Offseason Outlook 2015: New York Jets

Offense

What can I say, the AFC East has been making moves this offseason. The Jets are in a similar situation as the Buffalo Bills. There is a mess at quarterback, but the rest of the offense is starting to take shape. Geno Smith goes into camp as the expected starter, but at some point this season it would not be crazy to expect Ryan Fitzpatrick and maybe even Bryce Petty. They do have more talent at QB then the Bills do, as Geno Smith hasn't been great but the jury is not completely out on him quite yet. At wide receiver the Jets added Brandon Marshall in a trade with the Bears. Even with him aging, he is still a solid number 1 receiver, which the Jets have been lacking for a long time now. Sliding him at the X receiver upgrades the entire core. This moves Eric Decker to the number two receiver, and the recently drafted Devin Smith can play the slot. Jeff Cumberland and Jace Amaro are also two solid TE's and Amaro has a pretty high ceiling as a number 1 TE if he starts to develop his game more. In the backfield, the Jets have added quite a bit of depth this offseason. Chris Ivory should still be expected to be the "starter", but don't be surprised if the recently signed Steven Ridley, or the recently traded for Zac Stacy steal a lot of carries this season. The Jets have a solid offensive line too. D'Brickashaw Ferguson (If you don't know anything about the Jets, yes that is his real name, and it's awesome) has been a franchise left tackle for the Jets, and even though he's getting older, he's still reliable on the blindside. Also the Jets have Nick Mangold, and he is one of the the best centers in the NFL. The rest of the offensive line is a bit of a question mark, as James Carpenter, Willie Colon, and Breno Giacomini can be solid but inconsistent players. Overall though this offense will be improved, and the new coaching staff with Chan Gailey at offensive coordinator should spark some life in an offense that struggled mightily last year. The additions at the skill positions, mainly Brandon Marshall, will also help the Jets figure out if Geno Smith has it in him to be a starting caliber NFL quarterback, which is the biggest question on offense this year for New York.

Defense

There is so much positive with this Jets defense, lets start with the negative. The linebacker talent on the Jets is questionable on paper. I have been a fan of Demario Davis since he was drafted, but he still hasn't quite put it all together. David Harris and himself are two solid starters at ILB, but they are not star players by any means. Quinton Coples, Jason Babin, and Calvin Pace make up the group of outside linebackers, and they are all talented pass rushers at times, but for the most part they have been unreliable on a game to game basis. Now onto the good for the Jets defense. Or should I say incredible, because that's really what it is. Let's start with the newly revamped secondary. New York signed possibly the hottest free agent not named Ndamukong Suh in Darrelle Revis, and they also reunited him with Antonio Cromartie who had a great year with Arizona last year. That duo alone intimidates the rest of the NFL, but they also signed Buster Skrine who will most likely be their slot cornerback. Moving on right? Oh wait, they also have 2013 1st round pick Dee Milliner who was a lot better then people give him credit for last year to back up Revis and Cromartie, and at safety they have 2014 1st round pick Calvin Pryor who is a massive hitter who himself had a surprisingly good year in a poor Jets secondary last year. The best part of the Jets secondary is that it isn't even the best position group on their defense. That award goes to the Jets defensive line. As of right now, I'm going under the assumption that they aren't trading Muhammad Wilkerson because other then some rumours after the draft, there has been no indication that they will deal him. So under that assumption, they have Wilkerson, Sheldon Richardson, Damon Harrison, AND Leonard Williams who was the highest rated player on a lot of analyst's draft boards this past year. Richardson and Wilkerson are both elite 3-4 DE's. Damon Harrison is one of the best nose tackles in the NFL too. Also, like I said earlier, Leonard Williams is an extremely talented, blue-chip prospect that could be one of the elites at his position once he gets regular playing time. So this defense does have some talent. The loss of Rex Ryan should be mentioned here too, because he is a great defensive minded head coach. Under normal circumstances that would be a big loss, but new head coach Todd Bowles was a spectacular defensive coordinator for the Arizona Cardinals and could easily bring that some ferocity that Ryan brought to this defense. The Jets are probably going to be the most improved defense this year, as last year they were in the bottom ten in points allowed per game. They also really struggled at forcing turnovers last season, but the retooled secondary should help fix some of those problems. There was a lot of turnover with this defense, and some early season struggles with a new scheme wouldn't shock me, but the talent is there for this team to have a top 10 defense and that's what I expect by season's end.

The AFC East, wow. I've said it in my other Offseason Outlook articles about each team in the AFC East, and this one is no different. If the Jets were in the NFC South I might predict them to win the division, but it will be tough. They are going to be a tough team to face week in and week out, and if Todd Bowles ends up being the right man for the job, they do have an actual shot at a playoff berth. Their defense will have to be playing lights out for that to happen, but it is definitely a possibility. There should be a lot of hope for this team though. The talent on the roster is young, and almost every facet of this team should be improved from 2014.