Jets need to make wins the priority over their draft spot
Quincy Williams of the Jets celebrates his third-quarter interception against the Commanders at MetLife Stadium on Sunday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The Jets can’t even lose right.
That was the sentiment a lot of fans had as they watched Greg Zuerlein’s game-winning field goal sail through the uprights on Christmas Eve to deliver the first Jets victory in more than a month. Instead of celebrating the dub, they were frustrated and angry because of the way it impacted their prized spot for the April draft. As things stand now, with just two weeks to play, the Jets will have the ninth overall pick. Had they simply lost to the Commanders that position might have been sitting at fifth or sixth.
Undoubtedly the same folks are hoping the Jets do better by doing worse Thursday night against the Browns. And then, again, in the regular season finale against the Patriots, a team the Jets are competing with not only for draft positioning this spring but for the next decade or so that those picks could be impacting both sides of the AFC East rivalry.
But that’s not the way this works. And it’s not the way the Jets should approach these last two games before Aaron Rodgers comes back in 2024 and they get a do-over with their Hall of Fame quarterback.
For a franchise that has become so used to the weight of losing, that has the longest playoff drought in North American pro sports, that has become a punchline because of its ineptitude, every opportunity to come away from any excursion with a victory should be cherished and prized. With the core coming back, it’s even more important for them to learn how to win games than for them to be looking ahead to any long-term benefit their losses might have.
Tanking is an outsiders’ strategy, and besides that it’s far from foolproof… which makes it far from Jets-proof too.
There are so many examples of teams winning what we in the outside world call “meaningless” games to the great consternation of their fans and disadvantaging of their draft position the following April. Just last year the Texans looked like knuckleheads with a one-point comeback win in the last game of the year that included a late two-point conversion to beat the Colts and cost themselves the first overall pick in the draft. Look at them now.
Locally, there was the 2019 “Chase Young Bowl” between the Giants and Washington as they were jostling for a spot where they could select the top edge rusher in the draft. Washington lost and took Young with the second overall pick. He is no longer on the team. The Giants won and their “consolation” was Andrew Thomas with the fourth selection, a player who is among the top left tackles in the league.
Yes, if the Jets hadn’t won two of Adam Gase’s last three games as their head coach in 2020, they would have had the first overall pick and likely had Trevor Lawrence on their roster right now instead of Zach Wilson, who they took with the second pick. That certainly would have been a franchise-altering path. But who’s to say Lawrence would have been as good here with the Jets as he has been with the Jaguars? And under those conditions it’s almost a certainty that the Jets would not right now have what just about any observer of the organization sees as their greatest asset: Aaron Rodgers.
“As a fan, I get it,” Robert Saleh said this week of those who are hoping for the losses to stack up. “But I would challenge the fan to walk into the locker room and look at all those men who strap up every day and crossed the white line and put in all this work. We are all competitive, and no one wants to step on the field and put together a poor effort and look bad on tape. That is their résumé, that’s who they are. That’s who we are.”
Saleh said the win over the Commanders did bring a lot of positives that can be carried over into 2024, even if not so much on draft night. He pointed to Jason Brownlee’s first career touchdown and Xavier Gipson becoming more of an offensive weapon. He noted that Garrett Wilson and Breece Hall are still young players who need successful reps to continue developing.
“There is a lot of youth on the offensive side of the ball that is just trying to find ways to get a little bit better every single week, every day, and really kind of propel themselves into the 2024 season,” Saleh said.
They have a fourth-string quarterback playing behind a terrible offensive line, they have a defense that was exposed by Jacoby Brissett’s comeback bid, and they have a coach who has the luxury of knowing he is no longer performing for his job next year.
The Jets may very well lose these last two games, but if that happens, they need to make sure it is for the same reason that they were losing in October and November.
It needs to be because they are a bad team.
That’s the best way for them to get better.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
