The Jets were one of the youngest teams in the NFL last season and it was abundantly clear on a week-to-week basis. Robert Saleh’s team was competitive some weeks. Others, it looked like it was still learning how to play at the highest level of football.
New York’s youth showed at all positions, but quarterback and kicker were hit particularly hard. Zach Wilson got the starting nod as a rookie and his backup, Mike White, had never attempted a regular season pass before taking over for an injured Wilson midway through the year. Joe Douglas traded for Joe Flacco after Wilson’s injury to add experience to the quarterback room, but only after he failed to sign a veteran in free agency.
The kicking game, meanwhile, was an utter disaster — until Eddy Piñeiro showed up late in the season.
Douglas has made a point of not repeating last offseason’s mistakes so far in free agency. Flacco has already been retained and Greg Zuerlein was signed Saturday to give Piñeiro competition.
Flacco’s track record speaks for itself. He’s a former Super Bowl MVP and has accomplished more than any quarterback the Jets have trotted out in the last decade. Flacco might not be to Wilson what Josh McCown was to Sam Darnold, but the two seemingly have a good relationship. It definitely doesn’t hurt New York to have Flacco around — even after White briefly took the NFL by storm last season.
Zuerlein is comparable to Flacco in a sense. He once had one of the biggest legs in football and was an All-Pro in 2017. His presence alone puts the Jets’ kicking room in a much better position than it was at this point last offseason. Factor in Piñeiro and New York’s kicking game is now exponentially stronger.
It’s fair to temper expectations surrounding Zuerlein. He’s coming off a 2021 season with the Cowboys in which he missed six field goals and six extra points, battling bouts of inconsistency along the way. Still, his track record and Piñeiro’s late-season success after joining the Jets is a marked improvement.
The Jets will still be a young team in 2022, but they are adding more experience than they were last spring. That should pay dividends for Saleh as he looks to get Gang Green out of the AFC East basement in his second season at the helm.
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