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A Series of Inept Franchises: New York Jets

Tyler "Heavy T" Soto

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Stats Since 2000: New York Jets

Winning Seasons: 9

Playoff Appearances: 6

Playoff Record: 6-6

Championships: 0

On January 9th, 1969, a shirtless Joe Namath sat by the pool at his hotel surrounded by reporters. He was the Quarterback of the New York Jets and was feeling confident about how his Jets would play in their next game. That next game was Super Bowl III, a game in which the Jets were 18-point underdogs against the Baltimore Colts.

Everyone wanted to know how Namath was feeling ahead of his matchup. After all, the AFL had yet to win a Super Bowl, thus giving ammo to the argument that the NFL was in a league above. Joe, cool as ever, talked to reporters all day and night. But there was one particular thing he said that night. Something that perked the ears of the people who heard it. Something that would be the headline of all New York newspapers the following morning. “I’ve got news for you. We’re gonna win the game. I guarantee it.”

Three days later the result was on the scoreboard in the Miami Orange Bowl. Jets 16 Colts 7. Nobody could deny the AFL any longer. Namath became an NFL legend. The Jets had done it. They had won it all. All on the back of Joe Cool and his guarantee.

This would be the Jets’ only successful season. Namath never got them back to the Super Bowl. Nor has any other signal caller. No coach has been good enough. Nothing could get this team back to the promise land.

Welcome to A Series of Inept Franchises. In this series, well, it’s in the title. I’m going to be breaking down one franchise in the four major American sports a week and I’ll take a quick, yet deep dive into why a franchise has so many problems. For the interest of time and not to bore you with deep history and lore, I will only be diving into a franchise’s history since the year 2000. It’s been 24 years since then, trust me, there’s plenty of history already for teams in this near quarter century.

Just a warning, this series may contain some swearing and yelling, from you, the reader, at your favorite teams. Upon reading this, you may become mad, you may cry, you may want to throw up and you may want to yell at God. Reader discretion is advised. Sounds good? Good.

For this instance, I’ll be diving into the one, the only, the J-E-T-S JETS, JETS, JETS! A franchise whose team is only half as good as that cheer. A team so abysmal, that their unofficial mascot just straight up quit and wouldn’t return to a Jets game for years.

That’s not a joke either. Firemen Ed actually quit the Jets and left a game at halftime in 2012, not returning to the stadium until years later. This man held season tickets for the Jets since 1976 and was so fed up, he just quit. The fan who was the literal identity of the Jets and NFL fans throughout the country just walked away. That’s how bad the Jets have been. That’s how much they put their fans through. Thoughts and prayers to Fireman Ed for enduring his Jets fandom.

Okay, enough about that. While I do feel bad for the guy, Fireman Ed is not what this blog is about. What it is about is the team he supports. What is it that makes them so bad? What have the Jets done to make their franchise so miserable? Why are their fans never happy? Why do they make their fans so upset that they need to make custom jerseys to show their displeasure?

First off, an A+ for creativity right there. Second, well, it’s been a collection of things. Bad drafting, bad coaching and subpar Quarterback play to say the least. All of this under the watch of one man, the owner of the Jets since 2000, Woody Johnson. Let’s get into it.

Flying With No Engines Or Good Draft Picks

When it comes to drafting, the Jets are like a plane crash. It’s one of those things where you know that what you’re watching is absolutely terrible, yet, at the same time, you can’t look away. With the Jets, you see the disaster unfold and you don’t want to take your eyes off it until you see it to its conclusion. And it’s not just at one position. It’s at every position on the field.

Now, the Jets have made a couple of decent picks throughout the years. I will give some credit where it’s due and acknowledge those picks real quick. Shoutout to John Abraham, Jonathan Vilma, D’brickashaw Ferguson, Nick Mangold, Darrelle Revis, Jamal Adams, Quinnen Williams, Sauce Gardner and Garrett Wilson. You have all escaped the Jets curse. This should make all these players eligible for the Hall of Fame right off the bat.

