Latest New York Jets Rebuilding Project Unlikely to be Quick Turnaround

The New York Jets need a new coach, a new general manager and some runway to get their latest rebuild off the ground.

Sep 9, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; New York Jets owner Woody Johnson walks on the field before the game against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi's Stadium. / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

The New York Jets are on their bye week with a 3-8 record and everyone is already thinking about next season. 

Owner Woody Johnson has already started to clean house, as the Jets uncharacteristically fired both their head coach and their general manager during the season. 

The current state of the franchise in New York isn’t a good one, and there are going to be many questions to answer this offseason. 

Due to the dysfunction of the Jets, it’s hard to imagine that they will get their top choice at head coach or general manager. The way Johnson has handled things this season has likely rubbed a lot of people the wrong way around the league, as coaches and front office staff certainly talk. 

With a rebuild seemingly on the way once again for the Jets, Kristopher Knox of Bleacher Report recently highlighted that there won’t be any type of quick turnaround for New York. 

“The Jets can cut Rodgers with a post-June 1 designation and save $9.5 million in cap space. The franchise is already projected to have $31.2 million in cap space, though it may require a chunk of that to extend young players like Sauce Gardner, Breece Hall and Garrett Wilson. The presence of young players like Gardner, Wilson and Will McDonald IV is why New York may still have a bright future. But a quick turnaround isn't happening.”

Due to Rodgers likely not being back next season, the quarterback position will once again be a massive issue for the Jets. The franchise has been unable to draft and develop a quarterback for years, and that seems like the most likely road that they will have to go down again. 

If there is any good news for a new general manager it's that the Jets are likely to have a Top 10 pick this offseason, perhaps even in the Top 5 if New York goes into a full tank mode, which is hard to do in the NFL. But it still might not be enough to land one of the top quarterback prospects in this draft.

Furthermore, even though there are a lot of issues for New York, they do have some good young talent, led by Gardner, Hall, and Wilson. All three could see contract extensions soon, as this might be the core they hope to build around. Both Gardner and Wilson can receive the fifth-year tender next offseason as they were both first-round picks.

While the franchise will be hoping for a quick turnaround in 2025, the likelihood of that happening is slim. With a new head coach, new general manager, and potentially a new quarterback, it seems highly unlikely that New York will get all three things right at the same time.