Five-Step Plan To Fix The New York Jets

Facing a 1-5 hole six games into the 2016 NFL season, Mike Maccagnan and the New York Jets need one serious makeover.

The two certainties all New York Jets fans face during their often miserable lives are quite simple to explain, yet hold very real meaning.

The first is the fact that life never comes at you with a sense of easiness. Instead of knowing what you’ll be getting each September, you’re thrown a curveball far too often.

The second and far more important certainty is that your franchise will, eventually, get to the very desperate point of no return.

It may happen every season, as seen during the late stages of the Bruce Coslet era and full version of the Rich Kotite party time. It may happen over periods of half decades, such as the late 1970s. It may just happen once every several years like we’ve seen during the Eric Mangini, Rex Ryan, and Todd Bowles eras.

Despite when it happens, it will, indeed, always happen. Despite the talent, potential, and expectations at any given point of an era, your team, the New York Jets, will eventually hit rock bottom instead of keeping an even keel about them.

At this point during the 2016 season, sitting at 1-5, it’s that very special time again — the time for which the Jets organization has hit rock bottom.

With every rock bottom, comes rebuilding. Or, at the very least, one serious remodel.

It’s time.

Here’s Elite Sports NY’s five-step plan to fix the New York Jets:

Darrelle Revis Immediately Moves To Safety

Folks, this one’s a no-brainer. Despite how strong your love for Darrelle Revis may be, the 31-year-old simply shouldn’t play cornerback anymore.

It’s true. Revis is making a boatload of dough. in signing a 5-year, $70.131M deal prior to 2015, Mike Maccagnan and company thought they were receiving a shutdown corner.

Instead, they’ve received a middle of the run corner. While middle of the run might be too harsh, Revis’s lack of speed and decreased agility makes him a complete liability on the football field.

His move to safety needs to happen as soon as possible.

It won’t happen in 2016. That’d be asking for entirely too much — not to mention it doesn’t make sense from a CB/S personnel standpoint. It does, however, need to happen once the 2016 season comes to its disappointing conclusion.

What’s important to remember here is that Revis shouldn’t just move to safety because he’s slowing down at corner, it’s that Revis would make for one nasty NFL safety at this point in his career.

All of the necessary skills are there.

His football IQ is of the charts. His nose for the ball is still superb. He can be thrust into a top of the line leadership role on the defensive unit. More importantly, he’s tough and can tackle like a safety.

Think Charles Woodson. Revis can be a dynamic NFL safety.

Moving Revis to safety in 2017 means either Marcus Gilchrist or Calvin Pryor would need to be moved. Pryor has three years remaining on his deal while Gilchrist four. Both could potentially be cut (as neither has guaranteed money making it tough).

In the end, though, if Revis moves to safety, Pryor can then assume a more natural third safety role on the squad. This means a true box roamer in certain defensive sub packages. He simply can’t play two deep safety at this level. It doesn’t work.

This would mean major work would need to be done at the CB spot. But that’s OK. It needed to happen regardless.

Trade Either Sheldon Or Big Mo

There was a very real reason for why everybody surrounding the New York Jets thought Muhammad Wilkerson was as good as gone. Despite the fandom feeling towards the guy, Big Mo looked to be gone thanks to the predicament the Jets are now in.

Possessing Big Mo, Sheldon Richardson, and Leonard Williams, New York has one too many interior defensive linemen.

What Todd Bowles is forced to do in order to get all three of them on the field at the same time is downright ridiculous to ask of a coach. In normal circumstances, when a 3-4 is run, there’s only room for three interior beasts. When a 4-3 is run, only two interior guys get to see the field at once.

The Jets are trying to break the mold that hasn’t been seen in a long, long time.

Along with Steve McLendon, Bowles is attempting to run a 4-3 scheme with four interior defensive linemen. This is an impossibility — as seen over the last four weeks. This means every player on the line is the same player. There is no dynamic edge presence who scares an offensive coordinator into double-teaming the edge.

Looking to play a 300-lb. Richardson at anything other than the interior of the line simply does not work. Outside linebacker, inside linebacker (on a blitz), or even edge defensive line — it doesn’t work with a man this heavy.

It also doesn’t work to have Big Mo line up on the edge. While he still gets the job done, he’s much more of a force out-quicking offensive guards rather than out-powering offensive tackles.

The Big Cat isn’t going anywhere. After this season, Williams will still have two years remaining on his deal. Richardson would have been a free agent if Mike Maccagnan hadn’t picked up the club option on him for 2017. Therefore, he has one year remaining. We all know Wilkerson’s current situation after he signed his massive five-year, $86 million deal this past summer.

