The Jets' special teams, under first-year NFL coordinator Chris Banjo's direction, were their top-performing unit last season and he sounded, in his first remarks to reporters this offseason, as if he's ready to suit up again.
"I'm really excited to be back, really glad to have the guys back in the building and back on the field," Banjo said Wednesday, in the middle of the first week of the offseason program's Phase 2. "The juice and the energy they bring with them on a daily basis and even so early in this process has been phenomenal. So I'm really excited to have the guys back and looking forward to the opportunity we have together to put the work in, a day at a time."
But what about a special teams encore after 2025? Banjo, a smart young STC, isn't going there yet.
"Definitely different," Banjo said of his own Year 2-plus as well as the year ahead for his special units. "So much work to be done. I mean, some faces are a little bit more familiar. ... It's another opportunity to step up to the plate, put the work in, put your head down and continue to grow the unit."
Banjo definitely has some of his key performers back at the Jets facility. The returners, team MVP Isaiah Williams and dynamic kickoff returner Kene Nwangwu, are back. So is Austin McNamara. who had an eye-opening first season as the Jets punter, especially in setting the franchise's seasonal net average mark. So are many of the kick coverers and blockers — among them teams captain Marcelino McCrary-Ball, gunners Arian Smith and Qwan'tez Stiggers, Mykal Walker and Andrew Beck. And don't forget old reliable long snapper Thomas Hennessy.
One name not on the list of returnees is a big one, though. Kicker Nick Folk, who was nearly flawless in his own Green & White encore after his first Jets tenure from 2010-16, signed as an unrestricted free agent with Atlanta. So there is a big opening to fill, with the candidates lining up so far including third-year free agent Cade York, first-year International Pathway Program K Lenny Krieg, and undrafted free agent Will Ferrin.