Jets won’t win much but rebuilding

THE PROCESS is meticulous and calculating. It moves at glacier speeds. The Process can irritate Millennials as much as Gen Xers. The Process cannot be trusted, some say, because there’s no guaranteed payoff.

The Process can make you look like a fool.

For the New York Jets, the Process is the smart way. In many respects, it is the best path to the Promised Land. Believe in it. Embrace it.

Going sideways for this long (48 years and counting) can take its toll on even the most ardent follower. So, Trust the Process. Have faith that this Jets regime will build a sustainable winner with a proper foundation stocked with home-grown young talent.

“I look at this thing like a puzzle,” defensive lineman Steve McLendon said on the first day of training camp Friday. “You got a 1,000-piece puzzle. If you can put everything together… if you can have everyone mold and stick together, we’re going to be a beautiful piece in the end.”

There will be painful moments before reaching that end, but the team that everyone loves to mock these days has quietly begun to move in the right direction. The locker room discord that helped derail the 2016 season has disappeared if you believe the players that survived an epic offseason roster purge that included big-name casualties like Brandon Marshall, Darrelle Revis, Nick Mangold, David Harris and Eric Decker.

Don’t expect a season splintered by a fractured locker room, the survivors insist.