The Jets are out of the playoffs and Aaron Rodgers will not play again this season so Tim and Zack are looking to 2024 and what positions need the biggest focus from Joe Douglas. Plus, NJ.com’s Andy Vasquez joins the pod to play some 2016-2023 Jets trivia!
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Welcome aboard the Athletics can’t wait Jets podcast your non-stop shop for all things jets with Tim McMaster Zack Rosen blat and Marissa dun can’t wait yesterday was the shortest day of the year and maybe there’s some symmetry that the Jets have bottomed out and as the days get long
This franchise will head back in the right direction that’s what we’re hoping for I took me a while to come up with that intro I’m struggling these days Zach to come up with something off the top but we are uh continuing our holiday push for five star reviews here on the can’t
Weit podcast thank you for joining us give us a review say something nice say something mean as long as those five stars we don’t care on Apple we appreciate that um we are kind of getting you ready for the commanders game although we’re not going to try to
Dig too deep into a game between a team with four wins and a team with five wins we’re gonna go bigger picture um Andy Vasquez is going to join us from the Jets beat so he will uh will team up with Zach here on on that we’ll do some
Trivia for Andy because he’s been covering this team longer than Zach or um I have been doing this podcast so a lot to get to the news though Zach the newest news of the day and we’ll talk about Aaron Rogers as well but the newest news is that Zach
Wilson will not be ready to go um from concussion protocols so Trevor Simeon is going to start for the New York Jets fourth starting quarterback of the year for the Jets the first three haven’t gone well no reason to think Simeon will either although last time he started a
Game it went well for the Jets in uh well not well for him I think he got hurt in that game in uh in 21 um or 2019 2019 yeah that was that was the year they played Luke faul like that was one of the wor so rich Zia I’ll qu him
With this this is the first time they’ll have started four different QBs in the same year since 1989 which is a year before I was even born um and that was Ken O’Brien Pat Ryan Kyle Mackey and Tony e I’ve heard of Ken O’Brien and Pat
Ryan not the other two um I’m not as in attuned to Jets QB misery as Rich Sim of course but um yeah you know we it it did kind of always feel inevitable when they signed Trevor Sim the practice squad it’s like he’s going to start at some
Point this year like you kind of knew it and I kind of felt the same way when Brett ripan was signed and I still kind of feel that way so it would not surprise me if we end the season and there’s a fifth starting quarterback for
The Jets and it’s not exactly a recipe for winning uh the musical chairs we saw last year the difference was the quarterbacks at least were decent I mean Aaron Rogers is good obviously but we didn’t really see him play he technically counts as a starter this
Year um but yeah you know last year they had Mike White and Joe flacko who at least were capable of having good games and I don’t know that Trevor Trevor Simeon U I was looking at the stat on True Media he has the highest offt Target percentage of any quarterback in
League this year with at least 35 pass attempts so he throws the most balls that are Off the Mark I think it’s like 25% which is like very high compared to the rest of the league like even the worst ones are in the the low teens or
Like the tens and Trevor Simeon is like 24% off Target percentage so yes we we talk about Zach’s inability to make the easy throw but then this is off the off the chart he’s uh I’m I haven’t seen officially cuz frankly I’ve been following the Washington news I imagine it’ll be Sam
Howell can’t imagine there’s many worse quarterback matchups in the league there there has been some weird ones because there’s a lot of backis vers zappy was a was a real winner although I would say that was that one might be worse um yeah you’re probably right yeah it’s a bit H
Howell and Simeon is pretty rough it’s gonna be an ugly game on Christmas um I imagine tickets are going to be pretty cheap I kind of want to look up how much they are because it’s always fun to look that not fun but it’s let’s see it says
Tickets say lows $8 on Sunday so if you have a kid who has never been to a Jets game and you didn’t haven’t want to spend a lot of money to watch the Jets um this might be an Christmas Eve it’s beautiful bring bring your kid on at the
Last minute surprise gift to watch Trevor Simeon take on the Washington commanders you know what the what your kid has probably dreamed of since he was a child seeing um those two things um but yeah you know that mean there is stuff like I’ll be keeping my
Eye on over these last three games but the results only matter in so far as if it’s a disaster I don’t think it’s good for Robert solic Washington I don’t even know if they care about these games anymore their coach is as lame duck as it gets he’s only there because they
Respect him and he’s going to get fired he’s been known to get fired for a while um kind of calls the question why Eric benamy wanted to take that job uh and yeah I just you hope you see some flashes from these young guys that they
Might need to play rolls next year and you hope that everybody stays together and that the locker room doesn’t tear apart uh that’s kind of like that’s Robert Sol’s goal for these next three weeks is don’t let it become a disaster and if they end the season with five
Wins after losing all three of these that’s pretty hard to come back from I would say yeah and we said it um you know the the embarrassing games are what get coaches fired we saw with with Brandon Staley and the Chargers and the Jets had one of those last week but it
Was against an elite team yeah if they have one of those against a bottom dwelling team in the Washington commanders then I I mean I don’t think that’s really possible because I think this defense does have enough Pride that there the commanders put up 30 points on
Them like an embarrassing loss to the commanders is probably what like 10 six right or I mean or like yeah or the defense doesn’t show up I guess would be the worst possible thing to happen yeah yeah I mean I don’t think that’s gonna happen I’m just like if if
