2020 Preview: New York Jets
Can the Jets Compete During a Rebuild Stage?
The 2020 NFL Season is almost upon us, and the Fantasy Life App Blog has you covered. We’ll be previewing each of the league’s 32-teams and predictions for the 2020 season daily beginning with the Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs on Tuesday, August 4. Check back each day for a new team preview!
The New York Jets are enter the 2020 season having won six of their last eight football games, while Sam Darnold went 7–6 as starter for the New York Jets last year. You would think that those two things alone should make Jets fans happy with the way 2019 played out. However, that would be ignoring the flip side of the equation.
The Jets started off the season 0–4 and lost Darnold to Mono early on. Yikes! The only playoff team that the Jets beat last season were the Bills. Despite winning seven games, the Jets still found a way to lose to the 2–14 Bengals and the Dolphins, who were 0–7 before the time they beat the Jets. Not only this, the Jets were one point away from losing to the Dolphins twice. Only four of the opponents the Jets played in 2019 made the playoffs. If you think that isn’t enough, here is the ultimate kicker — Adam Gase, an offensive guru who is also the head coach of the Jets, led the Jets to finish as the worst offense during the 2019 campaign.
If you followed the Jets last season, you are probably well aware of all of the ups and downs our season took. Considering all of what happened, 7–9 isn’t bad. A lot of the appreciation has to go to the defense for that. You can either choose to look at the glass half full or half empty. The line between bad and good is so thin in the NFL. The top players and the worst players are only separated by a microscopic size in this league. Heading into 2020, the Jets look like one of those teams that could go either way based on their 2019 campaign.
Off-season Moves
This off-season was a first for the Jets. Joe Douglas was signed as the GM for the Jets post draft last year. This was his first opportunity to really shape the Jets for years to come. What he did was focus on the basics: improving on where the Jets struggled last season. The Jets’ offensive line forced the Jets to move on to their third string quarterback in Luke Falk early on. In fact their offensive line was easily one of the worst in the NFL. It may have well been the worst last season. Douglas played offensive line during his football days and knows that the offensive line is the first step to building a successful offense.
Douglas went right to work. He signed OG Greg Van Roten (Panthers), C Connor McGovern Broncos), OT George Fant (Seahawks), C Josh Andrew (Colts), while resigning OG Alex Lewis. If this wasn’t enough, Douglas spent the Jets first round pick on a big man in OT Meckhi Becton(Pick 11 Louisville). Becton is 6’7”, 364 pounds and can run a 5.10 40-yard dash time. If these metrics aren’t enough to show that Becton is a guy that can battle in the trenches, then I don’t know what is. The guy is practically a tank and this pick will help the Jets out tremendously in 2020.
After building up the trenches, Douglas opted to focus on improving in other areas as well. The Jets locked up arguably their top cornerback from 2019 in Brian Poole, who played 68 percent of the snaps last season (first for Jets cornerbacks). From there, the Jets also brought back CB Arthur Maulet on a one year deal. Then, the Jets started adding to the position when signing former Colts cornerback Pierre Desir and drafting CB Bryce Hall from Virginia in the fifth round. Last, but not least, the Jets took a huge chance on this draft’s mystery man in safety Ashtyn Davis (Pick 68). These additions and signings will bolster the Jets’ secondary.
Arguably the biggest free agency loss that the Jets had this off-season was Robby Anderson. Anderson, who signed with the Panthers on a two year $20 million contract, has been the Jets top receiver ever since 2017. Even though, he has yet to produce a 1,000-yard season, Anderson has gained more than 2,400 yards since 2017. In his four-year career, Anderson has never had a season with less than 500 receiving yards.
With Anderson out of New York, the Jets attempted to sign his successor in Breshad Perriman. Still Perriman wouldn’t be enough. The Jets ended up finding a way to draft WR Denzel Mims (Baylor) towards the end of the second round. Together, these two receivers join Jamison Crowder to wreck havoc on defenses in 2020. Hopefully, these additions will be the fire power Darnold needs this season.
