Save for the league’s most consistent superstars, every NFL player goes through ebbs and flows each season.
Sometimes, the ebbs come within the first few weeks of the year. That can lead to overreactions about the player, as, for a brief time, their cold streak represents the entirety of their season. During that time, it can be harder to see the light at the end of the tunnel than if the cold streak happened to fall between, say, Weeks 11-13.
But most things in sports regress to the mean at some point. If a player has been underperforming compared to his pre-established standards through three games, it should be expected that he will soon trend back toward his usual level of play. That is the most sensible forecast, rather than questioning whether a player suddenly forgot how to play.
Here are three Jets players who should see their numbers start climbing back up soon.
P Austin McNamara
The Jets’ special teams unit is off to a disappointing start, ranking 28th in DVOA after their top-ranked finish in 2025.
Many players have contributed to that decline, along with key injuries and offseason losses. One of the most underrated factors, though, has been the cold streak of punter Austin McNamara.
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In 2025, McNamara had a stellar campaign, finishing third among punters in All-Pro voting. This year, though, he has been a bottom-half punter.
After ranking sixth-best with a 43.1-yard net average in 2025, McNamara currently ranks 30th out of 33 qualifiers with a 38.9-yard net average. He is also allowing 43.2% of his punts to be returned, way down from his second-ranked 29.6% rate in 2026.
McNamara’s statistical decline is due in large part to his decreased hang time. After ranking second with a 4.70-second average hang time in 2025, he is down to 4.27 this year, ranking 21st.
It should be expected, though, that McNamara’s hang time will trend back toward last year’s number. Barring an unknown injury, it seems unlikely that a 25-year-old punter has lost almost a half-second of hang time on his punts.
Along with McNamara getting more air under his kicks, the entire punting unit should begin to improve, too.
TE Mason Taylor
Mason Taylor remains week-to-week with a thumb injury; he did not practice on Wednesday.
When he returns, Jets fans should expect Taylor to see a spike in production.
Taylor got off to a bafflingly cold start through two games. You—yes, you—have more receiving yards than him in 2026. Taylor has caught two passes for -3 yards.
In his rookie year, Taylor snagged 44 receptions for 369 yards in 13 games despite catching passes from a crop of quarterbacks who threw the ball much less accurately than Geno Smith has this year. Toss in the Jets’ heavy emphasis on tight ends under Frank Reich, and Taylor is due to start racking up catches once he returns.
Taylor showed more upside as a rookie than his yardage total let on, ranking second-best among tight ends with a 76.9% contested-catch rate (11 for 14). He is a sure-handed target in tight windows, and you can be certain that Smith, who loves to give his playmakers chances in one-on-one situations, will maximize that.
EDGE David Bailey
David Bailey is a unique inclusion on this list because he does not have a prior track record of NFL experience, so we are still finding out exactly who he is as a professional football player.
With that said, we saw enough from Bailey in college to feel confident that his first three NFL games as a pass rusher will probably go down as the low point of his career in that facet.
Bailey is struggling to beat blockers one-on-one off the edge. His pass-rush win rate is 4.5%, per Pro Football Focus, ranking 66th out of 70 qualified edge defenders (min. 50 pass-rush snaps).
While Bailey has made up for his pass-rush struggles by getting his fingerprints on the game in numerous other ways, the Jets drafted him second overall to be a dominant pass rusher. They expect him to be a consistent double-digit sack guy when it all comes together.
Bailey will probably not hit his NFL ceiling until after 2026, but in the short-term, it should be expected that his pass-rush production will begin to climb toward at least league-average as the season progresses.
It is hard to envision that Bailey—who led college football in total sacks (14.5) and pressures per game (5.8) in 2025, while also already proving himself as having one of the fastest get-off times among NFL edge rushers this season—will continue to win his pass-rush reps at a bottom-five rate among starters.
Does that mean that Bailey will be elite this year? Not necessarily. Again, his peak will likely come at some point beyond 2026. It can take a few years for young pass rushers to hone their craft and learn how to win on a consistent basis.
But should it be expected that Bailey is too talented to not at least be a league-average pass-rush winner by the end of his rookie year? Absolutely.
Down the line, the Jets expect much better than that out of the second overall pick, but in the meantime, if Bailey can get his pass-rush efficiency up to around league-average while maintaining his impact in other areas, he will be a solid starter for New York throughout his debut season.