You want to like play out the worst case scenario like I would say that as the defense doesn’t show up or somebody gets hurt and then like the wheels fall off and Washington gets a 99 yard touchdown to Terry McClaren or something uh that’s that’s you know you
Can’t rule anything out like I said there’s always some weird that goes on with this team so all right and with that let’s bring in Andy Vasquez Andy thanks for coming on uh reporting from nice to see that you’re actually at work today unlike
That what can I say uh I I got gotta be honest I just got here but but yes I made it today Zach uh nice to see you virtually and not in person for once I see you every day too much yeah can’t wait for it to and Jo no offense you’re
Great guy great guy if you’re not watching the stream Andy’s joining us from the Jets facility um to to talk about this team and and I give you credit Andy for agreeing to come on because these are not the times when you really want to dive in and continue to
Talk about this team um but we have some fun stuff I was told I was told we were just gonna talk about Connor make F of them so that’s the only reason I agree we could set aside some time for that for sure there’s always room for that we are gonna play trivia
With you though so that that we’re looking forward to um but what I was gonna lead the show with and we waited because we knew you were there as well is today is a special anniversary in New York Jets history um exactly one year ago Chris strer had one of the most dynamic
Performances last year for the New York sh um the Thursday night game obviously um you know it a disastrous game but strer came on um the crowd was fired up for a few moments he really sparked this team uh he famously at this point missed what should have been a wide open
TouchDown but was a 20 plus yard gain that yeah brought the house down uh do you have any special memories from the brief Chris strer era in that in that game a year ago yeah I I thought my favorite my favorite memory was when they ran Zack
Wilson out onto the field I think think of was must have been at the start of the fourth quarter and he just got absolutely hammered with booze and then they ran St St out so they could have just like had him come out to start the
Drive but no they had Zach run out there and he got booed like crazy and then strer came out and got cheered which somehow made that moment even you know worse for Zach if if that’s possible but yeah to me that was just kind of It kind
Of sums up his tenure here Zach’s Ted you’re like man this kid has had it rough and it’s almost like he probably shouldn’t have been the only option after Aaron Rogers this year and I know people say that’s like hindsight or whatever but it like how do you come
Back from that I was saying it after the year I never thought they would seriously bring him back as an option after that and here we were again and I think it being such a loaded situation has to factor into why it went so poorly for him
Again yeah I I’ll I’ll say that to just to go back to the strer game for a second I that is one of the weirder you’ve covered the Jets longer than me so you’ve seen some weird games but that was like one of the weirder sequ like especially because it wasn’t like there
Was any hint that it was going to happen leading up to that game and then all of a sudden he’s out there and then they’re not taking him out and he’s leading the offense down the field at the very least like he’s not really completing you know
The balls are the balls aren’t like going very far down the field I would say um but it it said a lot that the offense was moving with him that the way it wasn’t with with Zach and and they haven’t really found that spark this year like they tend to do the last
Couple years where like a Mike White or a Joe flacko comes in they have not had that spark this year and that and it’s very disappointing because you you just look at this roster and we we’ve obviously talked about it all year um this roster like is a good roster like
No matter what excuses they want to make like this is a roster that should not be a five win team um and they just like bungled the whole quarterback thing so epically and so we’re sitting here now reflecting on a time when that their offense last actually moved well
So it’s it is crazy to think like he drove the field you he actually did that and we don’t we haven’t seen that this year which is crazy uh I did want to we should talk about Aaron Rogers as well because obviously since we last did the
Show Zack he is officially not playing football this season um went on Pat McAfee on Tuesday as he always does and said some interesting things I mean he said I’m not 100% which we all knew and obviously it’s just crazy to you know for him to go out there and try to play
Not 100% for a team that’s going nowhere um but he also did something that kind of anticipated although I was curious he gave his public support for Robert salot Joe Douglas and Nathaniel Hackett as well um Andy H at this point how much power does that have on
Woody Johnson and this organization when when Rogers I don’t want to say goes out of his way but makes the point to like once again say these are my guys even though the season is off the rails obviously yeah I think it confirms I guess the influence that Rogers already has
Because I don’t think he’d you know be saying that publicly if he thought there was a chance they’d get fired and then he would look like you know it would not look well to his influence over the team so I think that’s first of all what it
Says and I think like the entire time Woody has been here he’s been craving like this relevancy that Rogers even though he hasn’t been on the field it it it makes the Jets relevant in a way they haven’t been really almost the entire time he’s been here like he validates
That they’re doing something right if he came here so that I think I think that’s why even more than him being like a really good quarterback who he is and is standing in the game and that he chose the Jets like is the biggest reason why
It’s it’s so powerful and to me like for him to do that also like you can’t really sit here blame the coach in the GM after this like you can there will be things to blame him for don’t get me wrong but like it’s on Rogers now to
Deliver like he is saying everything is going to be different with me next year basically verbatim he’s saying that so like do it you have to do it because if you don’t like it will he’s his legacy is secure is one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time but there is
