I think this is an important question. Most of the roster is set now. They will add a few pieces, including a potential Franchise QB #3 overall in the NFL Draft. Hopefully they make solid selections from Rounds 3-7 too. My worry here is that drafting a QB gives more time to Todd Bowles. You can't have too high expectations if you are starting a rookie QB. Most don't play like Deshaun Watson did before his injury last year or Dak Prescott the year before. Knowing Bowles, he won't even start the kid. He will go with McCown or Bridgewater until the Jets are officially eliminated from playoff contention. The Jets seem to have improved their Defense with Trumaine Johnson and Avery Williamson. Whoever takes Wilkerson's spot will do no worse than he did. Jamal Adams and Marcus Maye should play better due to experience. Hopefully Darron Lee also takes the next step. He looked to be improving last year. Offensively, Spencer Long is a big upgrade over Wesley Johnson, and Isaiah Crowell should give a bigger boost to the offense than Matt Forte did last year. The return of Quincy Enunwa could be big too if he plays like he did in 2016. The offense will come down to QB though. McCown, Bridgewater, 3rd Overall Pick, etc. Like I said earlier, Bowles loves playing veterans. In this case though, obviously the fan base will want Darnold/Rosen/Mayfield to start. Starting them could lower win expectations and give Bowles a 5th year even if the team does not make the playoffs. My current expectations are to improve as a team. Take the next step. If they don't: Bowles should be fired no matter what. (5-11) last year, I think (8-8) minimum this year. Even with a rookie QB. I don't want to say playoffs or bust, because I am not sure how good the actual team is. If they look great, go (9-7) and barely miss the playoffs, I would say to keep going with the plan. Progress needs to be seen. Not just from the players: but the Head Coach too. What do you think?
I don't expect a playoff appearance unless a lot of things go right. I do expect continued development from our young players(namely Adams, Maye, Enunwa, Anderson if he's on the field, rookie QB, and Leo). Hopefully by the end of the season, the rookie QB is ready to play if need be and the offense can continue to be upgraded in free agency and the 2019 draft. We still need a RB, QB, C, TE, LT, edge rusher between now and the 2019 draft. Obviously, QB is filled by the 3rd pick in the 2018 draft and we can grab a C or RB in the 3rd round.
They need to go at least 9-7 or I would expect another shakeup. $90M and the number 3 pick demands at least that.
I think the playoff mandate is real. Four years of Mac and Bowles, zero playoff appearances. No more excuses. They got the players they wanted, the coaches they wanted, and if they can't be one of the top six teams in a sixteen league division now, it's not going to happen. Like Bridgewater being better, the odds are long. Conventional wisdom would be to roll out the mats -- Welcome GM Trent Kirchner and Head Coach John DeFilippo! -- but I don't know. There's a lot of characters on this team that make it charming, if not, likely doomed. I'm hoping that this collection of transients that forms the 2018 Jets becomes a one-hit-wonder. I don't expect it to though.
And the only successful team they had was the one Ryan and Idzik left them along with 75m in cap space..let that sink in and they wonder as I do how the hell they are still here..10-22 in THEIR two years.
It's still really hard to predict things now. Who will be the starting QB? Which rookie QB would be ready to start? Imo only Mayfield. What if we draft Rosen, will he start right away? What's the status of our running game, we can't really conclude much at this point. Looking at our schedule, there are at least 8 games that are perfectly winnable. I would like to see a fight for the playoffs, but developing our QB is the most important thing so I personally won't be that bothered by our record. In fact, I would be quite pissed if Bowles only gives trash time to the rookie QB like he did with Petty this season.
I don't think there is any playoff mandate for this regime right now..it's another one of those seasons where Johnson will look at the season in terms of if the team is moving in the right direction...I expect the team to win between 6-8 games and ownership to be thrilled.
I think we should be going into this season pretty optimistically. We were in almost every game last year. We beat 3 playoff teams. We should Drop the rebuilding BS and not be the Jets that are trying to not go 0-16 and be the Jets that are a team to reckoned with. I think we did better Last year than everyone expected which was good for last year, but it won't cut it this year. I feel a 9 win season is possible. Hopefully this is the changing of the guards in the AFC east. I've been a Jets fan since 1963 & I've seen the good the bad & the ugly. I feel this year will be the start of good things to come. A lot depends on getting our FQB this year's #3 pick. The team is young, it has cap space for the future, & we are hopefully going to Draft our FQB of the future. Everything seems to be aligned for this team to sustain a competitive team for the next decade. Hopefully growing better each year. NO MORE SAME OLD JETS.
Probably another 5-11. I don't see why there would be a playoff "mandate". This is still a young team with tons of holes. Also playoff mandates are stupid, will just lead to coaches playing vets way too often to save their jobs.
This is actually a good point I forgot to bring up: The AFC is clearly weaker than the NFC. You have 3 teams that should make the playoffs: -New England Patriots -Pittsburgh Steelers -Jacksonville Jaguars However, 2 of those 3 teams have old QB's so even they are not guaranteed. Then you have the Chiefs with a new QB, Titans with a new Coach, Bills with a lot of new pieces, Dolphins, Ravens, Bengals, Broncos, Chargers, Texans, Colts, and Oakland Raiders who really are not too far off from each other. I think the Browns are a year or so away but you never know. Point is coaching could separate those teams from making the playoffs or not. The Titans and Bills pretty much made the playoffs by default last year.
I predict the Jaguars will have a disappointing step back year..Bortles with no weapons, a defense that's a bit overrated, and a tougher schedule.
