A Deep Dive Into The 2024 New York Jets

Intro [Music] what's up everybody oh the Jets the Jets the Jets the Jets that's what everybody's been dropping in the comments for the last few Deep dive reveals saying how the hell are you this high on the New York Jets and yes I am high on the Jets they come in with the number five spot here in my power rankings heading into the 2024 NFL season going to be a really fun Deep dive to to discuss this team discuss this roster and why it is that uh I do believe in the Jets being um honestly at this point a bit of a post hype sleeper after where we were with this team this time of year last year and of course four snaps into their season when Aaron Rogers Achilles popped should be a very fun Deep dive before we do get started if you could take just a second to hit that like button I really do appreciate it if you enjoy this video or have been enjoying the series it's a very easy way and a free way to support my channel it really does help but without further Ado let's go ahead and get started as always taking a look at this team's off season Offseason Changes and in the case of the Jets I think a lot of the people that think the Jets are overrated are sleeping on how much better this team got over the off season now while I am higher on the Jets ironically the very first thing we talk about in the pecking order of things is maybe the worst thing about this team and this team offseason and that is that the coaching staff is staying neutral they choose to retain Nathaniel Hackett for Aaron Rogers his best buddy there running the offense really the two of them together and we saw what a Nathaniel Nathaniel hacket offense looks like in Denver it was putrid and we had to see it again last year removed from Aaron roders yes they didn't have a great situation by any stretch of the imagination but they were like running into a hurricane they couldn't get anything to work so it's retained from last year it's not downgraded hopefully it'll be a little bit better of course with Aaron Rogers chemistry with him and having Aaron Rogers as a quasi play caller within this offense but the coaching staff itself is staying neutral and um you could definitely make the case that if this thing goes ay um not getting in Aaron's ear a little bit and being like hey we we respect you but we're going to give you a real offensive coordinator here to to help you could be something that ultimately holds this this team back um but beyond that this off season was really under the radar incredible for the Jets just from the quarterback perspective alone they go from Zack Wilson Tim Bole and Trevor Simeon these guys were in a week- toe competition with the Falcons for the worst quarterback play in the league and they get back not just Aaron Rodgers which is obviously a massive Improvement I think whatever you think about Aaron Rogers it's a huge Improvement and Tyrod Taylor who him alone would be an upgrade from whatever they had last year as the backup here they did learn their lesson in that sense of okay if Aaron goes down let's have a competent veteran to run the offense so you don't need me to explain why the quarterback room is massively upgraded but it obviously is and is a resounding reason for my optimism on this team but then at running back I left this as neutral you do have some changing parts Dalvin cook and Michael Carter were let go in the back end of last season and they did spend a pair of early day three picks on brillin Allen out of Wisconsin and Isaiah Davis then at tight end they let go of CJ Usama and they didn't add anybody to the tight end room I do want to note for the tight end room in really any spot throughout this deep dive I'm recording this at uh 3:40 eastern time Wednesday the 28th so they only have two tight ends on the roster I imagine they're looking around at cuts and we'll probably bring in a tight end three somewhere um but maybe maybe they'll bring CJ Usama back I I don't know but there will probably be a name in there um within the next couple of days that they do add at wide receiver definitely upgraded I mean Rand cob gave them nothing they lose him and they add Mike Williams in free agency and draft Malachi cor Corley in the third round so some nice additions to the Weaponry much needed additions to the weaponry and then for the offensive line again I say massively upgraded they did lose a couple like you know Baseline mid starters from last year lak Tomlinson and McKai beckon played a lot of snaps for them was actually surprised to see that beckon made it through 89% of their snaps healthy and lak and Tomlinson 99% of their snaps so they were the only real like Baseline starters that they had in the offensive line they do lose those guys and Conor McGovern decent enough Center but he only played a third of their snaps last year um but their additions are crazy man they get Tyron Smith one of the kind of lands of free agency they're able to sort of pry him away from Dallas who I think wanted to retain Tyron Smith who had a I can't say a career year cuz he's had a Hall of Fame career but he definitely bounced back to look kind of close to what he was in his prime so even if you're going to miss some games for him that's a huge addition reminds me of Miami getting teron Armstead in free agency a little bit but then they steal Morgan Moses from the Ravens who I've been saying on this channel for the last two years really since he left the Jets the first time that he's one of the more underrated players in the entire NFL I for the life of me don't understand why the Ravens um you know sent him away for a mid- round draft pick a great move by the Jets they do get Elijah verit Tucker back for now we'll see if he can stay healthy that's been an issue for him but he's healthy now talented guard when he plays he only played 23% of their snaps last year and then they also spent a first round pick on a really talented Olu fashanu who would probably be a top eight pick in pretty much any draft class this just happened to be a crazy draft at the top so they get a you know the best backup tackle in the NFL basically that could be their future left tackle as well these are like wild additions for an offense here and then you look at the defensive side of things and they they're mostly status quo with what was one of the best defenses in the NFL last year that dragged the Jets to seven wins despite being on the field constantly and overall they might be turned down maybe 2% from what they were last year but even in the positions that they lost talented players they added people as well so on the interior of the defensive line they do let Quinton Jefferson go they actually gave Javon kinla a decent sum of money like one year 7.2 million he had a mini breakout for the ners last year after being a bit of a bust of a first round pick Robert Sol is familiar with him um they bring him in very similar typee of player to Quinton Jefferson as that pocket pushing rotational pass rusher that doesn't really stop the run um but they do get younger than Quinton Jefferson who's into his 30s so I do say neutral in terms of the output from the interior of the defensive line on the edge I say slightly downgraded I think they're trying to open up some snaps for their first round pick Will McDonald last year and Franklin Myers does play some from the interior as well although less than I expected to see it was really only about 20% of his snaps they have the depth to make a decision like this it was obviously something I mean they got a six a future six round pick for him like they essentially cut him to save cap they clearly feel like they're equipped to replace what they got from him um but it is a it is a productive piece from last year's defense that uh wasn't necessarily replaced here um now the Bryce Huff for Hassan reck swap was an interesting one Hoff signs with the Eagles in free agency and then the Eagles trade Hassan reic to the Jets I am going to operate under the assumption that Hassan reik will take the field for the Jets I don't think he has that much leverage and ultimately I think they will they they might work something out as well um to get him on a contract that that he's happy to play Under obviously something to monitor but beyond that he definitely makes sense as a swap for Bryce tough two very talented kind of pass rush Specialists you could certainly argue H reic is an upgrade from Bryce Huff but I don't know that it quite makes up for the difference in losing John Franklin Meyers um you know we'll we'll break down this whole defensive line later on ultimately I'm not too worried about it but I do think you know two bodies is better than one in this case and it is slightly downgraded um at linebacker literally no change at all you love to see that it's a good room same thing with corner all all they did was add a interesting fifth round pick in uh CFL Superstar quantz stigers and then at safety um you know I I do think Jordan Whitehead overall is just better than Chuck Clark ever so slightly so I do say that's slightly downgraded especially with Chuck Clark coming off of an injury but he's had more than enough time to recover he got hurt around this time last year before the season even started pretty close to an eye for an eye and nothing I'm horribly worried about but whad did make some plays for them and they don't have him back um they did bring in Isaiah Oliver and then uh I guess in the process of making this video uh Jaylen key got released I do imagine he'll be back in the practice squad that was Mr Irrelevant we'll just leave him up there on the graphic he'll he'll be around as a call up opportunity I'm sure and then special teams staying neutral as well so I think you can start to see the kind of framework for why I'm even more optimistic about this Jets team this year than it was last year last year we headed into the season seon with a lot of questions about the offense you look at their off seon they got a lot better there and and didn't get really worse on the defense with the exception of John Franklin Myers that I think they have a very sound plan to replace him but we will dive into the roster position by position break down this team in depth Coach & Scheme but first I do want to talk about this coaching staff in general this is a a point of negativity when people discuss the Jets and I think when it relates to Nathaniel Hackett as we already talked about a little bit that is more than fair but I do think it's kind of carried over to Robert Salah a little bit in a bit of an unfair way and you could argue it's his job to make sure he has a good offensive coordinator to support him as the defensive mind but I also just don't know just how much power he has to do that within the structure of this organization with Aaron Rodgers it's kind of a deal with the devil that they've made bringing in an Aaron Rogers who a big part of why he's so happy is that he gets a say in some of this stuff so it it is a tradeoff but I think if you're a Jets fan you're like I'd still rather have Aaron Rodgers and deal with Nathaniel Hackett as the offensive coordinator and deal with paying Alan Lazard a little bit then Jesus I don't know jacobe brassette as your quarterback like where would they be without that right so it's still a trade-off you'll make but back to Robert Sol like he's a great freaking defensive mind man I don't fully understand all the hate he gets and you guys know I'm as big of a give me the offensive head coach I think it builds a a larger and um you know more sustainable long-term window to have that offensive Guru as your dude at the top of the the food chain with your coaching staff but I have also consistently held if you are going to have a defensive head coach the dude better be an elite defensive coach and Robert Sal absolutely is he was for years in San Francisco I think he was ingal in the sort of restoration of the defensive culture in San Francisco that had completely Fallen by the wayside from like 2016 to 2018 I think solah really got that organization set on the right path um defensively and then the job he's done with this Jets defense is incredible you know his first season was not great I had my questions about his early impact with this Jets team but very similar to what we're seeing with Matt ibrao and the Bears sometimes it just it takes work to let your coaching influence kind of spread throughout the team throughout the organization and by a year two you saw it and that was before Aaron Rogers was ever here I mean the 2022 New York Jets defense was excellent and then you have last year where you have all this hype you've constructed this entire offensive framework really under the wing of Aaron Rodgers with all of his guys Nathaniel Hackett and Allen Lazard the engine of that whole idea is taken away from you four snaps into the season and this was an unwatchable offense for essentially 18 straight weeks other than that showing against the Chiefs where Zach Wilson like switched jerseys with Patrick Mahomes for a night but honestly as all this was happening I got a lot of respect for Robert Salah because that defense so so easily could have just crumbled right when you were on the field constantly and you had all these hopes ripped out like right up from under you like that this team so easily could have folded and Robert Salah didn't let that happen this defense continued to play extremely hard they were still one of the best defenses in the league and they kept this team season alive they went seven and 10 with I would say let's just say tied for the worst quarterback play in the league among plenty of other issues as well in the offensive side of the ball and I think that just goes overlooked a lot because I've seen a lot of people saying Robert Salah is like this terrible coach and ranking the Jets fifth is stupid because of Robert Salah and I'm like I mean you can have your other reasons but I think he's a really solid to good overall head coach and a great defensive mind now do I think he's established himself as like the forever coach of the New York Jets no I I don't but I still think he's a very good NFL head coach um kind of smack dab in the middle ranking 17th for me and as you'll see the the defensive rankings from a coaching perspective are very high on the Jets they get second to sixth for p defense coaching and six to 10th for run defense coaching so I got to defend Salah a little bit um you also have to note by the way they have jeffri who as soon as this Jets team starts winning football games rri is going to be getting head coaching interviews unless he's just happy to be right next to Robert Salah coaching up the linebackers out of the spotlight kind of like Chris kachurik was under Salah in San Francisco but the job jeffri has done with linebackers from you know Bobby Wagner KJ Wright Dion Jones in Atlanta to now C J Mosley having some of his best career years and Quincy Williams playing like an allp proo last year one of the most respected position coaches in the league this is a in my mind a defensive coordinator caliber guy next to Robert Salah this is a an excellent assistant kind of Quasi head coach of the defense caliber guy next to him that that makes this all the better on the defensive mind I think they have a a great sort of chemistry between the two of them their vision for this defense is very consistent together so I love that I I think he will be a head coach in the league someday at 47 years old and we have seen teams around the league looking to replicate this scheme right the ners have continued to run it the Texans with demo Ryan who was under Robert Salah the Packers just hired someone that was a part of that staff under Salah in Jeff Halley to be their defensive coordinator the Jets obviously were looking to replicate this scheme I think any team that wants to you know get a little bit of this defensive system Jeff orri can uh can be that next guy and and that's another Testament to Robert Salah by the way anytime you have a coaching tree running your scheme in the league that speaks volumes to um what you're accomplishing X's and O's wise and with that we should talk about what Sal's scheme is a little bit so at the core it's a 4-2 defense but they love to kind of spread out those de alignment a little