New York Jets: Three Questions Headed into Training Camp

We are ten days from the New York Jets having mini-camp from June 13-15. This will be the final phase of offseason workouts before Training camp gets started in July. The Jets are coming into training camp this season trying to forget about the 5-11 season they had last year. They had an offseason that saw a lot of changes to the personal on both of the coaches side and the players side.

On the coaches side, Chan Galley has resigned. On the player’s side, we saw the likes of Ryan Fitzpatrick, Brandon Marshall, Darrelle Revis, and others leave through free agency. We did see Josh McCown join the Jets this offseason as well. However, now we must look at three questions that the Jets need to answer during Training Camp gets rolling in the next few weeks.

Here are the questions that the Jets need to answer:

1. Who will take the Quarterback role in 2017?

The New York Jets are entering the 2017 season with very little to no hope. It begins with the fact as of this writing that it is unknown as to who will be starting for them. On the depth chart, they have Josh McCown, Bryce Petty, and Christian Hackenberg. We saw a small glimpse of Petty during the 2016 season in which the former Baylor quarterback threw for 809 yards and had three passing touchdowns in his appearances. We have yet to see anything from Hackenberg or McCown. The addition of McCown doesn’t help the QB situation for the Jets any easier as he has been a journeyman during his NFL career. Josh McCown is entering his 15th season in the NFL and he has done nothing memorable and has a sub. 500 record over the years. Due to how the Jets have very little expectations in the 2017 season, this could mean we could see Hackenberg at some point in the 2017 season.

2- What do you do with the Wide Receivers core?

The New York Jets are looking at the 2017 season with no Brandon Marshall and more than likely no Eric Decker. This now leaves your main Wide Receivers as Quincy Enunwa and Robbie Anderson. You are going to have a battle for the third spot and the problem that comes from that is you have a ton of rookies after Anderson. Quincy Enunwa had ok numbers in 2016 with 58 receptions for 857 yards and four touchdowns. On the other hand, Robbie Anderson had 42 receptions for 587 yards and two touchdowns. Due to how they don’t really have a threat on the Wide Receiver area, I could see the Jets going back to the game plan of ground and pound to counter the lack of power at the Wide receiver area.

3- Can we see the New York Jets go back to the ground and pound?

I have a strong feeling that the Jets may have zero choices in going back to the ground and pound game. I am aware that the ground and pound mindset was more of a Rex Ryan idea and not Todd Bowles, but it worked. When the Jets relied more on the running game, it had a lot of benefits. One benefit that we saw with the ground and pound was that the Jets didn’t throw the ball that often. I recall that Ryan Fitzpatrick had some games in 2016 where he threw the ball over 60 times. Last I checked, it is not easy to win a game like that. However, in order to keep the running game where it was last season (ranked 12th), they need to let Matt Forte run the ball more.

In his first season with the Jets, Matt Forte saw the lowest amount of rushing yards and second lowest average yards per run. In 2016, he had 813 yards and averaged 3.7 yards per carry. In his last season in Chicago, he had the same amount of attempts and averaged 85 more rushing yards and 0.4 more yards per carry. I am also aware that in order for this to happen that the Jets would need to have a good offensive line that will allow Forte to find the holes and run.

These are just some of the questions facing the Jets as they enter training camp for the 2017 season.