The 2025 New York Jets season wasn’t supposed to be about competing for a championship.
It was about building a foundation.
There are ways to achieve that goal without winning many games. In fact, it could even be done while starting 0-6 if the losses are competitive enough.
But this particular 0-6 team has reached its dubious record in a fashion that yields very few silver linings for fans to take solace in.
Save for the Jets’ season opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers, New York has not had any other games that felt like “quality” losses.
After the Week 1 thriller against Pittsburgh, the Jets trailed by multiple scores throughout the majority of their next four games, including two no-shows at home. While they took the 4-2 Denver Broncos down to the wire in Week 6, New York put together a historically poor offensive performance and lost in an unprecedented way due to coaching malpractice.
Even the most optimistic Jets fans are struggling to come up with reasons for optimism, and it’s hard to blame them. When looking at the team as a whole, there probably isn’t a legitimate silver lining beyond the potential of earning the No. 1 overall pick.
However, a handful of positives have emerged within the roster. If the Jets can accumulate more of these little positives throughout the remainder of the season, perhaps their fans can enter the 2026 offseason feeling much better about the future.
Here are some Jets players providing long-term reasons for hope.
Jermaine Johnson
We didn’t know how Jermaine Johnson would look after missing most of the 2024 season with a torn Achilles.
Despite missing more time with an ankle injury this year, Johnson has looked like his old self when on the field.
Johnson is a flat-out football player. In a league where speedy pass rushers are all the rage, Johnson is one of the rare players who can do everything. He sets a strong edge, is rangy in pursuit, provides consistent pressure as a pass rusher, and has excellent awareness when it comes to playing the passing lanes and recognizing screens.
Explosive, tough, and possessing a relentless motor, Johnson gets his fingerprints on the game in a multitude of ways.
Johnson’s return was one of the main reasons New York’s defense had its best game in Week 6. It remains to be seen if the unit can maintain that type of performance, but if Johnson stays on the field, they can at least be a respectable defense moving forward.
Having Johnson on the field changes everything for the Jets’ defense—in both phases. Johnson has been on the field for nine of the Jets’ 17 quarterback hits this season (53%) despite playing only 32% of their defensive snaps. Additionally, Johnson’s two fully-played games are the Jets’ only two games in which they yielded under 80 rushing yards; they gave up over 120 in all others.
Under contract for the 2026 season on his fifth-year option, the Jets know they have a keeper when Johnson is healthy. The next step is to prove he can stay on the field. Once the Jets feel comfortable with that, Johnson will be in line for a long-term extension. He’s a great all-around player and a high-character leader in the locker room.
Armand Membou
The seventh overall pick has been one of New York’s best players. Only 21 years old, Membou is already ranked as the NFL’s eighth-best right tackle at Pro Football Focus.
When watching film of the Jets’ offense, I often forget Membou is on the field. Of the Jets’ five starting offensive linemen, Membou commands my attention the least. It’s a testament to how consistent he is at doing his job. That’s not to say the rookie is perfect, but he is already pretty darn solid.
On top of his performance, Membou has proven himself as a long-term building block from a character standpoint. Similar to Garrett Wilson, his passion and intensity on the field are evident.
These are the types of guys you want to build around: those who are utterly disgusted by the idea of losing.
Unfortunately, the Jets’ coaches don’t seem as disgusted with losing as Membou and Wilson, but that’s a separate discussion.
Will McDonald
Will McDonald hasn’t put up gaudy box-score stats due to the atrocious coverage behind him, but when you focus on his individual performance, he stands out as the high-end pass rusher New York hoped he could become.
McDonald has a 26.1% pass-rush win rate in true pass set situations*, which ranks 13th out of 113 qualified edge rushers. The two players directly above him are Nick Bosa (26.7%) and Trey Hendrickson (26.8%).
*True pass sets exclude quick passes, screens, three-man rushes, and more to isolate situations where the pass rushers engage in true battles.
The third-year man is also tied for 10th at his position with a 90.5 pass-rush grade in true pass set situations, according to PFF. He is tied with Byron Young while ranking directly above Josh Hines-Allen and Aidan Hutchinson.
