The New York Jets were a disaster last season. Three wins. Fourteen losses. Seven straight Ls to open the year. The only real surprise was that Aaron Glenn kept his job after that tire fire. But here’s the thing nobody wants to admit: the Jets were weirdly competitive for a while. Five of those first seven losses came by a touchdown or less. The wheels fell off hard in the second half, sure, but they weren’t getting blown off the field every week.
Now they’ve gone and done something that makes a weird kind of sense. They brought back Geno Smith. Yes, that Geno Smith. The same guy who was a Jets draft pick a decade ago, who flamed out, who resurrected his career in Seattle, and who just spent a miserable season in Las Vegas. A lot of fans will roll their eyes at this. But Smith was a Pro Bowler in 2022 and 2023. He led the league in completion percentage his first year as a starter for the Seahawks. He threw for 4,282 yards and 30 touchdowns that season. Even in a down year last season, he completed 70.4 percent of his passes and threw for 4,320 yards. The issue was the interceptions — 15 of them — and the fact that the Raiders were a mess.
The Jets are betting that Smith, now 34, has one more good run in him. And they’ve given him some interesting weapons to work with.
Adonai Mitchell and Omar Cooper Jr. could be the real story
Mitchell came over from the Colts in a midseason trade last year. In eight games with the Jets, he caught 24 passes for 301 yards and two touchdowns. That’s not eye-popping, but it’s double what he did in Indianapolis. The guy is 6-foot-2, 205 pounds, and runs like a gazelle. He and Smith have been working together all offseason. Mitchell told The Athletic that Smith is a natural leader, the alpha in the room. That kind of chemistry doesn’t show up in box scores, but it matters.
Cooper is a different kind of weapon. The Jets traded up from No. 33 to No. 30 in the draft to grab him. He was a star at Indiana, catching 69 passes for 937 yards and 13 touchdowns for the national champions. He’s built more like a slot receiver at 6-foot and 199 pounds, but he’s elusive after the catch. He should slide right into that role for the Jets this season.
Mason Taylor and Kenyon Sadiq give the offense a different look
Taylor is the kind of tight end every offense needs. He’s 6-foot-5, 251 pounds, and caught 44 passes last season in an offense that had no pulse. The coaching staff wants him on the field more this year, and they’ll likely pair him with rookie Kenyon Sadiq. Sadiq is a first-round pick out of Oregon, 6-foot-3 and 241 pounds, with the kind of speed that makes defensive backs nervous. He caught 51 passes for 560 yards and eight touchdowns for the Ducks last season. If Smith can get these two involved in the passing game, the Jets could actually have a capable group of pass-catchers.
The Jets open the season with a brutal stretch through the NFC North: Green Bay at home, then back-to-back games at Detroit and Green Bay again. If they can survive those three weeks with even a split, they might be sneaky. Nobody is taking them seriously right now. That’s exactly how you catch a few teams asleep.
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