Jets 2022 Schedule + Cincy Draft

Edition #134

Good Morning!

We already knew who the Jets would be playing in 2022 and we now know when. I’ll give you my quick thoughts on the schedule below and we’re also going to take a look at the Jets’ history of drafting players from the Bearcats. We have a few months until we get into the meat of training camp, so the content is going to get pretty wild for a while

Keelan Cole has agreed to a contract with the Las Vegas Raiders. Keelan spent one year with the Jets in 2021, catching 28 passes for 449 yards and 1 TD. He had just 1 drop on 51 targets. Wishing Keelan all the best for the future.

Ex Jets RB Danny Woodhead is trying his arm at Golf, he’s actually trying to qualify for the US Open next month. He recently shot an even-par 71 at the Omaha Country Club so he obviously has talent. Woodhead appeared in 11 games for the Jets rushing for 64 yards and catching 8 passes for 87 yards.

Jets draftees Jermaine Johnson and Jeremy Ruckert are spearheading a new initiative called “The Baller Club” - Which is “an experimental, first-of-its-kind digital activation owned collectively by fans and athletes. Membership is free and includes behind-the-scenes access, merch drops, and one-of-a-kind digital collectibles.”

Former Wisconsin Badgers fullback John Chenal didn’t receive a contract offer from the Jets following his trial at the rookie minicamp last weekend, so now he’s heading down to New Orleans for their rookie camp this weekend. I thought Chenal may get a look-in for the Jets, but it looks as though he’ll get a chance to catch on elsewhere.

Jets Schedule Release

I never get too excited about a schedule release, I just want to know a couple of things. Who are we playing in week one? Who are we playing in our home opening? How many primetime games do we have? And when is our bye week? Outside of that, I don’t really care who we play and when.

When news filtered through that the Jets would be hosting Baltimore in week one, I saw a sense of panic among the fanbase, why? We knew we had to play Baltimore, what does it matter if we play them in week one or week 13? We don’t know who will be injured, healthy, suspended, in form, or out of form. It doesn’t matter to me…it’s a great test, but I welcome that and embrace it.

So let’s take a look at the schedule in full:

I know some are a little worried about that start, but for me, this is almost the perfect schedule. We don’t know Deshaun Watson’s availability for the start of the season with a potential suspension from the league coming down the line. Teams can start slow and our first divisional matchup doesn’t come until week 5 when we host the Dolphins.

The bye week falls perfectly in week 10, with us having played 9 games before and 8 games after. I hate an early bye week which leads to you having to play 12 games in a row, it doesn’t allow you time to heal and a lot of injuries tend to happen towards the end of the season in those situations, just look at the Jets last year and who we were lining up in week 18.

If the Jets are in the running for a wild card or playoff place, we end our season with what looks like a favorable run on paper. Lions, Jaguars, Seahawks, and Dolphins are a good way to end the season for a team, and two of them at home. There are no runs of games that really scare me, so my first instinct is to predict 7-8 wins. Of course predicting wins at this point is near impossible considering we have no context for any of the games in terms of injuries or form, but I’ll do it anyway.

Plus the Jets released an outstanding schedule release video.

I was sitting here thinking of ways to fill the off-season, if you’re anything like me you just want to absorb as much information as you possibly can about the Jets. So as we work our way through the quiet period we’re going to keep that draft theme running with a look at the Jets’ history with each college.

Considering we took Sauce Garnder from Cincinnati, we’re starting there.

Bearcats

Sauce Gardner became the 3rd Bearcat to be drafted by the Jets and considering we’ve made hundreds of selections in our history, Cincinnati hasn’t been a hotbed for Jets talent selection.

The last time the Jets dipped into Ohio for a player from the University of Cincinnati was 1998, the player in question? Jason Fabini, a tackle taken in the 4th round with selection #111.

Fabini had a little bit of an up and down career with the Jets, but he started as a rookie under Bill Parcells and was part of the 2000 Jets offensive line that allowed a league-low 20 sacks. He played 8 years for the Jets making 114 starts including a streak that saw him make every start between the years 2000-2004, paving the way for Curtis Martin and blocking for Vinny and Chad Pennington.

Fabini’s time with the Jets came to an end in 2006 after he was released for salary cap purposes, but as a 4th round selection of the Jets, he was a fine choice and repaid his draft stock with interest.

In 1987 the Jets made their first selection from the University of Cincinnati when they selected Linebacker Alex Gordon in the 2nd round. Rumour has it that Mike Ditka wanted to take Gordon in the first round of the 1987 draft, but the Bears front office overruled him, and to be perfectly honest they were right.

Gordon played three years with the Jets and made the PFWA All-Rookie team in 1987 after starting 12 games and recording 5 sacks. He followed that up with a 3 sack season in 1988 and although he started 15 games in 1989, he only recorded a single sack. He was injured in training camp in 1990 and moved on to the LA Raiders. By 1995 he was playing for the Memphis Mad Dogs in the CFL.

Let’s hope that Sauce is closer to Fabini than Gordon in terms of career projection, but if the Jets are going to get to where they want to go, he’s going to need to be significantly better than both.

Michael Nania took a closer look at Jeremy Ruckert - “Ruckert only saw 73 targets throughout his entire career at Ohio State. That’s a minuscule number compared to some of his peers in the 2022 draft class. In comparison, Colorado State’s Trey McBride – the first tight end drafted in 2022 – saw 122 targets in 2021 alone. It’s tough to stand out when you only have the ball thrown your way 73 times over 48 career games (1.5 targets per game).”