These young Jets appear headed in right direction, but learning curve will be steep

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. -- The Jets are going to be the youngest team in the NFL this season, which always seemed to be part of their grand plan. They wanted a youth movement to sweep through what had become a stale, old organization. They needed to restock the roster with as many young, talent players as they could find.

They have, and that’s great. It’s the right way to rebuild a franchise. And it just might set them up for their long-term goal of turning the Jets into a perennial contender.

But yes, whether they are willing to admit it or not, it probably means these Baby Jets are going to struggle. Like it or not, the kids are in for a bumpy ride this year.

“Obviously we embrace the urgency at which everybody wants to win,” Jets coach Robert Saleh said. “But at the same time that can’t affect your decision-making for the long-haul of the goal of winning championships for extended periods of time. Urgency in the past has led to spurts of success and lengths of failure. We’re trying to get that reversed to where we have long, long runs of success.”

That’s not at all to say that anyone in the Jets organization is conceding anything this season. They aren’t. In fact, they seem to think their young team could be a pleasant surprise. But they’re also not naïve. In less than two weeks they’ll fly into Carolina with a rookie quarterback, seven other rookies who will either start or play a significant role, 49 players under 30 and half the team under 25.

The kids look good. But it’s a little too soon to expect them to thrive.

“There’s going to be some mistakes,” said veteran guard Greg Van Roten, now the elder statesman of the Jets at age 31. “There’s definitely a learning curve. We want to try to minimize the errors. They’re going to happen. You just want guys to be able to make a mistake, make it fast, learn from it, forget it and get to the next play.”

Learning is really what this season is about, and letting the young players of the future get experience now. That plan has been all over every move the Jets have made since Saleh was hired. It’s why they essentially named rookie Zach Wilson the starting quarterback on Day 1 and didn’t saddle him with a veteran backup. It’s why they cut cornerback Bless Austin on Wednesday when they decided the rookies on the depth chart behind him were going to beat him out.

All young players have to endure that “learning curve” so the Jets have worked to clear the decks to get that curve out of the way. Their feeling is it’s better to let kids play their way through it now, without a net, instead of putting the struggles off.

But again, while that’s the right move for the future, it likely won’t lead to a lot of winning now.

“We’re all focused on winning now,” GM Joe Douglas insisted. “We’re all focused on what’s best for this organization both now and in the future. But what I’ve been preaching since I’ve been here is we want to do this the right way. We want to build this foundation the right way so that it’s a long term success and not just a flash in the pan.”

Douglas, like Saleh, seems excited about the team he’s built. “I can’t wait to see these young guys play,” he said. “I really can’t wait.”

But at the same time, he won’t set the bar for their immediate potential. He wouldn’t put a win total on what would make this season a success.

“Success is watching us go out like we did in preseason and play good, solid fundamental football,” Douglas said, “with a lot of intent, with a lot of passion, with a lot of explosiveness, with a lot of violence, and watch us develop as the year goes on.”

In other words, he doesn’t need to see a playoff berth or even a .500 record to consider this season a success. Like with most young teams the real barometer is progress – and whether the arrow is pointing up when the year finally ends.

That’s the reality and why fans need to reset their expectations – though that shouldn’t be hard coming off a 2-14 season and no playoff berth since 2010. The best thing to do when watching these kids is to embrace the bumps, hide your eyes sometimes, and enjoy whatever good moments there are.

And there will be good ones. That’s the thing about a roster stocked with young players. In a lot of ways, this team doesn’t know how bad it’s supposed to be. They don’t know about “Same old Jets” or the franchise’s history of losing. They are young, filled with energy and what Saleh calls “juice”. Who knows? Maybe they find a way to win a few games and get on a roll. Then, as Saleh said, “That confidence starts to build and you think you’re invincible.”

“There’s a lot of similarities with teams that have gone the direction that we have and have had success,” Saleh said. “There’s always, with rookies and a young team, there’s going to be growth. There’s going to be so many ‘Ah-ha’ moments.

“But what you’ll see is a group of young men that play their absolute tails off. They’ll run, they’ll hit and they’ll be excited to play this game.”