New York Jets: 5 players who MUST improve in 2018

[Gas2No99]

New York Jets: 5 players who MUST improve

The New York Jets have finished last in the AFC East two straight years. Which players must up their game if the team is to make any strides in 2018?

It’s a franchise that is synonymous with one of the greatest moments in the history of professional football. But the New York Jets will be celebrating a dubious anniversary in 2018. It will be 50 years since the team pulled off the amazing upset of the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III. Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Namath helped orchestrate that 16-7 stunner over Don Shula’s heavily-favored team at Miami’s fabled Orange Bowl.

It was also a happening that put the word “guarantee” into the sports lexicon. Namath’s famous poolside words became legend after the Jets pulled off the big upset. Still, we are talking half-a-century and that is an awfully long time to wait for another NFL championship.

These days, the Green and White is coming off back-to-back 5-11 seasons. In 2015, head coach Todd Bowles let the Jets to a 10-6 finish and this appeared to be a program on the rise. Now it’s a team looking to start over again in some ways.

Yes, the draft has brought some solid players in recent years and this offseason the organization was busy in free agency. But the bottom line is the club hasn’t been to the playoffs in 2010. And that means there are a lot of people who need to step up this fall for this team to be in contention. So what five players on the New York Jets current roster need to improve the most?

5. Brandon Shell

If Bowles’ club is to have any kind of success this season, running the football is undoubtedly important. They already have one of the more underrated backs in the league in Bilal Powell, who has racked up a combined 2,052 yards from scrimmage and 10 touchdowns the last two seasons. This season, the Jets added veterans Isaiah Crowell and Thomas Rawls from the Cleveland Browns and Seattle Seahawks respectively. They also have second-year running back Elijah McGuire, who finished with 315 yards on the ground during his rookie campaign.

If the team is to improve on finishing 19th in the league in rushing, they need better play from the men up front. One such example is Brandon Shell, who made a dozen starts this past season on the right side of the line. The two-year pro has shown flashes but still lacks consistently. That could certainly come with more experience, but the 2016 fifth-round pick from South Carolina needs to put it all together this season.

 

4. Josh McCown

At this stage, it’s fairly difficult to forecast what the New York Jets’ quarterback situation in 2018 will actually look like. What we do know is that the club retained Josh McCown for a second straight season. The Jets also added free agent Teddy Bridgewater, a 2014 first-round pick of the Minnesota Vikings who is trying to resurrect his career following a devastating knee injury suffered in August of ’16.

Last but not least, general manager Mike Maccagnan and the organization use the third overall pick in April’s draft to grab USC signal-caller Sam Darnold. It marked the first time the franchise used a first-round selection on an offensive player since nabbing quarterback Mark Sanchez with the fifth overall pick in 2009.

The organization is certainly hoping that Darnold can be the quarterback that the franchise has been looking for decades. In the meantime, McCown is the starter at least for now. And how long he remains in the lineup will depend on how well he can take care of the football. Yes, the veteran signal-caller comes off an efficient year that was unfortunately cut short by a broken wrist in week 14.

McCown completed 67.3 percent of his passes and connected for twice as many TD passes (18) as interceptions (9). But there were also 11 fumbles, four of which he lost. Darnold is certainly the future behind center and that future may be sooner than later. But if McCown is to hold onto the job before passing the torch, he must do a better job of hanging onto the rock.

 

 

3. Lorenzo Mauldin

To his credit this offseason, Jets’ general manager Mike Maccagnan was able to soften the blow of losing underrated inside linebacker Demario Davis to the New Orleans Saints in free agency. He added four-year veteran Avery Williamson, who comes over from the Tennessee Titans. The highly-productive performer led his club in tackles in both 2015 and 2016, finished second in stops this past season and was fourth on the club as a rookie in ’14.

The club also has a promising talent in 2016 first-round pick Darron Lee. He finished second to Davis’ 135 tackles with 94 stops of his own in 2017. Add in three sacks, two forced fumbles and three passes defensed and New York has a nice 1-2 punch inside once again. Maccagnan also added some experienced depth inside with the addition of Kevin Minter who spent his first five seasons in the league with the Arizona Cardinals and Cincinnati Bengals.

Meanwhile, there is certainly concern about the outside spots. To be fair, two-year pro Jordan Jenkins is still learning on the job. But at the very least, he seems to be making progress. But what to make of 2015 third-round pick Lorenzo Mauldin? He spent all of ’17 on IR and saw his second season hampered by injuries as well.