bit they love wide n fronts in New York and they love running stunts from those wide n alignments whether you're taking that kind of four ey or a three te who's lined up in between the tackle and the guard and using that defensive end to be the disruptor kind of slant him at the tackle but the guards still has to you know block the guy and then you're taking those Edge rushers and wrapping them in behind them your classic te stunt there your tackle end stunt um but they'll run ET stunts where the end is the disruptor and the defensive tackle is an athletic body someone like a John Franklin Meers or quinnon Williams or Javon kinlock Quinton Jefferson they love these athletes up front and they love a guy like Germaine Johnson who can come in from a wide alignment just collapse The Tackle into the guard and then that athletic defensive tackle is going to wrap around the outside and get a free rush they run Coffee House stunts off of that where you're faking faking like you're going to do one thing and then you get the guards or the tackles to over over account for that pass the guy off and then all of a sudden they just passed off a free rusher Robert Salah going all the way back to San Francisco has been a true Master at running stunts up front and really crafting his defensive front in a way that just is an absolute Head Case to block and that same sort of mentality applies to their run defense they play with these lot lighter bodies in the trenches and this is exactly what we talked about with the Texans Deep dive where this system allows them to have some of these lighter defensive tackle bodies while still stopping the run because you know they they just ask these guys to split gaps they have these guys slanting in a bunch of different directions right at the snap basically causing chaos at the snap making it you know creating that feeling like you are running into a hurricane deleting that sort of normaly in the Run game where okay it's duo we got the guard in the center we're just going to go you know take this three Tech and climb right up to the linebacker well they'll throw wrinkles in all those Rules by slanting guys out of position and tapping into their athleticism more so than their play strength and size and if you're going to do that you have to have nasty heady linebackers like a CJ Mosley Quincy Williams Fred Warner Dre Greenlaw Dem o Ryan is trying to recreate that in Houston as well with those dudes it's a non-negotiable part of this defense to have really good linebackers in a defense like this and another thing that this mentality is really effective for is I mean this is a bit of a tangent but I wanted to bring it up at some point in this deep dive series because it's a thought I've had watching these defenses this summer um you know there is this play action revolution in the NFL and a big reason play action is so effective is is cuz it helps out your pass protection most teams when they see run their defensive linemen by default are going to be playing horizontally Gap discipline right they won't be rushing up field like you would in a passing situation well if this is your approach where even against the Run you're splitting gaps and getting up field if teams want to run play action on you they are going to lose the advantage of you know forcing D lineman to play horizontally these defenses want to play north and south and get aggressive and it it I think is a a very under the radar reason these types of kind of 42 fronts work really well in the league right now that was a lot but I just have a lot of respect for what they do with their front in uh in New York but uh from a coverage perspective it is actually a lot of cover four which I've had my criticisms of with a lot of the kind of Vic fangio tree coaches but they're smart about cover four they don't run it on Third and two and give you a free release like they understand the weaknesses of Cover 4 where it it will open up those under underneath throws much more so they'll either not call cover four in those situations or they will press out of Cover 4 and trust these Corners to be on an island outside and then it kind of Grants these safeties permission to kind of lurk underneath so their cover four often times looks a lot different than you'll see from like a Vic fangio or Joe Berry or someone like that and when you have DJ and SAS Gardner you can do that because it is dangerous to press out of cover for it's essentially like cover zero where if you do get beat over the top you're not going to have safety help if they're running you know down the down the boundary um but if they got the guys to do it why not so obviously the utmost respect for the defensive coaching here for the Jets now offensively it's a it's a much shorter and much more negative conversation now I do actually put Aaron roders up there as a part of the offensive coaching and I do think things will look better than what they did in New York last year because they can't look any worse but Aaron Rogers is a very particular quarterback and you hear people say with Rogers all the time like he's an offensive coordinator's worst nightmare because he needs the power to like change the offensive play and you can never get into a rhyth a rhythm as an offensive mind you can't really set stuff up because he's just going to muddy up your game plan and you know I think if if Matt leflour is your offensive coordinator and he's shown what he's shown now without him you might have a point to make there right but not everybody can have a Matt leflour for one but also like it's not like Rogers walking up to the line of scrimmage taking 20 years of knowledge as at this point the highest IQ quarterback in the league within what I believe to be a photographic member it's not like saying okay walk up to the line with two basically two options on the play look at the defense and go with the go with the call that's going to work against that coverage and then also have all these little subtle hand signals that you've repped with your receivers that teams can't key off on it's not like that's not a really effective thing to have and that was a real thing still working for Aaron Rogers in Matt lefleur's offense for to basically walk up to the line of scrimmage look at the defense and then give a certain smile or you know touch his hip or scratch his nose and Devonte Adams knew all right I need to change my route to what Aaron's expecting here that's freaking like unique and uncoverable so there is an asset here that is probably like not appreciated enough and they were counting on on having that last year right they were like well we know Nathaniel hacket is not a great offensive mind but he knows what Aaron likes to do cuz he was there in Green Bay he'll let Aaron do what he wants to do and sure that's not going to result in perfect scheming and you know top 10 offensive coaching if you will and constantly getting Guys open for him and using pre- snap Motion in creative ways and all these predictive play calls and all that stuff that is good to have within your off as well but it's going to provide a unique aspect that no other team has as well and and an uncoverable aspect in many ways so I do put him up there it's it is a real thing yes Nathaniel Hackett is still designing the plays and putting in the Playbook putting in the plan calling the plays but Aaron is going to have just as much power within this offense um to to put this thing together so we'll see how it kind of looks looks I I'm not going to rank them very high they're dead last in both pass game and Run game coaching and I actually think it could be better than that I think it could be something like the 18th best run offense um which would obviously be a massive Improvement here but that would be because of Aaron rogers's influence not because of Nathaniel Hackett it's a very unique conversation from a schematic point of view it's really hard to even say what the scheme is going to be I do imagine the core of the Run game will still be that under Center um wide Zone stuff and I think Aaron himself grew to appreciate a lot of the wide Zone play action stuff um within that leflour offense so I imagine we'll still see a lot of that and that's kind of what the scheme was when Rogers went down was they just kind of reverted to the Matt laflor Playbook without all of the other good stuff that Matt leflour brings to the table so I do imagine we'll see some of those kind of Shanahan influences as well um but we'll probably see a lot of the kind of old Mike McCarthy stuff too where it's like all right we're just calling slant flats and Garrett Wilson's on basically a hot route from Aaron roders going to make a couple checks if it's not there Aaron's going to improvise it might not sound like much and sometimes it isn't but that's also just a large part of what's made Aaron Rogers a first ballot Hall of Famer so um again very unique conversation to have there should be fun to continue to monitor this season but that does make for a very easy transition into the roster breakdown where we do start with the quarterback Quarterback so we can start to talk about Aaron a little more as a passer here and you know for those that think the Jets at number five is too high I would say 90% of you it's just cuz you don't trust that Aaron Rogers Achilles is going to hold up and honestly if that's your opinion on it I can't really argue with you about that you got to gut feeling that that thing's going to pop again and they're going to be back to where they were last year more power to you for me I don't see any reason to believe that that's going to happen like Kurt Cousins popped his Achilles two months after Aaron roders and nobody's talking about him not being able to stay on the field for the Falcons so I am looking at this from the lens that Aaron Rogers is going to be there for the Jets and it's also really hard to know like if the Achilles popped because he's 40 or if it was just bad luck it was a non-con injury right that happens to 21y olds so that is obviously a critical Factor here but I am operating operating under the assumption that he is going to stay healthy that it is unlikely that he has a season ending injury again he might get banged up and that's why it's great that Tyrod T Tyrod Taylor is here but having followed Rogers career thoroughly growing up a Packers fan really kind of fell in love with the game because of Aaron roders being in his prime honestly I don't even know if this channel exists um without Aaron Rogers being the player he was in his prime and and I'm I'm at this point I'm very open to the fact that like I'm an Aaron Rogers truther like I got the Jersey right there I'm I'm a I want to see him get another ring I hate the way people discuss um you know the last three years of his career and and finally kind of playing poorly in playoff games they act like that's his whole career I'm very open at this point about the fact that I'm I'm an Aaron Rogers Homer and if you want to just ignore my analysis on this entire team because of that that's your own prerogative but I will say because I am such an Aaron Rogers apologist I do bring a unique perspective and I can say with confidence that I have watched every single dropback of this player's career every single one and there are not three better quarterbacks in the history of the NFL when a healthy Aaron Rogers takes takes the football field hell I I would go as far as arguing Patrick Mahomes is the only one that has a case and I know without a doubt as we have Aaron Rogers ranked right here as the seventh overall quarterback in the league with kind of a medical flag kind of ranking him out with some regression factored in here as as an 86g graded player that's nowhere near the caliber of quarterback that Aaron Rogers is capable of playing at and is by the way not far removed from playing at that level and this is the other part of this conversation is how good is Aaron Rodgers now today again I think there is some regression there right like I think his arm has reduced maybe 5 10% of what it was in his prime like I said I've watched every throw of this guy's career I can tell you know what his fast ball looks like now compared to what it did in 2014 it's still great but it's not what it was back then and from a Mobility perspective the last two years of his career he couldn't quite break as many sacks he wasn't quite as athletic on the run but still his pocket presence gives him an elite ability to manage that pocket to buy time within the pocket still to me the best pocket presence in the NFL there's not a quarterback in the history of the league in my opinion that is good at feeling that pressure maneuvering that space buying an angle here stepping up there no when he needs to get out of the pocket but also knowing when he's got great protection he can trust it he can stay in that pocket for 8 seconds and wait for a high high quality throw that find me the quarterback that's better at that than Aaron roggers you can't and you go back to 2022 now to as we talk about what Aaron Rodgers is going off of that 2022 tape the last time he played a full season that guy's still there yes his efficiency went down his pass protection was horrible in the first half of the year his wide receiver one was Alan Lazard until Garrett Wilson emerged in the last two months of the season when by the way Rogers started playing at a much higher level in the second half of that year that Packers team with a horrible defense and not a good surrounding cast after trading away Aaron Rogers was still a week 18 game away from going to the playoffs that Packers team was nowhere near as talented as this Jets team and the two years before 2022 he was an MVP backto back so to me if I'm ranking who he is off of the 2022 tape to me that's the third or fourth best quarterback in the league still if you can plug him into a real situation with adequate pass protection an actual wide receiver to throw to and not having to score 30 points a game absolutely but now we have to slap the Achilles injury on top of that and that's where I just don't know how much that's going to slow him down further and and that's where even further regression is projected here if last year coming off of 2022 maybe regressing a little bit but also reason to believe things can get better in a better situation I had him as an elite graded quarterback a 90 overall player now the Achilles does the arm and the athleticism dip down a little bit more and he's even less of his old self I think that's very possible and how we have him rated here now as a tier 2 quarterback not a year one quarterback and the seventh best overall quarterback in the league the Achilles injury definitely throws a wrinkle in in terms of what he really is but I do feel pretty good about two things number one is Aaron Rodgers is tough as [ __ ] this guy has played through partial ACL tears broken thumbs ankle sprains I've seen it all and his work ethic to recover from those injuries is sensational so not only do I think Aaron is a guy that's going to put in the time and effort to recover from this injury but also to take care of his body into his 40s to continue to play at a high level but I also believe we're only just scratching the surface in terms of where we are with modern sports science seems like every year we become more and more wow with how guys are playing well into their 30s and how players are able to respond from injuries like Achilles and acl's that 15 20 years ago felt like career Enders and man you look at some of the clips and the way they're talking about Aaron at Jets camp right now and he seems to be moving around and slinging The Rock just fine so I do think he can come back and play maybe not like his you know Elite Prime Self but like a top eight quarterback in the league ultimately though I do understand that that is far from a given I recognize the potential for this to go south and if you're kind of leaning towards the side of doubting that this can happen I get it man not really even worth arguing about at this point we're going to find out in about a week how he looks and then over the course of the next couple of months if he can stay healthy but the other thing too as we kind of transition now towards the rest of the roster and this