While the New York Jets’ special teams had a historic year in 2025, the numbers show that it is very difficult for teams to replicate that level of special teams success.

The good news for the Jets, though, is that they appear better positioned to replicate their dominance than most teams.

Can they pull it off?

Why is it hard to sustain special teams success?

As Michael Nania dissected, special teams success is hard to replicate for a few key reasons.

First: roster turnover. Each year, a team’s special teams unit is largely comprised of fringe roster players who bounce around the league and don’t stay with the same team. This makes it difficult for a team to establish continuity.

Secondly, much of special teams success in the NFL comes from lucky bounces and just being in the right place at the right time. The luck element means that there will always be plenty of randomness involved.

Generally speaking, it is uncommon for teams to stay at the top of the special teams ladder in back-to-back seasons. For example, none of the top five teams in special teams DVOA from the 2024 season, the Detroit Lions, Pittsburgh Steelers, Dallas Cowboys, Denver Broncos, and Chicago Bears, ranked within the league’s top nine in 2025, all finishing in the range of 10th to 18th.

However, it is important to keep in mind that, coming off a historic season, the Jets’ unit is expected to have a high floor in 2026. Their 10.3% rating wasn’t just the best in 2025—it was the fifth-best mark in NFL history. Even with a significant drop, their special teams would be still among the league’s best.

The Lions, who led the league in the stat in 2024 with a 5.4% rating, finished 10th in 2025 at 2.3%. If the Jets’ special teams DVOA dropped by the same margin (3.1%), they would still have an elite 7.2% DVOA, which would have led the NFL in four of the past five seasons.

There are plenty of reasons to believe New York is capable of staying atop the special teams mountain.

The Jets retained most of their top special teams contributors

The lack of continuity at the bottom of NFL rosters is arguably the main reason why special teams success is so difficult to maintain.

The Jets, though, might not run into that problem in 2026.

Here is a look at the Jets’ top 13 special teamers last season, per Pro Football Focus’ special teams grades (min. 100 snaps). Players in bold are still under contract with the team.

  • Marcelino McCrary-Ball, LB (85.0)
  • Andrew Beck, FB (84.5)
  • Cam Jones, LB (81.2)
  • Isaiah Davis, RB (80.6)
  • Mykal Walker, LB (80.2)
  • Jeremy Ruckert, TE (76.9)
  • Kobe King, LB (76.0)
  • Isaiah Oliver, DB (73.6)
  • Stone Smartt, TE (70.8)
  • Thomas Hennessy, LS (70.5)
  • Qwan’tez Stiggers (70.4)
  • Dean Clark (67.9)
  • Francisco Mauigoa (65.6)

Among those 13, the Jets have 10 under contract. Jones, Oliver, and Smartt are the only three players who are no longer with the team.

The team also retained its star returner duo, Isaiah Williams and Kene Nwangwu, who both received All-Pro votes in a stellar season. To boot, punter Austin McNamara, who ranked among the league’s best last season, will also be returning.

Last season, much of the Jets’ special teams success came from that trio: Williams, Nwangwu, and McNamara.

Williams won the team’s Curtis Martin MVP award, scoring two punt return touchdowns and picking up 14.2 yards per punt return, while adding 29.9 yards per return on 28 kick returns. He ranked fourth in the NFL in yards per punt return and second in yards per kick return (min. 20 attempts in each category).

Nwangwu, one of the greatest kick returners in NFL history, continued his all-time-great success with a kick return touchdown and a 33.6 yards-per-return average.

Keeping Nwangwu is a big deal for New York’s chances of remaining elite on special teams. Nwangwu has returned five kicks for touchdowns on only 89 career attempts, an average of one touchdown every 17.8 tries, exactly 10 times better than the 2025 league average of one touchdown every 178 returns.

The former Minnesota Viking has also been highly consistent, averaging 29.7 yards per kick return, the second-greatest mark in NFL history, trailing only Hall of Famer Gale Sayers (30.6). With another elite 2026 season, he could certainly take Sayers’ spot. In his time with the Jets, he has averaged 36.2 yards per return in 14 games.

On the other hand, McNamara, in his first NFL season, was among the best punters in the league.

His 90.3 punting grade, per Pro Football Focus, ranked second among 31 qualified punters (minimum 40 punts). The Texas Tech product also ranked sixth in net yards per boot (43.1). He logged 32 kicks within the opposing team’s 20-yard line, ranking fourth, while his 29.6% return rate was the second-best.

Most impressively, McNamara ranked second in hangtime at 4.70 seconds per punt, just 0.07 seconds behind the first-ranked punter in that spot, JK Scott from the Los Angeles Chargers. The rookie excelled at buying time for his teammates to get downfield and prevent a return or down the ball.

The Jets’ biggest loss on special teams this offseason was certainly the departure of kicker Nick Folk to the Atlanta Falcons. After dealing with persistent woes at the position in 2024, cycling through five kickers, the team finally found stability in Folk during the 2025 season.

Since 2023, Folk has been the most accurate kicker in the league, hitting 96.3% of his attempts while going 18 of 20 from beyond 50 yards (90%). Last season with the Jets, he missed only one kick and finished second among kickers in field goal percentage at 96.6%.

At kicker, the Jets currently have Cade York and Lenny Krieg on the roster, both unproven. York has struggled throughout his NFL career (73.3% field goal percentage), while Krieg remains unproven, having yet to kick in a regular-season game.

The Jets are hoping that one of the two shines over the summer. Otherwise, they will look to add a veteran option, similar to what the organization did with the late-July signing of Folk last year.

While the luck element makes it impossible to predict what will happen on special teams, the Jets appear better positioned to replicate their special teams success in 2026 compared to other highly rated units. Most of their core players are back, as well as the standout coach who turned the unit around in his first season at the helm, Chris Banjo.

The only concern is the kicker position, which will be among the top storylines to watch at the start of Jets OTAs this week.

Otherwise, the Jets seem to have an extremely high floor on special teams going into 2026, even if replicating last season’s production will be difficult.