Ties to the Baltimore Ravens and Indianapolis Colts cascade throughout the New York Jets’ current roster.
When perusing the current group of 89 players (71 excluding rookies) on the Jets roster, one glaring theme jumps out – an inordinate amount of them have played for either the Baltimore Ravens or the Indianapolis Colts.
A total of 12 current members of the Jets have spent time with the Indianapolis organization:
Another nine players have donned purple and black in Baltimore:
In total, that’s 21 players out of 71 non-rookies – a 29.6% portion that has played for a pair of franchises that make up 6.5% of the league’s other 31 teams.
Two obvious connections can explain this phenomenon.
For Indianapolis, we can look to current Jets assistant general manager Rex Hogan. He spent two seasons (2017-18) as the Colts’ vice president of player personnel. All 12 of the current Jets that have spent time with the Colts were there during Hogan’s tenure.
For Baltimore, look no further than the man at the top – Joe Douglas. New York’s current head honcho began his professional career with 15 seasons (2000-14) as a scout in Baltimore. While Joe Flacco is the only former Raven added by Douglas that he shared time with in Baltimore, the general manager’s connection with his first NFL organization clearly remains strong. Six of the nine former Ravens on the team were added by Douglas, including three this offseason (Flacco, Patrick Onwuasor, Breshad Perriman).
When it comes to the construction of an NFL roster, connections and familiarity are key elements.
