should be able to pull in some players. As with any bad team, New York will have to overpay, but that’s the price for sucking.

Of the free agents they have potentially exiting the building, safety Marcus Maye, QB Joe Flacco, guard Laurent Dubernay-Tardiff and wide receivers Jamison Crowder and Braxton Berrios might be worth bringing back. They have a weakness at corner, but luckily for them free agency is filled with quality guys. Older vets like Chris Harris, Xavier Rhodes and Patrick Peterson could serve as defensive mentors to draft picks and Saleh could pick off a guy like Darious Williams from the Super Bowl Champion Los Angeles Rams if they can’t re-sign him before free agency hits.

DRAFT

Speaking of corners, I had the Jets taking Derek Stingley Jr. out of LSU in April’s draft and, unless a guy like Kayvon Thibodeaux or Aidan Hutchinson falls to four, I’m sticking with it. They could also go with a Tyler Linderbaum or Evan Neal and I don’t think anyone would complain, especially Zach Wilson. If they go with my plan, I have them selecting Charles Cross, OL out of Michigan State, with their second first rounder, No. 10 from the Seattle Seahawks.

AFC EAST

The AFC East belongs to the Buffalo Bills probably for the foreseeable future, but if the Bengals proved anything, it’s that teams can get right in a hurry with the right pieces in place. The problem in New York is, even if you aim just for a Wild Card, you still have the New England Patriots and Miami Dolphins, both teams that finished with winning records in 2021, in the same division.

If the Jets are going to finish any better than fourth, they’re going to have to surprise everyone to do it.

Follow Adam Greene on Twitter @TheFirstMan.

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