There are, believe it or not, reasons to be cheerful if you’re a Jets fan.
Yes, the Jets are 6-10 and enter Sunday’s season finale against the hated Patriots in New England out of the playoffs for the 13th consecutive season.
Yes, this is their fourth consecutive season with double-digit losses.
Yes, you’re understandably pissed off at head coach Robert Saleh and general manager Joe Douglas, both of whom have been given votes of confidence from owner Woody Johnson that they’re returning next season.
And, yes, there have been a lot of dark moments this year, beginning with Aaron Rodgers rupturing his left Achilles tendon on the fourth play of the season.
But there are players on the current roster who represent rays of light for 2024 and beyond, players who represent hope that this team will be a winning team as soon as next season.
Start with Garrett Wilson, Breece Hall, Sauce Gardner and Jermaine Johnson and continue with the Williams brothers, Quinnen and Quincy, and include C.J. Mosley and Bryce Huff, if the team re-signs him, and Tyler Conklin.
Wilson, the team’s second-year receiver, has caught 93 passes for 1,008 yards and three touchdowns this season, one year after catching 83 for 1,103 yards and four TDs and being named Offensive Rookie of the Year.
When you consider those impressive numbers, consider this: Wilson has produced this with the likes of Zach Wilson, Mike White, Chris Streveler, Joe Flacco, Tim Boyle and Trevor Siemian as his quarterbacks.
Imagine what those numbers might look like with Aaron Rodgers throwing balls to Wilson. That’s downright tantalizing.
Wilson is the first Jet since Keyshawn Johnson (1998-99) to record back-to-back 1,000-yard receiving seasons, but he’s not one of those diva receivers who’s all about his numbers. He burns to win, burns to be a part of changing the Jets’ losing culture. You can feel his pain game after game as he speaks to reporters after losses and you want better for him.
“I’m confident that my turn is coming, that our turn is coming,’’ Wilson said after the loss last Thursday night in Cleveland.
Same for Hall, the Jets’ second-year running back who’s played all 16 games after having his rookie year cut short with a torn ACL. He’s rushed for 816 yards on 186 carries for a 4.4-yard average and has four TDs. Hall, too, has 74 receptions for 579 yards — both second in Jets history for receptions by a running back, trailing only Richie Anderson’s 88 catches for 853 yards in 2000.
Conklin, in his second season with the Jets, has 59 catches for a career-high 605 yards this season after he had 58 for 552 and three TDs in 2022. He’s been the team’s best tight end in years. You have to go back to 2011 when Dustin Keller had 65 receptions for 815 yards and five TDs to find this kind of production at the position.
Defensively, Johnson has been the most improved player on the team this season with 6.5 sacks, one interception returned for a TD last week in Cleveland, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery, seven passes defensed, 10 tackles for losses and 15 quarterback hits.
Saleh recently called Johnson “grossly underrated,” and he’s spot on.
Quinnen Williams hasn’t had the season he had in 2022 after which he became very rich with a fresh $96 million contract following 12 sacks and 28 quarterback hits, but he’s played well with 3.5 sacks, 18 quarterback hits, one interception, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery, a safety caused and nine tackles for losses.
Quincy Williams leads the team with 15 tackles for losses among his 131 overall tackles, has one interception, two sacks, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery.
Then there’s Mosley, the veteran defensive captain who leads the team with 145 tackles.
The defense, which hasn’t been perfect this season but has been unnecessarily taxed by the anemic offense, still is ranked fifth in the league in fewest yards allowed and has nine more takeaways this season (25) than last season. It, too, is a defense that has nine of its 11 starters under contract for 2024.
Gardner, the second-year cornerback and the 2022 Defensive Rookie of the Year, like Wilson and Hall has taken it personally to be a part of the solution to the perennial losing this franchise has endured.
“Saleh told us last year that we’ve got to be a huge part of the team,” Gardner said of his draft class that included Wilson, Hall and Johnson. “We took that challenge, we put it all on our shoulders and now we’re just trying to find ways to get better.”
They will be better in 2024. They’ll be better because of these players and the fact that there’ll be an NFL-level starting quarterback behind center in Rodgers.
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