The Jets expect to be a much-improved team in 2022 from the 4-13 team they were last season. If nothing else, they certainly will look a lot different when training camp opens on July 26.
A lot can happen in the six weeks after that, and it will set the tone for this important season. So here’s a look at the five biggest summer storylines for the Jets…
The Jets’ defense was the worst in the NFL last season, and it looked the part. It was done in by a bad combination of youth and a wave of injuries to veterans. Late in the season, even the coaches understood there wasn’t enough talent on the field to get the job done.
So they loaded up in the offseason in free agency and the draft. They revamped their secondary with new corners in D.J. Reed and Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner and a new safety in Jordan Whitehead. They restocked the line and the pass rush with players like Jermaine Johnson and Solomon Thomas. And they expect a boost from the return of players who missed last season, like edge rusher Carl Lawson, defensive lineman Vinny Curry and safety Lamarcus Joyner.
On paper, there’s just no comparison to the mess they were last season. In fact, on paper, the Jets’ defense looks more than pretty good.
“I think we’ve got the guys to do more than just get the job done,” Reed said. “I think we can dominate.”
Maybe that’s a stretch, though inside the organization coaches and executives are quietly expecting a major improvement. They could easily be a defense ranked in the top half of the league, if defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich and head coach Robert Saleh can mesh all the new pieces.
They seem most excited by the secondary, which was alarmingly young last year and played like it. In a pass-happy league and a division with an array of speedy receivers, the corners were a liability. And the safety corps had so many injuries, they were pulling players off the street at the end of the year.
Now they have talent and, just as importantly, depth. Whitehead and Joyner are backed up at safety by what they hope are emerging young players in Jason Pinnock and Ashtyn Davis. And with Reed and Gardner at cornerback, Michael Carter II can settle in at the nickel spot while Brandin Echols and Bryce Hall can give them fresh legs off the bench.
“I think this can be one of the best secondaries I’ve been a part of in five years,” Whitehead said. “These guys are hungry.”
Even better, they could get help from a pass rush – something that was nonexistent last season. Lawson, their prized free agent from a year ago, missed last year with a torn Achilles. Now he returns and will get help from Johnson, one of the Jets’ three first-round picks, on the other side. Add in John Franklin-Myers, Sheldon Rankins, Quinnen Williams and Curry, Solomon Thomas, Bryce Huff and more, and the Jets have the kind of front Saleh wants - one that can come at an opposing quarterback in waves.
The Jets had none of that last season, which is why nothing Ulbrich tried work. They couldn’t pressure the quarterback and they couldn’t stop opposing receivers. They simply didn’t have good enough players. This year they certainly do.
But that’s on paper. On the field it’s up to Ulbrich and Saleh to make it all work. Because if they do, and the Jets’ defense really can rise from the ashes and become a force, maybe they actually could become a contender.
“We have a fresh start, new players, a new group of guys, new knowledge and everything,” Whitehead said. “We could be very special.”