The 6’4”, 259-pound performer showed promise as a pass rusher in his rookie season, totaling four sacks in 15 games in 2015 despite limited playing time. But be it health or performance, he looks like a player headed in the wrong direction. The Jets need him to show that ’15 form once again or the club could be looking for new solution at his spot sooner than later.

 

2. Buster Skrine

It wasn’t long ago that the New York Jets featured one of the more improved secondaries in the league. Off a 2014 showing in which the club allowed 31 touchdowns through the air while picking ogg only six passes, the club went out and added the likes of free-agent Buster Skrine from the Cleveland Browns. The team also brought back a pair of veterans familiar to the Green and White in Darrelle Revis and Antonio Cromartie and also inked safety Marcus Gilchrist.

The improvement was noticeable and the club finished with a 10-6 record. The Jets gave up six fewer TD passes (25) but tripled its interception total (18). Skrine made eight starts for the club that year, finished with 54 tackles, one interception and six passes defensed.

Now the seven-year pro has a much bigger role in the secondary these days. He played and started a combined 29 games these past two years. Yes, he’s one of the better players at his position when it comes to defending the run. He ranks fourth on Pro Football Focus’ rankings when it comes to that area. But Skrine ranks as PFF’s 85th-ranked cornerback in the league as his play against the pass has not equaled his prowess vs. opposing rushing attacks.

A year ago, the team added former Dallas Cowboys’ first-rounder Morris Caliborne. This offseason, there was the addition of highly-regarded cornerback Trumaine Johnson, who the Los Angeles Rams allowed to test free agency. That may put Skrine in a much different role in 2018. Regardless, he needs to play much better when it comes to corralling opposing wide receivers.

 

 

1. Terrelle Pryor

Yes, wide receiver Terrelle Pryor has yet to suit up for the New York Jets. But he is joining a team that is in dire need of help at the position. And he must prove that last season’s disappointing showing with the Washington Redskins was truly not a step backwards for the one-time college and professional quarterback.

You will recall that in 2016, the former Ohio State product enjoyed an excellent season with the Cleveland Browns. It was a breakout campaign for Pryor, who played with numerous quarterbacks and still managed to haul in 77 passes for 1,007 yards and four touchdowns. He opted to test free agency in 2017 and wound up signing a one-year deal to join the Washington Redskins. Injuries were certainly a factor as Pryor was limited to only nine games. But even when he was on the field, he was less then effective. He totaled a disappointing 20 receptions for 240 yards and one touchdown.

The Jets’ wide receiving corps did get better a year ago when the club obtained Jermaine Kearse via trade from the Seattle Seahawks. And one of the surprise players in the league was big-play performer Robby Anderson. But the latter has had some off-the-field issues (the latest via ESPN’s Rich Cimini). The team is also hoping that Quincy Enunwa can make a successful comeback after missing all of 2017.

Along with Pryor, the team also added wide receiver Andre Roberts and Charles Johnson. But it’s the one-time Buckeye that is definitely the headliner here. The potential to make a big impact with this Jets’ team is right there. Now all he has to do is prove that he’s still the player that we saw in 2016 and that this past season was the exception.

by Russell S. Baxter 2 days agoFollow @BaxFootballGuru

 

 

[Larz]

In the immortal words of Jim fassel, "you have to do a better job of getting better than the other guy" 

Everybody in the building has to get better 

But if I were to pick 5

Sam Darnold 

Carpenter 

Leggett

Lee 

Henry Anderson 

[T0mShane]

That list is absurd. Other than Jenkins and maybe Shell, none of those guys are going to be on the team in seven months. Mauldin probably doesn’t make it past first cuts, and Jenkins is exactly what he is. It’s like the author just picked names at random out of a hat. McCown? Good lord. If you’re talking about a list of dudes that Maccagnan needs to improve to keep his job, well

5. Darron Lee: The die is probably cast with Lee, who spent most of last year as PFFs worst ILB, but seemed to settle in toward the end of the season. But, even with that marginal improvement, he was still pretty underwhelming. It looked like the defense played a lot better when Julian Stanford was on the field and, in fact, had their best showing of last season when Lee was benched vs Kansas City. There’s no way the Jets pick up his option at this point, and it’s not unlikely that he’ll start to lose snaps this year to Kevin Minter. 

