New Beginnings

Edition #748

☀️ Good Morning ☕

You’d think I’d know better by now, but when you’ve experienced a time of drought, you always believe that new beginnings will bring a bounty.

In a way it’s comforting to know that the Jets will start the 2025 season with a new General Manager and a new Head Coach. Chances are there will be a new Quarterback taking snaps too.

If rumours are true, Woody Johnson is looking to move on from Aaron Rodgers. Who can blame him, he’s cost a lot and he’s not delivered. How they move on from Rodgers will be interesting, if indeed they do.

Today I wanted to outline my ideal trio to take this team forward. I’m not saying it’s the realistic model, I’m saying this is the dream scenario as far as I’m concerned. Woody if you’re reading, pop me an email and we can have a nice long chat about it 😂

As you’d expect, there isn’t a lot of chat around the current roster with the team on a bye week, but we’ll start with quick throws as normal.

🟢 I’m hoping we’ll see less Aaron Rodgers and more Breece Hall and Braelon Allen over the last 6 games of the season. The rookie has been speaking to the official website "I have been able to avoid being run over or blocked to the ground or anything like that," Allen said. "I like to be the hammer, not the nail. I am going to try and keep that going for as long as I can. I never want to be on the wrong side of that."

⚫ Allen also credits Tyron Taylor and Jalen Mills with helping him adjust to the NFL - "Those are two guys have a lot of respect for it, two guys that are always here first in morning," Allen said. "I'm trying to catch them. I get here early. I am normally one of the first five or so and they are here early, too. The biggest difference from college and what had been used to, is the amount of time we spend at the facility and the free time you have while you're here for long periods of time. In the past, I had been leaving for class and I would come back. Now you don't have to worry about that. You can do whatever you want. I don't have homework. That has been my favorite part."

🟢 Let’s throw a little power ranking into the mix. According to PFF the Jets are the 22nd best team in the NFL, which I feel is extremely generous. “The Jets are 3-8 after a one-point loss to the Indianapolis Colts, and well, that’s that for the 2024 season. Does Aaron Rodgers return in 2025? Do the Jets want Rodgers to return in 2025? Who knows. They’re 18th in EPA per play on defense and 19th on offense.”

⚫ According to the PFF advanced coverage metric which takes into account the difficulty of the assignment, and the variables considered for assignment and situation include play position, player assignment within coverage, overall coverage scheme, safety rotation, press coverage, route depth and play action. The Jets have two top 12 corners in football. D. J. Reed is the 5th best and Sauce the 12th best.

Who would want to come and work under Woody Johnson? Taking on the longest playoff drought in North American sports and having to deal with a number of tricky contract decisions right off the bat.

I hear that a lot. Honestly, I think a lot of people.

There are only 32 GM jobs in the NFL and 32 HC jobs. People still found takers for the Detroit job, the Buffalo job, the Panthers job. Although it may not appear attractive, people in positions of power like challenges. There’s no greater challenge in North American sport than making the New York Jets relevant.

They may not get their #1 candidate, but there are significantly more qualified people for those positions than there are positions. So the talk of nobody wanting to come here is a little off the mark in my mind.

With that said, here’s my dream off-season in terms of the three most important positions in an NFL franchise. No, I’m not touching the ownership question because I don’t think Woody Johnson is going anywhere.