The New York Jets are 2-7, but their long-term outlook feels a little different compared to other similarly lost seasons at this point of the schedule.
New York has more talent than their record lets on, which plenty of metrics back up. In many ways, it feels like the Jets have a budding playoff-caliber core in place; they just need the right coaching.
The Jets’ players have looked particularly tantalizing one of the game’s most critical areas: creating separation.
According to Fantasy Points Data, the Jets’ skill-position players have combined for a route win rate of 20.8%. Not only does that lead the NFL through Week 9, but the gap between New York and the second-ranked Bengals (15.1%) is larger than the gap between Cincinnati and 23rd-ranked Denver (9.7%).
The Jets’ dominance in this area is anchored by their core trio of 26-and-under wideouts: Garrett Wilson (26), Adonai Mitchell (24), and Omar Cooper Jr. (22).
Wilson, Cooper, and Mitchell rank first, second, and third, respectively, in Fantasy Points Data’s “average separation score”.
Given that the trio has an average age of 24 and is all under contract for the 2027 season (with Cooper and Wilson under team control through 2030), it’s an extremely promising sight for Jets fans.
Separation is a particularly valuable area for a team’s wide receivers to thrive, as it is the main skill that can anchor consistent productivity for weeks and years to come. Yardage-based stats can fluctuate wildly due to breakaway plays, making them difficult to rely on as predictors of future success. The same goes for any box-score metric or other metrics that are intended to measure on-ball impact.
But when solely evaluating a wide receiver’s ability to separate, they are being evaluated for every route they run, regardless of whether they are targeted or if their targets yield great results. This gives us a larger sample of data to count on, and it also gives us a more accurate read on how well a receiver executes the job that matters most: getting open.
The more a receiver gets open, the more opportunities the offense will have to make big plays through the air. Simple as that.
When it comes to getting open, nobody in the NFL has more talent at wide receiver than the Jets, and it isn’t particularly close. That raises plenty of questions about how the Jets could possibly rank 25th in points per game despite that luxury, but looking to the future, it gives the franchise an incredibly exciting foundation to build upon, given that the players behind that success are all young and under contract.
Plays like the two below can help explain why the Jets rank so well in separation but have not delivered the results to show for it.
With a highly drafted young quarterback likely to enter the building in 2027, these are exactly the type of areas where you want to see the Jets’ roster thriving. Elite separation is a perfect piece to anchor the infrastructure around a growing signal-caller.