Okay, enough of the happy stuff. This is a blog on inept franchises after all and the Jets are no stranger to that. Since 2000, New York has had 32 First Round draft picks. 12 of those players went on to represent the Jets in the Pro Bowl. This means the Jets whiffed on a whopping 62% of their draft picks. To be fair, the jury is still out on Will McDonald since he was only drafted last year. After looking at his rookie year performance however, I would say the future doesn’t seem bright for him. I guess that means it’s time to look at the other draft day failures.

Honorable Mention: So, I know I mentioned that I would only be doing a team’s history from 2000 through today. However, this one moment is so funny, I need to mention it. Let me set the scene.

The night before the 1995 NFL Draft, news had come out that top prospect, DT Warren Sapp, had reportedly failed multiple drug tests while at the University of Miami. Because of this, Sapp dropped in the draft, and, at the 9th overall pick, the Jets were ready and waiting. The media wanted Sapp. The fans at the draft at Radio City Music Hall wanted Sapp. Everyone in Manhattan wanted Sapp. Well, I’ll let this video clip explain the rest.

Jets fans are unintentionally the funniest fans in the league. I’ve seen this clip countless times and it still makes me laugh.

Kyle Brady would have a 13-year career in the NFL but would never live up to his First Round pick status. Warren Sapp on the other hand was taken by the Buccaneers with the 12th pick. He would go on to achieve many accolades including 7 Pro Bowls, 4 All-Pro selections, Super Bowl 37 Champion and he became a member of the NFL Hall of Fame in 2013.

Now let’s get to the post-2000 blunders.

2000: The Jets had a whopping FOUR First Round picks this year and they only really hit on one of them. John Abraham had a great career that included 5 Pro Bowls and 133.5 career sacks, good enough for 13th all time. Shaun Ellis had an okay career with 2 Pro Bowls, not bad. Chad Pennington was a serviceable QB but is most famous for coming back to beat the Jets in 2008 (more on that later). And Anthony Becht was a definite bust having only 1,537 receiving yards as a Tight End in his career. All in all, only one of these four draft picks really amounted to something. A lousy 25% hit right there.

Santana Moss: The Jets drafted WR Santana Moss with the 16th overall pick in 2001. Moss stayed with the Jets through his rookie contract but left to the Redskins right after. In Washington he truly blossomed into a solid receiver and return man all while the Jets let him walk and got nothing in return. Another whiff from New York.

Bryan Thomas: I have no idea who this actually is. He was a Defensive End and was drafted as the 22nd overall pick in 2002. His career had length with no substance as he played 10 years but only amassed 33.5 career sacks. Bust.

Dewayne Robertson: Another person who I had no idea existed. Robertson was a Defensive Tackle the Jets drafted out of Kentucky with the 4th overall pick in 2003. His career lasted 6 seasons and he earned a total of 16 career sacks. Another bust.

Vernon Gholston: This default create-a-player was a DE from Ohio State that the Jets spent their 6th overall pick on in 2008. Gholston played in 45 games, started only 5 of those games, never recorded a sack and was out of the league after 3 seasons. A massive bust.

Mark Sanchez: A tease if there ever was one. We’ll talk about Sanchez more in the QB section of this blog but all you need to know is this. The Jets spent their 5th overall pick on him in 2009 and in return, he blue balled all of Manhattan into thinking he was the guy. I knew Sanchez was a bust when I met him at my high school during his tenure at USC but, hey, the Jets don’t listen to me, so this is on them. Sanchez proved he was definitely not the guy and lasted just 4 seasons in New York. Look at that, another bust.

Kyle Wilson: The Jets spent the 29th pick on Defensive Back Kyle Wilson in 2010. His career lasted 6 seasons and he finished with 4 interceptions and 1 sack. Bust.

Quinton Coples: In 2012, the Jets wasted another First Round pick, number 16 this time, on DE Quinton Coples. Coples lasted 4 seasons in the NFL and finished with 16.5 career sacks. Bust.

