Can the New York Jets Complete the Rebuild?

Everyone out there analyzing the NFL is going on and on about just how good the Miami Dolphins are or will be after the complete rebuild of their roster. They’re bringing up the compensations for draft picks, how many good deals the team turned over, and how much dead money has come off the books. Do you know what they’re not talking about? The New York Jets.

With the Sam Darnold trade, despite not getting first-round picks out of the deal, the Jets were able to get value for a quarterback they were ready to move on from. “The Dolphins have (X) amount of picks over the next three years” is all you hear these days, but not NY. When you look at their upcoming draft picks, half their team can be overhauled in the next three years and that’s not even including free agency.

“But Miami has cut their bloated contracts.”

And so have the Jets. While they might not have a huge cushion to play with this year, next year is looking much better. There’s a lot that is coming off the books and that’s only limited to keeping their current roster. Should any trades happen on draft day, they’ll be well on their way to a Miami-like rebuild.

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“Miami has an up-and-coming quarterback on their roster.”

While the verdict may still be out on Tua Tagovailoa, there’s no question the Jets are in a prime position to get their quarterback of the future. Almost everyone has the Jaguars taking Trevor Lawrence as the first overall pick, but from there the Jets have any one of the talented QBs coming out of this draft. While there are plenty of mocks that have the Jets taking Zach Wilson, don’t be surprised if they take Justin Fields out of familiarity.

Newly appointed Head Coach Robert Saleh knows the value of an accurate quarterback who can hustle out of the backfield if need be. If he brings a traditional QB to NY look for the Jets to take Wilson. If it’s a mobile quarterback he’s after, then Fields will be their guy. Either way, they’ll have a similar offensive weapon under center.

“The Dolphins won 10 games last year”

That’s the lone difference right now. If the New York Jets were competitive we’d be hearing a whole lot more about them. Their culture change over the last two seasons is the lone reason they’re getting so much national attention and the Jets are not. No one is talking about the New York Jets right now due to the incompetence of Adam Gase. He took another team with talent and underperformed leaving them in shambles.

The real question is, just how quickly can the Jets make this turnaround. Can they go from the 5 win team to double digits much like their AFC East rivals have? All the cards are there, they just have to lay them out on the table.