The 2024-2025 NFL season is officially over for the New York Jets. Another year of disappointment for the franchise as they finish 5-12. They will miss the postseason for the 14th straight year in a row.
They ended the season on a high note defeating the Miami Dolphins 32-20 in which Aaron Rodgers threw for four touchdown passes including throwing for his 500th career touchdown pass.
Now comes the highly anticipated offseason for New York. This is a team with a lot of questions to be answered. Who will be their new General Manager and Head Coach? Will they part ways with Rodgers? Will Rodgers retire? What is the solution at Quarterback if it’s not Rodgers?
This offseason as well marks the first time the 2022 draft class can sign contract extensions. That means the likes of Sauce Gardner, Garrett Wilson, Jermaine Johnson, and Breece Hall are all eligible for contract extensions.
Based off this past season, Wilson should be the main focus to extend. In no way can the Jets let Wilson leave this team, you do whatever it is to make sure he is a part of the New York Jets. Wilson had his third straight one-thousand-yard season and was able to break past the one hundred receptions mark as well.
Gardner had a good year but it was a step down from his previous two All-Pro seasons. Johnson is going to be coming back off a torn Achilles, and Hall had an up and down season. Wilson is the player to focus on extending this offseason. Gardner, and Johnson are the two you accept the fifth-year player options on.
The Jets landed the seventh overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, it will be the first time the team ever selects from the seventh position. It’s all depending on what they do at the Quarterback position before the draft that determines what they will need to do during the draft.
If New York has the Quarterback problem set by draft time, look at interior defensive line, secondary or offensive line as the way they go in the draft. Those answers won’t be as clear though until free agency has passed.
As for free agency, New York does have some key impending free agents like D.J. Reed, Haason Reddick, Tyler Conklin, Tyron Smith, and Morgan Moses.
The feeling is most of these guys will not be back, Conklin and Moses are the ones that should probably be back. Conklin is a decent tight end that will be cheap, and Moses still has an open spot at Right Tackle for the team, and the ability to upgrade the Right Tackle spot with someone better then Moses feels unlikely.
Reed said he is ready to test free agency. He is going to be 29 years old and is coming off a disappointing second half of the season with a lot of penalties. Overall, Reed has had a great tenure with the Jets but it feels like that both sides will be moving on.
Reddick is a no-brainer to be leaving as that was a complete disaster of a trade by the Jets in the first place. Smith lost a step this season, he got hurt again, and Olu Fashanu was playing better than him anyways.
At this point, New York is officially going through the process of finding their next Head Coach, and General Manager. They have already interviewed Ron Rivera and Mike Vrabel. They have requested to interview the likes of Aaron Glenn, Brian Flores, Arthur Smith, Joe Brady, and others. New York is casting a wide net to find the right two people for these jobs, they are even interviewing former Jets Head Coach Rex Ryan.
On the General Manager side, they have interviewed Louis Riddick, an ESPN analyst, as well as former Titans GM Jon Robinson and former Falcons GM Thomas Dimitoff. They have requested to interview the likes of Mike Greenberg from Tampa Bay, and Mike Borgonzi from the Chiefs as well as plenty more. Time will tell as to who are the two that land the jobs but New York cannot afford to mess this up.
Vrabel feels like the best option for the Jets with his 54-46 career record and multiple playoff appearances as the Titans coach but it seems Vrabel is destined to head to divisional rival the New England Patriots. Glenn, who is currently the Lions defensive coordinator, feels like a real possibility for the Jets but other teams like the Saints are really interested as well.
My prediction as of this moment is that the New York Jets will hire Mike Greenberg to be the General Manager, and Aaron Glenn to be the new Head Coach. We will go into more details on the candidates as we get further into the process and see who the legitimate options are.
The biggest question though this offseason for the Jets is who will be behind center for them next season. The feeling right now is that Rodgers will be gone from New York whether that’s via retirement or him playing elsewhere. It will come down to what the next General Manager and Head Coach decide. The upcoming Rookie Quarterback class isn’t that deep or exciting as the prospects don’t necessarily jump off the page. New York as of now won’t be in a position either to get the top two prospects in Shedeur Sanders or Cam Ward.
Could the Jets pull off a trade for J.J. McCarthy? Or Sign Sam Darnold depending on what the Vikings do? The options feel limited, this isn’t a great offseason to go Quarterback hunting.
Rodgers wasn’t amazing this year, he was inconsistent at times, he looked old in games. Then there were times where he looked outstanding, and made great throws to Wilson, and Davante Adams.
It is hard to replace a Quarterback with a clear better one in just one offseason. The Jets have a roster of stars that can compete and win games. With a new coaching staff is it so farfetched that this team with Rodgers can be successful? Two full years removed from his torn achilles too, I just have this feeling that the Jets should run it back with Rodgers and give it another shot with hopefully a better coaching staff.
Rodgers is 40 though, so it’s understandable to want to move on and start fresh. But this roster has too much potential to just throw in the towel and have a mediocre rebuild season next year. The Jets should be making moves with the roster they have to seriously compete to make the playoffs next year. Or else, players like Wilson, and Gardner will get sick and tired of continuing to lose and that just will cause more problems for this organization. I don’t think realistically, they get a Quarterback that gives them a better chance to win next season then Rodgers. They should run it back with a new coaching staff.
My prediction though is ultimately the Jets don’t do what I think, they let Rodgers walk, they plan to start Tyrod Taylor next season while also drafting Jalen Milroe to be the future project of this team.
The Jets offseason will be nothing short of dramatic, and exciting, so buckle up because you never know what this organization is going to do. It is a long road ahead for New York with a lot of questions to be answered.