 

4. Leonard Williams: Leonard was a no-show most of last season and is officially part of a troubling trend with the Todd Bowles Jets that sees talented defensive lineman disappear overnight. Williams is now being paid some big bucks and will be looking for a huge extension after the season, so it’s incumbent upon him to put up some Fletcher Cox/Aaron Donald-type numbers. Otherwise, it puts Maccagnan in a bind at the end of the year. Can he give $100 mil to a DL that isn’t sacking the QB, especially after getting burned with the Wilkerson extension? And, if not, does he part ways with yet another in a string of first round linemen that just sorta stopped producing? Williams, more than any other player, is going to be a real acid test for the viability of continuing with this head coach and GM combination, because he’s too talented to be so invisible, but he’s been invisible too much to merit a giant contract. 

3. Brandon Shell: The OL talent on the roster, pound for pound, isn’t terrible when compared with the rest of the league. Beachum is solid. Carpenter is alright. Long seems to be slightly above average, and Winters, when healthy, can be a plus starter. But Shell, along with Wesley Johnson, was a weak link last season, albeit one that showed occasional promise. He represents one of Maccagnan’s few later-round potential bright spots, so him showing any measure of consistency would go a long way to improving not only the team, but also Macc’s trash-bag resume.

 

2. Ardarius Stewart or Chad Hansen: That weird Breer hagiography of the Jets front office posited that the Jets are following the Eagles blueprint of surrounding a young QB with everything he needs to develop, even though the Jets front office did next to nothing that’d indicate they’re actually trying to help their young QB. That is, unless, they were retroactively preparing for Sam Darnold’s arrival by drafting Stewart and Hansen last year. Stewart ran like his ankles were fused together, but, pre-draft, there were a lot of anonymous scouts who thought he’d be a good player in the league. Hansen had a million catches at Cal playing with Davis Webb, and looked like the more natural receiver through camp. They both did jack sh*t during the year, and both looked physically overmatched on an NFL field. If you’re rooting for Darnold to not suck, one of these two needs to step up and challenge Jermaine Kearse for playing time. BONUS: Devin Smith isn’t dead yet and has an outside shot of knocking Terrelle Pryor off the roster.

1. Jamal Adams: I know what PFF says about Adams, but PFF puts too much weight on a safety’s performance against the run, where Adams was obviously, predictably, pretty good. But against the pass, Adams was a disaster, getting embarrassed most weeks and becoming a target of opposing quarterbacks in coverage. It’s unclear whether or not Adams has the athletic traits or instincts he’ll need to ever become a non-liability against the pass, which is gross considering he’s the sixth overall pick and you don’t draft safeties at six for the express purpose of tackling running backs. Adams’ mouth is currently writing checks that his 4.6/40-running ass ain’t ever gonna be able to cash, so he’s either going to be a Pro Bowler after this season or he’s going to be our personal version of Freddy Mitchell. (SPOILER: He’s Freddy Mitchell)

[Jets Voice of Reason]

Can't believe i slogged through a preamble of several paragraphs just to see this dog sh*t list. McCown? Lol. 

[Scott Dierking]

3 hours ago, T0mShane said:

That list is absurd. Other than Jenkins and maybe Shell, none of those guys are going to be on the team in seven months. Mauldin probably doesn’t make it past first cuts, and Jenkins is exactly what he is. It’s like the author just picked names at random out of a hat. McCown? Good lord. If you’re talking about a list of dudes that Maccagnan needs to improve to keep his job, well

5. Darron Lee: The die is probably cast with Lee, who spent most of last year as PFFs worst ILB, but seemed to settle in toward the end of the season. But, even with that marginal improvement, he was still pretty underwhelming. It looked like the defense played a lot better when Julian Stanford was on the field and, in fact, had their best showing of last season when Lee was benched vs Kansas City. There’s no way the Jets pick up his option at this point, and it’s not unlikely that he’ll start to lose snaps this year to Kevin Minter. 

