In case you haven’t heard, the New York Jets are the not-so-proud owners of the NFL’s longest playoff drought at 14 years. But that’s not all. They are the owners of the longest playoff drought of any team in any major North American professional sports league. It’s not entirely their fault. The AFC East has been owned by just two teams over the past two decades, starting with Tom Brady’s Patriots and, for the last five years, Josh Allen’s Bills. Making the NFL playoffs becomes exceedingly difficult when you have almost no shot at winning your division.
Jets fans are hoping that this ignominious record comes to an end in the 2025 season, and it sure seems like the organization is doing their utmost to make that happen. They cleaned house last season, ousting head coach Robert Saleh after Week 5 and GM Joe Douglass shortly thereafter, and made two exciting hires in head coach Aaron Glenn and GM Darren Mougey. They dumped the aging (and somewhat distracting) Aaron Rodgers and replaced him with the young Justin Fields, who still has franchise quarterback upside despite a rocky start to his NFL career.
Given these improvements, surely the Jets are favored to finally end their shameful playoff drought? Not so fast, says the latest rankings from CBS Sports. Garrett Podell, a writer for CBS, compiled a list of all NFL teams who have not made the playoffs in four seasons or more, six teams in all, and the Jets come in at 4th.
Regarding the Jets, Podell justified this ranking by saying, “The Jets have the defensive talent to win, as well as high-end talent at their No. 1 wide receiver and No. 1 running back spots. However, can [offensive coordinator Tanner] Engstrand turn free agent signee Justin Fields into a quarterback who can win with his arm entering his fifth NFL season? If the Jets can create an offense that can push the ball downfield while maximizing Fields' athleticism as a runner, they could make a playoff run. However, there's no evidence yet that such a thing is possible at the NFL level.”
Not exactly a strong vote of confidence, but this is a fair assessment. Defensively, the Jets are loaded on that side of the ball, but is it enough to carry what could be a deadweight offense all the way to the playoffs? Ideally the offense will outperform expectations, but it’s bad football business to bet on hopes and dreams.
The Jets do feel like a team that’s about to be on the rise, but maybe not in 2025. Not unless everything goes perfectly for them. Jets fans will likely have to endure yet another year of taunting from rival fanbases as their playoff drought extends to 15 years.