As the New York Jets wrap up their voluntary OTA period, the vibes around 1 Jets Drive resemble the first day of school, with rookies and veterans taking the practice field together for the first time — at least in an official capacity.
While the jolt of new energy around the building centers on new and old faces alike, the buzz in the Tri-State area is focused on the Knicks’ championship run. That Knicks’ historic run, along with a rehashed blueprint by a prominent voice in the football world on championship construction, has people thinking…
Does this New York Jets roster feature the genesis of a potential championship-contending team? If not, how many pieces away are they?
The framework
NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah recently reshared his blueprint for roster construction. If you missed it, Jeremiah believes that a successful team needs 12 key pieces across five categories to have a strong foundation for a championship.
The categories include quarterback, offensive playmaker, quality linemen, pass rusher, and defensive playmaker. The numbers in those categories are one, three, three, two, and three, respectively.
If you’re unfamiliar with positional hierarchy, those categories make sense because all of the premium positions are essentially covered.
The audit
According to this framework, where do the Jets stand currently? Disclaimer: For this exercise, we will not consider unproven commodities (i.e., rookies), but we will acknowledge their potential.
Quarterback
I do believe the Jets have improved substantially at quarterback. Going from one of the worst quarterback rooms in the league to veteran Geno Smith will only help an anemic offense. Still, nobody believes that Smith — coming off a terrible year — is ready to take the Jets from the cellar to a Super Bowl.
Smith is a safe option as a veteran bridge to steady the ship, as the franchise continues its search for a long-term answer.
Offensive playmakers
The Jets can confidently say they have two offensive playmakers in Breece Hall and Garrett Wilson. Both Wilson and Hall are arguably top-12 performers at their respective positions and have been financially rewarded by the organization, signaling the organization’s confidence in them moving forward.
Offensive linemen
Here’s where things get interesting. The Jets have spent four first-round picks and over $165 million on the offensive line since 2020. Both are near the top of the league during that span.
With that concentration on the position across two regimes, you’d hope they could say they have three quality linemen. With bookend Tackles Armand Membou and Olu Fashanu — joined by second-rounder Joe Tippmann — the offensive line is in the best shape it’s been in for quite some time.
Pass-rushers
Defensively, Jeremiah’s blueprint highlights having two pass rushers. Here, I give the Jets one (remember our disclaimer). Will McDonald has a double-digit sack season under his belt, with strong supporting pass-rush metrics, and stands to benefit from the injection of talent across the defensive line.
Jowon Briggs could make a strong case after a solid first year in green and has an analytical profile that supports a selection here, but I would like to see another year of production before labeling him a foundational piece.
The biggest omission here is obviously not including second overall pick David Bailey, who is an unknown until proven otherwise.
Defensive playmakers
The Jets come up short here because there is only one: veteran safety Minkah Fitzpatrick. This should come as no surprise since the Jets made history by not registering an interception over a 17-game regular season (2025).
While Fitzpatrick’s days as an elite ballhawk are more than likely behind him, he still deserves the distinction due to his resume and steady play across his career.
If we were conducting this exercise four years ago, Demario Davis would absolutely make this list, but the 37-year-old fan favorite isn’t a long-term answer at the position. Davis has aged like a fine wine, but alas, he doesn’t make this list because Father Time is undefeated.
The tally, remaining checklist
By my count, that puts the Jets at 7 out of a possible 12 points, which isn’t horrible considering their starting point and where they were to finish the 2025 season.
When factoring in the rookie class and second-year players, there’s even more reason to be excited. D’Angelo Ponds, Kenyon Sadiq, Mason Taylor, and David Bailey can all play to their potential and completely shift the organization’s trajectory.
Even if everything goes as planned, the Jets are still missing the most important piece, and that’s the quarterback.
The beauty of roster construction is that there is no one right or wrong way to build a championship roster, and the Jets are seemingly one more intentional offseason away from changing their fortunes.