Dee Milliner: I’m starting to get annoyed with the Jets at this point and I’m not even a fan. Milliner was a highly touted Defensive Back prospect coming out of Alabama in 2013. However, it was the Jets who drafted him 9th overall so, you know what that means. Milliner lasted just 3 years in the league and only had 3 interceptions in his career, all in his rookie season. Once again, bust.

The Idzik Twelve: This one is my favorite and needs to be talked about as a whole. In 2014, the Jets had a staggering 12 draft picks and wasted ALL OF THEM. I’m going to list them all out so please try to follow along.

  1. Calvin Pryor (R1, P18): As a DB out of Louisville, Pryor totaled 2 interceptions and 0.5 sacks in his career, he was out of the league after 2017. Bust.
  2. Jace Amaro (R2, P49): A Tight End from Texas Tech, Amaro totaled 41 receptions and 404 yards in the NFL. His career lasted 2 years. Bust.
  3. Dexter McDougle (R3, P80): Another DB, this time from Maryland. McDougle tore his ACL in practice and missed his entire rookie season. His career wasn’t much better after that as he only totaled 18 tackles and was out of the league after 4 seasons. Bust.
  4. Jalen Saunders (R4, P104): Saunders was a WR from Oklahoma and played on four different teams in his lone NFL season. He finished his career with 1 catch for 7 yards. Bust.
  5. Shaquelle Evans (R4 P115): Another WR, this time out of UCLA. He literally has no stats. Never played a game, never caught a ball, never gained a single yard of any kind. Bust.
  6. Dakota Dozier (R4 P137): An offensive lineman this time! Dozier was a Tackle out of Furman. His career lasted until 2021, the longest of anybody in the Idzik Twelve. However, he only started 7 games for the Jets and 20 games for his career. Bust.
  7. Jeremiah George (R5 P154): A Linebacker drafted out of Iowa State, George never played a single down for the Jets. He was cut before the start of his rookie season and bounced around the league for 3 seasons. Bust.
  8. Brandon Dixon (R6 P195): Another DB who never played a down for the Jets. Coming out of NW Missouri State, Dixon finished his career with 1 interception after 2 seasons in the NFL. Bust.
  9. Quincy Enunwa (R6 P209): The only pick of this Jets draft class that amounted to anything at all. Enunwa would play 5 seasons, all with the Jets, and finish with 119 receptions and 1,617 receiving yards. A respectable career for a 6th round pick out of Nebraska.
  10. IK Enemkpali (R6 P210): Enemkpali was a DE out of Louisiana Tech and lasted 2 years in the league. His claim to fame is breaking Jets QB Geno Smith’s jaw with a punch because Smith owed him $600. Smith would go on to miss 6 weeks of the season and Enemkpali would be cut shortly after the incident. Bust.
  11. Tajh Boyd (R6 P213): Boyd was a QB out of Clemson who has no NFL stats to his name. He wasn’t even good enough to become a Jets backup QB, a job in which you just need to show up with your arm attached to your body. Bust.
  12. Trevor Reilly (R7 P233): Reilly is the last of the Idzik Twelve (thank the lord). As a LB out of Utah, he finished his NFL career with one forced fumble and 43 total tackles. He was done after four seasons. Bust.

And we’re done with the Idzik Twelve. A disaster of a draft class if I’ve ever seen one. Only one of these twelve players made it past the 2019 season. Just slop. Absolute slop. But don’t you worry, we still have more first round busts to discuss.

Darron Lee: Lee was the Jets 20th overall pick in 2016. As a LB out of Ohio State, Lee amounted to pretty much nothing in the NFL. He collected 241 tackles with the Jets in his 3-year tenure. He did also have 3 interceptions and 2 forced fumbles with the Jets which is…fine, I guess. He played two more seasons after New York and was out of the league after 2020. Another First Round bust.

Sam Darnold: Another USC QB prospect has entered the list. In 2017, the Jets took their franchise QB with the 3rd overall pick. We’ll talk more about Darnold later, but his Jets career lasted just 3 seasons. He’s also more famous for seeing ghosts on the field rather than his play on the field. Bust.