Another Legacy as to how he’s going to leave this situation because it’s been too much of a high-profile thing to like just disappear so is he either going to be the guy who somehow made the Jess worse or is he going to be the guy who like made this situation you know at
Least better and it can like end up being a good thing that he was here because I don’t think there’s really going to be an in between if they even if they can’t win a Super Bowl with him I think like if it’s not a disaster and
He paves the road for these young guys like it can be a good thing but if it’s bad it’s gonna be like holy crap like this guy somehow went to the situation and made it worse and I do think that that’s a real thing that is at stake
Here yeah I I the biggest issue the Jets ran into this year is that um like you can’t blame him for being hurt uh but you lose him and then you see all the bad parts of like having Rogers in your building what that looks
Like because I do think you know he goes on Pat MCA every every week for a paid appearance and you know on T some Tuesdays he was criticizing the team there’s the week where they were pointing fingers at each other he said everybody has to grow up and he’s going
Out there and he’s saying all the stuff and he’s doing that while not being in the building or he’s only in the building for a couple days and so I I don’t know how much everybody loved all of that necessarily but that wouldn’t even be an issue if he was just like
Those appearances wouldn’t have been a as big of a deal if he was playing for them because like everybody loved everybody in training camp as they often do but like this team like really really did believe in itself like that was a real thing they thought they were going
To win a Super Bowl or at least compete for one and then he goes down and and then they’re left with themselves and the Jets not going and get a quarterback back and kind of just like being okay with the status quo of the defense doing their job the offense not the offensive
Coordinator who does not seem capable of adjusting to the teams he’s playing against and and uh and so you had this like repeated week after week it was like they just resigned themselves to this season long before they were eliminated and I think that is not something that’s going to resonate very
Well in the locker room and it and it really does just Trace back to him getting hurt because I I do think his presence did mean something uh in training camp like he was really working hard to get everybody flowing the same direction and all that stuff even more
Than the coaching staff is even capable of because he you know carries some more weight when he talks but now they were left with this coaching staff they were left with an offensive coordinator again who just like week after week just does not change what he’s doing even when
It’s not working and I I don’t know how everybody in that building feels about the fact that like hacket is just like locked into a job like to have like a historically bad offense I can’t imagine there’s been many instances in history or at least modern NFL history where a
Guy is not even considered that they’d be getting rid of him and that part is like where Rogers is like it’s a quarterback friendly offense and that’s true in the sense that it’s only friendly to one quarterback it’s not a quarterback’s friendly offense it’s only friendly to Aaron roggers because he
Runs the offense when he’s out there so um it’s a it’s a it’s a mess here it’s kind of like the bed the Jets made like they knew all the risks involved when you get a guy like Aaron roggers they were willing to do it and I don’t even
Blame them for that going all in on Aaron Rogers for a team that has not had a good quarterback in so long like absolutely makes sense and especially you look at Derek Carr in New Orleans he was the fallback plan and he’s been a disaster there that his teammates don’t
Seem to like him the fans hate him um and I don’t think we’ve reached that with Aaron Rogers yet uh or if we will and you know whatever the other options were whether it’s Tanana Hill or Jimmy garoo like these are all guys that aren’t even playing right now because
They’re not good so they they got the best possible option it just went terribly because they’re the Jets and now you’re going to be going in the next year there already were questions about if Aaron was on on the decline and now he’s coming off in Achilles he’s 40
They’re going to have to revamp the entire offensive line they have a second receiver they need um a lot of stuff they got to do this offseason but yeah I don’t know I I I’m curious to see what the level of optimism is going to be with the fan base this off season
Because it obviously was very high this last offseason like is it going to be measured probably not if they go and get Devonte Adams or something like that but um like I I feel like I wonder if there’s going to be a little more skepticism about the Super Bowl stuff
And and maybe stop talking about the Super Bowl would be my advice to some people in that building because I you need to get you need to get to the playoff before you can say that anybody should believe you can win the Super Bowl frankly yeah a lot of Sean what Shawn
Pton said unfortunately is kind of like played out here about the the off season and and being everything the Jets were in that off season and they end up beating Shawn Peyton but then from that point now the Broncos find themselves playoff contention you know like I don’t
Know if they’ll get there probably not but they’re right there with three weeks ago which is the Jets would kill to do at this point all right do we want to play some some trivia with Andy Zack yeah yeah so we traced it back to Andy’s
First year on the beat in 2016 before before we do it like how would you describe like your journey covering the Jets like what do you remember about like that first year when you cover them I’m curious in 2016 yeah um they the fir oh man uh the first game they lost a
Missed extra point ended up being the difference from Nick Fulon and everybody thought his career was over he’s still kicking uh they lost to the Bengals by one and the Mis extra point was the next week Ryan Fitzpatrick won AFC offensive player of the of the of the week in with
A great performance in Buffalo but then you saw like First Signs like something might be really wrong like revas got roasted I can’t remember the guy who roasted him um and then week three Fitzpatrick bounces back or or comes back from the AFC offensive player of the year with six interceptions that’s