team is the reality is he he probably doesn't have to even play at this level that might be a bit of a more optimistic projection for how he plays if he drops down even another tier and plays something like a Kurt Cousins for example I still think that's good enough for the Jets to win a Super Bowl this year so let's start to turn the page and see what the rest of this roster looks like and why I feel that way um I before we do that I do want to mention the backup a little bit more here Tyrod Taylor I think we have addressed it a little bit but really good signing I mean he stepped in in a horrible situation with the other New York team last year with a horrible o line nobody to throw to and he kind of kept the offense alive made some really exciting you know deep throws and play extension he's a really like tough smart veteran type he does have his overall limits of course the arm Talent the accuracy the pocket presence the overall processing and decision-making aren't at a NFL starter level from a week- toe perspective but if some of Aaron roders other durability questions pop up you know this is a guy that has had a lot of Seasons where he's dealing with something whether it's a sprained ankle or a broken thumb or a broken rib whatever it might be if something like that were to pop up with Rogers you can lean on the side of caution with Tyrod Taylor and just like we said this is a team that can definitely support a Tyrod Taylor and still continue to win football games I will reiterate this team went seven- 10 with Zach Wilson Trevor Simeon and Tim Bole at quarterback last year so I think it was a really good move to go get Tyrod and it does it does raise the floor a little bit even if it doesn't necessarily raise the ceiling like I don't really think they have a Super Bowl ceiling with Tyrod Taylor but now let's go to more of Weapons the position players here and unfortunately what does become a bit of a theme at least on the offensive side of the ball are the injury risks related to this Jets team not just Aaron Rogers but now as we look at the weapons they have a major question mark player in Mike Will Williams and in terms of ranking this group of weapons for the Jets they come in with a C+ grade which ranks 25th to 27th but I want to make that very clear that that is factoring in the health risk on a guy like Mike Williams if you could guarantee me a full season of Mike Williams this would jump up a tier into that B minus tier more of a top 20 group in a league crowded with good groups of weapons but teams maybe like Baltimore or Green Bay where we've said this is a really good group that is more than enough to kind of get this team where they need to go so I think if you have a healthy Mike Williams that's where you are if you don't this is a group that does have some more question marks and again ranks a little closer to the bottom portion of the league and we'll talk more about Mike Williams but I do want to start with Garrett Wilson and your questions about this wide receiving Corp have nothing to do with Garrett Wilson and I really just mostly pick back up where we were in this video last year with Garrett Wilson where I expect that leap to come from him I think he's a Transcendent Talent poised for that real breakout season to emerge as one of the true Alpha wide receivers in the league something close to a top five to 10 guy enter that tier of true Alpha wide receivers someone that can line up inside and out threaten to all three levels of the defense produce after the catch and just be someone that you can truly make your first read consistently and funnel your offense through I think Garrett Wilson has shown on tape that he is more than capable of being that guy the problem is he just hasn't had the quarterback play to support him getting the production to justify putting him up into that group of wide receivers where there are just some really really special talents in the NFL but if Aaron stays healthy do I expect Garrett Wilson to climb into that tier be let's just say it a fantasy football Superstar one of the top five receivers in football from a production standpoint being Aaron Rogers number one target which has consistently led to guys being one of those top wide receivers whether it was Devonte Adams or Jordy Nelson and Garrett Wilson is even more talented than those guys so I'm all in with a healthy Aaron Rogers on Garrett Wilson taking that leap and and hell even if it does become Tyrod Taylor here I still think he could be poed for the best year of his career and as long as they have Garrett Wilson this is not going to to be an incompetent group of weapons but I do think if the Jets want this to be a group of weapons that can realistically support their Super Bowl aspirations having Mike Williams mostly healthy this year is is a is a pretty big part of that now I do think people have just looked at Mike Williams and said yeah well of course he's going to get hurt he's basically not on the Jets and okay that's a little harsh here and a little detached from reality is this an injury-prone player and has he shown to be an injury-prone player throughout his career yes absolutely but he has much more historically been one of these guys that deals with stuff throughout the course of the season and misses anywhere from three to five games on average last year he did go down with the ACL tear and that happened week three so you look at it and say okay he only played 167 snaps last year right but he had played at least 700 snaps that's a good 12 games or so on average in five straight Seasons the only other sort of season ending injury he's had was in his rookie season in 2017 and honestly the fact that it was a week three injury last year bodess well for the Jets because he has had almost 12 months to recover from this ACL injury he's fully healthy right now and should very much be good to go so I'm accounting for the injury risk I knocked them down a whole tier but there is plenty of reason to believe that he can play a lot more than people think and be a bigger impact here than people think and honestly in terms of how he fits with this Jets team and with Aaron Rodgers it is the perfect fit as that true big bodied xwide receiver stick him on the outside you have Garrett Wilson to move around and run all of the routes you need but Mike Williams can stick on the outside run goes Slants and come backers here with with Aaron Rogers and that's what I'm most excited about is Aaron Rodgers is maybe the best back shoulder comeback thrower ever I know I've been just glazing up Aaron roders but really that's like his signature throw is having that sort of Mind meld with these wide receivers with the timing and placement of these throws where he is so accurate to put that ball near near the sideline at the exact moment when the wide receiver just needs to turn around show a little body control that ball is only where the wide receiver can get it and in the case of Mike Williams that catch radius is expanded this is a player with excellent um you know uh physicality to box out Defenders for those types of catches but also just the ball tracking the hands and the body control to have those toet tapping catches on the sideline and I feel like Mike was a little slow to develop that with Justin Herbert but we were really starting to see that come along just as things kind of fell off there with the ACL last year so I really think he's the perfect fit in this offense and I I think if you're the Jets you're hoping he can play enough in the regular season that he can prove and establish that he works with Aaron roggers that they have that timing and that chemistry down and if he's going to miss six games that's a hurdle you have to overcome that you still have to find ways to win in those games but this is much more about making sure Mike Williams is healthy come playoff time cuz that is ultimately all that matters and if you can get him healthy for three or four games in the playoffs that could be a game Cher for the Jets and I think that's a lot more realistic of a projection for Mike Williams than I think people realize so really like this signing and it was it was a good move for Mike too he's he's 30 years old he goes somewhere that he knows is a perfect fit oneyear $15 million contract he's going to set himself up to hit free agency again or get a big deal here with the Jets kind of betting on himself and man I know we account for the injury risk but I am leaning towards a positive outcome here from him but beyond Mike Williams and in those games where he is likely to miss time or if he is massively regressed from the ACL or gets injured for the season again you do open up a lot of questions now Rogers is not unfamiliar with having a true Alpha and then basically nobody else other than a good receiving back he had had that for effectively three years when it was Devonte Adams Aaron Jones and like Allan Lazard and Marquez Valdez scantling he won multiple MVPs with that so it's not that Rogers can't make that happen but even within those MVP Seasons you saw some frustrating performances and you just ideally would would make things a little easier on Aaron especially as he's getting up in age and potentially regressing a little bit as we talked about so after Mike it does seem that Xavier Gibson is going to as their next leading snap getter if you will but I do definitely think this is going to be a big rotation for wide receiver 3 and of course you expect there will be weeks where you know Lazard or Corley are stepping in as as you know a starter if Mike Williams isn't available um but Gibson's an explosive kind of um undersized diamond in the rough type he came from Steven F Austin we really don't know too much about him and we really don't know too much about him because he made the team undrafted last year and unless you were diving into stepen F Austin tape which I I didn't have Xavier Gibson on my radar coming into the draft forgive me but obviously everything that existed in the structure of this Jets offense last year you basically throw out it was a disaster from the o line to the quarterback to the receivers to the um play calling obviously you're expecting this to be a a situation that's much more conducive to his success but definitely fits the mold of that sort of Juiced up 5'9 Speedy slot call him I don't know if you fully go gadget like I don't know that he's shown great run after catch ability or anything like that but I do think projecting him as the slot receiver option here makes a lot of sense right you have your doit all Garrett Wilson who can move inside and out but can play outside Mike Williams your ex Gibson's projecting and a lot of their 11 personnel to be that sort of slot wide receiver and um in an ideal situation he can emerge as kind of Rogers Randall Cobb in that role and he got to play behind Randle Cobb last year and an amazing mentor to have for that position and I think it's more than reasonable to kind of put the up arrow on him given that he's so unproven haven't hasn't really even established himself as um a starting caliber player but like like I don't expect him to be a superstar or anything but can he be a useful slot player in a role that fits him with Aaron Rogers as his quarterback I I do think so so they're relatively excited about him and and sort of the you know diamond in the rough potential is always exciting when a guy did test really well comes from a small small level of competition and and kind of looks the part at the next level um there's there's a real chance for him to emerge as a piece but only time will tell there we can't rank him out too high because he just hasn't really shown much in the NFL um but I do expect like he's not going to be the fullon like number three wide receiver I think depending on kind of what they want and what they're looking for there will be a bit of a rotation there you do still have Alan Lazard on this roster and look man when they gave him four years 44 million I threw up a little bit I've been trying to say for years like alen Lazard without Aaron Rodgers is a player that comes into the league undrafted can't make a bad Jacksonville Jaguars receiving core and then on a Jets team that needed somebody to step up ends up getting benched and is kicking soccer balls around during practice he is not a talented player he's oversized he's 65 225 lbs does not create separation he's a poor route Runner he cannot release from press at the line of scrimmage cuz he has no foot speed no acceleration no technique and there's not even a point in him being 6'5 220 lbs cuz he's incredibly soft at the catch point and has poor ball skills he has frustrating drops left and right right and his contested catch win rate is down there with what you would expect from someone like a Xavier Gibson now for whatever reason him and Aaron Rogers do have some bit of a chemistry together and Rogers does trust him to be the guy that's going to consistently get that check get that hand signal be on the same page with him he seems to like him off the field as well and if that resumes um Lazard presumably will play he will presumably get targets here and as a result of playing with Aaron Rodgers as opposed to Zach Wilson he should return to at least being like a very very low Baseline starting caliber wide receiver when he's on the field again with Aaron Rodgers now I also think that even Aaron Rogers might just be done with Lazard now getting to see talented players like Mike Williams Come into the building developing more of a chemistry with Garrett Wilson Xavier Gibson and seeing Alan Lazar just quit on this team last year I'd like to think that Aaron is going to kind of put Alan Lazard in a box somewhere and Tuck him away and that the moment this team gets an opportunity to move on from this contract they will but there is just no guarantee that that's going to happen and if he's playing football you might get some decent moments but you are going to have just as many if not more but you are going to have just as many moments if not more where you're pulling your hair out cuz he drops a slant on Third and six that ends up a critical play in the game and I'm also scared that in those games that Mike Williams gets hurt they're going to just put Alan Lazard in that role because he's also tall and think he can do that stuff Ellen Lazard is a putrid outside wide receiver he cannot do the stuff that Mike Williams does in terms of body control and ball skills and winning go balls if Alan Lazard is good at anything it is as that big slot wide receiver his slot Fades are like pretty nice I would say if if there's one good thing he does it's running a slot fade from from the slot obviously and the other useful thing he does have for this team as they currently only roster two tight ends is he does block and I do think he'll have a role as that like quasi tight end kind of the um the Cooper cup roll that we talked about with the Rams Deep dive Jan Jennings for the Niners where he's an oversized wide receiver that can kind of you know crack down if you want to run toss and seal off that um like he can crack down on a defensive end or a linebacker like he has the size to do that so there are some things he can do for this team and in an incredibly tiny role in this offense if you just focus on the couple things that he does actually do well maybe you can get a little something out of that contract from Lazard but honestly if he just doesn't play and Aaron Rogers just kind of forgets he exists cuz he's got much more talented players here that's fine by me too and then you have Malachi Corley who I think is a really fun pick here the thing is like Rogers just does not like rookie wide receivers we've talked a lot about his sort of like very nuanced specific ways he wants to run an offense is predicated on understanding his signals understanding what to look for in the defense and what his signals mean what when when he's changing route or checking you into a bubble screen and in that 2022 season with the Packers when he was surrounded by rookie wide receivers he clearly had enough of it like guys doing the wrong thing setting the team up for failure and it's just it's going to take a long time for corle to really get targets and and earn Aaron's trust I do think the