Gang Green Nation
If you’re reading this, Intrepid New York Jets Fan, you should be lauded for your loyalty to a franchise that hasn’t had a winning season since 2015, hasn’t made the playoffs since 2010 (the Rex Ryan/Mark Sanchez era!), has gone through more bad quarterbacks than any team should, once hired Adam Gase to be its head coach on purpose, and has the NFL’s worst winning percentage since 2016 — .297, which is what a 49-116 record will get you.
Hope came in the form of new head coach Aaron Glenn in 2025, as the former first-round pick of the Jets and ex-Detroit Lions defensive coordinator seemed to have it all on the ball in ways his predecessors didn’t. The corresponding 3-14 record, the team’s worst since Gase’s 2-14 mark in his final season of 2020, made it seem as if Glenn was yet another head coach who got the big green suit, and then puked all over it.
In truth, the main issue was something that Glenn couldn’t really control. Because in today’s NFL, if you don’t have a valid quarterback, you might as well cancel the season before you begin. The combination of Justin Fields, Tyrod Taylor, and Brady Cook has been replaced in the near term by the return of Geno Smith, who may or may not have more left in the tank than he was able to show in the Las Vegas Raiders’ broken offense in 2025.
If the Jets can get any approximation of the Geno Smith that enjoyed a career resurgence in Seattle, that’s one box checked. Glenn and general manager Darren Mougey did all they could to check other boxes by playing musical chairs with most positions on the roster. Between free agency, the trade market, and the draft, the Jets’ 2026 lineup will look startlingly different than the versions we saw in 2025, and that’s not a bad thing at all.
Because there’s nowhere to go but up, kids.
“I’ve learned a lot, we’ve learned a lot,” Mougey said at his end-of-season press conference in January, when he was asked why he’s confident in a turnaround after everything that went wrong in 2025. “We’ve got a clear vision. AG and I. We talk daily on this roster, and the vision, and this division. And with the assets we have moving forward, the draft capital, the cap space, I know we’re going to continue to build, and add good players to the team that are going to help us win.”
Well, let’s look at three of those players — the Hidden Gems for the 2026 New York Jets. One underrated veteran, one underrated free agent (okay, traded player — I cheated on this one), and one underrated draft pick.
Three players who may be able to unearth any level of success from a decade of ruins.
When you’re evaluating draft prospects and their transitions to the NFL, there are times when college schemes get in the way....