Mekhi Becton: Becton was the Jets 11th overall pick in 2020 and is considered a bust by many. As a Guard from Louisville, he has been injury prone during his NFL career and has only played in 31 out of a possible 65 games. He was released by the Jets after 2023 and is currently a free agent. Another bust.

Zach Wilson: Oh, for f***s sake. I’m really trying to keep it at a professional level here but, dear God in heaven, this team has tested my patience and I’m not even a fan. Alright, Wilson was a very intriguing QB prospect coming out of BYU in 2021 and was taken 2nd overall by the Jets. Wilson’s NFL career has been an absolute disaster that I’ll get into later but, his most famous moment as a Jet is when his ex-girlfriend accused the QB of sleeping with his mom’s best friend.

….I hate this team so goddamn much. Wilson is still currently a member of the Jets, however this season, assuming he’s still on the roster, he will be backing up a returning Aaron Rodgers and riding the bench. Bust.

Finally, FINALLY, we have finished the draft portion of this blog. Still two more whole sections to go. Buckle up, this Jet is going through some rough turbulence.

Coaching or Air Traffic Controlling?

On January 4th, 2000, Bill Parcells decided he was going to step down as the Head Coach of the New York Jets. Parcells was and still is a legendary coach all over New York having helped the Giants win two Super Bowls and by helping the Jets turn it around after being 1-15 in 1996. Who would be the next in line to coach for the Jets? Well, let’s just get into the entire Jets head coaching tree since 2000.

Bill Belichick, 2000-2000: Leave it to the Jets to promote the greatest coach of all time and have him leave after 24 hours. After Parcells stepped down, it was written in his contract that Belichick would be the next man up. The thing is, Belichick didn’t want to be the Jets coach. He already was looking at being the Head Coach of the Patriots. What followed was one of the wildest press conferences you will ever see. Just one day after being named Jets HC, Belichick took to the podium…

Belichick would become Head Coach of the Patriots three weeks later and become the literal HC GOAT. 6x Super Bowl champion, 3x Coach of the Year and a member of the NFL 100 Club, Belichick will be in the Hall of Fame soon. Meanwhile, the Jets now had to find another coach to fill their vacancy.

Al Groh, 2000-2000: Do you remember Al Groh? No? Don’t worry, neither do any of these NFL personalities.

The NFL Top 10 show freaking rules man. Anyhow, Groh stayed with the Jets for one season, and they started off that season hot, going 6-1. That start reached its peak during Week 8 with a historic come from behind win against the Dolphins on Monday Night Football. Shout out to Jumbo Elliot. The rest of that season saw the Jets win only three more games and miss the postseason entirely, finishing 9-7. Groh left after the season to take the HC job at the University of Virginia.

Herm Edwards, 2001-2005: Edwards seemed like a great hire and for a little while, it worked out for the Jets. He got the team back to the playoffs three times but unfortunately for Edwards, each time the team made the playoffs, they never made it past the divisional round. Edwards fell out of favor with the Jets after the team went 4-12 in 2005. In Edwards defense, the 2005 season was lost once QB Chad Pennington was injured with a torn rotator cuff. Edwards was made the scapegoat anyway and was fired. At least we’ll always have this famous quote.

Eric Mangini, 2006-2008: Mangini was hired in 2006 and took the Jets back to the playoffs where they lost in the Wild Card. The Jets are back, right? Wrong!

On September 10th, 2007, just one day after the Jets opening day loss to the Patriots, Mangini accused, old friend of the Jets, Bill Belichick of filming the Jets defensive signals during the game. This violated NFL rules and would be known as Spygate. On top of that, it tainted Belichick’s legacy (he had won 3 super bowls with the Patriots by this time) and it caused a rift between Mangini and Belichick that would never be repaired. I don’t have time to bring all of that up but if you want to know more, you can check out this video here.

Shout out to Secret Base for the video. Anyway, the Jets would miss the playoffs during that season and the next and Mangini was fired. It’s almost as if the Head Coaches for this franchise are more famous for their off the field stuff rather than on the field. Hopefully that would end after Mangini’s term.