Sheldon will be the easiest guy to trade. Mo could be moved, but his guaranteed money makes it extremely difficult.

Mikey Mac needs to trade one of the three to allow the Jets a chance of running a realistic defensive front in 2017.

Draft & Develop Offensive Lineman

One of the worst-kept secrets in the NFL surrounds how poor the New York Jets offensive line is. Even at age 32, Nick Mangold is still a stud. Aside from him, though, the unit is extremely below average.

• Nick Mangold, 32
• James Carpenter, 27
• Ryan Clady, 30
• Brian Winters, 25
• Brent Qvale, 25
• Ben Ijalana, 27
• Brandon Shell, 24

It’s not like the line is old. It’s not. James Carpenter, at 27, is still a very good guard. Ryan Clady, while his number is on the wrong wide of 30 now, has been pretty poor on the left edge.

The problem is this group has nobody developing in the right fashion.

Brandon Shell is a guy Maccagnan traded up for in last year’s NFL draft. The kid has shown nothing. Brian Winters, Brent Qvale, and Brandon Shell are all still relatively young. They have, also, shown very little.

The one position in the NFL that teams draft high and turn out quality, consistent talent is along the offensive line. Unlike the quarterback or cornerback spot, very few busts occur with high offensive line picks.

The 2017 NFL Draft better feature multiple quality offensive lineman under the column of the green and white.

Get Younger Immediately

Hitchhiking off the O-Line discussion, New York getting younger is very appropriate discussion. Maccagnan must strip the age from this depth chart.

Nearly half of New York’s starters (10-of-22) are 30-years or older. If Eric Decker‘s 29-year-old status is included, half of the Jets starters are on the wrong side of 30.

• Ryan Fitzpatrick, 33
• Brandon Marshall, 32
• Nick Mangold, 32
• David Harris, 32
• Darrelle Revis, 31
• Kellen Davis, 31
• Matt Forte 30
• Ryan Clady, 30
• Eric Henderson, 30
• Steve McLendon, 30
• Eric Decker, 29

This doesn’t work in the NFL. This is a young man’s game.

As soon as the season ends, Maccagnan and Bowles will need to analyze which contracts can be dumped.

Mac has maintained that his “aggressive rebuild” allowed him to maintain cap flexibility. He better hope this is true because if certain contracts hinder the personnel’s ability to get younger, 2017 could be another long season.

Breno Giacomini is as good as gone. In fact, his immediate dump will save at least a few million dollars. Darrelle Revis’s contract lives on through the end of the 2019 season. While it can be reworked, his salary will take a huge bit of the pie.

When looking at the personnel, Brandon Marshall may be the guy who saves the Jets a nice buck. He has one more year on his contract (through 2017), but cutting bait would save the Jets over $5 million.

Many interesting decisions will be made with an eye towards getting younger.

Find A Real Head Coach & Quarterback

In Ryan Fitzpatrick’s case, this is an easy one. The moment the New York Jets named Geno Smith the starting quarterback for Week 7’s game against the Baltimore Ravens, was the moment Fitz’s Jets career came to an end.

He never was the long-term solution at the position and sure as hell won’t be moving forward. Can Geno Smith, Bryce Petty or Christian Hackenberg be the guy? Honestly, who knows. That’s what the last 10 games are for.

Most likely, the Jets future franchise QB isn’t on the roster. And obviously, in this league (the way it’s played now), having a franchise QB means everything.

What Mac needs to do is kick the tires on available guys who can be had. What about free agent to be Mike Glennon, a guy we’ve been calling for since last year? This is a talented kid whose only mistake in the NFL was the unluckiness of playing for a franchise that was in position to chose Jameis Winston.

As far as the coach is concerned, it’s never a wise decision to give up on a guy after just 26 games (13-13).

In the case of Todd Bowles, we’ve seen enough.

The constant stubbornness to want to play his way rather than the right way is rather alarming. Couple that with the fact the Jets enjoyed an all-time cupcake schedule in 2015 makes his 10-6 rookie accomplishment extremely compromised.

Truth be told, it starts with the owner. Everything is funneled down from Woody Johnson. But since we all know he isn’t going anywhere, hiring a real football guy to lead the football program the right way is a must.

Now, we have no idea if Mike Maccagnan is the guy.

Once 2017 ends, it starts with finding a head coach and a quarterback.