Jets would be smart though and Aaron should be perfectly willing to at least use him in a bit of a gadget role because that I mean he was a legit weapon in as that sort of running back who's playing wide receiver he drew a lot of Debo Samuel comps he's not as explosive he's not as big as Debo he's probably never going to be as good as Debo but in terms of like his play style and how you should use him yes absolutely he is tough as Nails after the catch really good contact balance really good elusiveness in space and he did some stuff running Slants running digs where he showed the ability to separate at top of his route so he's a talented player and I think even in a small role he could make an impact and make some plays for this team but I also wouldn't rule out him kind of emerging as the season goes on it's not going to happen in the first 10 weeks of the Season really but one thing that we've seen with Rogers is once he comes to respect your work ethic and your knowledge of the game that can develop really quickly we saw that even with Alan Lazard when he stepped in to Green Bay we saw it with Christian Watson within that rookie season and if he can get that to catch he's going to be in business I think he was a really talented player um who had honestly become a became a value when the Jets I think came up in the draft to get him to make sure they can get that weapon after they went offensive tackle in the first round and ultimately I think he's he can become a little bit of a sort of wildcard factor for this Jets team to give them a little bit more juice in this group of weapons so it's not a guarantee but but definitely something to keep an eye out for um and then you got a couple of kind of undrafted types as well making this team Jason browley and Charles Irvin those are your wide receivers then you get to the tight ends two of them uh Tyler Concklin is he's good for what he is and he actually has the best contested catch win rate um among tight ends over the last two years he he's been second in contested catch win rate for tight ends back-to-back years now that's all he's going to do is box dudes out he's incredibly rocked up like Corners can be you know and linebackers even can be draped all over him and he can just box you out win that with strong hands doesn't drop the ball that's a trait he has that's useful for this Jets team beyond that though not really getting much he's not an athlete he's not a route Runner or a separator and he's not even as good of a blocker as you would hope he would be for what he is he's fine at it but I do think with Aaron Rodgers who's not going to be as mobile as he was in his Peak um you know when he will get into scramble drill but he might not be able to outrun that defensive end or the guy collapsing down um you know the slot Corner chasing him from his Zone but if he gets into a pinch he can put the ball where only Tyler Conklin can get it or even if you know if if one of these guards loses quickly if they get blitzed and they don't have a good answer I do think he's a guy that Rogers can just give him a chance and and Tyler Conklin 69 nice 69 69% contested catch win rate in backto back years that takes the term 50/50 ball and turns it up so that's a nice thing they have that could be an asset for them to move the chains but that is like the only thing he does well right um then you have Jeremy Rucker uh was it was a fine enough mid- round draft pick last year kind of that balanced possession tight end he theoretically brings a little bit more upside in terms of um I can't say explosiveness he's not an explosive player but he can run up the seam and run some more routes than a guy like Tyler Concklin probably won't play a lot but he he's a fine enough backup to have and um you know no reason he couldn't emerge as a starter someday but he is behind Conlin for now and then again as of this recording only two tight ends on the roster but they will almost certainly be adding somebody here probably not any difference makers um and then Bree Hall man uh we kind of alluded to it but this does remind me a lot of when a Aaron Jones was like the second best receiver in those pack offenses that's not the case if Mike Williams is available for them but when he's unavailable he he might be um I don't know the Bree has established to be the true route Runner that someone like Aaron Jones is where he can actually step outside and run routes and separate and make like really tough catches down the field I'm not saying he can't do those things but he certainly hasn't proven to be that yet uh but in terms of running routes out of the back field and showing consistent hands and being being an elite run after catch threat on dump Downs or any sort of Route out of the back field I mean he was second in the NFL in receiving yards among running backs behind Christian mcaffrey last year so he is a legit weapon and you could probably do worse than okay Aaron Rodgers is reading Garrett Wilson if he's open throw it if he's not either get in a scramble drill or check it down to Bree and let him do do his work honestly it's not ideal but you could do a lot worse than that as a game plan too and they'll get some explosive plays from him in the design screen game so he's just a running back um but he does play into the picture here as well beyond Bree for the running backs you know it's a bunch of young dudes that haven't really established much theoretically one of these guys should get some snaps on passing downs but kind of hard to tell you exactly who that's going to be and we're about to talk about these guys more in depth um in our next segment here but uh yeah it's it it is to me still a a a pretty good group of weapons just with the health concerns all the pieces do make sense to me you've got a little bit of everything it's just you do become stretched much more thin if and when Mike Williams goes down but there's upside here to like ride the highend of variance too and if Mike stays healthy Wilson and Gibson take leaps forward Malachi Coy emerges at the end of the year this could actually be like a top half of the league group of weapons and and a legit really good room and I really do think you know where we've got them ranked 25th to 27th is about as close to their floor as you will see given the injury risk on Mike Williams um but obviously that upside could be much much higher but let's move forward with the Backfield running backs and one more thing that's really nice here and we still got to talk about the offensive line of course but this should be a pretty good run game too to support this offense this is a really nice backfield they come in in that tier ranked sixth to 12th all these running back groups that are kind of knocking on the door of being a top five group and that definitely fits the Jets description like Bree Hall I don't think has emerged as that guy quite yet especially from a production standpoint but I don't think even the I don't know how many Bree Hall haters there are out there but even the the the guy who's the lowest on Bree Hall would probably admit his tape is is really damn good and there's no reason he can't be a top five back and he's the complete package man he's got the size he's got the athleticism love his agility and foot speed but he's got excellent Vision always did coming out of Iowa State we already talked about how he's an impact in the receiving game literally what's not to like about Bree Hall and he's produced despite poor offensive line play and especially I I don't have the stats on me unfortunately but I I would bet a a large sum of money that he was at least in the top three in terms of percentage of his runs that were into a loaded box with eight guys in the line of scrimmage just watching the Jets back that had to be true cuz nobody respected this passing game so you look forward to 2024 now and even if Bree is what he's been that's a great running back that's going to elevate the Run game and and help out the the passing game in Aaron Rodgers but there's like three reasons to believe that the arrow should be pointing up on him between less players in the box now a year fully recovered from his ACL injury and a better offensive line as we'll see in a minute here and you know I think he's already right on the cusp of like top five to seven running backs in the NFL right now but there is like this arms race right now for like who's going to be the second best running back in the League this year behind Christian mcaffrey is it going to be bejon and Atlanta uh Derk Henry and Baltimore taking that back you know Jonathan Taylor and Indianapolis I think Bree Hall is right in that conversation for for you know can be that good basically now the Jets team ranking is a little bit lower than those three backs we just mentioned specifically those guys are either more proven or have a more complete running back room than the Jets do here um where where your backups here are all very unproven talents so that's the difference in the team ranking there but Bree Hall himself I think very much has the talent to get into that mix and like he's going in the first round of of fantasy drafts for a reason like he's he's in a really good position um to be you know a monster this year have like an all proo type of season if you will and that gets pretty damn exciting when everything we've previewed so far is already looking pretty good for this offense um now I the backup room is is entirely unproven but I'm kind of excited for it and I actually do like these guys um it's just they haven't played and they're super young day three draft picks so I can't come out and rank them that High um but honestly I I like how both brillan Allen and Izzy aananda fit as backups here both guys super super young by the way brillan Allen is 20 years old doesn't turn 21 until January when the Jets are hopefully still playing and aonaka in year 2 doesn't turn 22 until November so these guys are still very much coming into their own um but I do think you know again they've they're both very different they both have complimentary skill sets I think brillan Allen has the clearest path to be kind of the guy that plays more and is is more of a compliment to Bree Hall he's a he's a big back like this this theoretically could be your sort of um I can't say lightning and thunder cuz Bree Hall himself is lightning and thunder um but having that Thunder to come in to convert short yardage situations and also I I like brayan Allen as a guy that can come in and kind of grind out the fourth quarter so you don't have to over rely on Bree Hall giving him 300 carries I I at least like brayan Allen in that sort of role something like ausa Edwards if you will but I do think brayan Allen's got got a little bit more to him than that he's got really light feet for such a big guy you know he drew a lot of like AJ Dylan comps I didn't really go there because Dylan carries so much of his weight in his lower half that it's like he's stuck in mud he can't pick up his feet uh he can't really accelerate or change lanes or make you miss at all you know Allen is a power style back but he does do that with lighter feet so he can kind of you know side step you a little bit at the tackle Point actually change change directions and and you know change lanes if something gets clogged up he can bounce it into a different Gap um but he does have this super powerful torso that he'll use it to you know put a stiff arm on and truck India I I like him I don't know that he's ever going to be a feature back in the league he's not the next Derk Henry or anything like that but um I I do think he's going to prove to be a very capable backup for what he is in this role and then izy a bonda he is just an athlete man he has excellent speed I believe my Pro Comp on him was Raheem moster and if they want to have someone else that can run wide Zone kind of be that speed threat to the corn corner and be a bit of a home run hitter that maybe gets two to four carries a game and you're hoping to catch lightning in a bottle and if you get a well blocked run aananda has like 4050 yard Breakaway run potential so you really do kind of have it all and then Isaiah Davis they did draft him right after brillan Allen he is more of just the solid tough dude the smart back I I wanted to like him more at South Dakota State he had ridiculous production but I think it was much more of the product of elite run blocking at that level of competition behind some NFL offensive linemen um just I didn't see a lot of rushan creativity in a lot of athletic juice so I'm I'm a little lower on him but it is an exciting young backup room and really just an exciting young running back room in general there's there's no reason this can't be one of the best running back tandems in all of football as early as this season so that's just yet another asset for this Jets team and and a part of why I just think the world of this this entire roster um you know from a QB run multiplier perspective you're not getting anything there not a surprise with Aaron roggers even if he was a rushing threat you probably wouldn't give them design rushes because the the durability and and health risk so um nothing there um but let's talk about the offensive line and we do see a O-Line continuation of the health questions here um they are dinged a little bit for durability question marks here again I just want to point out that that is factored in they come in as my ninth overall offensive line 8th to 15th in pass blocking 11th and run blocking they would be a little bit higher than that if you could guarantee me that Tyrant Smith and Elijah verit Tucker stay healthy but even with some of those risks this offensive line looks really nice and they do have some insurance policies this year if one of those guys does get hurt but let's start with Tyron Smith he comes in as the left tackle here and prying him away from the Cowboys who I do think wanted him back was one of my favorite moves of this off season maybe behind going to get Morgan Moses for a fourth round pick just love overall what they did with this tackle group but he can still play man it's just over the last four years he's basically rotated years of availability he was taken off the field for pretty much all of the 2020 season 2021 he had a fantastic year 20 22 was kind of just on and off the field throughout the season and even when he played was clearly hurt was not his old self entered last year um which was his age 33 season last year with obvious durability and and just how good is he concerns basically um and he had a monster season I I can't say he had a career year because this is a Hall of Fame caliber player but he did have the best year he's had as a pass protector since 2018 the main difference is I don't think he's quite the like Elite athlete Elite run blocker that he still was but still definitely good enough to get the job done in that regard but man he played almost a thousand snaps last year he's currently healthy I look at the fact that he's just this super freak athlete the the Cowboys I think wanted him back and I look around the league and see offensive lineman kind of bouncing back and playing great into their mid to late third is like a Trent Williams like you have to be kind of a super freak to be able to do that but I think Tyron Smith is so I do factor in the durability question marks here but I think this is much more of a kind of teron Armstead situation where you you figure he he's a guy that can get banged up and can miss a few games here and there might miss a stretch like might miss two or three weeks here and there and you have to kind of plan and work around that which as we see the Jets have done that but if they can get him in the playoffs like that is huge and like I said they did plan for him to miss some time in drafting Olu fashanu in the first round and I want to actually talk about him because I fully expect that Olu is going to play four to six games this year at left tackle and for them to basically feel like they have probably the best backup left tackle in the NFL given the Tyron Smith is their guy there has to feel really good and even if drafting a brock Bowers would have raised the theorical theoretical upside of this team like in some world where Tyron Smith did stay