Right now? They're a 5-11 MAYBE 6-10 team. The OL still sucks. Long is an improvement, but that's not saying much when your last Center is named Wes Johnson. They still have holes galore all over the roster and ZERO playmakers. The defense is overrated and cannot generate turnovers to save their lives. Worst of all, the CS sucks worse than anything else.
I don't know which would be worse: Going (5-11) for a 3rd straight season or keeping Bowles if they do. Both sound awful to me!
To me this team needs to go 8-8 or 9-7. Make a solid push for playoffs, young players continue to get better on both sides of the ball.
What Are The Expectations of the 2018 Jets? Depends on the draft but with the current HC & DC in charge.... not much.
To begin with, even though most of the roster is set, we could still see a lot of players come and go. They've still only re-signed handful of all the FAs they had and haven't signed that many outside FAs. I think between FA (it isn't over, but options now are more limited), the draft, and camp cuts, we will see some changes made. Starters in bold QB - Will probably be Bridgewater, McCown, rookie, Petty cut, Hack cut or to PS RB - Crowell, Powell and McGuire, we could see them add a RB in the draft, someone like Nyheim Hines that can return Punts and KOs, or maybe even a power back like Scarbrough TE - Leggett, Tomlinson, Sterling We could definitely see them adding a TE via either the draft or camp cuts WR - Enunwa, Kearse, Stewart, Hansen, Anderson (if he isn't suspended or released) We could possibly see 1-2 additional faces. Also presently on the roster are Jalin Marshall, Devon Smith, Brisly Estime (returner), JoJo Natson (returner), Damore'ea Stringfellow (returner), (Lucky Whitehead (returner), Charone Peake, Tre McBride & Daniel Williams. Every single one of these guys could be gone. They might keep one of the guys as a returner, or they might draft a RB or CB who is a return man. They're also bringing in Terrell Pryor and Charles Johnson, and could bring in Allen Hurns. I doubt they'd draft a WR, but could also wind up bringing in a camp cut. Hence there could be some significant change to the WR position. OL - Beachum, Shell, Long, Winters, Carpenter, Ijalana, Qvale are probably locks. Will they re-sign Dozier? With Long's injury history, they need a backup C for certain. I think last year they kept 9 OL on the roster, but will they do that this year? Will they keep 10 or only 8? Since the better FAs are gone, I think they probably need to draft a C or C/OG, but they could add a camp cut. Could Korren Kirven or Ben Braden win a spot? DL - Leonard Williams, Mike Pennel, Steve McClendon, and Xavier Cooper are pretty much it right now. Could Claude Pelon contribute and/or will Lawrence Thomas play both DE and FB? Will they bring back Kony Ealy or will they draft a DL or sign a camp cut? I think theyr'e about 2 players short on the DL ILB - Darron Lee & Avery Williamson. Those are the only two ILBs on the roster at present. I expect them to add one either via the draft or camp cut. OLB - Jordan Jenkins, Lorenzo Mauldin, Freddie Bishop, Dylan Donohue, Josh Martin, & Obum Gwachum. I hope the Jets can add an OLB prospect via the draft or maybe as a camp cut. Jenkins is a starter. Martin is a STer and depth. Donohue could be depth if he isn't suspended or cut for the DUIs. I think they'd probably like to move on from Mauldin, but can't. Depending upon other positions, the Jets may keep only 4-5, so there could be some change here. CB - Trumaine Johnson, Morris Claiborne, Buster Skrine, Darryl Roberts, Derrick Jones, Jeremy Clark, Juston Burris, Bryson Keeton, Xavier Coleman, Rashard Robinson, Terrell Sinkfield, & Kacy Rodgers II. I think they'll probably only keep 6. It will be interesting to see what Jones and Clark bring to the table this year and if Burris makes the roster. The only CB I could see them adding would be a slot/nickel CB in the draft. S - Jamal Adams, Marcus Maye, Terrence Brooks, Doug Middleton, & Rontez Miles. I think this is the only position on the team that is probably set, although they will probably only keep 4. LS - Thomas Hennessy P - Lachlan Edwards K - Cairo Santos Unless the rookie QB blows away everyone, I don't think he will start. I think Mac has said that they want him to sit for a year, and that's one of the reasons they signed both Bridgewater and McCown. IMO the team should be better and play better. They played hard and well most of the time last year. They'll still be lacking talent in some areas, but should be better. Looking at the schedule, they could be hard pressed to win around 7 or 8 games. To do so, they'll have to sweep Miami and/or Buffalo. I don't see any way they can win more than 9. A lot will depend upon who the starting QB is and how well he plays. IMO the wildcard is Bowles. Has he learned to make adjustments or will he have the personnel now where he can make some adjustments? If Teddy wins the starting job, will Bowles be less cowardly/conservative? Will he manage the game and clock any better. IMO there's no question that if he doesn't show improvement, the team doesn't show improvement and/or the team finishes with the same record or worse, he should be fired, but doubt that would happen.
The Jets play in a crappy division and they’re part of what makes is crappy. If they can’t pull of 2nd with this war chest then dudes need to be fired. My expectations are high for the quarterback position this season. McCopter turned in respectable numbers last season, so Bridgewater / draft pick should be able to do better. If not, it’s gonna be another long season.
McCown had a career year, so I don't think Bridgewater or the rookie will top it. If we had a halfway decent roster McCown would have taken us to the playoffs, but we sucked so all he did was get us 5 wins instead of 2.
Brink of the playoffs, or in. If Teddy is healthy, the Jets can win 9 to 10 games. The draft is still in question, but afterwards, we should have a better idea.
Though the evidence doesn’t support it, I have to believe Bridgewater can be better. I think Bridgewater thinks he can be better, and that’s why I’m betting on him.