Unfortunately, McDonald hasn’t gotten enough chances to cook in true pass sets; he ranks 69th at the position with just 51 true pass set snaps. This is mainly due to the Jets’ secondary allowing opponents to get the ball out too quickly. New York’s opponents average just 2.51 seconds to throw, ranking fourth-quickest in the NFL.
McDonald has also stepped up his involvement in the Jets’ run defense.
It’s bizarre that the Jets’ coaching staff has only played McDonald on 57.5% of the defensive snaps this season, especially considering Johnson’s three-game absence. McDonald has played one more snap than Micheal Clemons.
McDonald’s under-usage is just one of many blunders from a bumbling coaching staff. Whether those coaches stick around or he plays for another staff that won’t give him equal snaps to the likes of Clemons, McDonald has proven himself as a long-term keeper. His overall ceiling still seems slightly limited by his lack of sturdiness as an edge setter, but pass rushers like him are hard to find.
Mason Taylor
New York’s second-round tight end has been inconsistent in the box score due to the circumstances around him, but within what he can control, Mason Taylor looks the part of a quality receiving tight end.
Taylor has displayed fantastic hands. He has only one drop against 21 receptions, giving him a 4.5% drop rate. Taylor is also 5-for-5 on contested targets, according to PFF, giving him the most contested targets without an incompletion among tight ends.
According to NFL Pro, Taylor has a catch rate over expected of +5.4%, which is 10th among tight ends with at least 20 targets.
Taylor has plenty of work to do on his blocking, and his fantasy stats will likely be limited this year in a hamstrung Jets passing game. Looking to the future, though, Taylor is displaying the necessary skill set to become one of the league’s top pass-catching tight ends.
Austin McNamara
Building a case for All-Pro honors, 24-year-old Austin McNamara has been the Jets’ best player relative to his position. New York’s punting unit ranks first in DVOA. McNamara, who leads the position in average hang time (4.78 seconds), is setting up his coverage team for success.
People laugh at punter praise, but there are plenty of teams throughout NFL history that may have added a win or two if you flipped their weak punter for a guy of McNamara’s caliber (see: 2015 Jets). It’s unfortunate that the 2025 Jets are playing too poorly for McNamara’s excellence to matter, but in the long run, if he keeps playing this way, he’ll contribute to some critical victories in New York.
Jowon Briggs
Acquired for a measly sixth-for-seventh swap in the 2026 draft, Jowon Briggs has been a steal for the Jets. The 2024 seventh-round pick has been a quality run stuffer on the interior, while also bringing a little more pass-rush punch than the team likely expected.
The Jets have Briggs’ rights into the 2026 season, as he will be an exclusive rights free agent. Still only 24 years old, he’s a player who can be part of the long-term vision for the defensive line. He seems like a high character guy, too.
Honorable mention: Jarvis Brownlee
Jarvis Brownlee needs to chain together more than just one impressive game, but his debut as a Jets starter was a damn good one, as he looked like a significant difference-maker in the slot against Denver.
On just the second year of his four-year, $4.4 million rookie contract, Brownlee could be a long-term bargain in the Jets’ starting lineup if he keeps this up. He is also the type of guy who teams love to have around as they rebuild a culture; his tenacity sets the right standard for a struggling defense.
Between Briggs and Brownlee, general manager Darren Mougey may have gone two-for-two on his pick-swap deals for 2024 seventh-round picks.
Honorable mention: Avoiding QB purgatory
The worst place you want to be in the NFL is purgatory, especially at the quarterback position. The bottom is usually a faster route to the top than the middle.
There is a universe where Justin Fields provided the 2025 Jets with league-average quarterback play and led them to eight wins. While it would have been more fun to watch than what the Jets have provided in this universe, it also would have duped the Jets into committing to Fields long-term, strapping themselves to a quarterback whose ceiling is clearly below Super Bowl-caliber.
Instead, Fields’ immense struggles will make it obvious to the Jets that they must look to the 2026 NFL draft for a fresh young quarterback with the potential to become a true face of the franchise. Fans can rest assured that their team won’t enter a Geno Smith or Daniel Jones scenario.
It is strange that things operate this way. NFL teams should be smart enough to thank mid-tier quarterbacks for their service and let them walk so the organization can continue its pursuit of a championship-caliber star. Instead, teams commit to any semi-decent quarterback because they are afraid of ending up with no quarterback at all.
