Off-Season

Edition #1026: Time to turn the page and look forward to better and brighter days ahead.

Good morning ☕

The new league year won’t start for over a month, but it’s time to turn the page.

2025 was a complete disaster for the Jets. We had a bad offense, a bad defense, we fired 65% or so of the coaching staff, we traded two All-Pros and we only won 4 games with a combative HC who lost the media and started to lose the fans. Oh, and we’re still owned by Woody Johnson.

But, as fans we need to turn the corner. I have no idea what 2026 will bring, it would be as bad as 2025, it could be worse, but it also could be better. To write this newsletter every day, I need to believe it’s the latter.

If you were hoping for some football-free time, well that’s not how the NFL works. It’s turned itself into a 365 day business that demands attention. So while I’m enjoying the build-up the Mets season (make sure you’re subscribed to Mets Fix) and I’m sure we have some Yankee fans here looking forward to the season ahead too, I’m also looking forward to the next few months and the Jets getting considerably better (hopefully).

So what are the key dates for your diary?

I thought it would be handy to run through what the next two months will look like in the NFL before we get down to business addressing certain topics.

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February 17th - Teams can use the franchise and transition tags on players.

Jets Impact: Breece Hall is almost certainly a candidate for the franchise tag. It doesn’t mean the Jets will use it on him but there’s been some rumblings that it’s a possibility. The franchise tag amount for a RB this season will be $14,186,000. My gut feel is that the Jets won’t use this on Hall but it’ll be an interesting one to monitor as we move through the initial stage of the off-season.

February 23rd - NFL Scouting Combine

Jets Impact: With a lot of draft capital this is always a key event. It’s also the first time we’re likely to hear directly from Aaron Glenn on his coaching staff reshuffle and from Darren Mougey on topics like Breece Hall and his approach to free agency. With the workouts and interviews, the Jets need to be locked in. Robert Saleh was often criticised for not attending, so we’ll see what Glenn does.

March 3rd - Deadline for Franchise & Transition tag use. (4pm Deadline)

Jets Impact: Will the Jets use it on Hall? How many of the players the Jets are targeting in free agency will be unavailable at this point? There is a lot of talk in Dallas that George Pickens will get tagged. Alec Pierce is a candidate, Kenneth Walker is another. One good thing is that it’s unlikely that Tyler Linderbaum will get tagged because the franchise tag just lumps all offensive lineman into one group, so if Baltimore tagged him they’d need to pay $27,764,000, not happening.

March 9th-11th - Legal tampering people with free agents

Jets Impact: Teams who do a lot of business in this window don’t tend to be the final teams standing at the end of the season, so be careful what you wish for here. The Jets are going to have to sell the re-build and the vision of taking a team from the doldrums to the mountain-top. It’s a hard sell for Mougey but this window will give him a chance to get that sales pitch out there.

March 11th - Free Agency begins

Jets Impact: The Jets have cap space available, they are in the top five in the NFL in terms of available cap. How they spend it and the players they target will determine the future of this franchise. One bad contract like a Trumaine Johnson can set you back considerable, but a steal here and there can catapult you forward. Who’s going to be the #1 target? Who’s going to be the veteran QB that they look to? The bargains won’t be had on March 11th, but what we do straight out the gate will set us up for the backend of free agency.

April 15th - Draft prospect facility visit deadline

Jets Impact: By this point you need to have concluded all your pre-draft visits, all your timing, testing, interviews. The jets have five picks within the first four rounds of the draft, and by April 15th they need to have their board stacked and feel confident about the players both physically and mentally. Important to note that this deadline is only for testing, timing and interviewing at the team facility.

April 17th - Deadline for restricted free agents to sign offer sheets

Jets Impact: The jets have three restricted free agents in Cam Jones, Xavier Newman-Johnson and John Metchie. Of those three, I would expect John Metchie to get an offer sheet from the Jets and possibly Xavier Newman-Jones as well. Hopefully Metchie would have signed well before this date, but this is the deadline to watch out for.

April 20th - Off-season workouts begin

Jets Impact: The Bills and Dolphins would have been working for 2 weeks by this point due to the fact they hired a new head-coach and as such are allowed to begin their workout program 2 weeks before all teams who returned their HC. So in terms of the AFC East, 50% of the teams will get a 2 week head start.

April 22nd - Draft Prospect Deadline

Jets Impact: This is the firm deadline for all testing, interviewing, timing and medicals for any draft eligible prospect. That includes phone or virtual interviews. Basically from this point through to draft day, teams aren’t supposed to get in touch with prospects, and they certainly can’t test or interview them. So this is the point where you need clear alignment on your draft grades and your strategy heading into the draft.

April 23rd-25th - NFL Draft

Jets Impact: Put simply, the Jets have two picks inside the first 16, they can’t afford to miss. When you hold the #2 and #16 picks in the draft, you need franchise altering talent. If Glenn/Mougey gets it wrong, it sets the franchise back and probably costs them their job. No pressure.

May 1st: 5th-year option deadline.

Jets Impact: This is for first round picks from the 2023 NFL Draft. So for the Jets that’s Will McDonald IV, which may not be the easiest decision to make.

That in a nutshell is a whistle-stop tour of the next two months and it can’t be understated how important the next 60 days are for the Jets. This is a team that is teetering on the edge in terms of the relationship and connection with the fanbase, you can’t lose that. A few good coaching hires, some smart decisions, some value trades and some exciting additions can alter the momentum and prospects of a franchise.

Hopefully you’ll stick with us here at TJW as we try and guide you through it.

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