healthy if you put like a brock Bowers was the other guy that maybe were considering in the draft you put him on this offense things could get insane but given how things went last year and how good this defense is you're you're just hoping for a a solid offense here and I think having this floor raised at left tackle is is a huge deal for this team and you know Olu was the right guy for that too because he's got he's got upside he's got franchise left tackle potential in a normal draft class he would have been a lock like top six to 10 draft pick in my opinion but this draft class was just loaded so they were lucky to get him at 11 but he was the guy because his his floor as a pass blocker was just so so high he's so technically sound he's got a great anchor he's great with his hands um the Pro Comp I him was laramy tonsil and that was because he was so so like he he's similar size but similar in the sense that he's a great pass protector doesn't quite do as much as a run blocker though for whatever reason the foot speed and range that he shows as a pass protector just doesn't really show up in his get off moving forward as a run blocker and that again that's been laremy Tel's thing his whole career so I fully anticipate Olu is going to play tyron's going to miss some time but to be able to fall on a top 10 draft pick basically that would presumably be starting for any other team that would have spent a top 10 draft pick on him and you would be super excited about him starting for that team like that's that's outstanding and I also think Olu could play a little guard um as an insurance policy there too if if verit Tucker gets hurt or if John Simpson isn't what they hoped they were signing um I don't think that's ideal I think the best case scenario is you just keep him as a mentee behind Tyron Smith ready to go at that left tackle spot specifically I think it's good for a rookie development keep him in one spot let him focus on it but if you do need to get into a little bit more of an emergency situation I think he could handle it at least as a pass protector he's not like oversized or anything and I think his his frame actually fills in well as a guard not necessarily from a run blocking perspective but I I think he could hang if need be as just sort of a Sixth Man of the Year type on this offensive line so it's a really good starting point at left tackle you know there's a lot of great left tackles in the NFL today but I think half the teams in the league would would happily trade places with the Jets just in terms of their left tackle situation and then at left guard you have John Simpson um you know I think they're they're hoping he's going to be their weak link with some development from Joe titman and that's kind of the contract they gave him a two-year $9 million deal to come in get the starting job and just be solid and watching the Ravens very recently for our last Deep dive I was pretty impressed by John Simpson his anchor and pass protection is phenomenal like he will take his losses he'll lose to quickness he'll miss with his hands he's not a perfect pass protector and he will have those losses where Aaron's going to get quick pressure and he's going to have to do something about it but it's not to a a degree that you're worried about but on a down to- down basis like he's going to give Rogers that clean pocket to step up into he is not going backwards and he's a pretty nice run blocker too he's a decent athlete for a guy his size and he's got that desire to be a good blocker so I I like John Simpson I think it was a good signing and then again they're kind of hoping he's going to be the weak link with some growth here in year two from Joe titman who I think was fine as a rookie Center playing on a garbage offensive line I mean for what it's worth I thought they should have taken John Michael schmidtz and John Michael Schmitz was surrounded by equally trash um with the Giants and and had a horrible year I don't think titman had a horrible year he he definitely had his questions as a pass blocker when teams were able to isolate him one-on-one and that was a big question with him coming out was how was he going to be as a one-on-one pass protector but as we know you can very easily shelter your Center via double teams in pass protection if that's your weakest link but I also think he's got the traits he's got an anchor and and the foot speed and the length to develop as a pass protector as well um and as as a run blocker kind of as you expected he was he was very solid as a rookie coming out of Wisconsin he's a good athlete um should really only continue to get better there so there there was plenty of reason to believe that with a you know in year two specifically but with a better surrounding team around him as well that titman can take a step up and and you know basically emerge as their fourth best player let John Simpson be the weak link um but even if he's kind of close to what he was last year it's not necessarily ideal but you could you could still do worse than that I think and then at Right Guard this is probably your next biggest question mark is is can Elijah verit Tucker stay healthy former High firstr round draft pick they took the 23rd pick that turned into Christian derasa ouch and moved up to take verit Tucker a guard at 12 or whatever it was definitely wasn't my favorite move on draft day and it has not really paid off for the Jets um overall he's still been a good player which is what you expect when you take a guard in the top half of the draft he's he's a nasty run blocker he's got a ton of play strength he's another guy that's not really going to go backwards in pass protection but he does lose more than you would think for a guy that has played tackle theoretically has good technique he does lose more as a pass blocker than you would think not that he's horrible in that regard or that you're worried about it but even when he is healthy he he's a good guard he's not a phenomenal guard or anything like that and uh again he's just missed so much time he's only played 670 snaps over the last two years now his rookie year he was fully healthy and he wasn't like an injury-prone player coming out or anything right so you know coming off an ACL injury there's reason to believe he can bounce back and and get and stay healthy here but he does have to prove that he can do that but then right tackle you have Morgan Moses I just I I love this trade I think from a value perspective this was maybe the most the highest like stealing value move that any team made this off season I can't for the life of me understand why the Ravens were willing to do that I mean he was on I said at the second the Ravens signed him from the Jets you can go back and check the record I was like he just became like the most underappreciated like best value contract in the league they had him on what was it like three years 15 million and they had another year of that when this is a guy that has strangely only gotten better with age he looks more athletic with age to me the way that the Ravens started to weaponize him as a puller and like he is he is one of the best pulling T like pulling blockers but certainly pulling tackles because you don't see that very often um but when he gets on the move he has nasty play strength a great targeting system he's got an awesome anchor and pass protection at his age he's got good technique he's kind of seen it all he's not the most Sensational athlete but I think he's a top 5 to 10 right tackle in the league to round out again what looks like a pretty good group here man when you talk about the depth we we already talked about Olu fashanu I love having him as an option I think we could see him at guard if verit Tucker or Simpson um went down and then they do have a veteran in West schatzer he's like adequate o line NFL depth there's not a lot of guys going around right like not even all you know five starters for all 32 teams are filled out with capable players so w West schatzer is not ideal if he steps in but he has played a lot he's got three position flexibility on the inside I I would just say you could do worse in terms of o line depth than West schatzer and then you're into like developmental territory Max Mitchell was a fourth round pick I liked but he's he has struggled I think the play strength as ECT for him has been a a roadblock Carter Warren was a day three pick last year he was a good pass protector at Pittsburgh we'll see what year two looks like for him and then Xavier Newman did play a little bit last year when they were shuffling the deck at Center and um you know's he's an undersized athlete showed that off as a run blocker a little bit but um you would definitely want to help him out in pass protection so they can stomach maybe an injury and a half but it can't be like last year where these guys are dropping like flies and they're moving people all over the plays overall though I think this is one of the most improved groups in the entire league and it that that is maybe even getting slept on with this Jets team like everyone's complaining that I have the Jets ranked over the Ravens and it's like two fists of their offensive line uh from last year are now on the Jets obviously not the only thing that matters there but it's a pretty significant thing um so as we wrap up Offensive Summary the offense overall um they come in 14th in Run game 14th in passing game a situation where the math actually adds up they come out as my 14th overall offense and if that's what you get with the defense that we're about to preview this Jets team is super super dangerous now obviously there is like a floor that we saw last year where these guys suffer a bunch of season ending injuries and the floor gets completely wiped out but we did factor in the injury risk with the quarterback with the weapon with the pass blocking you can't say that's their complete floor cuz this is a unique team when it comes to injury we're trying to account for that the best we can here but even reducing all of these position groups given the injury stuff this group still comes out as like the 14th best offense it's a very complete roster they are much more equipped to handle injuries than they were in years past good backup quarterback insurance policies on the offensive line but that's all floor discussion I mean there is a world where they do actually for the first time in franchise history ride the positive side of injury luck and if that happens the weapons will be much better the offensive line will be even better than we're projecting or at least how we have them ranked and maybe even Aaron Rogers will be better than the seventh ranked quarterback that we have him at right now if you get that plus kind of Rogers impact on the offensive coaching probably never going to be like top 20 for offensive coaching but instead of being you know tied for last in every degree can they be 22nd in terms of how the play calling and the offense is operating here if all that happens this could very clearly be like a top six offense in the league and they don't need that to happen they will happily take 14th with how good this defense is but if it it's like if you're playing the probability game that opens your your margin for error for things to go a little bit south on the defense if things do go well with the offense if they take a step back defensively but a giant leap forward with the offense that's still a path for them to be a Super Bowl team it really is but let's switch over and talk about that defense starting D-Line with the defensive line it's a fantastic group it's it's a very similar group to last year stylistically but definitely some moving pieces here to discuss so they come in um as my fourth to sixth ranked overall offensive line fourth to eth in pass rush and above average for dline run defense fifth to 14th now full disclosure here they actually were a tier higher for that pass rush ranking but I dinged them down a little bit as I did my research watched a little Hanan reic I came in a little bit lower on reic than I was maybe in May when I put these rankings together and that's going to have an impact on the overall defensive ranking which I'll I'll point out again later on but I'll come back to reic I want to start with quinnon Williams because he is the center point literally and and metaphorically for this dline everything revolves around him I think you could argue he's the one guy that they actually ask to just be a traditional player at his position because the way that they use these guys is very unique they're all rotating all over the place they run stunts they have these guys going left and right um but quinnon for the most part it's like you're a three Tech at times you got to be our nose tackle you are the guy that has to play with traditional discipline traditional technique be a consistent run stopper um to actually hold your ground occasionally take on double teams get off blocks and man he took a huge step in that regard last year they took a kind of a Leap of Faith with the the massive contract they gave him he probably hadn't played to the level that they paid him at um but they felt like could take that next step as a run Defender uh probably cuz he did it so well at Alabama they felt good about him doing that and he absolutely did he was tied for third in the NFL among interior defensive linemen for run stops and for whatever you think of PFF grades he was first in the NFL in run defense grade for interior defensive linemen I mean even if you think lowly of PFF run defense grades if you're first you're doing something right and by the way the film just tells you that story too he took a huge leap there to be a true three down Superstar defensive tackle and part of that leap was um you know taking another jump as a pass rusher he was fifth in pressures for defensive tackles last year um jumping from 52 the year before to 70 last year like he has entered that true number one territory and he's the guy now that teams go into the game saying where's 95 we got to make sure we got two bodies on him and then Robert solid can craft stunts and blitzes off the fact that he knows he's drawing the double team and he's getting slides his Direction so not only the pressures he himself will get you and the sacks he himself will get you matter um but the force multiplying effect he has is a huge huge deal here so so fun such a complete player the power the quickness the Finesse the run defense U the size the athleticism checks every single box you could even argue that Arrow could be pointing up on him I don't want to just put the up arrow on every single player he broke out as a superstar defensive tackle I don't know that he's necessarily going to become Chris Jones or prime Fletcher Cox um and get quite to that level of player but it it certainly is possible so he's phenomenal he is the again just the center point for how this D line is constructed and for why they rank out so high for the defensive line but they have a lot of other pieces to discuss here that is where I do want to bounce back out to the edge and talk about Hanan reick and there's a lot to discuss on him I mean they trade for him they flip Bryce Huff for him essentially and they looked at reic as a potentially more explosive replacement for huff as that kind of undersized pass rush specialist if you will um but reick is better as a run Defender than Bryce Hoff um not that he can like truly set a hard Edge and like be a dominant run Defender but he is instinctive in that phase a former linebacker he's got good stack shed Peak technique and has foot speed and instincts to kind of make plays as a run Defender so you know I think they feel like he's at his best he's a more explosive pass rusher than Bryce huff and um a little bit more practical on early Downs even if he is up there in age so I don't I don't mind the flip there I do think he makes a lot of sense especially for a team that you know we're going to talk a lot about stunts and games here and with Hassan reick to have his speed his Bend and his just kind of flexibility I mean even I'm guilty of kind of giving giving him crap for like he gets a lot of sacks but over over the course of his career it hasn't always backed up like the number of pressures and his win rate