Rex Ryan, 2009-2014: Hey, guess what, it didn’t end after Mangini. Rex Ryan was a great defensive coach and the best hire the Jets have made this century. In his first two seasons, he would get the Jets to the AFC Championship game where they would lose to the Colts and Steelers respectively. Things were finally looking up! And as quickly as they went up, they fell back down. Ryan never had another winning season with the Jets and never made the playoffs again with the team. He did leave a lasting impression though after he was photographed while on vacation.

Yes, that is a tattoo of Ryan’s wife wearing nothing but a Jets Mark Sanchez jersey. Gotta give it up to him, only someone with the nickname of Sexy Rexy could get a tattoo like that. Ryan was fired after the ’14 season where the Jets finished 4-12.

Todd Bowles, 2015-2018: This one I’ll keep short and sweet. The Jets went out and hired Todd Bowles who had a great defensive mind. However, that doesn’t always translate in someone being the best coaching mind. It also doesn’t mean he’ll have a great personality either. Bowles is one of the more boring coaches that I’ve ever heard. I used to cut up his post-game press conferences and I always dreaded it because it would put me to sleep. It didn’t fit the New York style either. Bowles had one winning season with the team as was fired after the ‘18 season.

Adam Gase, 2019-2020: Ah yes, the supposed “Quarterback Whisperer”. Another one that I’ll keep short and sweet, Gase is best known for helping some quarterbacks be better than they were, only slightly better. He rode the coattails of Peyton Manning and the Broncos defense to become a Super Bowl winning coach in Super Bowl 50. He then turned that into a HC job with the Dolphins in 2015 and was fired after 3 years because he wasn’t all that good. The Jets saw this, hired him, then fired him 2 years later because he led the Jets to a record of 9-23 in those 2 seasons.

Robert Saleh, 2021-2024: Finally, we’ve reached the current Jets HC Robert Saleh. Saleh, as of this writing, has yet to have a winning season with the team. The Jets have finished 4-13, 7-10 and 7-10 in his three years so far, but that record isn’t entirely his fault. The problem for Saleh is, while the team has been built pretty well, the offense has struggled due to one position in particular. That position, of course, is none other than the QB position. We love to see a perfect segway.

Quarterbacks Can’t Pilot This Offense

Jets QBs are not good. End of article.

For real though, they’ve been terrible since 2000. For the sake of time and sanity, I’m going to try and keep this brief. Instead of going through every single Jets starter for 24 years, we’re going to take a look at the major ones. Either way, the list isn’t good. As flight attendants may sometimes say, brace for impact!

Vinny Testaverde: Testaverde was an okay QB. He’s more the type of guy you would call to manage a game. He was…fine, which for this franchise should mean that he’s in the Jets Hall of Fame. He led the Jets from 2000-2001 and went a respectable 19-13 before losing his starting job to the next QB on this list.

Chad Pennington: Pennington was a serviceable QB who didn’t start until his 3rd year in the league. Drafted out of Marshall and throwing to Randy Moss in college was nothing compared to being QB for the Jets. And I mean that as in college was probably easier for Pennington. In his time with the Jets, he went 32-29 with 82 TDs and 55 INTs. He was, again, fine for the Jets. However, he’s most famous for the 2008 season.

2007 was Pennington’s last season in New York as the team decided to cut bait and toss him to the curb. Pennington would get his revenge by signing with the rival Dolphins and taking Miami to the playoffs by defeating the Jets in the last week of the 2008 season in New York. That’s got to sting. Especially considering that the person the Jets brought in to replace Pennington, wasn’t the savior they thought he would be. Who was that person? That would be…

Brett Favre: This is where it all starts to fall apart. In 2007, Brett Favre finally left the Packers and could have retired as a legend and one of the greatest to ever do it. Again, he COULD have. He didn’t. Instead, Farve flip flopped by saying he was going to retire, then come back, then retire again. The Packers grew sick of this and finally shipped him off to the Jets for a single season. Green Bay had their QB of the future in Aaron Rodgers (more on him later) and thus had no need for Favre’s BS anymore.

