This offseason, Joe Douglas has been more like Joe Ouglas. His focus has not been on the D.
It has been clear since January that the Jets were setting out this offseason to bolster their offense after watching it drag them down in recent years. That mission continued in the draft, with Douglas using his first five draft picks on offensive players.
On paper, the Jets’ offense looks vastly improved over what they put out there in recent years. That starts with Aaron Rodgers at quarterback, of course, and Jets fans know all too well that a team that looks one way on paper in the spring may not necessarily look that way on the field in the fall. Rodgers’ injury four plays into last season ripped up the 2023 version of “this team on paper.”
But the Jets’ rebuild on offense has gone beyond just hoping that Rodgers can stay healthy this season. Douglas has improved the offensive line with some players who come with injury and age concerns but could look like steals if they can stay on the field in tackles Tyron Smith and Morgan Moses. He then added Olu Fashanu in the first round of the draft as an insurance policy if one of the tackles does go down.
At receiver, the Jets took another swing in free agency with a player who could be a home run if healthy in Mike Williams, who is coming off a torn ACL. They added Malachi Corley as a potential slot receiver in the third round of the draft, and now, the Jets feel pretty good about the weapons Rodgers has around him, starting with Garrett Wilson and Breece Hall through Tyler Conklin, Corley and Williams.
Will it work?
We’ll find out when the season gets here. But owner Woody Johnson is clearly tired of watching his defense fire on all cylinders while his offense backfires week after week.
“It’s really all about the offense,” Johnson said in February. “For the last five years it’s been about the offense. The offense has to score, keep the defense off the field. The defense is good.”
Johnson is not lying. The Jets have not had a top-10 offense in yards per game since 2015. Heck, they have not gotten higher than 25 since then. They were 31 last year. Meanwhile, the defense has been in the top 10 three times in the last five years and in the top five each of the last two years.
The Jets have been through nine different offensive coordinators in the last 13 seasons. They have been through 15 different starting quarterbacks in that time. The only stable thing about the offense over the playoff drought has been its instability.
The Jets actually hope that their offense starts to play a little more like their defense. They preach playing with violence on defense and judging by a few of these draft picks, they want to add that to the offense. Corley is known as the “YAC King” for how many yards he gets after the catch. When you watch his film from Western Kentucky, he runs over defenders and plays with a toughness the Jets covet.
“I think I joked with Joe,” Jets coach Robert Saleh said, “if his, if he had a relative sitting at the goal line, he’s going to run him over too.”
Then, the Jets took another player who they hopes bring physicality to the offense with fourth-round running back Braelon Allen, a 235-pound back who can punish tacklers.
The key, of course, is a healthy and effective Rodgers, who will bring his own edge to the offense.
With the heavy lifting of roster building over, it looks like Douglas has effectively upgraded the offense. Again, looks in April can be deceiving. But maybe, just maybe, the Jets will have an offense that can match their defense this season.