and all that stuff um kind of implying that he gets lucky and I think there's some of that um but also like his his change of Direction and his ability to to stay balanced as he's trying to wrap up tackles like he is really really good when he does win at converting sacks so in a system where they're going to get him into the back field right they're going to they're going to stunt him up they're going to let him scream off the edge they're going to have quinnon Williams or Javon kinlaw or whoever's lining up is that three or four Tech they're going to they're going to blow blow [ __ ] up and then he's going to have you know warp Lanes to get through towards the quarterback he makes a ton of sense in that way and because of the scheme fit I think he could actually be poised for something like a career year here in this system as opposed to Philadelphia where where it was much more of like hey just go line up go win they're going to help him produce in this system um so there's reason to believe he could get better but there's there's like two things to discuss in terms of like negativity or why you might not get that from him the first of which is the contract dispute um you know he is kind of holding out holding in right now and and his availability for week one is up in the air um you know they they traded for him in his age 30 season on the last year of his contract and reic does have some leverage to say hey you you traded for me you should extend me um but the Jets also have the leverage to say like yeah but and we're about to talk about this in a minute too like you kind of had a down year last year like you showed some regression like we're bringing in you bringing you in here to have a great opportunity to produce and then get paid big money and it's not like you're getting nothing on your current contract so there's a dispute going on there I I do think he suits up I think they'll work it out whether it's a revised current contract where he gets a little bit money to come back or um they do reach maybe like a 2year $40 million extension something maybe close to like what denil Hunter got with Houston so I'm not terribly worried about it but it does add some volatility to where we are at this point in time on this discussion he he might not be out there or or something might happen there I I'm not too worried about it I think they'll get it worked out but it's it's on the radar um but the the bigger concern is like I just don't think he was all that good last year he had a really slow start dealing with an injury got healthy started to play well again and then I don't know if the injury flared back up or what really happened but man his tape from the last like four weeks of the season was was horrible he was a complete non-factor just two pressures and no sacks in the final three games of the season and at that point in time I mean you remember like Arizona lit him up Tampa lit him up in that playoff game and um you know getting nothing from reic definitely didn't help that defense figure things out and it did kind of bring me back to like the old Hassan reic where he just wasn't really winning one-on-one reps where he doesn't really have the full tool belt to to you know have a a pass rush plan and all that stuff he doesn't have a lot of power um to truly win one-on ones he's he's a guy that really wins off of his speed Bend and pursuit and and you know in his absolute peak in 2022 he did show off some power as well um but there is a concern there like okay he is 30 years old and is a guy that primarily wins off of his athleticism if he's lost even a half a step that can be all the difference in the world in him being um a good pass rusher versus a great pass rusher which he was in 2022 so you know when I put these ratings together in May I had him as more of a superstar tier blueco player for the purposes of this series I did ding him down after kind of researching him a little bit more but because he was dealing with some injuries last year and given that this scheme fit is such a perfect fit for him I don't think it's all bad either there is a world where this is a really good fit and he can kind of get back to that top 10 production that he had in 2022 so he is he is in many ways a wild card for this team does he show up and what kind of player do they get but as we go to talk about the rest of this defensive line and what we've already said about Quinn and Williams there's still a very nice floor here I think if they don't get a snap from Hassan reic this will still be something like a top 10 pass rush because of the other players they have and the scheme doing a lot of the work there I don't think that'll be the case I think he plays and that's how they come in about top five but if reck can be what he was in 2022 which I don't think is like unreasonable to to hope for at all you are talking about more of a like Elite top three pass rush so he does bring a bit of a spectrum here but um a big reason they don't need to depend on Hassan reck is they have Germaine Johnson and they have Will McDonald who we'll talk about but Germaine Johnson established himself last year as like a good two man like he's got he's got you know speed to power a ton of effort just that sort of straight line linear power athlete and then he does some really good stuff with with swipes and technique with his hands to operate his a counter he's got inside outside counters with those swipes and he's got he doesn't have Bend that's I think what is ultimately going to maybe keep him out from being like an elite tier pass rusher um I I still think he can continue to get better than what he is now but um while he doesn't have Bend he does have light feet and can kind of change lanes and and you know work you inside and out while primarily having that threat of power and man he is the perfect player for this system because his get off his explosiveness and his willingness to just detonate a tackle and a guard you know we talk a lot about you know having that three Tech that defensive tackle being a guy that can do that be that disruptor that occupies the guard in the tackle so that your your fast bendy Edge rusher can warp inside that's a te stunt a tackle and stunt but there's ET stunts that they run too where they'll actually have the End come in and blow up the tackle crash him into the guard and then have an athletic defensive tackle loop around the outside and in and that'll come into play when we talk about some of these athletes they put on the interior and Quinton Williams can do that stuff too but Germaine Johnson is perfect that just basically throwing C4 at the problem and even if there's no technique involved that just Rob effort and explosiveness and Power is a huge asset for this team so he's a great fit and is a real impact for this D line but then you have Will McDonald and I mean he's kind of their leverage on Hassan reik because it's like okay reck we we want you here um we traded for you you're perfect fit for this system you can have a great year and then get paid at 30 years old but if you don't play like we can still make this work we have a near identical skill set even if unproven in Will McDonald all of the speed the bend the the undersized of it all that's all there in Will McDonald their first round pick last year and when they picked him I I it was one of my least favorite picks in the first round because I didn't think the opportunity was there and it did feel early I had him more as a late first early second type of guy because he was a bit of a weird Prospect really undersized 63 235 lbs and was was a 24-year-old Prospect out of the Big 12 who it in college was asked to play essentially like they ask like what John Franklin Myers was asked to do last year or what they'll have maybe like Solomon Thomas do for them he played like 4i in this weird 335 [ __ ] Big 12 defense so he didn't really get a lot of opportunities to rush around the edge and it was like well when he when he did he was great in those reps but how much of a skill set has he developed playing in this stupid system it just it seemed a little bit early and he wasn't like this can't miss Prospect by any stretch of the imagination in my opinion but either way I think you're still optimistic about how he fits for all of the reasons we said about Hanan reic and the stunts and how if nothing else he is a a loopy bendy explosive rusher that's perfect as that guy off of those stunts so if for some reason reic doesn't like if they don't figure it out and and he's not playing you you do have a plan there like you can play Will McDonald or you have reic and you now have the availability for Will McDonald to be out there with reic and you can run these stunts on both sides and cause Havoc that way now you're taking Germaine Johnson off the field most likely if you're doing that so it's it's not necessarily um ideal but you do have the option to do that ultimately when he plays I think he'll he'll be efficient and he's is a nice player to have here but I do ultimately project that they will work it out with reic and McDonald will be still kind of in this situation where he's just not playing all that much his snap count might double from last year but that's still only 300 snaps and that still is just like kind of tough to swallow if you're a Jets fan like you're kind of all in in this Rogers window and you took a top 16 pick and spent it on a rotational speed rusher it's like like it's not great but I mean again the efficiency is there it's more of a it's not really will McDonald's fault that I don't project too much from him but was just kind of a weird pick from the get-go and continues to be a little bit weird but again there's there's ways for him to help out here as well but let's continue down the edge room before talking about the remaining interior players here um Michael Clemens is still here he's a he's a really nice backup defensive end to have and I am curious to see if um you know they they use him a little bit more even in that uh John Franklin Myers role with him gone now early down kind of for Tech he is a huge defensive end and I actually think with how they crafted this front everything we said in the scheme breakdown about um you know being able to be lighter because how they slant these guys um and and don't necessarily play the run from a traditional standpoint he can definitely hold up as a you know inside shade of the tackle in a wide nine on first down so for that reason I do think is going to continue to play his 20 25 snaps a game um but for the most part I do expect him to come off the field for pass rush Downs that's where his lack of athleticism um does show up he just hasn't been too much of a factor there and uh you know Jermaine Johnson has really taking a step up as a run Defender by the way you know Clemens actually took a lot of snaps away from Germaine Johnson in their in their rookie season because Germaine was struggling against the Run Clemens stepped in like that and was a like like a plus run Defender as an edge player and and Johnson has since caught up he took a big step forward there last year too but um those are kind of your four rotational quasi starters for the edge group they did sign to McKinley you know veteran speed presence maybe a leverage piece on Hassan reck a little bit um I don't know probably won't play if reic is available but you know you'd probably slide McDonald into reic role reck's role and then McKinley into McDonald's role if reic is really going to hold out um not the worst signing to have in that situation and then a pair of undrafted rookies did make this team Eric watts and Braden McGregor I'm Loosely familiar with both these guys you know McGregor was was just kind of an effort player at Michigan and then Eric watts is huge dude he's 66 275 lbs kind of fits that Michael Clemens description if you will um I actually didn't get around to watching him but uh fun story I did take a picture for him and his family at the Senior Bowl on the field and he was super nice he just walked down with his family I was just standing there and he just walked up to me and shook my hand and was like hi I'm Eric nice to meet you and I was like oh hey how's it going so cool to see him make the team in a in a kind of a fun fit for his sort of I don't want to say he's a tweener skill set but he has a huge defensive end um and then you you really have three true interior players other than quinnon Williams that starts with Javon kinlaw and they gave him a very nice contract 7.2 million on a one-year kind of pro it deal here so solo was there in San Francisco when they traded away to Forest Buckner and then use that pick on Javon kinla to replace him Salah obviously thinks the world of him now bringing him back for the Jets and the first few years of his time in San Francisco there's no way around it he was a first round bust Not only was he not as good of a pass rusher as you expected for a guy that had a great first step length and Power um but never came along as a run Defender and frankly I didn't love the way he always carried himself seemed really immature to me and uh it dealt with a lot of injuries too so he just had a horrible start to his career but last year in the fourth year of his career he actually had like a a mini emergence I don't want to say a breakout but he was nice for the ners as the third guy the first guy off the bench he ended up with a 35 pressure four sack season in an identical system and they need that guy on this team we've talked so much about stunts you know they want quinnon to to to either demand a double team or get a one-on-one and win that in a traditional sense but if they want a guy to just detonate the guard in the tackle line up as you know head up on the guard and kind of just crash himself into the the middle of those two players and and create Rush lanes for these Loopers and stuff he showed in San Francisco in a very limited role right that he can at the very least do that and he can do a little bit as a rusher with his power he he's a nice signing here and I think you know if if he just can do what he did last year that's your Quinton Jefferson replacement a younger Quinton Jefferson they got similar production from Jefferson and and the same role like Jefferson was that dude for them like even if his production isn't always crazy he was the guy that would be that disruptor for their Stone um Javon kinla at the very least can be that replacement and be younger in that role but there's upside to this signing too if he's matured at 27 years old still has all the physical traits he had has a highly drafted first round pick obviously and Salah has the faith in him he's clearly giving him an opportunity to be essentially a full-time starter here they'll still rotate him a little bit but that can go a long way if you know the guy that basically handpicked you still believes in you and is giving you that opportunity and he's kind of rejuvenated in a way there there's a world where he kind of has a I'll stick with that term a reemergence as a a quality defensive tackle I think this is as good of a place as he could have gone and the opportunity is there so I actually put the up arrow on Javon kinlaw have been hard on him being a first round bus for the Niners but he showed some life and and deserves um at least a second chance here if you will with the Jets and 7.2 million is is not nothing right um but he he will rotate a little bit with Solomon Thomas and I think Thomas will play even maybe a little bit more um with John Franklin Myers gone he is exclusively kind of that fourtech that inside shade of the tackle he's he can't really defend the run as a three Tech as a real defensive tackle and and neither can Javon kinlaw so they really depend on the scheme to get get run defense production from from that second defensive tackle it's kind of their weak Link in terms of run defense though if you will but back to the stunt conversation he's a he's a stunt man Solomon Thomas never developed the the true skill set to win as a rusher but unique movement skills and get off for um a a you know 285lb defensive tackle SL defensive end he was the number three pick in the draft for a reason and it's funny that they now have two former first round busts of the ners on this