Set up for failure the past couple of seasons due to poor personnel decisions, the New York Jets former head coach Rex Ryan was fired along with general manager John Idzik. Hitting the reset button, the Jets embarked on their search looking for candidates that would bring stability to the franchise and return them to the prominence they were experiencing early in the Ryan era. Their in depth search, piloted by consultants Ron Wolf and Charlie Casserly, led them to hiring former Arizona Cardinals defensive coordinator Todd Bowles as head coach and Houston Texans personnel man Mike Maccagnan as their GM.

Bowles has been successful at every stop, officially appearing on the league’s radar to have head coach potential when serving as the interim head coach with the Miami Dolphins after Tony Sparano’s firing. He parlayed those opportunities into defensive coordinator gigs the past three years with his most successful years coming over the last two with Arizona. He guided those units to the upper echelon of the NFL’s defensive ranks. In New York, Bowles will be tasked with picking up the pieces from the last regime and expediting the rebuilding process; as a coach with a defensive background, Bowles will come in and tweak a promising defense to a point of carrying the team. Trying to fix an offense that has giant question marks at QB, plus a serious lack of depth will prove to be his most difficult task. Here’s a look at the season in review and what to expect moving forward.

What Went Right

Unfortunately for the New York Jets, part of the reason why their record was so poor this season, is because not very much went right for them. There were a few bright spots along the defensive line in Muhammed Wilkerson and Pro Bowler Sheldon Richardson. Those defensive ends have progressed to give the Jets two havoc-wrecking monsters in the trenches that give brass the confidence they have the talent in the defensive trenches to build upon. DeMario Davis’ continued progression at linebacker is encouraging as well, especially with the impending free agency of veteran defensive leader David Harris. Soon this may be Davis’ unit to lead and his development over the past few seasons should give the new coaching regime confidence he can assume that role. While the offense was a mess for much of the season, the running game was the lone consistent aspect of the attack with Chris Ivory and Chris Johnson providing a solid one-two punch. While New York possibly moves on from Johnson as their speed back, Ivory provides the Jets with a competent power back to build their rushing attack with. Receiver Eric Decker showed glimpses of the player the Jets paid for while battling through injury and rookie tight end Jace Amaro showed some of his promise near season’s end to inspire future progress. Left tackle D’Brickashaw Ferguson continued his dominance by playing every snap this past season, providing the Jets stability along the line of protection with Pro Bowl center Nick Mangold.

What Went Wrong

The wrong turns for this franchise started during the offseason. Carrying momentum from finding a way to finish .500 the year before, Idzik dropped the ball in free agency, failing to properly utilize his cap space to round out the team’s roster. While they were able to bring in some quality players, their impact was limited due to the incomplete nature of the roster. The quarterback position is the most important position on the team and the Jets created a mild controversy for themselves when they signed Michael Vick to be their veteran QB. Offering him an opportunity to compete for the starting position, only to relegate him to back up duty behind Geno Smith upon joining the team, was a huge misstep. Instead of adding a veteran who could help Smith along in his development, they paired him with a selfish veteran who was a detriment. Even when Vick got his opportunity to play, he stated he was unprepared; so how is the unprepared veteran supposed to help the inexperienced youngster be prepared? He couldn’t, hence how the season unfolded at the most important position on the field. At wide receiver, the lack of talent was glaring as prized free agent Eric Decker battled injuries for most of the year and adding Percy Harvin mid year once it was too late didn’t help much either. The secondary was a mess as well; Dee Milliner got hurt, first-round pick Calvin Pryor struggled the whole year and no one stepped up as the secondary proved to be the defense’s Achilles heel. The pass rush was anemic, forcing the coaching staff to blitz often to try and get to the passer, leaving their terrible secondary exposed in unfavorable man-to-man coverages. While competitive in most of their games, their overall offensive ineptitude is the culprit to ownership hitting the reset button.

Impending Free Agents

Unrestricted

David Harris, linebacker

Michael Vick, quarterback

Kyle Wilson, cornerback

Willie Colon, guard

Dawan Landry, strong safety

Bilal Powell, running back

Kenrick Ellis, nose tackle

Greg Salas, wide receiver

John Conner, fullback

Restricted

Jaiquawn Jarrett, free safety

Damon Harrison, nose tackle

The Jets will keep their restricted free agents as both Jarrett and Harrison have potential and finished this past season as starters. Vick should retire and call it a career; he’s out of bankruptcy and clearly football doesn’t mean much to him these days. David Harris has been the heart and soul of Ryan’s defenses, so with a new head coach on board, it would be wise to re-sign this veteran leader to aid in turning around the program. Granted that’s if Harris doesn’t jet to one of the playoff contenders that will be bidding for his services this offseason. Dawan Landry is a solid player, but with Pryor on the roster as a former first round pick and the Jets in a rebuilding phase, Landry may be better suited on another team while the Jets figure out what they have in Pryor. Colon is a solid guard, but getting up there in age. The Jets should try to bring him back for cheap and have him mentor some of the younger guys if they can. Kenrick Ellis never lived up to his potential, but is still young and possesses a skill set that new defensive coordinator Kacy Rodgers has a history of developing into competent rotation players. Salas is a below-average receiver and the Jets could do better for their depth than him. Connor is a good player playing an outdated position, new offensive coordinator Chan Gailey is most likely to install a spread offensive system making the fullback position irrelevant, so expect him not to return.

Needs Analysis

Its clear as day the Jets need a quarterback, whether it’s someone to compete against Geno Smith or come in as a mentor to try and help his development along. Either way something needs to be done as the play from that position has to get drastically better soon. The secondary needs a major influx of talent both on the boundary and at safety. Sure Milliner and Pryor are still young and can develop, but the Jets can’t count on that and need to upgrade the unit. Quinton Coples, Calvin Pace and Jason Babin combined for 13.5 sacks on the year; New York needs to acquire a player who is capable of putting up those stats by himself as an outside pass rusher. Along the offensive line, the Jets could stand to bring in more depth as their two elite players in Ferguson and Mangold aren’t getting any younger and the rest of the line is average, although Oday Aboushi has a chance to be good player some day. New York also needs quality depth at receiver behind, Decker, Harvin, and Jeremy Kerley. David Nelson, Greg Salas and Chris Owusu aren’t going to cut it. Gang Green will also need to find a running back to compliment Ivory if Johnson does indeed become a cap casualty.

Overview

Moving forward, the Jets have their work cut out for them. It starts at the quarterback position and New York’s brass needs to figure out their next move at the position. Do they give up on Smith and get rid of him? Do they let him compete with a veteran and provide him with one last shot? Who can they draft to be the future of the position? So many questions for what will be a rollercoaster ride following what the Jets ultimately decide is the best route. Lucky for Jets fans, defensive coordinator Kacy Rodgers should be able to build a solid defense to keep them competitive, especially with the foundation that is in place and the ample salary cap space to bring in players both he and coach Bowles are familiar with from previous coaching stops. Bowles is a rising star in this league. With the right disposition for the position, resources and patience to turn things around, Gang Green should be headed in the right direction soon.