Fast forward past 2013: The 1st-round pick used to take Defensive Rookie of the Year Sheldon Richardson paid off, the team was able to go 8-8 with a rookie QB, and the team finished 2013 on a very high note where Rex Ryan boldly declared the team was on the ascent.
In the offseason, after cutting Mark Sanchez and freeing up tons of cap space from his contract, along with several other bloated contracts, the Jets had one of the largest cap room numbers in football (and still do 6 weeks into the 2014 NFL season). The Jets had two major positions of weakness that needed to be addressed: CB and WR. But in a curious move, GM John Idzik almost refused to budge on price values he had on other players like CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and WR James Jones – letting them go for a pittance. Instead, Idzik settled on free agent WRs Eric Decker and Jacoby Ford as well as CB Dimitri Patterson. Only Decker had ever played at a high level but Idzik assured the media that the moves were enough. But Ford and Patterson were both cut before the preseason ended, leaving Decker as the only valuable free agent pickup still on the roster.
The 2014 Draft wasn’t anything to be excited about either. Aside from 2nd-round TE Jace Amaro, nearly every member of the Jets 12-man 2014 draft class has either been cut, injured, struggled to produce, or a combination of the three.
Now with a patchwork team that has no strong rookies, only one effective free agent position that has addressed a major pre-season need, compounded with a QB that seems to have lost his nerve and his work ethic, the Jets are a mess at 1-4 and head coach Rex Ryan looks like he may have to bite the bullet and leave the team – one way or another.
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