C.J. Mosley came to the Jets six years ago to be their savior, on a contract that was the perfect example of why the Jets needed saving.
Mosley departed Wednesday night with the unwavering respect of the locker room and Jets fans, even though he never came close to delivering the Jets to the promised land he always sought after.
In between he was regarded as a head coach on the field, a lost cause who would never recover from his injuries, a mentor, a quitter, a punching bag for fans, a fan favorite, a Pro Bowler and second-team, All-Pro, and a guy who trained his replacements.
Yes, C.J. Mosley was a lot of things in his six years with the Jets. It great and terrible and complicated.
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Some thought the Jets overpaid for Mosley when made him the highest-paid off-ball linebacker in league history, by far, when they signed him to a five-year, $85 million deal.
It was a desperate contract for a team that wasn’t ready to win. By a general manager who ended up fired just weeks later. And weeks after he signed even Mosley admitted he was shocked by the offer.
“I had a picture in my head of what I thought I might be worth,” Mosley said when the team revealed its new uniforms in April of 2019. “But nobody ever would have imagined that type of money.”
He was there for the new uniforms and the Year 2 Sam Darnold hype with new coach Adam Gase, and for three quarters against Buffalo the Jets looked like a different team. The Mosley hurt his groin, the Jets lost, and everything spiraled out of control.
It would be two years before Mosley was back on the field for a full game. And in between the Jets changed coaches, Mosley was ridiculed for opting out for the 2020 Covid season. And it seemed like there was zero chance he would be remembered for anything other than failing to live up to his contract.
But when Mosley returned in 2021, he insisted that he saw better things coming for the Jets. And it was a message that began to resonate in the locker room, even though the record didn’t match it. Mosley wasn’t his former self, but he played well enough to stay on the roster for another year.
In 2022, everything changed as Mosley started to look like the guy who dominated in Baltimore before the Jets signed him. Sure he was a little slower and leaner. But he was still a heck of a player and one of the biggest reasons the Jets shocked the NFL by starting the season 7-4.
But while the coaching staff talked confidently about the successes of the future, Mosley warned about the dangers of losing focus. And the Jets lost six straight to end the season, missing the playoffs yet again.
In 2023, Mosley finally seemed to get the help he needed. His prediction of a Jets turnaround seemed inevitable after they traded for Aaron Rodgers. Of course, Rodgers tore his Achilles on the fourth snap of the season. The offense imploded. Mosley’s defense did not, with him playing at a high level and the defense keeping the Jets in contention longer than anyone could have expected when Rodgers went down.
And in 2024, when the party was at its end early and obviously, it was fitting that Mosley couldn’t be on the field for most of it. Toe and neck injuries limited him to just four games.
No one knows what’s next for Mosley, and while his career isn’t likely to land him in the Jets Ring of Honor, it’s only because he played for them in the worst era. Anyone who walked in the building for the last six years knows who the leader of this team was and nobody represents better what this team and fan base has gone through, for good or bad.
Mosley was the Jets for the last six years. And while that might not get him on a banner, it does get him a place in franchise history that few have reached, or ever will.
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_Andy Vasquez may be reached at_ [_avasquez@njadvancemedia.com_](mailto:avasquez@njadvancemedia.com)_._