The roster is set, and the Jets are entering the 2022 season with high expectations short term and long term after a promising offseason.
General manager Joe Douglas met the media on Wednesday and said the goal is to play meaningful games “down the stretch.”
Asked if he believes the Jets can do that, he said, “Absolutely I do.”
It has been a long time since the Jets played a meaningful game late in the season. You have to go back to 2015, when they had their playoff hopes crushed on the final day of the season by the Bills. Since then, the seasons have largely felt over in September and October.
But the Jets feel like they are heading in the right direction with Douglas and coach Robert Saleh.
After last season, Saleh said the goal was to close the gap in the AFC East. The Jets have not won a division game since 2019, losing their past 12. Douglas said if they are going to play meaningful games late, that means they have to beat the Bills, Patriots and Dolphins. Douglas feels like the offseason additions the team has made should help it do that.
Jets coach Robert Saleh talks to GM Joe Douglas during a recent practice. Noah K. Murray“I feel like we’re certainly a more talented team than we’ve ever been,” Douglas said. “We’ve had these OTAs, these preseason games, this training camp to really come together, build chemistry as a group. But you’re right we have to close the gap in the division. That’s part of playing meaningful games down the stretch is winning games in the division. That’s goal No. 1 of any team to win the division.”
As for Saleh, he stayed away from making any bold proclamations about what the Jets will do this year. He is no Rex Ryan. When Saleh was reminded that he said when he was hired that he believed the Jets would win championships, he said that is still the case.
Joe Douglas Noah K. Murray“I still believe we’re going to win championships here,” Saleh said. “I think when you look at Joe and his staff and the way he communicates with us as a coaching staff, our process is too good. I think the players that we’ve brought in are made of the right stuff. The way this organization communicates, the way Woody [Johnson] and Christopher [Johnson] give us whatever we need in regard to player acquisitions and being in this building and their support, it’s too good for this not to work. Just really excited again to continue to build this roster and develop these young men and live up to the promise that we made when we first got here.”
Saleh said he believes the Jets are building their roster the right way, through the draft and with smart free-agent signings. He took a shot at the past regimes that overspent in free agency.
“It’s a team that’s being built,” Saleh said. “Different than what I feel this organization has had in the past, and not to speak poorly on anything or anything that’s been done in the past, but this is a built roster, not bought, and because of it, I just feel like there’s a chance for this team to really grow together and last for a long time.”
After 11 years without the playoffs and six straight losing seasons, most fans are out of patience and want wins and not talk about building. Douglas knows that this team needs to win to make people believe in what the Jets are doing.
“I feel like the energy that we’ve had since coming together in OTAs, how that’s progressed through OTAs, training camp, you see the progress,” Douglas said. “But you’re right, we have to go out and prove it on Sundays.”