 

4. Leonard Williams: Leonard was a no-show most of last season and is officially part of a troubling trend with the Todd Bowles Jets that sees talented defensive lineman disappear overnight. Williams is now being paid some big bucks and will be looking for a huge extension after the season, so it’s incumbent upon him to put up some Fletcher Cox/Aaron Donald-type numbers. Otherwise, it puts Maccagnan in a bind at the end of the year. Can he give $100 mil to a DL that isn’t sacking the QB, especially after getting burned with the Wilkerson extension? And, if not, does he part ways with yet another in a string of first round linemen that just sorta stopped producing? Williams, more than any other player, is going to be a real acid test for the viability of continuing with this head coach and GM combination, because he’s too talented to be so invisible, but he’s been invisible too much to merit a giant contract. 

3. Brandon Shell: The OL talent on the roster, pound for pound, isn’t terrible when compared with the rest of the league. Beachum is solid. Carpenter is alright. Long seems to be slightly above average, and Winters, when healthy, can be a plus starter. But Shell, along with Wesley Johnson, was a weak link last season, albeit one that showed occasional promise. He represents one of Maccagnan’s few later-round potential bright spots, so him showing any measure of consistency would go a long way to improving not only the team, but also Macc’s trash-bag resume.

 

2. Ardarius Stewart or Chad Hansen: That weird Breer hagiography of the Jets front office posited that the Jets are following the Eagles blueprint of surrounding a young QB with everything he needs to develop, even though the Jets front office did next to nothing that’d indicate they’re actually trying to help their young QB. That is, unless, they were retroactively preparing for Sam Darnold’s arrival by drafting Stewart and Hansen last year. Stewart ran like his ankles were fused together, but, pre-draft, there were a lot of anonymous scouts who thought he’d be a good player in the league. Hansen had a million catches at Cal playing with Davis Webb, and looked like the more natural receiver through camp. They both did jack sh*t during the year, and both looked physically overmatched on an NFL field. If you’re rooting for Darnold to not suck, one of these two needs to step up and challenge Jermaine Kearse for playing time. BONUS: Devin Smith isn’t dead yet and has an outside shot of knocking Terrelle Pryor off the roster.

1. Jamal Adams: I know what PFF says about Adams, but PFF puts too much weight on a safety’s performance against the run, where Adams was obviously, predictably, pretty good. But against the pass, Adams was a disaster, getting embarrassed most weeks and becoming a target of opposing quarterbacks in coverage. It’s unclear whether or not Adams has the athletic traits or instincts he’ll need to ever become a non-liability against the pass, which is gross considering he’s the sixth overall pick and you don’t draft safeties at six for the express purpose of tackling running backs. Adams’ mouth is currently writing checks that his 4.6/40-running ass ain’t ever gonna be able to cash, so he’s either going to be a Pro Bowler after this season or he’s going to be our personal version of Freddy Mitchell. (SPOILER: He’s Freddy Mitchell)

So, in summary, when PFF supports my own pre-conceived notion of what players are, PFF is good. When PFF does not support that, PFF is just plain wrong.

[Jetscreen]

In fairness, I'd say Brandon Shell is probably the best he can be already. Maybe He was taken in the 5th round,  if Mac got what he paid for,  he's already been a steal. But I seriously doubt Shell is capable of being a finished Damien Woody?

McCown has already given the very best of what he has to offer. It's all downhill from here. So unless Bridgewater surprises and steals the starting gig, the Jets are screwed at QB at least in 2018.

Lorenzo Mauldin is a constantly injured slouch.  He's another busted pick among many Mac has taken.  Mauldin will get cut during training camp. 

The Jets have already gotten the very best of Skrine. He's all over the map.  One of the streakiest players I've ever seen.  Reminds me a lot of Otis Smith back in the 90's. Either way,  you cannot get consistent play from him. He'll be Revis one day and Elvis toast Patterson the next. 

Terrell Pryor is a genuine wild card? But we've already surmised QB will likely plummet,  so if Pryor doesn't have a decent QB to throw him the ball, he will not put up the very good numbers he put up a few seasons ago.

In summary,  the writer picked all the wrong players for this article? For the Jets to make the playoffs, all of the young players need to step up.  If Williams,  Adams, Maye, Jenkins, Stewart,  Hansen all are much improved,  the Jets become contenders over night. But they must get acquisitions to step up as well?  Long, McClendon, Bridgewater? ? That's the only way the Jets see the playoffs and that will never happen.  5-11 again because the coaching is so poor. 

[Joe W. Namath]

Guys who need to get better:

1- Leonard Williams

2- Jamal Adams

Both taken in the top of the draft.  Start playing like it.

