NFL Preview: Breaking down the 2015 New York Jets

It’s easy to pick on departed head coach Rex Ryan and former GM John Idzik for the Jets’ issues last season. After all, Ryan continued to be unable to find a way to make a quarterback successful and Idzik pinched pennies so hard that major gaps in the team were left unattended.

At the end of the day though, Idzik had planned to spend a lot this offseason (allegedly), so new GM Mike Maccagnan might look a lot better since he was able to walk in to a situation where he had oodles of cap room thanks to his predecessor.

As for Ryan, he did seem a lot like a coach caught between a rock and a hard place. He wanted Darrelle Revis back, he wanted to add more talent in the secondary, and by all accounts wanted to make some other moves offensively but seemed to be hamstrung by the GM.

This is the NFL, though, and the reality is that what you meant to do, as well as what you did in previous seasons, count for nothing – it’s what you’ve done for us lately. And at that Ryan failed.

New head coach Todd Bowles actually walks into a situation very similar to the one Ryan wandered into when he became the Jets coach: a defense with a ton of potential, some solid receivers and a huge question mark under center.

The Jets added a lot of weapons for their quarterback to use and have repaired the secondary. Management has put this team in a position to win so long as the quarterback play holds up.

At the end of the day, that’s what it comes down to and really there is little they could have done about it. There were really no good free agent quarterbacks – certainly no starters – and only two draft prospects who have a shot to turn franchises around quickly. The Jets didn’t luck into Jameis Winston or Marcus Mariota, although to be honest, neither of them is a sure thing anyway.

The problem could be worse next offseason if the guys already with the team choke – the 2016 free agents and draft prospects for quarterback aren’t looking very exceptional either.

This is a weird team – at once set up to win now, but also lacking the one piece that really makes success possible.

**All players and depth chart rankings come from Ourlads.com and are current as of 5/11/15

Next: Quarterback