Right and the final six possessions of the game and I was like oh my God that’s amazing and then it just kind of went from there and that year was a disaster I was just talking about it with a coworker I just saw at lunch um a few
Weeks later it was like Gino Smith was ancy on a Monday night football game to to play and the Jets got crushed in Arizona we were leaving the stadium um to go down the locker room we saw Larry David and one of the beat riters ass did
You enjoy the game Larry he’s like oh yeah it was tremend they lost by like 40 it was like it was tremendous I really enjoyed it like sarcastically and it was it’s just kind of been like that the whole time I mean I the team had not
Been above 500 in my time covering them past like October 15th until last year yeah um and then they played all their like way yeah way more games over 500 last year than I’d ever seen then they collapsed um it’s just been kind of the same story and and I to me the
Remarkable thing is like I didn’t think I would see an offense worse than what I saw in like 20199 when you’re running like David Fails and U Luke Faulk out there and fails is they wouldn’t even let fails throw and then I’ve seen like several games worse than that this year against
The Eagles was that game they got sacked 10 times um I’ve seen a lot worse so this year so yeah it’s been a challenge to to kind of it feels like kind of the same thing every year so um this year’s been different because of the start and
Then last year was a little different but yeah it’s a challenge um to find a way to tell the story and not just be like oh look look at this this team this is what do because it’s not always going to be like this like they have taken
Steps in the right direction in some ways and it’s the weirdest part is like the best thing for them to do this this like perfectly sums up the Jets like the best thing for them to do is what they’re doing next year which is to hand
The keys to Rogers and it’s still like crazy it’s like a crazy situation and a weird situ and you know it’s probably like not GNA work out I mean it could work out but like you just you could see how more how it doesn’t so that’s I
Guess how it sums to sum it up best like the first week few weeks and then to now like even when you think they’re doing the right thing it’s hard to feel like it’s going to work out yeah my my whole thing with with stuff like that is like until something
Happens I I can’t believe that it’s gonna like the Jets beating the Patriots like they absolutely should beat the play Patriots in this last game but like we have not seen them do it every time they play them they they look like the worst team so like until I see it like
Why would I predict that it’s going to happen kind of thing that’s kind of like probably where I know sometimes like I think because of like how bad it’s been for you like other everyone that’s been on the beat longer than me like there’s times where weirdly like everybody gets
Like okay maybe they actually might be pretty good this week or this year or maybe they can upset this team and then the reality of the Jets happens you’re like why do I do this to myself I’m a naturally optimistic person which is a problem on this like I just
Like like no stop that don’t think that you can’t because it they make me look stupid constantly so yeah all right let’s get into the trivia uh Zack we’ll go back and fourth I’ll kick things off here all right um these are basically all based on the fact that you’ve been
Covering this team for a while now Andy so question number one how many wins did the Jets have total since 2016 when you joined the beat oh man I could do it if I had probably around 48 there’s your optimism yeah okay I was trying to do
The math in my head I could have done it I was trying remember it was like how many games now it’s probably like 38 that that was closer it was 39 yeah okay as a comparison the Chiefs have won 35 games in the last three years and I think that even includes
Their win total this year actually by the way yeah exactly yeah all right and this this one’s gonna take a little more thinking um so if you don’t get it yeah watch 15 quarterbacks have had at least one drop back since 2016 okay um Fitzpatrick Bryce
Petty um at least one drawback so now Hackenberg 15 W okay so 20 Josh Macau it’s three David David Fails would be on the list yep four dropb back no attempt but yeah the drop back um Luke Faulk is five Sam Gino Smith is six Sam darn is seven um
Okay well I’m just gonna Aaron Rogers Zach Wilson um you’re up to nine Tim Bo Tim Bo yeah I’ve got going on my hands on the T that’s 10 Tim Bo okay so now we’re working back from this year uh Mike White 11 Trevor Simeon on two different
Occasions um 12 that’s 12 yep okay so now we’re getting back into 20 20 um that’s going to be the year that gets me um yeah I’ll come in later thanks um TW okay that’s GNA be where the year me 20 I’ll tell you it’s the the three
You’re missing are are from 22 and 21 Connor just interrupting activ I didn’t see okay 2020 and 21 um he was yeah 2022 and 2021 yeah okay 2022 that was just last year so I should be able to Pi I’m okay thanks yeah thank you um knew that was gonna
Happen the funny part is like so many times I’ll sit here and nobody will tell me and then the one time I don’t want them to it’s like four people are gonna tell me we’re going now um okay so 2022 last year I’m not g my brain is shot now
So you’re gonna have to tell me the last three I’m sorry yeah the last three are Joe Flaco Chris trer and Josh Johnson oh God damn it I’m mad the only one I’ll be critical traveler but yeah I I mean it’s that should have been the first on my list so
I’m very sorry I I mean I feel like I just insulted this podcast we forgive you all right next name all the offensive coordinators since you started covering the team okay man there are six Chan gayy which is hard to believe that actually happened but I was there for a year of
Him Johnny Morton um oh Jeremy Jeremy Bates uh you should be able to get the next three yeah I’m just trying obviously Micha lafl hacket and I don’t know why I’m blanking on the the one gase oh oh oh Dow Loggins of course yeah that’s not really fair because Dow
Loggins was like an offensive coordinator okay but you got it yeah he he did technically have the role yes yeah all right next one we’ll get a few more and then we’ll let you get to the locker room um good who are who are the three leading rushers since