[Drums]

Thanks for posting because I am desperate for "news" but the only person on that list that made sense was Shell, and maybe Mauldin. Seems Tom Shane had a better list.

With that said, I'd like to see Carpenter improve (not included in TS's list). I don't know if Leggett can be included since he didn't play and it's like starting from scratch this year but I'd like to see him contribute at least. He was one of the people I was most excited about after last year's draft.

[T0mShane]

2 hours ago, Scott Dierking said:

So, in summary, when PFF supports my own pre-conceived notion of what players are, PFF is good. When PFF does not support that, PFF is just plain wrong.

We intellectuals use science to bolster our observations. 

[derp]

Really bad list. I like T0m's much, much better. One of the TE's on the team emerging would be nice too.

And I'd argue it'd be significant for one of the recent mid-late round corners who've gotten time to prove they're a legitimate starting caliber player. Would be nice to have a long-term piece and not have to worry about the secondary any more, plus it would allow the team to let Claiborne walk and get a comp pick.

Claiborne's always battled injuries too so it might be necessary this year anyway. And it'd be nice to show a level of player development and ability to draft successful players late - both of which would be new and encouraging.

[Grandy]

6 hours ago, T0mShane said:

1. Jamal Adams: I know what PFF says about Adams, but PFF puts too much weight on a safety’s performance against the run, where Adams was obviously, predictably, pretty good. But against the pass, Adams was a disaster, getting embarrassed most weeks and becoming a target of opposing quarterbacks in coverage. It’s unclear whether or not Adams has the athletic traits or instincts he’ll need to ever become a non-liability against the pass, which is gross considering he’s the sixth overall pick and you don’t draft safeties at six for the express purpose of tackling running backs. Adams’ mouth is currently writing checks that his 4.6/40-running ass ain’t ever gonna be able to cash, so he’s either going to be a Pro Bowler after this season or he’s going to be our personal version of Freddy Mitchell. (SPOILER: He’s Freddy Mitchell)

Did Jamal kick your dog?

[Dcat]

6 hours ago, T0mShane said:

That list is absurd. Other than Jenkins and maybe Shell, none of those guys are going to be on the team in seven months. Mauldin probably doesn’t make it past first cuts, and Jenkins is exactly what he is. It’s like the author just picked names at random out of a hat. McCown? Good lord. If you’re talking about a list of dudes that Maccagnan needs to improve to keep his job, well

5. Darron Lee: The die is probably cast with Lee, who spent most of last year as PFFs worst ILB, but seemed to settle in toward the end of the season. But, even with that marginal improvement, he was still pretty underwhelming. It looked like the defense played a lot better when Julian Stanford was on the field and, in fact, had their best showing of last season when Lee was benched vs Kansas City. There’s no way the Jets pick up his option at this point, and it’s not unlikely that he’ll start to lose snaps this year to Kevin Minter. 

 

4. Leonard Williams: Leonard was a no-show most of last season and is officially part of a troubling trend with the Todd Bowles Jets that sees talented defensive lineman disappear overnight. Williams is now being paid some big bucks and will be looking for a huge extension after the season, so it’s incumbent upon him to put up some Fletcher Cox/Aaron Donald-type numbers. Otherwise, it puts Maccagnan in a bind at the end of the year. Can he give $100 mil to a DL that isn’t sacking the QB, especially after getting burned with the Wilkerson extension? And, if not, does he part ways with yet another in a string of first round linemen that just sorta stopped producing? Williams, more than any other player, is going to be a real acid test for the viability of continuing with this head coach and GM combination, because he’s too talented to be so invisible, but he’s been invisible too much to merit a giant contract. 

3. Brandon Shell: The OL talent on the roster, pound for pound, isn’t terrible when compared with the rest of the league. Beachum is solid. Carpenter is alright. Long seems to be slightly above average, and Winters, when healthy, can be a plus starter. But Shell, along with Wesley Johnson, was a weak link last season, albeit one that showed occasional promise. He represents one of Maccagnan’s few later-round potential bright spots, so him showing any measure of consistency would go a long way to improving not only the team, but also Macc’s trash-bag resume.