defense um and then the last guy we talk about here is an undrafted pick up that might have been the best undrafted pickup of the cycle in Leonard Taylor um okay so I know it's just my draft rankings and they've obviously aged poorly to this point but just to put a little perspective on it and I'm not ashamed to say it because it's just it's what I saw before they got drafted um I had Leonard Taylor ranked just behind Braden Fisk who went in the second round for the Rams and he ends up going undrafted now I think there's pretty clearly some sort of maturity question marks there is a lack of development from him at Miami his final season was just overall disappointing but even within that final year I still saw the traits the shed strength Good Feet like he can absolutely emerge as someone that can actually play run defense for this team and he has an opportunity to do that this year because you could argue even if he's raw and even if you've got questions about how he played in his final year and he has a long way to go before he's a starter and and he has a long way to go in terms of pass rush too like he really does not have a plan or any semblance of of knowing what he's doing in that phase he's just all athleticism and power and even then he doesn't really win with it um but you could make an argument he is the best run defender on the interior other than quinnon Williams so really exciting opportunity for an undrafted player it's a good room for him to come in and compete with great coaching and um a young Dude too like he can absolutely kind of figure things out in the NFL I do think he absolutely should have been drafted I I don't think he's a bad kid I just don't know that he's fully figured everything out in terms of professionalism and that's all speculation but you see a guy with this Talent with with his pedigree the lack of production and then falling to the seventh round 99% of the time something's going on there right so pulling for him we'll see what they can get from him and that rounds out this defense line it's it's you know the conversation kind of goes in a lot of different directions just as they use these guys sending them all over the place from different alignments but uh ultimately it's it's a really good defensive line has a chance to be an elite one we'll see what Ric does and how some of these these kind of up arrows result if you will um but the floor I think is top 10 for this defensive line at least um and then the Linebackers linebackers are a fantastic Duo I I think from a just logistical standpoint a linebacker Duo that just makes sense together in terms of putting complimentary skill sets together this might be the most pleasing in that regard I mean you have the smart Savvy vet the full-sized guy and CJ Mosley and then you have the aggressive heat seeking missile that's just allowed to play fast and not NE necessarily worry as much about discipline in Quincy Williams and these two together I think you could argue we the third best linebacking duo in the League last year and now ranked second now that the Ravens have opened up some questions with their lb2 spot so second for overall linebacker in terms of coverage they rank third and for linebacker run defense they are a little bit lower but still um top 10 or so fourth to 11th there so CJ Mosley has been such an underrated player for a long time he's a guy that his PFF grades for a while were pretty bad there but I'm proud to say like in this series I would always come in here and say like I know his grades are bad but like his tape looks pretty good to me and his coverage feel is so special man like he is not a great athlete especially at this point in his career but um you know he's not the fastest guy he doesn't have the most oily fluid hips and this crazy range in coverage but he he is clearly one of the smartest highest IQ Zone defenders in the league he just feels that space so well he knows how offenses are attacking him and not only do you see on film like he's taking away throwing Lanes forcing the quarterback whether it's you know a playaction Crosser or an RPO or whatever it is the quarterback wants to go in a certain direction and Mosley is forcing negative plays on the offense because the QB has to go elsewhere or or it was an RPO and he he thought he was going to be able to get Mosley on it um and the quarterback has to eat a sack or throw the ball away or whatever um you you see those plays where he's not necessarily um getting targeted or or putting a stat on the you know stat sheet but you watch the film and you're like he took that play away that was really smart coverage on his end but his Productions also really good and underrated he's been top five back-to-back seasons in pass breakups it might not sound like much but he has 11 pass breakups over the last two years five last year six the year before that if you you get your hands on four footballs over the course of a season as a linebacker that's impressive this is an impossible position to play right now so he is doing it as consistently as anybody in the league even if there are plays where his physical limitations do result like if if he has to pick up a Crosser or run up the seam like he has his limitations in terms of speed and range so he's not an elite coverage Defender but um he's top 10 for coverage for linebackers and from a run defense perspective what's not to say man he is he is incredibly high IQ he wants it he has the technique and the play strength to get off blocks and I mentioned it in the scheme breakdown but if you're going to have this chaotic front where you're muddying things up you need a linebacker that can see it that can work around blocks can get off blocks meet guards often times and and get in the mud and make plays and he has absolutely handled that in this Robert solid defense so he's fantastic right in the mix for like top five linebacker in the league in my opinion and then Quincy Williams as his running mate is a ton of fun uh also fun that he's quinnon Williams's brother like how cool is that but there's not a better term for him than heat seeking missile I mean they allow him to play fast because you have the discipline CJ Mosley next to him and yeah you might get some coverage busts he might take the wrong angle and end up in a bad spot and miss a few more tackles than you'd like there are like some negative plays on film for him for sure but way more positive ones I mean he did lead the league in pass breakups last year at 8 he shattered the league for defensive stops because of that playmaking ability so he had 80 defensive stops that was first in the league for linebackers second and third place were 71 and 70 so he had a he had nine more than those guys and then fourth only had 61 so he was in a whole different stratosphere for the amount of plays he was making around the line of scrimmage he also forced two fumbles man he is just a playmaker and I I don't know whether to put the up arrow on him or not if he can sustain that if he does the up Arrow should be going up on him it's it's kind of a weird random position at times and again I don't want to just put the up arrow on everybody I don't necessarily expect Quincy Williams to be better than he was last year I'm not ruling it out or to even repeat what he did last year like if we come in next year and he repeats this performance he's going to be you know an 85 overall as opposed to the 80 we have him at right now but I will say this uh for what he did last year the fact that Patrick Queen made the Pro Bowl over him is exactly why we need to end public voting for the Pro Bowl Patrick Queen had a fine Enough season but Quincy Williams was you know if the Pro Bowl is based on production there was not a better linebacker from a production standpoint than Quincy Williams last year so that was that was horrible now fortunately the voters were paying attention he was first team All Pro so the real Pro Bowl if you will he did get his respect um I don't know there might be some Jets fans that say I underrate him here as an 80 overall and honestly that's that's fair it's just that was a wild season he had I I don't know if that he'll be able to repeat it but we'll see I I hope he does and then in terms of depth I mean I love that they're just keeping the same guys here and they actually have some interesting names and I love that they're keeping the same guys because this is the best linebacker coaching that anybody in the league could get um I think that's a big part of why Quincy is playing as at the level he's playing at um and honestly C.J Mosley is probably playing the best ball of his career but between orri and um Salah these guys know their linebackers but uh jamen Sherwood is a converted safety type under size but kind of in that Quincy Williams mold if you will they will play him occasionally in in like base 43 pack is they don't run a lot of that cuz they do have a really good slot Corner they just want to stay a nickel all the time but he'll play a little bit but I think the arrow can be pointing up on him because of what we said about the coaching and the continuity here he he played well when he did play last year I was always intrigued by this pick cuz he wasn't a great safety but definitely felt like a linebacker conversion made sense for him so I think him as your first guy in at least in in a Quincy Williams injury situation would be just fine I don't think he can do what CJ Mosley does but I would be curious if maybe Chaz Sarat could he's really interesting to me I loved his tape at UNC former quarterback really smart coverage player does a lot of the similar stuff Mosley does in terms of that smart discipline zone defense where he might not necessarily be the best athlete but consistently takes stuff away and and um navigates his way in in front of passing lanes and he's interesting cuz he was I think a fifth round pick in that very last Rick Spielman Mike Zim Draft before that regime got wiped and then they just kind of went forward with their own guys and Sarat never really got an opportunity as a young linebacker coming in and then he gets tagged with oh he was a fifth round pick that got cut and he now had like he's up against it in terms of opportunities but he's back here I remember him on Hard Knocks last year I I can't remember if he made the 53 last year or if he was on the practice squad he did end up playing in three games and um got nine snaps last year but he he does make the 53 again this year and uh again he hasn't really shown anything in the league but I liked him as a prospect and I love him now in getting a second year of this coaching just I think some an an interesting name there someone to keep an eye on um and then zier Barnes as well recently drafted by this organization um so all these guys are kind of in the draft and develop mode which is smart when they have the coaching that they do so it's a really fun linebacker room the talent on this roster continues but as if it wasn't good enough we wrap up this roster breakdown with the best group of Secondary them all this secondary is the best secondary in the NFL capped off by without debate the best quarterback Trio in the league I think my I can't say it's not even close because I think Miami signing Kendall Fuller is an upgrade over xaven Howard and depending how CER coo takes a step forward in year three maybe they get into the mix but at this point in time Reed is better than Fuller Michael Carter is better than coo and SAS Gardner is better than Jaylen Johnson so even if you mention Miami it's not a debate the Jets are number one it is a fun little divisional discussion there though and the quarterback trios in this division are nutty um but not only is SAS Gardner better than Jaylen Ramsay he's better than every corner in the league and there is well I would say there's just not really a debate before you even talk about the stats I mean his film is insane even if he isn't like the fastest guy or like the most fluid athlete or has the most insane agility and foot speed it's more than good enough to complement really across the board like truly Elite at everything else you want at the position length Elite physicality Elite anticipation from Zone coverage Elite he is super IQ he knows what teams are trying to do he will jump stuff to take it away but he doesn't do that while getting over aggressive and exposing himself to double moves either technique Elite he has that trait you talk about U manto man where he uses his length to slow guys down and people are like oh he's he grabs all the time no he doesn't grab he will float that arm out there as like a bumper in a subtle way that that slows down the opposing corner he uses that to slow down the opposing receiver and he can kind of steal their speed in many ways like if you know if someone's running faster than you and you put your arm on them you're going to slow them down and that momentum will help you run faster but there's a way to do that without consistently drawing Flags right like that is actually something that corners should do and do do all the time but the corners that do do that a lot you know maybe lerus sne charvarius Ward xaven Howard they're going to get seven 10 12 penalties a year it back toback years SAS Gardner has only gotten five so there's a way to do it without getting flagged and people are always like oh s is too grabby it's like no he's crafty and smart honestly the only like knock on him is he hasn't been able to consistently convert pass breakups into interceptions and that has frankly probably led to the casuals saying he's overrated cuz he only has two interceptions he didn't have any last year but he has more pass breakups than anybody in the league over the last two years his yards allowed per game is by far the best in the league he's in the top five for reception percentage allowed over the last two years was number one last year 18th this last year but you have to remember the Jets also run a lot of cover four so a lot of those receptions if you load them up on on film you're like okay well he's playing top down and it was a two-yard completion to the flat like they're literally saying SAS go allow that so yes when the Jets are like leading the league in cover four like they did last year you're going to get some of that in terms of reception percentage and that's why quarterback stats are always so hard but there are ones you can look at and wherever you look s is with a bullet the best corner in the NFL and another cool thing is I mentioned they play a lot of quarters and yes there will be maybe 50 6 60% of the time they are playing him off and um you know they're going to allow those underneath receptions but they have the flexibility to press him from quarters which is a very dangerous assignment if you press from quarters you're basically on the outside of your defense you're running cover zero without the blitzing element right if you run cover zero the idea is you just got to cover for two and a half seconds our our six-man Rush is going to get home but from quarters you're often rushing four and if you leave a guy on an island on the outside in press and they get beat over the top those safeties are focused on number you know the the slot wide receivers and the intermediate the short the the in the the middle of the field they're not focused on those go balls so if you press from quarters and you get beat that's a touchdown well you want to know how many touchdowns SAU has allowed in each of his last two seasons one just one and that has a force multiplying effect on the rest of these guys if they Run cover four they can say all right s island is over there the rest of the defense can kind of collapse those zones in you can shift your attention on everybody else you get a numbers Advantage guys can play aggressive the opposing quarterback starts to get that sinking feeling of it's like okay I either have with this great pass rush coming at me I have this jet secondary you know lurking underneath or I have to force it outside to Sauce those are horrible options so Broncos fans I love you I love Pat ceran he can be the second best corner in the league that's fine but to me at this point in time there just is not currently a debate I I can really never say there's a shutdown Corner