Not a game has been played, but the New York Jets have already been left for dead by most of the football world.
After cutting bait with a swarm of veterans, Gang Green's stripped-down, talent-poor roster bears the earmarks of a front office committed to a comprehensive rebuild. The deep-gutting has led to an offseason's worth of accusations that New York is simply tanking the season to land the top pick in next year's quarterback-rich draft.
While Matt Forte -- one of the few trusty veterans still left on the payroll -- shot down the idea of tanking, he was quickly outdone by teammate Leonard Williams.
New York's mammoth defensive lineman still sees plenty of hope in the players around him, calling the Jets a team that could win a Super Bowl sooner than later.
"I think it's definitely realistic," Williams said, per Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News. "I know how much talent we have on our team. I think at this level it's not about who's the most talented. It's about who's the most together as a team and who's going to play well with each other and have the least amount of mistakes."
Williams fully destroyed the idea that players have bought into some sort of master plan to throw the season.
"We play football to win," Williams said. "We're not here to say that we want a certain record. We want a championship. It doesn't matter what outside people think. It doesn't matter who's here and who's not here. We're just going to work on what we got and work on a championship. Every year if you're not focused on a championship or a Super Bowl, what are we doing it for? Why are we showing up to OTAs and the offseason program and putting our bodies on the line if we're not focused on a Super Bowl?"
The Jets are definitely not winning the Super Bowl this year, but that isn't what Williams is saying, is it? He's reminding everyone on the outside that players aren't built to casually lose games for a vague, future draft pick.
Neither are coaches, who know that a disastrous season can lead to jobs being lost and front-office master plans being blown up in a hurry.