 

2. Ardarius Stewart or Chad Hansen: That weird Breer hagiography of the Jets front office posited that the Jets are following the Eagles blueprint of surrounding a young QB with everything he needs to develop, even though the Jets front office did next to nothing that’d indicate they’re actually trying to help their young QB. That is, unless, they were retroactively preparing for Sam Darnold’s arrival by drafting Stewart and Hansen last year. Stewart ran like his ankles were fused together, but, pre-draft, there were a lot of anonymous scouts who thought he’d be a good player in the league. Hansen had a million catches at Cal playing with Davis Webb, and looked like the more natural receiver through camp. They both did jack sh*t during the year, and both looked physically overmatched on an NFL field. If you’re rooting for Darnold to not suck, one of these two needs to step up and challenge Jermaine Kearse for playing time. BONUS: Devin Smith isn’t dead yet and has an outside shot of knocking Terrelle Pryor off the roster.

1. Jamal Adams: I know what PFF says about Adams, but PFF puts too much weight on a safety’s performance against the run, where Adams was obviously, predictably, pretty good. But against the pass, Adams was a disaster, getting embarrassed most weeks and becoming a target of opposing quarterbacks in coverage. It’s unclear whether or not Adams has the athletic traits or instincts he’ll need to ever become a non-liability against the pass, which is gross considering he’s the sixth overall pick and you don’t draft safeties at six for the express purpose of tackling running backs. Adams’ mouth is currently writing checks that his 4.6/40-running ass ain’t ever gonna be able to cash, so he’s either going to be a Pro Bowler after this season or he’s going to be our personal version of Freddy Mitchell. (SPOILER: He’s Freddy Mitchell)

agree 100%.  Nice job @T0mShane

[Patriot Killa]

6 hours ago, T0mShane said:

1. Jamal Adams: I know what PFF says about Adams, but PFF puts too much weight on a safety’s performance against the run, where Adams was obviously, predictably, pretty good. But against the pass, Adams was a disaster, getting embarrassed most weeks and becoming a target of opposing quarterbacks in coverage. It’s unclear whether or not Adams has the athletic traits or instincts he’ll need to ever become a non-liability against the pass, which is gross considering he’s the sixth overall pick and you don’t draft safeties at six for the express purpose of tackling running backs. Adams’ mouth is currently writing checks that his 4.6/40-running ass ain’t ever gonna be able to cash, so he’s either going to be a Pro Bowler after this season or he’s going to be our personal version of Freddy Mitchell. (SPOILER: He’s Freddy M

Except he has fine instincts and that was even included on his scouting report. Brooooo...you have to stop this Jamal Adams crap lol.

[JohnnyLV]

Lol McCowns not starting, Skrine will be cut, if the DL picks work out the Jets may look to trade Leonard Williams (they are not giving a 2 sack DL a gigantic extension, just don't see it) and Pryor is not guaranteed to even stick.

Not the most realistic list.

 

 

[joewilly12]

Darron Lee or he joins the long list of #1 draft pick busts.

[T0mShane]

1 hour ago, Grandy said:

Did Jamal kick your dog?

He’s the sixth overall pick who compares himself to Troy Polamalu and talks about “respect” and the Pro Bowl every time he’s in front of a microphone. I’m just holding him to his own standard, which doesn’t leave room for getting chicken-fried by Anthony Fasano. 

[CrazyCarl40]

The only way the Jets can improve Their roster with Buster Skrine is by making him unemployed and giving literally anyone else the job. 

[UntouchableCrew]

Weird list. Why on earth would any of us care if Josh McCown improves? God willing he won't take a single snap for us this year.

The guys we want to see improvement from are our high draft picks. We want Jamal Adams to take a second year leap the same way Landon Collins did. We want to see Leonard Williams look more like the beast he was in 2016 instead of last years regression. We want to see Darron Lee do something other that tweet about new uniforms. Ardarius Stewart and Chad Hansen need to show something.

Those five need to step up. I could give two craps about half the players referenced in the article -- most of them won't even be on the team in 2019.

[Jetscreen]

14 minutes ago, joewilly12 said:

Darron Lee or he joins the long list of #1 draft pick busts.

He already has.

[rangerous]

18 hours ago, Larz said:

In the immortal words of Jim fassel, "you have to do a better job of getting better than the other guy" 

Everybody in the building has to get better 

But if I were to pick 5

Sam Darnold 

Carpenter 

Leggett

Lee 

Henry Anderson 

agree on carpenter but i'd include burriss.  he's got to play much better than he has shown thus far.

