One of the New York Jets’ few calling cards in 2025 was their special teams. Despite immense struggles elsewhere, New York had a historic year in that facet.

Between the kicking and punting masterclasses from Nick Folk and Austin McNamara, the field-flipping ability of Isaiah Williams and Kene Nwangwu in the return games, and everything in between, it was a picture-perfect year for Chris Banjo’s unit.

Now, three games into the 2026 season, the unit hasn’t looked nearly as dominant as it did a year ago, raising plenty of questions among the team’s fanbase. Most notably, in Week 2, their punt coverage allowed a 63-yard return to Skyy Moore of the Green Bay Packers, which was a turning point in the game before New York ultimately fell in overtime.

However, fans shouldn’t be stunned about the unit’s “struggles” so far.

Special teams success is hard to sustain

As our own Michael Nania dove into, special teams success is very hard to sustain in the NFL. There are a few reasons behind that.

First off, think of all the roster turnover. Typically, key cogs on special teams are end-of-the-roster players who aren’t locked up by their team long-term. It’s much harder for a special teams unit to retain its key players than offensive and defensive units.

New York has witnessed this firsthand. Of the Jets’ top 15 players in special teams snaps last season, seven are no longer on the team.

The Jets are also dealing with injuries to some of their top contributors this season. Kiko Mauigoa has been sidelined with a quadriceps injury, while Marcelino McCrary-Ball has been placed on injured reserve. Both players are among the Jets’ most important cogs on special teams, so their absences have forced Banjo to shuffle things around.

Kene Nwagnwu, Gang Green’s star kick returner, also hasn’t played at all this season due to a back injury.

Another element is the lack of reliable strategies. Unlike offense and defense, there isn’t a definitive blueprint or scheme that guarantees success. To put it plainly, a lot of special teams comes down to luck.

Because of all these factors, it should be expected that teams will see their special teams performance fluctuate wildly from season to season.

Currently, the Jets rank 28th in FTN Fantasy’s special teams DVOA, which is far from encouraging. A major factor in that ranking is the big fourth-quarter return they allowed against Green Bay, which contributed to the Jets losing a game they certainly should have won.

Expecting this unit to immediately pick up where it left off last year was always a lot to ask. It shouldn’t be time to lose all hope, though. In Week 1, the Jets led the NFL in special teams EPA while facing the Tennessee Titans, who were also one of the NFL’s best in that phase last season.

Although the punt and kick coverage haven’t been nearly as good, and McNamara has been underperforming at punter, the Jets have at least gotten solid production from the position that was one of their biggest concerns this season: kicker.

The team’s decision to let Nick Folk walk this offseason was perplexing, but so far, it has worked out. Jason Sanders has actually outplayed Folk this year, who led the NFL in field goal percentage from 2023-25.

Folk has struggled with the Atlanta Falcons, making just five of his eight field goal attempts (62.5%), including two costly misses in Week 1. Despite an ugly Week 1 miss from 54 yards, Sanders has been successful on five of his six FG tries (83.3%), including two makes from 50+.

Moving forward, becoming at least a league-average special teams unit should be the goal for the Jets. A fall-off from their all-time-great peak was expected, but dropping from first to 28th is detrimental to the team, which we’ve already witnessed, as special teams cost them a win in Week 2.

Obviously, anything beyond that would be welcomed, but expecting another historic year is just wishful thinking.

Special teams won games for the Jets last season. It was a huge asset, and you could argue that it bought Aaron Glenn a second season as the Jets’ head coach.

Right now, they do not look like the same unit, but that shouldn’t be a massive surprise.