2016 the the three leading rushers since 2016 doesn’t matter if you go like bow is blow Powell on that list he’s number one that’s is that that does sum it up um ree hall probably is there too yep he’s third which is also crazy because he’s played
Like 10 what like games play like six games last year yeah yeah so he’s played like a like and hasn’t rushed for a lot ton of yardage this year and then it’s not Matt Forte it’s not certainly not Le’Veon Bell yeah that’s a tough that’s a great question um I would go
With yeah man that’s I can’t even think of one which is which makes it really tough I they haven’t had a running back that so it’s probably an obscure name or I’m gonna feel dumb but yeah it could be Zach Wilson I was it was I I don’t I
Didn’t factor in quarterbacks actually so that I could be wrong but it was Forte was number two actually oh God damn that is crazy here for two years and it wasn’t good I was like can’t be they ran through a lot of running they’ve ran through a lot of running
Backs yeah yeah I mean and none of them have had good Seasons no except for Bree who’s had like close like flashes but yeah yeah yeah all right up next we got some easy like not easy but uh but quick one answer ones who is the leading receiver in 2016 for the
Jets Brandon Marshall so Robbie Anderson no Quincy anuna wow okay fair and then and then who was the leader in Sachs in 2016 Helen Richardson I can get that okay I get that one uh um man it’s a guy who Okay usually didn’t get sacks and always got criticized for
It oh Leonard Williams yeah yeah he had seven that year yeah let’s do the uh yeah I was gonna say we can skip the o line one because that’s a little that’s I don’t I don’t mind I don’t mind missing all these’re they’re they’re throw it at me
I want to know now all right we can do it all right it’s uh name as many of the five offensive linemen who have started the most gam since 2016 16 as you can like the five five offensive linemen that have started the most games since okay
Um i’ say one of them yeah I was gonna say one of them is on the roster right now the rest are not on the roster right now okay Conor mcover Brandon shell yeah no yeah okay um Brian winers yeah this is already a win for you yeah
Seriously yeah I I I to redeem myself after some of some of those um not beckon but he might be close Lake and oh Lake and Thomas you said not so I already got no current yeah um I think that’s the best I’m gonna do but those were like the ones
That the other two were K Kelvin beum and James Carpenter okay I should have kickers and then let him go Z yeah we’ll do the kickers one then let him go how many kickers can you name that made at least one field goal in your time in the regular season because they
Had some preseason ones too wow okay so uh not that one not the one guy was here for one one one game uh Nick Folk um this is bad because like it just shows how shot my brain is but they the I can’t remember his name because he
Ended up signing with Seattle he’s he’s he was he’s been a pretty good kicker I’m not name j Myers Jas Myers yeah thank you and I don’t even feel bad like there’s been so many kickers oh man my my brain is just at that point where I’m not remembering the
Names but obviously uh Greg zerline um am Matt amandola yep um was also it turned out to be a hell of a punter as we found out yeah he punted he ended up being the punter of the game where Bren man got hurt in the first game of 2021 and ended
Up being better than man was when he came back um I’m again I’m not doing well there’s a they had a good a guy who was good for a little while there and ended up going to the Rams or Sam ficken thank you some sometimes talk through it that’s good um
The the guy who was the punter and kicker did not work out well I don’t even think he made one first game of 2019 okay there there was one that one that there was the the one that uh Greg’s zline beat out last year he’s on the Panthers
Now um like amandola is just like always gonna be the answer that comes to my head would you say that because I okay Eddie Pano um because I they were both like kind of similar size yeah I can’t I’m not GNA do better my bra the other were the kickers scramble my
That’s a great question though yeah the other ones are uh Sergio Castillo Chandler katanzaro and Austin cert this year made made one yeah okay you wouldn’t have got that one yeah wow wait Aus Austin seber made one this year yeah because there was the week where zerline
Was like uh injured or whatever oh that’s right oh my God feels like years this been a crazy year I feel bad about Catman I don’t feel bad about the I honestly could not even tell you when that happened but yes I do remember [Laughter]
Now J Andy thanks a lot for for hopping on we appreciate it appreciate you helping spice up the podcast for a day of course you can check out all Andy’s great stuff at nj.com where he’s been covering the Jets and knows this beat and as you saw here like can pull some
Names for sure thanks Andy thanks Andy thanks for having me guys take care all right let’s move things on and the other main topic I wanted to get to Zach is based on a story that you have out in the athletic I think it dropped yesterday as we record this on Friday
You can join the athletic uh go to the athletic.com can’t wait great deals going all the time including the holidays you can also gift the athletic uh if you haven’t come up with something Christmas two days away time to panic mode and go and get the easy gift a
Subscription to the athletic all right so the article was position needs for 2024 so we’ve reached that point in the season where we’re officially looking ahead to 2024 um I don’t know if we need to go through all of these um I have them all here we we’ll see how far we
Get um number one is the big mistake from 2023 I would hope that the Jets do not repeat history backup quarterback um and there’s always players available there were players available for this this year the Jets just chose not to go that direction so it feels like there’s no way they
Don’t do this going into next year yeah I look I I don’t think it’s actually their biggest need necessarily I just think they it’s going to be a very important thing that I know internally they’re going to understand they have to address it in a way that everybody’s
Going to be happy with I especially knowing that Zach Wilson is almost certainly on the way out I don’t think Woody Johnson wanted to pay three quarterbacks was one of the factors here um but Zach coming off the books like a lot of the same guys that pretty much
