Joe Douglas is locked and loaded for 2022
With Sunday’s 30-9 loss to the New Orleans Saints, the New York Jets have been eliminated from the playoffs for the 11th consecutive season.
As has now become a yearly tradition for Jets fans, attention shifts to the offseason and the Jets’ assortment of assets to upgrade the roster. General manager Joe Douglas is equipped with over $54 million in cap space before any roster cuts in addition to four draft picks in the first two rounds.
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Entering a pivotal second year under head coach Robert Saleh, Douglas should look to be aggressive and add impact pieces to the team in as many ways as possible.
First and foremost, the Jets should use free agency to bulk up their struggling defense. Cincinnati Bengals safety Jessie Bates III would be an ideal candidate for a pay-day from New York. Bates will be only 25 entering the 2022 season, fitting Douglas’s mold of young pieces with room to grow. Despite his youth, however, Bates is one of the best ball-hawking safeties in the league, intercepting 10 passes through his first 60 games.
If the Jets spend big on defense in free agency, it’s likely they will turn to the draft to continue building their offense.
As it currently stands, the Jets own the fourth and seventh picks in the 2022 NFL Draft. Having two top-10 picks provides multiple options, with the best-case scenario being a trade-down with a quarterback-hungry team. With so many holes on the roster, the Jets would be wise to stockpile as many picks as possible, not only to improve talent but to add much-needed depth.
When the Jets do make a selection, be it fourth, seventh, or otherwise, one name they should look towards is Iowa center Tyler Linderbaum.
Linderbaum was the 2021 Rimington Trophy winner, awarded to the nation’s best center, as well as the Big Ten’s 2021 Offensive Lineman Of The Year. He possesses an elite combination of quickness and strength, routinely pancaking his opponents in the run and pass games. Protecting Zach Wilson should be at or near the top of the Jets’ priorities, and adding Tyler Lindenbaum would give him a mainstay center for the next decade.
The Oklahoma Drill Podcast is back to look ahead towards a vital off-season for the New York Jets. The crew breaks down some impending free-agent targets, top draft prospects, and their ideal strategies to build the team. Listen to the full episode for the entire conversations, and more.
The 2022 offseason is what the Jets have been building towards ever since Joe Douglas was first hired in the summer of 2019. When the new league year opens in March, it’ll be All Gas, No Brake for the Jets’ front office.
