If the history of the New York Jets has taught us anything, it's this: It can always, always get worse. Sure, it seemed like last week's loss to the previously winless Miami Dolphins — New York's fourth in a row to start the 2025 season — was rock bottom for Aaron Glenn and Co. And then the team came out and promptly got shellacked by the Dallas Cowboys in Week 5, committing 10 penalties and looking largely ineffectual on both sides of the ball en route to a 37-22 loss that wasn't even as close as that scoreline suggests. (The Jets got booed off the field at halftime and trailed 30-3 midway through the third quarter.)
If New York isn't the very worst team in the NFL, it's awfully close. Zero progress has been made on either side of the ball; if anything, the Jets seem to be getting worse with each passing week. We knew that this was a rebuild in year one under Glenn and new GM Darren Mougey, but we still: Having to pivot to next year while it's barely October is a bleak reality.
And yet, here we are. The 2025 Jets aren't going anywhere. At this point, the best thing they can do is provide some clarity on the 2026 edition of the team. Which, with a month to go until the Nov. 4 trade deadline, starts with identifying which players can fetch value for the future — and as it happens, New York has three notable free agents-to-be who fit the bill.
For more news and rumors, check out MLB Insider Robert Murray’s work on The Baseball Insiders podcast, subscribe to The Moonshot, our weekly MLB newsletter, and join the discord to get the inside scoop during the MLB season.
3. S Andre Cisco
Cisco has come in for quite a bit of flak amid the complete dissolution of the Jets defense in recent weeks, but much of that just comes down to the fact that deep safeties are often the most conspicuous player on the field when things go wrong. Aaron Glenn has left him on an island on a regular basis, and the Jets' issues at corner opposite Sauce Gardner have given him more than his fair share of messes to clean up.
Which isn't to say that Cisco is a star, or anything close to it. He doesn't help out in run defense particularly well, and he's vulnerable against bigger tight ends or the fastest running backs. But Cisco is still a perfectly fine starting safety, pretty much the spitting image of league average — a guy who can hold his own in zone or man and at least not be a liability to your defense. That might not be the most exciting player type around, but does have some value, and the Jets could fetch a late draft pick for him at the deadline as he gets set to hit free agency next spring. After all, you can never have too much secondary help.
2. LB Quincy Williams
This one stings a bit. Williams became a fan favorite in New York from pretty much the moment that former GM Joe Douglas snatched him off of waivers back in 2021, posting 100+ tackles in each of the last four seasons. That production earned him a three-year, $18 million contract extension ahead of the 2023 campaign, one that he outplayed pretty quickly.
Unfortunately for the Jets, that extension is set to expire at the end of the year, and it might be best for the future if the team gets something in return for him ahead of the trade deadline rather than losing him for nothing in the offseason. Williams has missed the last two games with a shoulder injury, but he's expected to return ahead of next month's deadline. And make no mistake: When he's right, he remains one of the better off-ball linebackers in the sport.
Someone is bound to pay up for Williams' services in free agency, and that probably shouldn't be New York given how many needs they have elsewhere. It's difficult to find guys with his sort of talent on the open market, and as long as he proves that his injury won't linger, he should have plenty of demand for his services.
1. RB Breece Hall
It's been a largely dismal season for the Jets offense, but Hall remains as tantalizing a talent as ever, showcasing the same game-changing burst he's always had en route to 5.3 yards per carry and 501 total yards through the first five games of this season. You can imagine that executives around the league turn on his tape and imagine what he might look like in a more functional offense that will give him more room to work without putting too much wear and tear on his body.
Like Williams, Hall is on an expiring contract. Also like Williams, he plays a position that shouldn't be a big priority for the Jets at this point in their competitive lifecycle. He's exactly the sort of player that a contender could talk themselves into as the final piece of an offensive puzzle, and as such it feels like it's a matter of when rather than if New York sends him elsewhere.