New York Jets: Gang Green in Disarray?
Head coach Todd Bowles and his New York Jets finished 10-6 and missed the playoffs in 2015. These days, the Green and White are missing two key components to their team.
In each of the past four NFL seasons, a team has finished 10-6 and managed to miss the playoffs. In 2015, the New York Jets were the unlucky victims. It added up to disappointment despite the fact that the previous year, the club finished with a 4-12 record.
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Now head coach Todd Bowles and general manager Mike Maccagnan have assembled another solid team and added the likes of running backs Matt Forte and Khiry Robinson, nose tackle Steve McClendon and left tackle Ryan Clady via free agency and trades. Outside linebacker Darron Lee was the club’s first-round pick in April.
Some of these additions will offset the free-agent departure of performers such as running back Chris Ivory (Jacksonville Jaguars) and nose tackle Damon Harrison (New York Giants), as well as the retirement of tackle D’Brickashaw Ferguson.
But among the missing these days are the team’s starting quarterback and arguably the club’s best defensive player. Veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick remains unsigned while defensive end Muhammad Wilkerson has yet to sign his franchise tender.
The latest on the journeyman signal-caller, via Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News, involves what has become somewhat of an ugly stalemate between the parties. Figures such as one year and $12 million have been thrown out there and tossed back, with no solution in sight.
How about Wilkerson? In five seasons with the club, the 2011 first-round draft choice has been a versatile performer. He’s amassed 36.5 sacks, knocked down 21 passes and totaled 10 forced fumbles. He comes off his first Pro Bowl campaign and led the Jets with a career-best 12 quarterback traps.
But will he be back with the Green and White? Wilkerson did break his leg in the 2015 season finale at Buffalo. And as far as signing his tender, no luck so far.
“We want to come to an agreement—we want to sign all our good players—but that doesn’t always work out,” said head coach Todd Bowles to Rich Cimini of ESPN this week. “I’m not saying we are or aren’t. Obviously, you want to keep your good players around, but with the rules these days, they make it very hard after four or five years to keep your own. So we’ve got to try to finagle and find ways to do that and have enough money to try to do so.”
The Jets are loaded on the defensive front with the likes of Sheldon Richardson and Leonard Williams, while McClendon takes over for Harrison up the middle. The team also signed free-agent defensive end Jarvis Jenkins earlier this year. But losing Wilkerson would hurt in a big way.
As for the quarterback situation, third-year pro Geno Smith, Bryce Petty and rookie Christian Hackenberg are waiting in the wings, per say. All they would have to do is replace a performer that set a franchise record with 31 touchdown passes in 2015.
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Intact, these Jets are capable of giving the New England Patriots a real run for their money in the AFC East. Splintered, they could fall behind both the Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins in the division.
Whatever the team plans on doing this season when it comes to Fitzpatrick and Wilkerson remains to be seen. And perhaps we will have some answers quite soon. But it’s hard not to have an uneasy feeling when it comes to the Jets these days, a talented club missing two very key components.