Clickbait Commentator's Criminally Low Jets Power Ranking Stuns Fans

With QB Aaron Rodgers returning, the New York Jets have Super Bowl aspirations, but one analyst ranked them amongst the NFL's worst teams.

Sep 11, 2023; East Rutherford, NJ; New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers (8) sits on the field after a sack by Buffalo Bills defensive end Leonard Floyd (not pictured) at MetLife Stadium. Rodgers left the game with an injury after the play. / Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

Does he know something that others don't? Are the 2024 New York Jets doomed to fail?

In what appears as an elite troll job, Pro Football Talk blowhard Mike Florio released Preseason NFL Power Rankings and dumped the Jets in the bottom 25 percent of teams. New York landed at No. 25 overall, falling in between the No. 24 New Orleans Saints and No. 26 Las Vegas Raiders.

It's understandable if one is not loading up on Jets stock, especially considering their 40-year-old franchise quarterback is coming off an Achilles tear, but this prognostication borders on asinine.

As ugly as the team's offensive output was last year, the defense was still a Top 4 unit for the second year in a row. Their quality wins over the Philadelphia Eagles and Buffalo Bills made their 7-10 record a little more digestible and there certainly weren't 24 other teams more talented than Gang Green.

The consensus wagering lines appear to clash with the Jets ridiculously-low ranking. The oddsmakers have set New York's projected win total at 9.5 games while DraftKings currently lists the team's Super Bowl odds at +2000 (20:1). There are only 10 teams more heavily favored than the Green & White.

Jets' superstars Aaron Rodgers and Sauce Gardner have publicly recognized the stakes this spring.

"I think if I don't do what I know I'm capable of doing, we're all probably going to be out of here. I like that kind of pressure though. It's a tough market to play in, it's not for everybody. I relish that opportunity, but that's the way the NFL is, I'm not saying anything monumental," said Rodgers, a four-time NFL MVP field general, at the start of OTAs Phase 3. "So, I expect to play at a high level, I expect us to be productive and competitive and all that stuff to take care of itself."

Meanwhile, Gardner, who has two All-Pro First Team honors to show for his two seasons in the NFL, has high expectations for the 2024 Jets.

"Same as I felt last year. I feel like we can win a championship, a Super Bowl," said Gardner after an OTAs practice in Florham Park. "We got the guys, we got the coaches, we got everything we need, the training staff, everything that it takes for us to be able get to where we wanna get to."

It's important to recognize that Florio has been consistently critical of Rodgers for the quarterback's differences of opinion. It seems that some of that emotional silliness has seeped into the power rankings formula.