[joewilly12]

1. Terrelle Pryor

1st year on the NY Jets this makes zero sense that he's included in this list. 

[jgb]

5 players who must improve: LT, LG, C, RG, RT.

/thread

[pointman]

8 hours ago, T0mShane said:

He’s the sixth overall pick who compares himself to Troy Polamalu and talks about “respect” and the Pro Bowl every time he’s in front of a microphone. I’m just holding him to his own standard, which doesn’t leave room for getting chicken-fried by Anthony Fasano. 

[HessStation]

16 hours ago, T0mShane said:

That list is absurd. Other than Jenkins and maybe Shell, none of those guys are going to be on the team in seven months. Mauldin probably doesn’t make it past first cuts, and Jenkins is exactly what he is. It’s like the author just picked names at random out of a hat. McCown? Good lord. If you’re talking about a list of dudes that Maccagnan needs to improve to keep his job, well

5. Darron Lee: The die is probably cast with Lee, who spent most of last year as PFFs worst ILB, but seemed to settle in toward the end of the season. But, even with that marginal improvement, he was still pretty underwhelming. It looked like the defense played a lot better when Julian Stanford was on the field and, in fact, had their best showing of last season when Lee was benched vs Kansas City. There’s no way the Jets pick up his option at this point, and it’s not unlikely that he’ll start to lose snaps this year to Kevin Minter. 

 

4. Leonard Williams: Leonard was a no-show most of last season and is officially part of a troubling trend with the Todd Bowles Jets that sees talented defensive lineman disappear overnight. Williams is now being paid some big bucks and will be looking for a huge extension after the season, so it’s incumbent upon him to put up some Fletcher Cox/Aaron Donald-type numbers. Otherwise, it puts Maccagnan in a bind at the end of the year. Can he give $100 mil to a DL that isn’t sacking the QB, especially after getting burned with the Wilkerson extension? And, if not, does he part ways with yet another in a string of first round linemen that just sorta stopped producing? Williams, more than any other player, is going to be a real acid test for the viability of continuing with this head coach and GM combination, because he’s too talented to be so invisible, but he’s been invisible too much to merit a giant contract. 

3. Brandon Shell: The OL talent on the roster, pound for pound, isn’t terrible when compared with the rest of the league. Beachum is solid. Carpenter is alright. Long seems to be slightly above average, and Winters, when healthy, can be a plus starter. But Shell, along with Wesley Johnson, was a weak link last season, albeit one that showed occasional promise. He represents one of Maccagnan’s few later-round potential bright spots, so him showing any measure of consistency would go a long way to improving not only the team, but also Macc’s trash-bag resume.

 

2. Ardarius Stewart or Chad Hansen: That weird Breer hagiography of the Jets front office posited that the Jets are following the Eagles blueprint of surrounding a young QB with everything he needs to develop, even though the Jets front office did next to nothing that’d indicate they’re actually trying to help their young QB. That is, unless, they were retroactively preparing for Sam Darnold’s arrival by drafting Stewart and Hansen last year. Stewart ran like his ankles were fused together, but, pre-draft, there were a lot of anonymous scouts who thought he’d be a good player in the league. Hansen had a million catches at Cal playing with Davis Webb, and looked like the more natural receiver through camp. They both did jack sh*t during the year, and both looked physically overmatched on an NFL field. If you’re rooting for Darnold to not suck, one of these two needs to step up and challenge Jermaine Kearse for playing time. BONUS: Devin Smith isn’t dead yet and has an outside shot of knocking Terrelle Pryor off the roster.

1. Jamal Adams: I know what PFF says about Adams, but PFF puts too much weight on a safety’s performance against the run, where Adams was obviously, predictably, pretty good. But against the pass, Adams was a disaster, getting embarrassed most weeks and becoming a target of opposing quarterbacks in coverage. It’s unclear whether or not Adams has the athletic traits or instincts he’ll need to ever become a non-liability against the pass, which is gross considering he’s the sixth overall pick and you don’t draft safeties at six for the express purpose of tackling running backs. Adams’ mouth is currently writing checks that his 4.6/40-running ass ain’t ever gonna be able to cash, so he’s either going to be a Pro Bowler after this season or he’s going to be our personal version of Freddy Mitchell. (SPOILER: He’s Freddy Mitchell)

You're a little too tough on Adams but the list is on point.