Aaron Glenn, Jets
Getty
New York Jets head coach Aaron Glenn reacting in the middle of an NFL game against the Miami Dolphins.
The New York Jets had an unimpressive free agency.
At least that is the opinion of national analyst Michael Fabiano. He and the rest of the MMQB staff were tasked by Sports Illustrated to identify which teams should be pressing the panic button after free agency. Fabiano picked the green and white.
“If I’m a Jets fan, I’m re-thinking my decision to stick with this franchise. None of their offseason moves scream major improvement, and bringing back Geno Smith is like inviting your ex who took you for everything in the divorce out for dinner at a Michelin Star restaurant. Why would you do it? Overly optimistic Jets fans seem to think it’s so the team can tank for Arch Manning (after all, Geno did it for the Raiders to get Fernando Mendoza)! This is why the Jets have been and will continue to be an NFL laughing stock,” Fabiano wrote.
Is It Possible for a Take to Be More Wrong?
“None of their offseason moves scream major improvement?”
All Smith jokes aside, he is a major upgrade over what the Jets rolled out at QB last season.
The defensive tackle room is better, the linebacker room has been upgraded, the safety room is improved, and you could argue the defensive end room is already better than last year.
Plus, the Jets still have four picks inside the top-44 to sprinkle in and make this roster even better at the end of April.
Gang Green entered the offseason with the fourth most cap space in the NFL. The Jets were among the most active teams in free agency, but not in the way most people would have expected.
The green and white didn’t make splashy top-of-the-market signings. Instead, the Jets opted for a quantity over quality approach. That is exactly what the doctor ordered, coming off a 3-14-year. The Jets weren’t one player away from contending; the team needed to add some bodies to the roster, and they did that in spades.
Is there more work that needs to be done? No doubt.
The list of needs includes but isn’t limited to: quarterback, wide receiver, offensive line depth, pass rusher, off-ball linebacker, corner depth, another safety wouldn’t hurt, and placekicker.
Geno Smith Jokes Write Themselves
Fabiano cracked a joke about the unlikely Smith-Jets reunion this offseason. He wasn’t the first, and he certainly won’t be the last.
Smith never could have imagined he’d be back with the Jets after leaving them in 2017. Yet nearly a decade later, he is back in the fold.
Smith is coming off a year he self-described as “terrible” when speaking with the local Jets media. He led the league in interceptions and was sacked 55 times (that also led the NFL), per ESPN.
Candidly, the Raiders were a dysfunctional mess. While Smith, as the QB1, deserves his fair share of the blame, it’s unclear how many quarterbacks would have succeeded in that environment.
The former West Virginia product believes the Jets are getting the best version of Smith that we have seen at the NFL level. If that’s true, green and white fans are in store for a career season at QB. However, on the other side of the coin, it’ll be hard for it to be any worse than it was last season.