The one thing that Douglas couldn’t control this off-season was opt-outs. Opt-outs turned out to be a big blow for the Jets as Pro Bowl linebacker C.J Mosley decided to take care of his health and opt-out. This will leave the Jets will a hole in their linebacker core, but luckily the Jets have the linebacker depth to replace Mosley. It might not be optimal, but the Jets will have to find a way.
Douglas’s first off-season so far has turned out to be an eventful one, but Douglas would have to keep working his magic to find a dealer for the unhappy two-time Pro-Bowler Jamal Adams. It turns out that Douglas got quite the haul as the Jets received safety Bradley McDougald, a third and two firsts (one in 2021, one in 2022) from the Seahawks in exchange for Adams and a fourth. This trade marks off a great first off-season for Douglas. He has transformed the Jets into a young team with tons of potential, while also saving up for the future, so the Jets can be competitive in years to come.
Fantasy Impact
I have to start this section off with a player that almost everyone knows — Le’Veon Bell. The dude was such a disappointment in 2020. It wasn’t his fault though, the Jets offensive line was a disaster. His patient style of running requires an offensive line that will buy him time and protection. This off-season, I think the Jets got it right. I think they finally have an offensive line where Bell can thrive running behind. Last season, Bell received 245 carries and only recorded 789 rushing yards for 3.2 yards per carry. This season, I predict he will record 230 carries for 1,050 yards and 50 catches for 500 yards. I also think Bell will score around eight touchdowns. These stats will make him potentially a low end RB1/ high end RB2. Either way though, Bell finished 16th among RBs in PPR last season, so low-end RB1 numbers aren’t out of line for Bell this year.
New pass catchers will make things interesting in fantasy for the Jets this year. Perriman and Mims both are extremely volatile. Their ceilings are through the roof as they don’t have a lot of competition for targets, but both of them have never been a top target on an NFL offense. Mims is just a rookie and Perriman played behind Chris Godwin and Mike Evans in Tampa Bay last season (arguably the league’s top WR duo). If I had to take a guess, it is that Perriman will be the Jets top receiver this year, while Mims will also have a productive season. Perriman recorded 70-plus yards in five straight games to end out the 2019 campaign (last three games were more than 100 yards), so this is one of the brightest up and coming receivers in the league. I predict that Perriman catches 70 balls for 900 yards and nine touchdowns this year and becomes a solid WR2 in fantasy football. Meanwhile, I think Mims records 50 catches for 650 yards and five touchdowns during his rookie season making him more of a WR4. Nonetheless, both of these wideouts have the skill sets to do great things in their first season wearing Green and White.
The last player that I have high hopes for in fantasy this year is Darnold. Darnold has been on the rise and has showed great signs of growth in the NFL to this point in his career. This most recent year, Darnold put up 3,000-plus passing yards and finished with a 84.3 passer rating despite missing three games. It was a step up from what Darnold did during his rookie campaign(77.6 passer rating). If Darnold can continue on this trajectory, he could be in store for amazing things in 2020. I think he is going to be a QB2 this season, as he was more of a QB3 last year due to his injury, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t going to do well. Overall, I think Darnold will pass for 4,000-plus yards for the first time in his career during 2020 and I believe that Darnold will be a quality back-up for your fantasy team.
2020 Outlook
For the first time in years, I genuinely feel good about the New York Jets. An extra two teams will make the playoffs in 2020, so it is all up in the air. I believe that the Jets have made a lot of progress this off-season for their future. Is it enough progress? I’m not entirely sure, but I have a good feeling about the direction that the Jets are heading in.
The Jets’ 2020 schedule isn’t the easiest, but their division is more open than ever. If the Jets can win a majority of their division match-ups, then they have a good shot at making the playoffs. Personally, I have to hold my optimism for now and predict an 8–8 season for the Jets. I think they will fall short of the playoffs this year, but that doesn’t mean they will for years to come. If the Jets do make the playoffs though, it will be the first time since Mark Sanchez was the quarterback for the Jets. It has been long enough, so I hope I’m wrong.
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