Until NFL teams can be trusted to avoid falling for less-than-stellar quarterbacks, fans of teams without star quarterbacks will have to pray that their team doesn’t end up in quarterback purgatory. The Jets were in danger of entering that realm before the year, but that danger has evaporated with Fields’ historically poor play.
While it doesn’t guarantee that the Jets will get their next quarterback investment right, it keeps alive the hope of New York finding a franchise quarterback in the foreseeable future.
Rookies on deck
These rookies have not solidified themselves just yet, but they have shown promising flashes, and they could emerge as long-term building blocks over the rest of the season.
- LB Kiko Mauigoa (fifth-round rookie, age 22)
- S Malachi Moore (fourth-round rookie, age 24)
- WR Arian Smith (fourth-round rookie, age 24)
- CB Azareye’h Thomas (third-round rookie, age 21)
Mauigoa is coming off a breakout performance against Denver, which he will look to build on with Quincy Williams sidelined.
Moore replaced Tony Adams as an every-down safety in last week’s game; Adams exclusively played special teams while Moore played 100% of the defensive snaps. Moore has been up and down, but the flashes are there.
Smith has been playing over half of the Jets’ offensive snaps since Week 2. He’s been open, but the Jets have rarely targeted him. More chances could be coming his way over the next two weeks with Garrett Wilson facing a potential two-game absence.
Thomas has been buried on the depth chart behind Sauce Gardner and Brandon Stephens, logging just 15 defensive snaps all season, but he looked the part in a brief appearance against Tampa Bay.
Talented, but underperforming
These young veterans are talented enough to be part of the long-term solution, but have not played up to expectations yet.
- RG Joe Tippmann (age 24)
- LT Olu Fashanu (age 22)
It’s tough to evaluate the Jets’ offensive line considering who is under center. Still, it’s safe to say that Tippmann and Fashanu have not lived up to their respective ceilings individually.
Moving over to right guard full-time in the wake of Alijah Vera-Tucker’s injury, Tippmann has been too susceptible to losing one-on-one reps in pass protection. Many thought Tippmann would perform better at right guard than center, where he already had a solid 2024 season, so Tippmann’s mediocre play has been underwhelming.
Fashanu, though, has been far more problematic. The 2024 first-round pick looks to have taken a big step back compared to his rookie season. He’s been scorched in pass protection each week besides the Jets’ Week 5 loss to Miami.
The Jets hope that both players can figure things out and establish themselves as building blocks by the end of the year. Based on starting experience, they’re both rookies at their respective positions. Fashanu is 22 years old with just 11 career starts at left tackle, while Tippmann is 24 with 10 career starts at right guard, so they deserve time to figure things out.
Worthy vets?
These seasoned veterans won’t be around for the long haul but could be making cases to stick around for another year.
- DT Harrison Phillips (age 29)
- K Nick Folk (age 40)
Phillips has positively impacted the Jets’ run defense and is a fantastic locker-room presence. He is under contract for the 2026 season with a $7.5 million cap hit, but that is completely non-guaranteed, so the Jets can release him to recoup the full savings or try to bring him back at a reduced cost.
Folk will be 41 next month, but with a 100% field goal percentage and a career-long 58-yarder two weeks ago, he’s only getting better. Why not run it back? Folk is also sneaky good at the new kickoff system.
It’s time to stack chips
The Jets indeed look hopeless as a collective organization. However, quite a few slivers of optimism can be found within the roster.
New York needs all the players listed in this article to sustain their impressive starts to the season, and for multiple other standouts to emerge throughout the year. With the playoffs out the window, all that matters now is setting up the 2026 season, which means it is critical to identify players who can be part of the solution moving forward.
The Jets’ roster isn’t as bad for the short or long term as their 0-6 record indicates. They have some building blocks. That reflects poorly on the coaching staff for leading the team to such a poor start, but whether the coaches deserve to return is another conversation.
Regardless of who is leading the Jets moving forward, the franchise will benefit from unearthing as many building blocks as possible between now and Week 18. There are more in the building than many realize, and another few could emerge in the coming weeks as the team’s young players take center stage.
