The dog days of the NFL offseason have arrived, which means it’s time for fans to invest their energy in debating meaningless prognostications like player rankings, record predictions, and everybody’s favorite thing to complain about, power rankings.
On Tuesday, ESPN dropped its post-NFL draft power rankings. The defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks remain in the throne, while their division rivals and the true 2025 runners-up, the Los Angeles Rams, sit in second. The Denver Broncos, Buffalo Bills, and Philadelphia Eagles round out the top five.
But all any sentient being on this planet cares about is one pivotal question: Where are the New York Jets?
As per usual, it requires a bit of extra scrolling to find them; the silver lining for Jets fans is that the many years of scrolling to the bottom of power rankings to find their team has probably done wonders for their thumb strength.
ESPN has the Jets ranked 31st, one spot ahead of the Miami Dolphins. Completing the bottom five are the Cleveland Browns (30th), Arizona Cardinals (29th), and Las Vegas Raiders (28th).
Is this a fair ranking?
The harsh answer is yes.
New York had a league-worst -203 point differential last season. After a performance like that, there is no reason for any non-Jets fan to trust the team until they prove anything on the field, even after a productive offseason.
Arguments can be made that New York should be above Arizona or Las Vegas, though. The Cardinals are projected to start Jacoby Brissett, who led the team to a 1-11 record last season, while the Raiders will be starting a rookie quarterback or a decrepit Kirk Cousins after winning two games last year.
As for the 30th-ranked Browns, their Myles Garrett-led defense is too solid for the Jets to be viewed as a better team until New York’s revamped defense proves itself, even with the Browns’ offensive woes.
So, it is fair to quibble about the Cardinals and Raiders, but to put the Jets any higher than 29th would be a stretch.
The Jets certainly look talented enough on paper to have a significantly better season than they did in 2025, perhaps even pushing for a .500-ish season. But almost every NFL team feels that way at this point of the year. It doesn’t mean much until it translates to wins.
Plus, it’s important to remember that, while the Jets are undoubtedly better than they were at the end of 2025, it may be too early to claim they have improved from the start of 2025. All-Pros Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams were on the team, and the Jets still started 0-7. Have the Jets done enough yet to replace Gardner and Williams’ impact?
The Jets certainly have the pieces in place to replicate or surpass Gardner and Williams’ impact in the long run. The trades of Gardner and Williams yielded tight end Kenyon Sadiq and cornerback D’Angelo Ponds, along with two 2027 first-round picks that are still waiting to be used.
If Sadiq and Ponds have breakout rookie years, the Jets will almost certainly be a better team than they were to begin 2025. But it is more likely that Sadiq and Ponds undergo some rookie growing pains.
Meanwhile, the Jets still have to wait until 2027 to use up the entirety of the packages for Gardner and Williams, and even then, it might not be until at least 2028 before those players reach their primes.
The Jets are still early in an intentional long-term rebuild plan. Expectations for 2026 should be held in check at this point of the offseason.
Still, Jets fans shouldn’t hesitate to be optimistic about the team’s chances of having a better season than expected. After free agency, trades, and the draft, their roster is more complete than outsiders give it credit for. New York’s ceiling is undoubtedly limited, but the floor may be higher than many expect, which could lead to a surprisingly competitive season if Geno Smith stays healthy and protects the football.
It’s understandable that nobody outside of Florham Park wants to believe in the Jets until they show tangible improvement and/or acquire a legitimately threatening quarterback. For Jets fans, though, it’s fair to have some optimism about the team and to battle back against national criticism.
