5 Bold Predictions for the 2023 New York Jets

Edition #402

Good morning! ☕

Another week of Jets football is upon us and as always I appreciate you making The Jets Way part of your daily routine.

As we enter a very quiet period for the NFL, if you have any specific topics you want me to cover, please do let me know. I’m always looking for content ideas in June and July to pave the way to training camp.

It’s a busy week of workouts for the Jets with the team taking the field today and tomorrow. They’ll then have a day off on Wednesday before returning on Thursday and Friday. They’ll then be off until mandatory minicamp kicks off on June 13th.

Today, I’m giving you 5 bold predictions for the 2023 Jets season.

💰 NFL insider Jeremy Fowler was on SportsCenter yesterday and he seemed confident that the Jets will eventually get a deal done for their star DT: “This is going to be a big-money deal. Jets are optimistic they can get this done. They just have not got it to the finish line yet. The Jets have $23 million in cap space, so they should be able to manoeuvre. They’re all in on the Aaron Rodgers era, this guy’s a big piece of that so they have to get it done. But he might not show up for a while to workouts without a new contract, so the pressure will mount here eventually. Could be in the $23 million range or even more.” - Nothing new here, we all know it’s going to get done. But the first soft deadline of mandatory minicamp is just around the corner.

😵‍💫 Sports Illustrated have linked the Jets with Yannick Ngakoue: “The Jets would benefit from having Ngakoue as a rotational pass rusher, especially given he could provide a safety net in case rookie Will McDonald IV struggles to find his footing. The best teams (such as the 49ers and Eagles) have depth at edge rusher, and the Jets are hoping to reach that level with a talented defense to accompany their high expectations with the arrival of Aaron Rodgers.” I’d argue the last thing the Jets need is a situational pass-rusher, I’m already hard-pushed to see how our current crop receives the snaps needed to continue their development.

🙌 Last week we got the thoughts of Tom Brady on Aaron Rodgers's move to New York, today we’re getting another Hall of Fame QBs in Peyton Manning, who appeared on the Stephen A show over the weekend: “I like Aaron Rodgers to the Jets,” Manning told Stephen A. Smith. “He’s excited. I like the fact that he knows the system, [Nathaniel] Hackett’s the coordinator, Aaron’s going to be able to speak the language. He’s going to be able to know the system better than anybody in that huddle. He’s going to be able to play fast. I saw him recently at the Kentucky Derby. I can tell he feels rejuvenated. I like the Jets this year.”

😲 In one of the more bizarre takes of the off-season, ESPN's Bill Barnwell believes the Jets barely improved this off-season, ranking them 23rd in terms of most improved teams. Even worse, he seems to suggest that the Jets should have just signed Teddy Bridgewater instead of trading for Aaron Rodgers: "Yes, the Jets needed to upgrade at quarterback. Let's say that they could have had Teddy Bridgewater, who has been perfectly acceptable for teams with great defenses in the past, with his tenures in Minnesota and New Orleans as recent examples. Bridgewater is nine years younger than Rodgers, has been beloved everywhere he has gone as a pro and is still available as an unrestricted free agent."

🙏 Longtime NFL scout Jesse Kaye passes at the weekend at the age of 79. Jesse was a scout for decades but while with the Jets in 2000, he tried to get Bill Parcells to draft Tom Brady, a player Kaye saw potential in. Parcells disputed that later, but several personnel in the room at the time have since confirmed the report.

I was talking to a friend yesterday about the Jets and expectations for the 2023 season, which got me thinking about the perfect season. For it to be a perfect season the Jets would need to hoist the Lombardi, it doesn’t matter how.

But if they are to do that, a lot will need to go their way. So I decided to put up five bold predictions ahead of the new season.

• Aaron Rodgers wins the MVP award for the 5th time

What happens when you have a motivated Aaron Rodgers who’s all in and trying to prove his former team wrong? I’m going to guess good things.

In two of the last three seasons, Rodgers has taken home the MVP award and in 2023 he’ll be joining a team with a top 5 defence and plenty of weapons for him to work with.

This year he’ll pass 60,000 passing yards and should pass 500 passing touchdowns (currently 475). Last year Rodgers worked in an unhappy environment without a true number-one receiver. This year he’s working with Garrett Wilson who will be considered a top 5, maybe top-3 receiver by the end of the year.

New starts offer rejuvenation.

• Mekhi Becton stays healthy all season and plays a full slate of games.

This is probably the boldest prediction on the entire list considering Becton has missed the last two years through injury, and he even missed time during his rookie season.

I don’t know what motivates Becton, but maybe it’s money. He’s entering a contract year and he's never been in better shape. The reduced weight should help with the pressure on his knee, and it’ll be interesting to see if it impacts his ability to move people in the run game, which was his best asset.

Mekhi and the Jets seem to have a rocky relationship based on his comments in a recent Newsday article, but having dropped 50lbs over the course of the off-season, it’s obvious that Becton is doing what he can to stay healthy. If he gets injured again, there’s no team in football that will offer him anything but a low-cost prove-it deal.

• The Jets have the #1 ranked defence at the end of the year.

If the last prediction was the boldest, this one is probably the safest. But, It takes a lot to be the best defence in football. San Francisco led the way last year allowing 16.3 points per game, with the Jets coming in fourth with 18.6 points per game.

I love what the Jets have at cornerback and think the pass rush will be the #1 unit in football this year at generating pressure. Carl Lawson is one year removed from his Achilles injury, Jermaine Johnson is in year two, Will McDonald’s speed will be a problem and Bryce Huff was statistically the best edge at generating pressure on a per-snap basis last season.

Injuries could impact the Jet’s ability to end the season on top, but that’s the same for every team in the league. I also think that with Aaron Rodgers behind centre, the Jets will force teams into playing catchup a lot this year, which leads to more throws, which leads to teams playing to the Jet’s strengths.

• The Jets have 5 offensive Pro Bowlers

The Jets have never had five players on the offensive side of the ball selected to the same Pro Bowl. The record is four and that came in 1998 when Curtis Martin, Kevin Mawae, Jason Fabini and Keyshawn Johnson all made the cut.

This year I think that record gets broken.

If I’m backing Aaron Rodgers to win MVP, it’s logical to suggest that he’ll be making the Pro Bowl as well. Garrett Wilson will get there, as well as Breece Hall and Alijah Vera Tucker. The fourth name is the big question mark, but I’m going to go with Tyler Conklin.

Conklin is an extremely talented player who was underutilised in the red zone, as we looked at last week. If he gets the targets in the money zone, with all of the primetime games the Jets will be getting, he’ll be a popular name.

• Sauce Gardner leads the league in interceptions with 8

Jets defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich has challenged Sauce to get his hands on the ball more this year, and he also said that Gardner looks hungrier than ever.

Sauce strikes me as one of those guys who succeed in every challenge put before him.

Teams could avoid Sauce this year considering what he did last year, but with D.J. Reed on the other side, they need to throw somewhere. As mentioned earlier I think a lot of teams will be playing behind against us this year, which means a lot of balls in the air and a lot of opportunities.

Sauce only had 2 interceptions last year, but he got his hands on plenty of passes with 14 passes broken up. With this being the second year in the system he’ll be more comfortable.