Were available last year plus some other ones I wrote some down um I can run through them here I think Ryan tanah Hill is a fascinating one unless he can get a starting job because he if they bring back Todd Downing which I I don’t see why they wouldn’t as of right now
But um if they bring it back he has a relationship with him um and he’s a kind of Veteran that can R run an offense when the main quarterback goes down he has 35 and he was benched this year after not playing that well um but I think he’s interesting
Um we got let’s see Jobe brassette who’s on Washington um he’s been a solid veteran I don’t really get why Washington didn’t trade him at the deadline frankly because they were to go nowhere um but I think he’s a solid player Tyro Taylor has the mobility that
You maybe need behind this JS offensive line jamus Winston hasn’t really played much in the last few years so maybe he’s fresh he’s got a cannon um has led a team Drew lock just beat the Eagles not that as exciting and there’s guys like Gardner mchu and Baker Mayfield who I
Think probably are going to get actual starting jobs but just worth mentioning them if like they don’t have a market or something but yeah I think everybody knows they cannot go into the season again next year without a quarterback plan and I not only with t a veteran I
Would draft someone whether it’s early or later um get somebody in the building you can develop as the third guy and then if all hell breaks loose as it often does with the Jets you’re a little more prepared because you have two guys you believe in well you need to start
Developing the next guy too right like get that guy in the building because or even if you’re developing a backup yeah even if you’re just doing what the Eagles do sometimes and they draft guys and they develop them and then they eventually trade him or something like
You just need better talent in that QB room to prepare for the worst case scenario which always happens here I mean best case scenario Rogers is there for two seasons right but then then what um and that now’s a chance if you have the opportunity to do what the Packers
Have done so well ironically because of Rogers but like draft a quarterback that can sit can actually sit and learn football for a couple of years which means you don’t take him probably in the first two rounds but you know there’s always those guys if you trust your
Scouting that you can develop into a good quarterback all right um probably the biggest need because you just mentioned that quarter backup quarterback is not probably technically the biggest need the biggest one though is all over the chat the moment we brought up the topic here and that is
Not one offensive tackle but two offensive tackles because beckon likely gone Dwayne Brown likely retires and this offensive line needs major renovation yeah I mean offensive tackle both sides like the fact that you might need a starter on both sides is not really ideal but you know Joe Douglas
The one thing he promised and I think I I I don’t have this on me I people reference this a lot I think he like promised Sam darnold’s parents or something that he’d get him a good offensive line to protect him was like the whole story and that just hasn’t
Happened um and you could say it’s injuries and the excuse of the injuries offensive line this season like I 100% get it and um it’s hard to win with an offensive line that’s changing pieces so much but that just like ignores training camp when practice after practice we
Were reporting how bad the offensive line looked and that’s when everybody but Dwayne Brown was there um and even if Dwayne Brown was there you’re relying on a 39y old guy um but they were bad in practice there I mean it was a whole segment on Hard Knocks where they showed
Robert solid just like chewing into those guys and the Jets had the ability to pick what was shown on Hard Knocks and they showed that so like we can’t pretend like this offensive line was good before everybody got hurt because you remember week one Aaron Rogers gets
Hurt it was more because of the chip blocking than anything but that happened and then the week two Michael Parsons terrorizes them like there was maybe a moment in like the Broncos game where the offensive line was at its best you had Elijah ver Tucker before he got hurt
Uh you know Bree Hall ran wild that day that was probably like the high point of the o line they don’t need they never needed to be like a great o line they just needed to be good enough to protect the quarterback and they they really
Haven’t been but anyway it’s a long way of saying Joe Douglas hasn’t really gotten the benefit of doesn’t deserve the benefit of the doubt at this point in terms of like um can he pick the right offensive lineman to to to build this group and you look at even this last
Week three of the five were guys that they invested heavily in you had a first round pick at left tackle who was awful um Lin thas not left guard making a lot of money he’s not really living up to his contract I he’s been the only one
That’s healthy every week um and and his thing is going to be fascinating for next year but um and uh yeah Center you have Joe tippman he drafted in the second round to play so it’s not like these are guys that you just found off the street but yeah so left tackle right
Tackle however you go about doing it I they don’t grow on trees in free agency that’s why a lot of years you see these guys get overpaid and then they’re not that good why once they’re signed like there’s a reason why an offensive lineman makes it a free agency it’s not
Usually because of how good they are I covered the Giants right after like the year after they I think it was the year year or two after was my first year um after they had signed Nate Solder do a huge deal because he was the best free
Agent offensive tackle that year and he was an absolute disaster because he wasn’t a good player he was just like the best of what was available and I I don’t know who I I think I wrote down a few names in here um I think big the big
Ones were Trent Brown Tyron Smith Jonah Williams and Germaine U Manor on the Raiders um out of those br Trent Brown probably would be available I imagine the Cowboys don’t want Tyron Smith to leave Jonah Williams is an intriguing one but again like if these guys are
