State of the Buffalo Bills: Heat is on Sean McDermott, Josh Allen to win team's first Lombardi Trophy
State of the Cincinnati Bengals: Can Joe Burrow and Co. get back on Super Bowl track?
State of the Indianapolis Colts: Anthony Richardson poised to take off in Year 2 under Shane Steichen?
State of the Denver Broncos: Sean Payton-Bo Nix pairing poised to alleviate long Super Bowl hangover?
State of the 2024 Washington Commanders: Jayden Daniels must show he has what it takes to succeed
State of the 2024 Chicago Bears: Caleb Williams should lead well-rounded roster to playoffs in Year 1
State of the 2024 Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Can Baker Mayfield lead a deeper playoff run?
State of the 2024 San Francisco 49ers: Super Bowl remains tantalizingly within reach
Where does your squad stand ahead of the 2024 NFL season? Adam Rank sets the table by providing a State of the Franchise look at all 32 teams, zeroing in on the new faces to know, one significant fantasy spin and the stakes at play in the campaign to come.
Members of the Jets organization, Jets fans around the world, and those who hope you can go one offensive series before the sadness sets in.
Well, that’s not the way you wanted the Jets’ season to start last year. I’ll take some responsibility for that -- I had Aaron Rodgers and Garrett Wilson on a ton of my fantasy teams. It was a heartbreaking end of the season -- all four plays of it. The good news is the Jets have one of the best rosters in the NFL and should be ready to fulfill the expectations laid before them when they acquired Rodgers last offseason. Can they do it? Let’s take a look.
State of the Buffalo Bills: Heat is on Sean McDermott, Josh Allen to win team's first Lombardi Trophy
State of the Miami Dolphins: Time for Mike McDaniel, Tua Tagovailoa to deliver deep playoff run
State of the New York Jets: Can Aaron Rodgers lead bounce-back campaign with improved roster?
State of the New England Patriots: Spotlight shines on Drake Maye at dawn of new era
2024 brain trust
Roster reshuffling
Below is a rundown of the Jets' most notable roster developments for the 2024 season, including this year's draft class, as well as key acquisitions and departures via free agency and trade.
New faces to know
I mean, if you’re the Jets and you have a quarterback you hope can return from injury, why not add a receiver who tore his ACL in Week 3? Williams has missed 19 games over the last two seasons (including that Chargers' wild-card loss), but he anticipates he'll be ready come Week 1. I like the talent and he’s been great downfield. Since 2018, the veteran leads the NFL with 15.8 yards per reception among players with 200+ receptions. The Jets are looking for Rodgers to get back to his deep-ball proficiency, which has declined in each season since 2020. Williams should help, if he can stay on the field.
Knowing they needed more protection in front of Rodgers, the Jets selected Fashanu with the 11th overall pick in April’s draft. He didn’t allow a single sack in 697 pass-blocking snaps at Penn State. I mean, that’s pretty massive for a guy who played in the Big Ten.
The Jets have a new starting left tackle, left guard and right tackle. The Jets are not messing around, using their first-round pick on Fashanu and then totally revamping the O-line. That’s also great news for a guy like Breece Hall, who we’ll get to in a moment. But according to Next Gen Stats, Rodgers has a 73.2 completion percentage when he’s not pressured, compared to 40.8 when pressured. His touchdown-to-interception ratio improves from 11-7 when pressured to an astounding 52-9 when he’s not pressured. Rodgers’ passer rating jumps from 61.6 to 111.4. This is why the Jets didn’t mess around and got serious with the line.
State of the QB room
Aaron Rodgers has won multiple MVP awards. He’s a Super Bowl winner. I would even suggest he has a lot to offer the Jets, who added QB2 Tyrod Taylor this offseason, in 2024. But skipping out on minicamp is kind of tough to take, especially when Rodgers missed basically the entire 2023 season with an injury. It certainly allowed the keyboard warriors to vent on the internet. TikTok had a field day with it. The truth is, however, none of that is going to matter once a healthy Rodgers starts throwing rockets to Garrett Wilson and putting up huge numbers. These things tend to be forgotten once real football is played. And again, I really do believe Rodgers is going to have a great season. Trust me, I’ve seen vengeful Rodgers as a Bears fan. It’s not pleasant -- for opponents anyway.
Most important non-QB
The Jets fielded the No. 2-ranked pass defense in the NFL last season, allowing just 168.3 pass yards per game. Opponents averaged just 23.5 yards per drive against Robert Saleh’s unit, also second-fewest league-wide. The Jets defense forced a three-and-out on 27.8 percent of drives -- again, second-most in the NFL. And it was Sauce leading the way. The two-time All-Pro selection has a 92.1 coverage grade in his career, the best in the NFL since 2022, per PFF. The Jets' defense is pretty nasty.
My HOTTEST Jets fantasy take:
Breece Hall is -- at worst -- the third running back off the board.
That outlook is going to be a tough one for the “do the opposite of what Rank says” crowd. Kidding. Hall averages just under 95 scrimmage yards per game for his career, and he’ll continue to be huge in the pass game for the Jets this season after leading the team with four receiving TDs in 2023. I actually think he’ll see the end zone more with a healthy Rodgers. Think of Aaron Jones in his prime in Green Bay. Keep in mind, as good as Hall was last season, he had only one goal-line rush -- another number that should improve this year.
2024 roadmap
Three key dates:
- Week 1 (Monday night): at San Francisco 49ers. I mean, don’t tell me this wasn’t intentional. A year after losing their star quarterback in this game, the Jets again open the season on Monday Night Football. This time, they’re on the road in the Bay Area, where Aaron Rodgers grew up.
- Week 6 (Monday night): vs. Buffalo Bills. The opener is rough. But the Jets should be favored to win over the next couple of weeks. Their next litmus test? This contest against a Bills team that has won the division for four straight years.
- Week 14: at Miami Dolphins. The back end of the schedule is loaded for the Jets, who play against the Dolphins twice (including Week 18 at home) and at Buffalo in Week 17.
For 2024 to be a success, the Jets MUST:
A) Win the Super Bowl
B) Make a playoff run
C) Earn a playoff berth
D) Finish above .500
E) Show progress
My answer: B) Make a playoff run. I mean, this is the end of the line for a few of the Jets notables here. It feels like Aaron Rodgers has one more chance to get the team to the playoffs before he ends up joining the Vikings next season (I’m only sort of joking). Robert Saleh needs to prove he’s the guy who can lead this team to success for 2024 and beyond. A playoff berth would probably be enough. But this is really one of the best rosters in the NFL, and Rodgers is considered one of the best quarterbacks in the league even at 40 years old. The Jets must win playoff games to really feel good about this season. I’d even say that anything less than a Super Bowl would be a disappointment. But considering what happened last year, I’ll be a little generous here.