The 2008 season started great as Farve and the Jets settled into an 8-3 record around Thanksgiving. The rest of that was all downhill as the Jets lost 4 of their last 5 games and missed the playoffs entirely. Farve during that 5-game stretch was awful as he produced 1,011 Passing Yds, 2 TDs and a whopping 9 INTs. The gunslinger was out as Jets QB after one season.

Mark Sanchez: One of the greatest teases the people of Manhattan have ever seen. Sanchez was a highly touted prospect coming out of USC in 2009. The QB was drafted by the Jets and became the face of the franchise immediately by taking the Jets to back-to-back AFC Championship games with HC Rex Ryan.

The thing about that is, Sanchez rode the wave of having an incredible defense to cover his mistakes and a having an incredible running game to open up his passing game. Once both of those things began to disappear, the dream turned into a nightmare. Sanchez and his flaws were on full display in 2011. By 2012, the flaws were glowing more than the promise that Mark had brought. On Thanksgiving Night in 2012, Sanchez turned in one of the most infamous plays in NFL history.

The Butt Fumble is one of the funniest plays in NFL history and will forever be the legacy of Mark Sanchez. Long gone were the memories of the AFC title trips. No one cared about those anymore, especially in a city like New York where it’s all about the “what have you done for me lately” mentality. Sanchez was out as Jets QB after the 2012 season.

Geno Smith: Now we’re getting into the ugly side of Jets QBs. Smith was awful during his Jets tenure. While he did start his rookie season with an 8-8 record, he only threw 12 TDs along with 21 INTs on the season. His next season came at him faster than that IK Enemkpali punch that broke his jaw. Smith did improve that TD production, this time throwing 13 TDs…along with 13 INTs and a 3-10 record. He was done as a Jets starter after his second season.

Sam Darnold: How does this keep happening? Okay, another big time prospect out of USC, Sam Darnold was drafted with the 3rd overall pick and did absolutely nothing. He lasted 3 years with the Jets, threw 63 TDs, 56 INTs and finished with an ugly 13-25 record in New York. On the bright side, he finally showed the world what a fraud Adam Gase was as a head coach. Darnold is currently trying to revive his career in Minnesota.

Zach Wilson: This motherf***er. And yes, I mean that literally. Again, the Jets draft high, again they were wrong. To be fair, none of the QBs in Wilson’s draft class have aged well except for Trevor Lawrence who was drafted before the Jets pick. Wilson, like the Jets QBs before him, has been a disaster. I’ve already mentioned earlier what Wilson is famous for so let’s just get some stats in. Wilson in 3 years has a 12-21 record, 23 TDs and 25 TDs. Assuming he’s not traded at some point this offseason, look for him to ride the bench at the beginning of the ‘24 season.

Aaron Rodgers: Rodgers, like Farve before him, caused such a headache with the Green Bay Packers, they decided to trade him to the Jets before the ’23 season. Check out Rodgers ’23 Jets highlights below.

Yeah, he tore his Achilles just four plays after coming out with that entrance. Rodgers is expected to be back as the Jets starter for the ’24 season. Who knows how good the Jets will be. If I had to guess, it won’t go well.

And there it is, the failure and stink that is the New York Jets. That could just be leaking jet fuel but I’m not sure. Nor do I care at this point. How this team still has a loyal fan base, I will never know. The team stinks, the drafting is putrid, the coaching is defunct, the QB play is beyond embarrassing and the Jets owner Woody Johnson, yeah, he isn’t a good owner for letting this go on for as long as it has. This team really is as bad as New Yorkers say they are. Some just call them…

I have nothing else to say at this point, it’s all been laid out. Everything is garbage. Never love anything, especially your sports teams. They’re like your heroes and will just let you down. You can judge for yourself too if you’d like. But before you judge, I’ll let Artie Lange tell it like it is.

Godspeed Jets fans. Bring back Fireman Ed.

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