in the modern NFL but if there is one it is SAS Gardner but what's crazy is not only do they have the best number one corner in the NFL they have the best number two Corner in the NFL in DJ Reid like I went through all of them especially now that lerus sne has gone in Kansas City and Carlton Davis has gone in Tampa I mean you're putting DJ Reed up there with okay um I I think like Greg Newsome in Cleveland that's probably as close as I would put it Tariq woen in the conversation we'll see what Wen plays like this year Roger mccre maybe for the Titans nice player but I think I'd rather have DJ Reed and Bland who's a little bit more polarizing gives up more in coverage but more of a playmaker okay worst case scenario DJ Reed is the fifth best number two Corner in the league opposite of the best um so that's where you're at with DJ Reid and he's unique because a lot of these like 59 Corners are like Darius Williams and Darius Williams is great in his own right too but DJ Reid has one thing Williams doesn't have in that he's he's just as fast just as fluid just as as good of as that like high Q off Zone corner where you play him in space and he can jump stuff but Reed has more physicality he's rocked up he can actually get in your face and press a little bit more than Darius Williams and um is is really physical at the catch Point can actually smash with some of these bigger wide receivers he does have a height disadvantage but he's not going to back down from a fight so he's just an allaround complete player but he's perfect opposite of SAS too because if you're talking about that quarter structure where you're leaving s kind of on an island and you're shifting all the coverage away from him well that safety to DJ Reed's side is going to be a little bit you know more in a position where he can help Reed over the top so Reed can collapse down a little bit more play some of those underneath throws be a little bit more aggressive to go jump stuff um so he's he's just the perfect fit here and then Michael carner Carter is just a top five to eight slot coin cor I mean definitely top five in terms of like true slot Corners when we start to throw in guys like Trent McDuffy and Kyle Hamilton some of these guys to play other positions too it gets a little more muddy but super consistent player really a lot of like speed for a slot corner from a down to- down like coverage production standpoint last year he was actually the best coverage slot Corner last year now I don't think he's quite the Run Defender that guys like Mike Hilton and anymore and Brian Branch are which when you're talking about a slot corner I do think that matters that helps you live in nickel really well not that he's bad in run defense but not quite what those guys are and I do think he gets a very favorable situation especially for a slot corner with all this surrounding Talent around him it's not a huge knock on him again we're saying he's top five and if he continues to produce like he did last year he's very quickly going to climb even further but I mean Jesus Christ if your if your questions about the cornerback room are whether or not Michael Carter is a top five slot Corner in the league you're in a ridiculous spot it's it's a a rare rare cornerback Trio um and then you have some interesting depth I mean Brandon eols didn't play much cuz these guys did stay really healthy last year that's unlikely to happen again so you know something to think about at least I mean while the Jets got obliterated on the offensive side of the ball the defense did mostly stay healthy not a lot of secondary make it through um a whole season fully healthy like that so the probability of a guy like Brandon eols or quantz stiggers playing are higher but I don't hate those guys' depth you know eo's just you know he's an exciting Speedy corner I think has a lot of potential and and you know the fact that he's kind of sustained this firstman in role here in this coaching staff I think is you know tells you that he could get in there and and play pretty well for this defense I don't think they're too worried if they have to go to Brandon eols whether it's in the slot or outside if they have to go to him for two or three weeks now any extended period of time and um you know it's a different conversation but then they also take quantz stigers fifth round pick right out of the CFL I don't watch a lot of CFL but I think he won their their Rookie of the Year award and I I didn't have CFL tape I don't really have any grounds based on what I've watched on him to tell you how good of a player he is but I do know that people are really excited about him had real diamond in the rough potential and for the Jets to like him is um you know a good sign cuz more often than not the corners that they handpick are successful and then they also have a Jerick Bernard Converse wasn't really a room for him to play last year but he was a a raw developmental LSU Corner last year so you know three guys very much in the athletic developmental mold for corners but um any number of those guys could turn into players that wouldn't surprised me it's fine for a cornerback depth um and then you know their safety room is fine it's not enough when when your cornerback room is as good as it is they there's no like true weaknesses with these secondaries for me to say that takes them down from being the best secondary in the league but there are certainly a lot better safety rooms but it's just it's not really something I'm worried about I think both these guys are very solid um Chuck Clark Tony Adams and they have some decent depth but you know we'll start with Chuck Clark they signed him they wanted him to come in as they're starting safety last year he went down he was the one guy in this defense that did get hurt last year um pretty sure it was an ACL but he's had more than enough time to recover he takes the starting job back and you know he's a solid player he's not the most athletic dude from a coverage perspective he's he's smart he's often in the right place but you're just not going to get a ton of playmaking from him on the back end but the communication should be pretty sound he is a really consistent run Defender so he's kind of a last line of defense for them can help prevent big plays not going to get shredded in coverage and you know not going to let you pass 20 yards it's a it's a fine enough player to have back there and then Tony Adams in year three you know nobody knows who Tony Adams is came into the league undrafted out of Illinois we talked about him in the Deep dive last year as as being an interesting player for this defense they started him over uh Adrien Amos right was something we talked about like okay I mean there's no reason he can't be good he's got really good athletic testing they like him and he ended up starting essentially the whole season for them last year missed a couple weeks for injury but you know he had he had three picks pretty solid in coverage nothing really special pretty good in run defense like he's a year three guy with a lot of athleticism I think the arrow is still pointing up I don't know that he'll ever be a superstar but there's no physical limitations to tell you why he couldn't be I'm not necessarily excited about Tony Adams but I'm definitely not worried about him starting and then I like their depth I like Ashton Davis I think he's a solid coverage player I really do I think he's got the speed and instincts back there and that showed he had three picks last year in 110 coverage snaps as a bit of a rotation and they started to get him on the field more and more was in the fourth year of his rookie contract was a third round pick he's had his ups and downs they eventually kind of moved on from him as the starter because his run defense was just not good enough and I think he's kind of battled some injuries but they did actually bring him back U which was maybe a minor surprise but I think as a depth piece like if he's got to step in and start and you know even longterm like I wouldn't be horribly worried about him I think he's a nice depth piece and Isaiah Oliver is just a really good balanced defensive back Oliver can also be a part of your cornerback depth at least as a slot corner he played in this defense for the ners last year was really good from the slot just someone that gets banged up a lot but you know couple of nice players to have I just man this is this is a really special unit even if the safeties aren't Sensational and uh you know that that rounds out your positional breakdowns I hope you can see why I think this Jets team is so special why I'm high on this team and I have them as my second overall defense now I said we were going to circle back to that uh discussion about Hassan reck so the for those that have followed the series The Brown actually came in as my second ranked defense but as I've discussed as I watch the film do my research for every team these ratings are subject to slide up and down a little bit that pass rush grade was originally second to Fourth now it's Fourth to 6th bumped it down a little bit on reck and that was enough to slide their defense below it I will reiterate I am going to publish for free my final spreadsheet with the team rankings and all the splits um on my patreon it'll be a public post there if while you're over there at patreon.com thatf franchise guy if you want to support the channel get exclusive um content I just last week published my the my list of guys I'm targeting and fading in fantasy football hell there's um four spots left in our uh slow draft fantasy league if you want to rush over the $1 level patrons get access to that the fantasy board is on the $5 level but uh want to let you guys know what's going on over at patreon but anyway back to the Jets my second ranked overall defense second for p defense and then from a run defense perspective I think they're going to be really good there too ranking fifth you know they were probably closer to like 10th to 14th last year in run defense but they were on the field so freaking much right and they had these games where they were just getting gashed I mean when you're in a weak 12 game and you know you have no chance and you're down three scores in the third quarter and teams are just running the ball right at you it's hard to sustain great run defense throughout the course of the Season as much as Robert Salah did motivate this group to play good uh defense for the scope of the season but they were still I I want to say seventh in lowest um success rate for opposing rushing defense so like I think the signs were still in there like even last year when they wanted to stop the run they absolutely could and I think that can take a step up this year not having to defend the Run quite as much and being a little bit more fresh for that so they do come in fifth there for run defense overall just obviously a super complete defense and they're complete on special teams too man like this the roster is just absurd like Greg zurl had an awesome year last year Thomas Morad has been super sound like a top 10 punter like year in year out they ranked fourth for me for my special teams rankings just such a complete football team and even factoring in a lot of the injury stuff putting them I think about as close to their floor as you're going to find as the 14th best offense in the league that is plenty enough when this defense is as good as they are but as we look at the strengths weaknesses and those pivotal factors one more time it's a really unique chart here we haven't seen a team like this I mean that list of strengths is hilariously long quarterback offensive line running back defensive coaching pass rush linebackers Elite secondary special teams it's the whole [ __ ] team man is a strength the weakness is is offensive coaching but then the wild cards are almost entirely health related none more important than that one Achilles attendant attached to Aron Rogers leg but you also have durability questions on the offensive line Mike Williams is a pivotal factor for the Weaponry all of which we discussed and that all just puts so much polarization on this stuff there is a world where the Rock Bottom injury situation does happen again if literally Rogers is out for the Year by week three Tyron Smith Goes Down week two and Mike Williams tears another ACL yes this is going to be maybe not quite as bad as they were offensively last year but still a bottom 10 offense in the league quite clearly that does seem a little dramatic to me and I think as we have them ranked factoring in some durability concerns that's how you end up with them as more of a mid offense but dude if they stay healthy and those guys are there and look good you're talking about pairing a potential top five to eight offense with an absurd defensive just defense I mean it's not just the roster the coaching is great on that side of the ball the the only other wild card than the durability concerns with the offense is Hassan reic and I think we broke that down like it doesn't necessarily mean they have a horrible floor like I don't see dine ever being a weakness for the Jets but it could could it be less of a strength so to speak if reck's not available for them yes absolutely so there's there's some kind of nonf football related wild cards for this team but the Assembly of this team is really special and if you look at the the schedule here man Team Summary I'm not going to say they have it easy but it ain't too bad I mean I don't love starting in San Francisco Monday Night Football they are underdogs in that game but after that I mean they should be sitting at 4- one man at Tennessee New England Denver at Minnesota and then you know you're playing capable teams but teams that I think they're better than Buffalo at Pittsburgh at New England again um they do host Houston that'll be a really fun game but then at Arizona the worst def well second worst defense in the League now that the Rams are giving away their good players um the Colts at home week 11 they get the bye they host Seattle instead of having to go to Seattle like maybe they do have it easy this is this is not a bad schedule for the Jets man things do definitely get a little bit harder there at Miami week 14 um at the Jags week 15 they host the Rams they got to go to Buffalo and then host Miami the final five um is a is a bit of a harder stretch but man my projection on them has them at 11 wins basically 10.8 wins I like the alternate line on the Jets at 10 and a half their over under is n and a half I would go bet the the over 10 and a half on this team I would depends on your tolerance for their injury risk of course but I like all these odds man uh especially the Super Bowl odds at 18 to1 I just Schedule Outlook & Win Total Projection feel like the upside on this team really is the best team in the league so to get them with the 10th best Super Bowl odds um you know some of the risk is baked in there but the reward is is tremendous division odds at plus 160 probably the worst value-wise just cuz Miami and buffalo are really good football teams so I would say bet the over in the Super Bowl odds not necessarily the division odds but uh it it shouldn't come as a huge surprise when everybody going into this video knew I was high on the Jets that I I like they're over but I think I think because of the like Aaron roders hate bandwagon and the um fact that it's the Jets like people are scared to bet these and the you're getting value on the gambling Market because of that so I like it man but that is going to do it I want to hear from you guys uh did I I mean this was going to be a big one a lot of people thought I was crazy for having the Jets 5 so did I convince you um am I a biased Aon Rogers Homer if so let me have it let me hear from you guys drop those comments down below who do you guys think comes in at number four in these power rankings that was a really fun one I had to re-record this because the SE like the basically from the Aaron Rogers segment on this file got corrupted so I'm doing this entire recording basically again here um so that was fun but it actually was I enjoyed this one I hope you guys did too uh we'll see you guys soon for the next Deep dive please hit that like button on the way out and peace out [Music] a [Music]