This has not been the average offseason for the New York Jets.
A team coming off another remarkably disappointing season, which is desperate to end a 15-year playoff drought, has not been linked to every big-name free agent nor is flaunting overly-cocky promises of things finally turning around.
Bloviating has done next to nothing for this franchise, and new head coach Aaron Glenn realizes that.
“It is by design,” Glenn said of his team’s muted offseason on Monday (h/t SNY). “I’m a huge believer in moving in silence. Let things play out how they need to play out. I think our staff has done a really good job of that. Let’s just make the moves we need to make. There doesn’t need to be this big hoopla for what we’re doing.
“We want to go about our business and coach these players and try to create the atmosphere for these players that’s totally different from what they’re used to. That’s what I want to create in general, of what type of players we bring into the building and the building environment. I want to move in silence and just go about our business and win some games, because you don’t win in the offseason. I know everybody has these grades on free agency and the draft, and when you go back and look at them, they don’t really mean crap. The only thing that makes a difference is what you do during the season.”
Rather than throwing money at all of their problems, the Jets are trying to build sustainability from within. Outside of signing former Chicago Bears and Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Justin Fields to take over the offense from the failed Aaron Rodgers experiment, the Jets’ biggest move was retaining linebacker Jamien Sherwood with a three-year, $45 million deal.
“I’m in the business of keeping good players. That’s our plan for anybody,” Glenn said. “I want to make it a trend that our guys we draft, we try to keep them here. I don’t know if that happened before, but I know when I was a player [with the Jets], we tried to do that as much as possible. That’s the best form of free agency, to sign your own guys. As much as we can do that, man, we’re going to try. It’s something that we want to look at.”
Fields, though, will be a significant piece in helping turn the Jets around. This is a franchise that has lacked a legitimate No. 1 quarterback for decades, and figuring out the position will provide the centerpiece of a foundation to build on. Glenn believes that he has his guy to do just that.
“Quiet confidence. Go back and watch him at Ohio State,” Glenn said. “Big arm, understands how to run an offense when given the opportunity. Just a really good person, a really intelligent person that knows football.”
