Yes, the preseason is relatively meaningless as it pertains to predicting what will happen in the regular season.

However, for a New York Jets team in Year 2 under head coach Aaron Glenn, it’s worthwhile to track their progress compared to their first preseason under him.

After all, many of the Jets’ greatest weaknesses in Glenn’s first regular season were foreshadowed in the preseason.

Here are two such areas where the Jets have looked much better through two preseason games in 2026.

1. Reliability at wide receiver

The Jets infamously had no player with 400 receiving yards in 2025. It highlighted their lack of depth at wide receiver beyond Garrett Wilson, who played only seven games.

This year, the team appears much deeper at the position. From top to bottom, the entire depth chart has looked reliable.

Through two preseason games, the Jets’ wide receivers have combined for 28 receptions on 37 targets, per Pro Football Focus, a catch rate of 75.7%. Compare that to the 2025 preseason, when the Jets’ wide receivers finished with 38 catches on 65 targets across all three games, a mediocre 58.5% catch rate.

In last year’s preseason, the Jets’ wideouts combined for three drops and two penalties. While there is still one game to go, the unit has combined for one drop and one penalty through two games in 2026.

Finally, this year’s unit is producing a fantastic 9.9 yards per target (365 receiving yards on 37 targets), compared to last year’s middling 7.2 mark (468 yards on 65 targets).

Plenty of key players are doing their part. First-round rookie Omar Cooper Jr. has caught three of four targets for 40 yards with no drops. He also had this excellent vertical route for a potential touchdown.

Projected starters Garrett Wilson and Adonai Mitchell have combined for five catches on six targets for 71 yards with no drops.

The ghastly play of this unit in the 2025 regular season could have been predicted by its preseason performance. One year later, the group is noticeably more consistent, largely thanks to the additions of Mitchell and Cooper, who were not in town at this time last year.

2. Defensive discipline

The Jets have committed only two defensive penalties this preseason. Yes, two flags in two games. But the praise toward Aaron Glenn is not as loud as the criticism he would get if the team were committing penalties left and right.

Not to mention, one of those penalties was a holding call on defensive tackle Ben Barton, who has since been waived, while the other was for 12 men on the field. So, for all intents and purposes, we have yet to see a defender on the Jets’ current roster commit a penalty this preseason.

This is a major improvement compared to last year’s exhibition games. The Jets racked up 12 defensive penalties through three games (4.0 per game). It foretold a season in which the Jets were in the bottom half of the league at minimizing defensive penalties; their defense had the 14th-most penalties (39/2.3 per game) and the eighth-most penalty yards (410).

So far, Glenn has cracked down on the Jets’ defensive discipline. That’s a great sign if the team’s preseason penalty total is as predictive as it was last year.