Available I don’t know that you want to pay them and then you know obviously they should draft someone early but it’s pretty rare that a rookie offensive tackle can come into the NFL and right away be good like it usually takes some adjustment period so you’re having
Number one you’re going to have an offensive line with as many as three or four new starters probably three but maybe four and you maybe have a rook a key rookie at at least one of the spots and it’s not it’s going to be a rough training camp with that offensive line
Next year I imagine but and Elijah ver Tucker by the way he coming off an injury uh for the second straight year so and achilles is harder to come back from for an offensive line so anyway they they need to completely revamp that group I think you can count on avt and
Joe titman at the very least and then if you can get L and Tomlinson to take a pay cut maybe you bring him back so there’s like a little bit of stability and Veteran leadership in there but his cap hit is like $18 million and he is
Not worth that so I’m very curious to see how they go with that but yeah Carter Warren hasn’t shown enough yet to say you could start him Max Mitchell is not a starter McKai beckon is not coming back um West schwitzer will be depth if he can stay healthy but yeah other than
That like you need to completely redo this group and I don’t know what if that also includes the o line coach but it’s not like Keith Carter has dealt a great hand this year but yeah it’s going to be another new group again and this is
Going to be the group that’s going to decide if this if if this regime comes back assuming they do it’s this that’s going to what decides next season the offensive line so you better not screw it up all right up next number two receiver which just seems crazy to me
Considering year like how we thought of the receiver room kind of going into the year you know but even you can go back further like the excitement around a guy like Elijah Moore um when he was drafted and then obviously all the money they spent on Alan Lazard and hey maybe with
Aaron Rogers back Alan Lazard becomes Alan Lazard but you can’t count on that looking at what you looked at this year yeah I’d say ideally Lazard is your third or fourth receiver which is an ideal for a guy that’s gonna have like A1 million cap hit and they’re kind of stuck with
Him for one more year then he’s gone but yeah I think they’re going to invest in that number two receiver maybe even more than they do in the offensive tackle which I don’t know if that’s great but they’re going to go after a guy like Devonte Adams what whatever of these top
Receivers hit fore agency and there’s a few really talented ones T Higgins Mike Evans Michael Pitman um if any of them actually hit free agency the Jets should absolutely be on it I don’t think you don’t necessarily need like a superstar number two you just need a guy who’s
Good enough to take some of the attention away from Garrett Wilson because he’s kind of doing it all himself right now so um that’s another position that like depending on where they end up in the draft like I mean it’d be highly intriguing to put Marvin
Harrison in this in this group with with Garrett Wilson and there’s a the receiver from LSU um what’s his name blanking on his name um Malik neighbors uh these are like stud receivers ideally you’re not drafting receivers in the top 10 too many years in a row because that’s just not like a
That’s not like a value position in the draft but a a Marvin Harrison would be tough to pass up if they can get into like the top three top four and you pair him with Garrett you use your other draft picks on lineman and you sign some
Veterans and again like with the off just circle back the offensive line real quick I you can survive with like three or four good ones in like a spot maybe a spot that like you’re just like figuring it out and Jets so the Jets need to be
They need to feel good about three or four of their offensive linemen and right now I think you can feel good about one one and a half depending on what you get from AV next year so anyway of course if you draft you know Harrison in the first
Round then you don’t have a second rounder and then when do you get the offensive lineman right it’s a tricky spot you’re not g to get a plug-and-play offensive lineman in the third round so yeah a third yeah if you’re drafting guy in the third round offensive line wise
There’s probably a reason why in the third round like it’s like the Carter Warr and Max Mitchell Types all right next I don’t know how many more of these you want to do uh Zack but let’s do swing tack well I’ll say this when you look at your article you go from offive tack to receiver to swing tackle to Interior offensive line
I mean so I we could probably that as a whole because we just discussed the offensive line so another key position is going to be safety and then we could probably move on yeah so since I’ve already hit the offens line much I’ll do this quick so they picked Billy Turner
As their swing tackle this year and that was a very big mistake because he has a history of not being a very good offensive lemman um and like so you you can say like they’re playing Billy Turner like what do you expect from them well they picked him as their guy that
Was goingon to play if their tackles got hurt so that’s on them um so they need to get a better swing tackle the depth on the interior some of this depends on like so what position is Av playing are you starting him at left or right guard
Permanently or are you going to put him at right tackle permanently cuz those are both on the table table and then that kind of depends so like if he’s playing right tackle then all of a sudden interior offensive line becomes a bigger priority and all that so
Something to keep in mind yeah and then safety and I’ll throw in kicker and punter I didn’t include in the article because I imagine they’ll were sign morstead and Zer line but they are up for new contracts um but yeah safety they are the best best two players on
The team sometimes feels like me I don’t know the last time and they’ve had the Jets have had like such a good punter in kicker combo because those two are like very good but um I’d have to dig into that but uh safety so Jordan whad hitting free agency Ashton Davis hitting
Free agency I think Tony Adams is pretty locked into a role they really really like him they think he’s had a really good year and he’s getting better um that’s a good that’s a find as an undrafted free agent Jordan whad I think the team likes a lot better than the fan
