The New York Jets have a lot of roster holes to fill this off-season, but these five positions must be addressed by GM Mike Maccagnan as soon as possible.
By Jeff Jarboe
Any time the Patriots don’t win the Super Bowl, it’s a victory for Jets Nation. However, if the New York Jets want to break their five-year long streak of not making the playoffs and earn their chance to play for a Super Bowl, Todd Bowles and Mike Maccagnan are going to have to address some positions that need to be upgraded A.S.A.P.
1. Right Guard/Tackle
The New York Jets offensive line was among the league’s best through the first four games of the season as they paved the way for Chris Ivory to rush into the top five rushing ranks. As the season went on however, Nick Mangold was sidelined for several games and the weaknesses across the offensive line began to become clear.
D’Brickashaw Ferguson is still capable of starting at left tackle (if he restructures his contract), James Carpenter had a great first year in New York at left guard, Nick Mangold continues to play at a pro bowl level at center (when healthy), but the right side of the Jets offensive line needs work.
Brian Winters is likely to be released some time in the coming weeks after another underwhelming season at right guard, while Breno Giacomini‘s future has also become a bit of a mystery after having an inconsistent second year in New York. These weaknesses along the right side have opened the door for Maccagnan to stay true to his BPA (best player available) draft mentality this spring and hand pick a top tier tackle/guard in the early rounds.
2. Outside Linebacker
Von Miller showed the rest of the AFC East yesterday what an elite outside pass rusher can do to the Patriots offense–stop Tom Brady. Obviously Brady’s offensive line was beat up going into that game, so most of the blame can and should be placed there. But even Patriots fans will admit that number 12 was not his usual self yesterday and it was due in large part to the play of Von Miller.
The only way the New York Jets are ever going to beat out New England or any of the AFC’s top teams for that matter, is if they add a speedy, versatile outside linebacker like Von Miller who’s capable of rushing on the outside, dropping into coverage, or sealing the edge in the run game. Lorenzo Mauldin IV certainly has the prototypical speed and physical build to play this role but he’s still raw and was only used as a situational pass rusher in 2015. Aside from Mauldin, Calvin Pace‘s contract is up and his career is just about at its end, while DeMario Davis had a brutal 2015 campaign and will most likely be playing elsewhere in 2016.
There’s depth at the inside linebacker positions with veterans Erin Henderson and Jamari Lattimore rotating in with David Harris, but this team needs another option than Mauldin on the outside.
3. Tight End
Chan Gailey did a masterful job with the development of Quincy Enunwa as the team’s makeshift tight end this season. The former Nebraska wide receiver gave the offense a different dimension as he possessed the speed to beat linebackers down the field, and the strength to block them in the running game. I expect Enunwa’s involvement to increase in 2016, but I also expect the team to add a more traditional tight end in place of veterans Jeff Cumberland and Kellen Davis for several reasons.
Gailey used Enunwa the way he did because he had to work with what he had, and what he had was zero receiving tight ends. Jace Amaro, the team’s top receiving tight end from 2014 was lost for the year with a shoulder injury, leaving Cumberland as the only other option. At the time, New York had a ton of roster holes to fill and Mike Maccagnan elected to use the team’s draft picks and cap space on top flight players at those positions. He added the veteran Davis for depth, but in the end neither Davis nor Cumberland proved to be worth a roster spot.
The trio of Marshall, Decker and Enunwa proved to be successful in 2015 and it will continue to bode well for New York as long as Gailey’s the playcaller and Ryan Fitzpatrick is the quarterback in 2016. But if you were to add a 6’6″ speedy tight end with good hands to that mix and you’d have one of the most lethal passing offenses in the NFL. Jace Amaro may or may not be able to take on this role, but it wouldn’t hurt to add one more guy in the draft to compete with him.
4. Return Specialist
This is going to be the easiest roster hole for Mike Maccagnan to fill, the only question is whether or not he’ll be willing to do so.
In today’s NFL it’s all about balancing the roster accordingly with the right amount of star power, veterans, and young talent spread across each position. There’s only so much money to give out, but if a GM plans accordingly he’ll be able to give the pricey contracts to the star players at the big positions, and rely on the cheap veterans and late-round rookies to fill the other positions. This is what Maccagnan tried to do in 2015. He threw the big money at Darrelle Revis and other members of the defense, and he thought they’d be able to get by without paying for or drafting a return specialist.
Maccagnan did a lot of things right in 2015 but this was one thing that he did wrong. He never added a return specialist and thought they’d be fine with Jeremy Kerley returning punts, and the New York Jets return game struggled all year long as a result. The future of this team lies in the hands of Ryan Fitzpatrick and this New York Jets offense, and his job would be a lot easier if he had a return man setting him up with great field position every week.
5. Running Back
Last but certainly not least, Mike Maccagnan and Todd Bowles have some big decisions to make this off-season regarding their running back situation. With both Chris Ivory and Bilal Powell set to hit the open market and a limited amount of cap space available, the Jets are most likely going to have to choose between their two playmaking running backs and may have to look to the draft to add depth at the position.
The good news for the New York Jets is that the running back position has been severely devalued in recent years, and as a result they may not have to overpay to retain Ivory. And retaining Ivory is exactly what Maccagnan and company should be trying to do. He may have had a poor second half of the season but a lot of that is due to the injuries and inconsistent play along the offensive line, and the general change of playcalling from run-heavy to pass-heavy.
The bad news for New York in this scenario is that there are still teams out there who are desperate for a three-down back and who would be willing to overpay (or at least pay more than the Jets can afford) for Ivory if the 27-year-old explores his options. If this happens and Ivory walks the best case scenario for the Jets would be to re-sign Powell, make him the number one back for 2016, and add another versatile running back in the draft.