JETS KICKED WHILE DOWN
Gang needs to worry more about own team than Trevor
Trevor Lawrence still says he hasn’t made up his mind, something hard to believe given the options in front of him. Lawrence, a transcendent talent at the quarterback position, can either return to Clemson for his senior season, or he can declare for the 2020 NFL Draft … and possibly go to the Jets.
Going to the Jets is like being banished to the shadow realm or like being put on punishment for something you didn’t do. The Jets are so bad, they’ve gotten rid of their best players: First Jamal Adams, then Robby Anderson, then Avery Williamson and of course, Le’Veon Bell, the star running back they signed two offseasons ago, only to use him infrequently, ineffectively and, ultimately, release him mid season.
The Jets are the laughingstock of the NFL, the league’s only winless team. Why would Lawrence want to go there?
Here’s a reason: As bad as the Jets are and have been, and as bad as they will be the rest of the season, they are still one of the 32 NFL teams. They need a savior, and Lawrence can be that.
Injuries pose risks. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic presents and uncertain future. If there’s anything to learn in 2020, it’s that the future is not promised. All there is is what’s in front of us. Returning to college with a golden ticket to the NFL wouldn’t make sense, but that is Lawrence’s choice. Not the Jets’.
The Jets cannot worry about what Lawrence will or will not do, or what Lawrence says or does not say. Lawrence is still at Clemson, still wants to win and still respects his teammates enough not to make every media interaction about him and his future.
“I’m just trying to enjoy my last few months here if that’s what I decide to do,” Lawrence said Monday. “I’m just trying to enjoy it and obviously I’m not trying to make a stir. I don’t want any more people talking about me than they already are, so my thing is I’m just never going to corner myself to where I have to do something just because of something I said in the past.”
Plus, he already said he wants to leave and go pro.
“Obviously, I have the option to do either one. Kind of my mindset has been that I am going to move on,” Lawrence told reporters in late October. “But who knows? There’s a lot of things that could happen.”
What the Jets need to do is create an environment that will allow for Lawrence to flourish on Day 1. They wouldn’t be in the discussion to draft Lawrence if they hadn’t fumbled with the talent they already had.
Sam Darnold is a good quarterback in a bad position. The same will be said of Trevor Lawrence, unless the Jets get their affairs in order, and quickly.
That means Adam Gase — and everyone he hired — needs to be gone at the end of the last game of the season, and sage needs to be burned on One Jets Drive. Jets GM Joe Douglas’s seat should get hotter every time he defends Gase in public.
The Jets need a new leader, someone who commands respect. A real tactician, not a fake offensive genius. They need playmakers at wide receiver, running back, at the corners and, since they got rid of Adams, throw safety in there, too. They need offensive linemen to protect the quarterback — the Jets allow more than three sacks per game, the fourth worst clip in the NFL.
It’s not too tall of a task if done properly. The Jets have nine picks in the upcoming draft (two first-round, two third-round and two fifth-round), another nine picks in the 2022 draft class (two first-round, two fifthround and two sixth-round) and project to have $56.6 million in cap space to sign free agents next year. A couple key signings with the right head coach, and the Jets could be right back on the train toward relevance and playoff contention.
Then again, this all sounds eerily similar. The Jets didn’t get better year over year. They needed to get Darnold more weapons, yet have fewer now than last year. Darnold is a casualty of the Jets’ own negligence. He will be traded leading into or immediately after the draft, whether Gang Green lands Lawrence or Heisman candidate Justin Fields out of USC.
It’s hard to get worse at rock bottom, but the Jets are proving anything is possible. In fact, the Jets are so bad at being bad, they might convince the best quarterback prospect to go back to school.