Building A Jets Core 2023

We’ve reached a dead time in the Jets offseason schedule. Other than a possible Derek Carr transaction, nothing much of significance is likely to happen regarding the Jets in the next few weeks. A trade cannot be ruled out, but these mostly solidify much closer to the NFL draft. A few cuts are possible, but most won’t happen until we’re closer to the start of the new league year in mid-March.

Two years ago I debuted a series of articles building a list of players all of you thought were the most likely to still be with the Jets in two seasons.

Here were the top 18 players most likely to be with the team in 2022, as voted by all of you two years ago:

1. Mekhi Becton
2. Quinnen Williams
3. Denzel Mims
4. Marcus Maye
5. Bryce Hall
6. Ashtyn Davis
7. Folorunso Fatukasi
8. John Franklin-Myers
9. C.J. Mosley
10. Braden Mann
11. Jamison Crowder
12. Sam Darnold
13. Brian Poole
14. Chris Herndon
15. Connor McGovern
16. Neville Hewitt
17. Blessuan Austin
18. Bryce Huff

Sadly, two years later there are just two players on that list, Quinnen Williams and John Franklin-Myers, who still look like probable core players for the Jets. Mekhi Becton and Bryce Huff are also possibilities. Eight of those 18 players are already gone. That list is a testament to just how talentless the Jets were two years ago.

Last year the list improved a bit. Here’s what you all thought was the Jets core last year:

1. Zach Wilson
2. Alijah Vera-Tucker
3. Elijah Moore
4. Michael Carter I
5. Bryce Hall
6. Quinnen Williams
7. Mekhi Becton
8. John Franklin-Myers
9. Carl Lawson
10. Michael Carter II
11. George Fant
12. Corey Davis
13. Brandin Echols
14. Connor McGovern
15. Quincy Williams
16. C.J. Mosley
17. Braxton Berrios
18. Bryce Huff

Zach Wilson at the top spot doesn’t look good right now. The talent level prior to last year’s draft looked better, but one year later there are just four to six players on the list that still look like core players: Quinnen Williams, Alijah-Vera-Tucker, John Franklin-Myers, Michael Carter II and perhaps Bryce Huff and Mekhi Becton.

All in all, prior to last year’s draft, there just wasn’t much core there to work with. Now things look a lot different.

To track how this team develops we will be picking a core annually. Your job, should you choose to accept it, is to think alongside the Jets’ staff and vote for who you think are the most likely players to form the Jets core and still be here on opening day of the 2024 season. Nobody knows for sure how things will play out, and evaluating the chances of some of the younger players who have barely scratched the surface yet is tricky, but we know who the coaching staff is and what type of players might fit their system, so let’s give this a shot. Let’s crowd source a Jets Core.

For the next 18 days I’ll be putting up a daily poll asking GGN to vote on the most likely current Jets players to still be with the team in 2024. I’ll include some current Jets that are not under contract for the 2023 season and may leave in free agency this year, but I will not include any player in college, in the 2023 NFL draft, currently under contract with another team, or any free agent who wasn’t with the Jets at the end of 2022. The idea here is to build a list of the current Jets players you think will most likely make up a core group the team will build around to begin to construct a playoff contender.

If you think a player should be included in the poll you can write in candidates in the comments section. If a player gets support in the comments section I’ll add him to the poll.

We all have different views on various Jets players. What we’re looking for here is the community’s collective view of the players who might help lead the Jets out of the wilderness in the coming years.

So let’s get to it. Today we start with the number one Jets core player. Who will it be? Vote early, vote often, and let’s hear who you think are the players that will be the Jets leaders of the future.