Base does because I think they feel like he does his job well and there’s certain things I saw ESPN had a thing where they went through like each trait from every position and they picked the best player at that trade and Jordan Whitehead was listed for uh best top down Defender
Because I like his ability to come up to the line kind of thing um and I think he’s solid I don’t think he’s as bad as the fans think I don’t think maybe he’s as good as the Jets think but anyway if he prices out of the range you don’t
Bring it back I think Ashton Davis weirdly it’s funny that we’ve gotten to this point because fans used to get mad when he would would make the 53 but he’s like shown some development he has some intriguing athleticism I think you bring him back for the right price and if
You’re not starting him you’re at least like giving him a little bit bigger of a role so I they’ve shown in this defense that you don’t need to invest a lot in the safety position so I’d be fine with them running it back though wouldn’t surpris me if they like drafted somebody
And tried to develop him kind of thing all right that’s uh that’s good for that there’s a few other positions in there too check out the full article for all the details from Zach in the athletic let’s wrap things up with picks for this week and we start with the
Standings and still the two leaders there although it got a little bit closer there was more of a gap between the top two and third SS but we’re a little tighter here uh KMC Azz I still don’t know how to pronounce that way 113 total points and then new n Megan Jets
112 ESS at 110 um and then you go down from there so that’s the leaderboard um and then let’s get into the picks for this week there are some really good G oh and it did that to me again everybody look at Tim’s log info yeah luckily it doesn’t actually
Show and I’m one for one by the way Zach there it is yeah I I got that one wrong R are good the Rams are good yeah they get to Seven and Seven now tied with the Saints seven and seven in a you know packed playoff race obviously in the the
NFC but there’s some big games on this um not quite the the headliner but nine and5 Browns at eight- six Texans yeah is a huge game um obviously we have uh personal you know Michael Dunn that game and wanting wanting the Browns to to get to the playoffs uh they
Are favored on the road by two at Houston that’s a huge game as far as playoffs and who’s gonna get in I think I’m not sure if strout is gonna play which obviously is a big factor there too um so that’s probably why the Browns are favored yeah that’s a that’s a good
One there’s a there’s a few like very intriguing games this week yeah and then really the you can argue the top four teams in the NFL considering the way the Eagles have played the last few weeks yeah are going ahead to ah head with Dallas at Miami Dolphins minus one and a
Half and then the Ravens at the ners uh Niners favored by five and a half that one on Christmas night on Monday night uh those are two huge games four teams that at this point in the season are legit Super Bowl contenders yeah those will be fun the
Dolphins are very banged up I saw a tweet like from earlier in the week where their entire offensive line was not spotted on the field like their entire starting offensive line um yeah I mean if you look look at some of these games um I mean Tampa Bay Jacksonville
Is interesting because Jacksonville is going to be without Lawrence and the Buccaneers have that that that NFC South Division seems like every week one of the teams looks like maybe they’re the best one and then they switch off but Baker Mayfield’s having a really good year um I mean we got the Washington
Jets game we probably should mention I I don’t really want to even like predict that game frankly I I said Washington plus three and a half I don’t say that with confidence because I think Washington’s very bad but um we’ll see what happens with that um three and half although it feels like
A 10 to three type win if they’re win by three and a half Bengals Steelers could be interesting at the very least like the Steelers have no have quarterback issues and some attitude problems but um oh that’s I I forgot there were Saturday games this week actually that yeah so so
Jake Browning see if he still got something um yeah but but yeah it should be an interesting week a lot of games with a lot there’s so many teams in the playoff race still so a lot of these games kind of matter which is kind of
Fun except for the Jets watch game which has no relevance to anything other than maybe strength of schedule for somebody in a tiebreaker and and this podcast um yeah it’s it’s a wild week you have the Thursday game you have a couple of Saturday games uh and then the three
Monday games is fun because the holiday and how it all plays out so definitely enjoy uh plenty of football you basically get to see half the league um this week because of the way the games are staggered and and all the national games and of course the Jets on Sunday
As well so um it should be a lot of fun next week because it’s kind of the holiday week we will be doing a show but we’ll just do one episode um if there was playoffs on the line I think we’d do two but at this point we’ll do kind of a
A recap look ahead type episode coming up on Tuesday we’ll get the time to you before we we get going um and and then we’re down to the last couple of weeks Zach and then then soon Marissa will be back and she will not be getting the
Playoff run that we were hoping she would get when she came back unfortunately the Jets couldn’t do it for her people talk about doing it for Rogers they didn’t do it for Marissa Dunn and that’s disappointing we could become a Cleveland Browns playoff podcast coup weeks Joe Flo Michael dun I
Mean Elijah Moore lot going on there lot going on Plenty to have fun with so thanks to everybody for joining us here uh we always appreciate you joining us on the stream or if you are listening join the athletic go to the athletic.com can’twe um also give us festar review
And we are gonna we’ll do that next week too Zach as part of the in between views we need some more yeah we’ll get them we’ll get them read and uh give props to to everybody out there that um listens to our podcast we appreciate it we’ll talk to everybody again soon on
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2 Comments
The tank is on.
OL(2x OT, 2x OG) AVT got hurt and ended the season twice so need to have a potential back up, 1x WR, back up QB