It seems to happen almost every year that a team goes from last place in their division the previous year to winning their division the following year. In fact, it almost has. It has happened in 18 of the past 20 seasons, including last season with the Jacksonville Jaguars going from 3-14 and the worst record in 2021 to 9-8 and winning the AFC South and a playoff game in 2022.
Can the Jets pull off that feat in 2023? NFL.com’s Kevin Patra recently stacked up the eight last-place teams in 2022 and ranked their chances and taking their division’s crown in 2023. The Jets came out at the top of that list.
New York finished in the AFC East cellar for the third consecutive season and sixth time in the past seven years. The last time the Jets won the division, George W. Bush was in office — in his first term. Yup, 2002 feels like a lifetime ago. Robert Saleh’s club raced out to a hot start last season on the strength of its defense, but the struggles at quarterback ultimately crashed the Jets. Enter four-time MVP Aaron Rodgers. In his worst seasons, Rodgers is better than anyone Gang Green has employed at quarterback for over a decade. The schedule is brutal, and New York competes in perhaps the NFL’s best division in 2023, but given the upgrade at quarterback and an excellent defense on paper, the Jets are an easy choice to top this list of worst-to-first candidates. They put their eggs in Rodgers’ basket this offseason, and anything short of ending New York’s league-leading postseason drought (12 years) should be viewed as a disappointment in Florham Park.
Certainly hard to argue with this as the Jets are clearly the best of the eight such teams, the others being the Falcons, Browns, Bears, Broncos, Commanders, Texans and Cardinals.
The Cardinals might be the worst team in the NFL this season and the Texans won’t be that far off. Washington has a big question mark at the quarterback position while Atlanta may not have as big of one, but the jury is still out on Desmond Ridder. What’s helping Atlanta in the NFC South could be down again in 2023.
The playoffs are the bare minimum for the Jets this season but they absolutely have a chance to host their first playoff game since 2002.