Out with old
Williams must take reins in leading Gang Green
SECOND-year defensive lineman Leonard Williams, who clearly has been the Jets’ best player this season, was named their Most Valuable Player on Friday, an award voted on by his teammates.
Williams represents the brightest ray of light at the end of the dark tunnel the 4-11 Jets have found themselves in this season as they play the Bills in Sunday’s season finale at MetLife Stadium.
The outcome of the game is significant to the Jets for only one reason: It will determine where the Jets will draft in the first round this spring.
The Jets currently hold the No. 6 overall pick and cannot fall any lower than that even with a win over the Bills. The Jets, however, can climb as high as No. 4 with a loss, but to get that high they will need the Jaguars, Bears and Rams to win.
Why is this important? Because the Jets need a lot more talent than they had on their roster this season. A lot more than they thought they needed after finishing 10-6 in 2015.
To do that, they need to land as many good players as possible in the draft, where this regime chose Williams with its first pick in 2015 — the sixth overall in that draft. In short, the Jets need a lot more players like Leonard Williams.
Williams, in his second season, earned a spot as a Pro Bowl alternate, leading the Jets with seven sacks and 11 tackles for losses to go with being second on the team with 84 tackles.
He embraced the MVP selection, but acknowledged that it was bittersweet.
“Yeah, when I got the award and had to go to the front [of the room] to get it guys were joking to me to give a speech, but I can’t be too jolly up there because the season hasn’t been so great,’’ Williams said. “This is a team sport and it takes everyone in this locker room to accomplish goals. It feels good to be MVP whenever, but you want your team to be doing well.
“It feels great to be acknowledged by my teammates, but at the same time I want to accomplish a lot more,’’ Williams added. “I’m going to work a lot harder during the offseason. There are still a lot of things I have to work on. I have high expectations of myself all the time. I always feel like I can make more plays.’’
One of the things Williams vowed to do is something the Jets desperately need — assert himself as a leader. He seems to understand the huge void the locker room has in that area, and that’s a good thing for the Jets.
“Not being in this rookie type phase anymore, I’m going to be more comfortable with being able to step up and be more a of a leader this upcoming year,’’ Williams said. “We have a lot of upcoming, young guys that we’re going to be able to use in the future, and I hope that we can all come together.’’
Indeed, if you sift through the muck of this horrible season, there is a core of young talent that has a chance to make the Jets better next season and beyond. The Jets hope players like linebackers Darron Lee and Jordan Jenkins, cornerback Juston Burris, receiver Robby Anderson and tackle Brandon Shell can lead them.
The demise of this Jets team has more to do with the disappointing, underachieving performances of their core veterans, beginning with quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, who followed up a 31-touchdown, 15-interception 2015 by being benched twice this season while throwing only 10 TDs and 17 INTs.
Joining Fitzpatrick in the parade of disappointing veterans have been receiver Brandon Marshall, whose numbers (59 catches, three TDs) are way down from a year ago, cornerback Darrelle Revis, who has no interceptions and just four passes defended, and defensive linemen Muhammad Wilkerson and Sheldon Richardson, who were penalized for missing meetings early in the season.
One of the byproducts of a season gone bad for the Jets is that young players, who otherwise might not see the field, get quality playing time. The Jets have to hope that has hastened their development.
“If you look around the room, it ain’t just the guys that were drafted, some of the free agents, the young guys, came in and played big,’’ defensive tackle Steve McLendon said.
“When you have young guys playing a lot, it gives them more confidence going into next year,’’ receiver Quincy Enunwa said. “I see that as a positive. Any time you can get experience it translates into confidence and that confidence can carry you a long way in this game.’’