The New York Jets just can’t get anyone to believe in them.
Despite an offseason rife with changes following a dreadful 3-14 campaign, nobody outside of Florham Park, N.J. seems to see the Jets’ vision. Criticism continues to pour in, whether it’s their general manager being ranked as the league’s worst or their rising stars being overlooked.
We can now add The Ringer to the list of publications that don’t think the Jets’ future will be any different than their recent stretch of misery. In their recent power rankings, The Ringer ranked the Jets as the worst team in the NFL entering the 2026 season.
In their blurb, The Ringer praised the Jets’ trio of first-round draft picks and the immediate impact that they should make as rookies. However, they chastised the Jets’ veteran additions on offense and defense, claiming they will do nothing to alter the team’s short-term fortunes.
“But we’re not giving New York points for what might happen in the future. Geno Smith might be an upgrade over Justin Fields at quarterback, but Smith was still one of the five worst starters in the league in 2025, when he was with the Raiders.
“Aaron Glenn’s defense also added a bunch of aging or underwhelming veterans to an already bad unit, which is an early candidate to be the worst in football. Success for this team would be getting the No. 1 pick in 2027, which makes it deserving of the 32nd spot in these rankings.”
Yikes. What are we doing here?
While nobody in their right mind is claiming the Jets should be outside the bottom 3-5 teams in any power ranking, this analysis misses the mark in a few areas.
Firstly, the move from Justin Fields to Geno Smith at quarterback is a larger upgrade than many fans and analysts realize. The same goes for Smith compared to the 2024 iteration of Aaron Rodgers, who led the Jets to a 5-12 season with a plethora of solid pieces around him. Smith very well could be the Jets’ first average-or-better starting quarterback in over a decade.
When you compare Smith’s body of work over the last three seasons to that of Fields and Rodgers, Smith stands out as a significantly better quarterback. Over this span, he was an above-average starter in terms of both success rate and explosive play rate, while Fields and Rodgers were well below average in both categories.
That’s over a sample that includes his poor 2025 season in Las Vegas, which the Jets hope can be chalked up to an outdated coaching staff and a poor, injury-riddled roster. Over the previous three seasons, Smith was an above-average starting quarterback who led the Seahawks to three consecutive above-.500 finishes.
Now, we have to talk about the criticism of the defense.
The Ringer claims that New York “added a bunch of aging or underwhelming veterans to an already bad unit.”
So, if the unit was already bad, what exactly were the Jets supposed to do? Add no veteran players and rely entirely on the draft?
The Jets added veterans to their defense who will substantially raise the floor of a unit that was downright abysmal in 2025. Sure, some of these veterans are on the older side, including Minkah Fitzpatrick (who turns 30 in November) and Demario Davis (37), but Fitzpatrick and Davis are both still playing at a high level. It’s lazy to chalk them up as non-upgrades for the Jets just because they’re older players.
In 2025, Fitzpatrick ranked as the sixth-best safety in the NFL at Pro Football Focus (min. 500 snaps), earning an 81.9 overall grade. Davis ranked as the fifth-best linebacker with an 81.4 overall grade.
Toss in additions like nose tackle T’Vondre Sweat (83.4 overall grade) and three-technique David Onyemata (78.2 overall grade), and it’s obvious that the Jets’ defense didn’t just add “a bunch of aging or underwhelming veterans.”
Not to mention, the Jets used the second overall pick on a special EDGE prospect in David Bailey, who enters the NFL with one of the most promising pass rush resumes of any first-round edge rusher in the past decade. In the second round, they drafted cornerback D’Angelo Ponds, who was a dominant force in college.
Skepticism about Smith and the Jets’ offense is understandable, but these power rankings drastically undersold the work that New York did to improve the defense. Sure, the defense’s ceiling is likely capped at a certain point due to its age and the fact that there are still limitations in the pass rush and cornerback room. But it’s a physical, well-rounded unit that should stop the run at a high level, force significantly more takeaways, and offer a plethora of counters thanks to its collective versatility.
The Jets are ranked below the likes of the Miami Dolphins and the Arizona Cardinals in these power rankings. Miami is tanking, while Arizona projects to start Jacoby Brissett (that’s if they win their contract dispute with him) and thinks that selecting a running back in the top three can change their fortunes after a 3-14 season.
New York continues to be disrespected—and that’s probably just the way that Aaron Glenn likes it.
