The Jets 2017 preseason gets underway Sunday in San Francisco.
That is the message coach Todd Bowles delivered by handing the keys to Bryce Petty. After a month of talking about how Ryan Fitzpatrick gives the team the best chance to win, he now is prioritizing evaluation over execution.
It is the right move and begins a critical period for the Jets. This is going to be a team in serious transition this offseason and there is no doubt the No. 1 priority as usual will be figuring out the quarterback position. But there are plenty of other questions to answer this offseason other than quarterback for Bowles and general manager Mike Maccagnan as they enter Year 3 on the job.
Though it is premature to fire Bowles or general manager Maccagnan, there are legitimate questions about both of them.
The biggest is: What direction is this thing going in? The Jets still have no quarterback, no pass rusher, a bad secondary and an offensive line in desperate need of a rebuild. The team has looked uninterested and undisciplined at times this year.
It feels like Year 3 of Bowles/Maccagnan will be more of a rebuilding year than Years 1 or 2 as they try to rid their roster of overpriced players and bad guys.
Maccagnan’s plan when he got the job in 2015 was to try to remain competitive while rebuilding through the draft. Two years with no playoff appearances, that plan looks flawed.
Part of Maccagnan’s reasoning for not just doing a complete rebuild was his belief New York fans would not accept that. All he has to do is look at what Mets fans put up with in the first years of Sandy Alderson to know he is wrong.
If Maccagnan had come in and been honest — this was going to take a few years — fans would have been patient. Instead, he spent a ton of Woody Johnson’s money (in his defense, he did have to hit the salary-cap floor, but he could have spent wiser) and put together a roster that was good enough to go 10-6 in 2015.
That might have been the worst thing to happen to the 2016 Jets. The success of 2015 turned out to be a mirage thanks to a career-year from Ryan Fitzpatrick, amazing team health and a soft schedule. That record raised expectations for this season and basically forced Maccagnan to bring back Fitzpatrick, even though it was clear from the prolonged negotiations there was skepticism inside the organization about him duplicating his 2015 performance.
I don’t think Jets fans would have demanded a winner in 2015. They would have understood if they had to endure a 3-13 season in Year 1 as long as progress was made this season and the plan was evident, as it was with the Mets and their young pitching.
Instead, they got teased last year by nearly making the playoffs and this season 3-9 feels like a complete regression when it actually is probably just a market correction based on Fitzpatrick’s return to earth, more injuries (notably Eric Decker) and a tougher schedule.
Now, Maccagnan has to hope his draft picks are as good as he thinks they are. Leonard Williams is the only clear-cut home run he has in these first two draft classes. The jury is out on the rest. Darron Lee and Jordan Jenkins have shown promise, but it is too soon to tell what they will be. He has drafted two quarterbacks, and both are a mystery. We’ll have a better idea about whether Petty can play in a month. The bubble wrap remains on Christian Hackenberg, who may ultimately hold Maccagnan’s fate in his right arm.
It is going to be tough to fill too many holes in free agency this winter. The Jets are projected to be over the cap, but will make space by cutting some players. The problem is those cuts will create more holes. Maccagnan can get rid of Revis, tackle Ryan Clady and center Nick Mangold and get nearly $30 million in cap space, but then they would have holes at cornerback, left tackle and center.
The argument to keep Maccagnan and Bowles beyond this year is they deserve more time to turn this team around after years of bad drafting. This is fair. But how long will Johnson give them? The Jets have now missed the playoffs for six straight years. The fans are restless.
I don’t think Johnson is ready to blow this thing up, but the fuse is definitely lit and the clock is ticking on Bowles and Maccagnan.