On the block

In just two short years, the New York Jets have gone from having legitimate Super Bowl dreams, to being the laughing stock of the entire league and the butt of all jokes (pun fully intended).

Despite throwing a total of 33 interceptions and completing no more than 55% of his passes in two seasons, Mark Sanchez was the QB of a team that reached back to back AFC Championship Games in 2009 and 2010. Now, the Jets fortunes can be summed up in one crazy, spectacular and heartbreaking play that occurred on Thanksgiving against the Patriots. It was a standard play, practiced a thousand times before. The ball was snapped to Sanchez and he went to hand the ball off to the FB, Lex Hilliard. But instead of cradling the ball between his arms, Hilliard ran past Sanchez looking for a defender to block. The play was a bust and Sanchez did anything a normal player would do, try to salvage the situation. He tucked in the ball and ran for the line of scrimmage. Little did he know that his Guard, Brandon Moore, was about to be thrown back into his face by Patriots Defensive Tackle, Vince Wilfork. Sanchez ran right into large backside of his teammate and dropped the ball, leaving Steve Gregory to pick it up and take it to the end zone for a touchdown. The world burst into hysterics.

How did they get here? Consistently trading away important draft picks (since 2007, they've only had 13 picks in the first three rounds) has resulted in a very thin roster. After the release of Bart Scott, Calvin Pace and the unlikely return of veteran OLB, Bryan Thomas, the Jets have 1 Linebacker - inside and outside - with experience of playing more than 50% of the snaps. Injuries to key players such as Santonio Holmes, Dustin Keller and, of course, Darrelle Revis had them desperately looking to the practice squad for inspiration. Unfortunately, Clyde Gates isn't going to win you Super Bowls.

Handing out long and expensive contracts on a whim to older players means the Jets now have little cap room to improve this depleted roster. Calvin Pace (Six years, $42m), Bart Scott (Six years, $48m), David Harris (Four years, $36m), Santonio Holmes (Five years, $45m), Antonio Cromartie (Four years, $32m) and Mark Sanchez (Five years, $58m) are some of the contracts former General Manager, Mike Tannenbaum, crippled the Jets with. All these players have provided good years of service to the franchise but, with the exception of Antonio Cromartie and possibly David Harris, are past their sell by date in New York.

There was also the small issue of a certain Tim Tebow. The Jets owner, Woody Johnson, acquired Tebow to sell jerseys. He probably would have been more useful if he was literally out on the streets of New York selling jerseys. The Jets gave up 4th and 6th Round picks to get Tebow plus a 7th Round pick from the Denver Broncos. As expected, the trade for Tebow came with a complementary big top and high wire that would fuel the media circus in New York. The Jets didn't know what to do with Tebow nor the headlines that he attracted. Tebow's impact on the field was minimal. The Jets had no clue how to work him into their game plan and at his most productive, Tebow was on the field for 12 snaps of the ball - in Week 3 against the Miami Dolphins. The aforementioned promising young QB, Mark Sanchez, had his confidence destroyed by this addition to the team. He had a terrible season that resulted in being benched (for 3rd string QB Greg McElroy) during the Week 13 game against the Arizona Cardinals.


However, there is one controversial solution to getting this dwindling franchise back on the tracks that it looked to be heading for in 2010 when they were 60 minutes away from the biggest sporting event in the world. Trading their franchise player, Darrelle Revis. A healthy Revis is undoubtedly the best Cornerback in the NFL, and arguably the most valuable player on the defensive side of the ball (although JJ Watt has put forward a very convincing case recently). His stock is at an all time low after tearing his ACL back in September against the Miami Dolphins in Week 3 of the regular season. Nevertheless, every team in the NFL will be interested in a perennial All-Pro Corner who can completely shut down the opposing teams number one receiver.

How do the Jets benefit from this? They don't have to give Revis a multiple year $16m+ per year contract to make him the highest paid defensive player in the league like he has openly suggested. They also get rid of $15m in cap space over the next two years ($9m and $6m respectively). This gives them the ability to re-sign key Free Agents like veteran Guard, Brandon Moore and Pro Bowl Safety, LaRon Landry. The added cap space allows them to be more active in Free Agency to help fill the holes in the roster because there is simply too many to address through the draft.