The Jets are a mess. But they’re not the most hopeless franchise in the NFL
Jets from New York
Property: Culture is a vague term in sports, one of those things you know when you see it, but few things are clearer than that the Jets culture was rotten under Woody Johnson. They haven’t made the playoffs since the 2010 season, pirouetting from short-term solutions to long-term visions of rebuilding without the patience to see the team through rough patches. It’s a short list of owners who would fire a coach five weeks into a season because they just might embarrassed in front of their friendsbut if any owner would do that, it’s Johnson.
Coach: It’s tough to let Robert Saleh down five weeks into the season. Since taking the head coaching job with the Jets, he has consistently delivered a elite defense despite the lack of any support on the attacking side of the ball. Yet there was some excited about the Jets’ decision. If you were to list who is responsible for this season’s woes, general manager Joe Douglas, offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett and Aaron Rodgers would be at the front of the line. But the Jets can’t bench Rodgers, and given his close ties to the quarterback, firing Hackett wasn’t an option. Removing a general manager wouldn’t provide any spark, so moving on as head coach may have been the only way to save the season.
Quarterback: The Aaron Rodgers of today is not the Rodgers of his back-to-back MVP seasons in Green Bay. He is forty years old and has an Achilles injury. He looks skittish and can’t summon the kind of off-script magic that made him such a dynamic threat during his peak years.
Hope for the future: What future? With a 40-year-old quarterback, the Jets operate on a year-to-year basis. There is no guarantee that Rodgers will return next season. If he does, it’s anyone’s guess who he will appoint as the new head coach. And if Rodgers decides to retire, the Jets will be back on the quarterback merry-go-round.
Hopelessness rating: 8/10. They have talented players, but ownership has a long history of failure, and it’s hard to see the franchise turning around while the Johnsons remain in charge.
Cleveland Browns
Property: Jimmy Haslam is a constant source of embarrassment for the league in courtrooms and on the field. Whenever he has to fire the Browns, his legacy will be the owner who handed Deshaun Watson one of the worst contracts in sports history.
Coach: Kevin Stefanski has proven he can build playoff-caliber offenses around Joe Flacco and Baker Mayfield, but he’s on pace to be the culprit for Cleveland’s decision to cough up $230 million and a bundle of draft picks for Watson.
Quarterback: Watson was the worst starting quarterback in the league this season. That’s not an opinion; it’s a fact. He is one of 31 eligible quarterbacks last in adjusted EPA/play, a bottom-up measure of effectiveness. And yet the Browns are so attached to Watson because of his contract that they can’t turn to Jameis Winston, who isn’t exactly perfect himself, for the rest of the season.
Hope for the future: There is none. Cleveland has the worst starter at the most valuable position on the field – and they pay him more than anyone else at that position. Watson does still owes $132 million for the remaining three years of his contract, everything was guaranteed. Because of the way the Browns restructured the quarterback’s contract last offseason it would cost the team more to cut or trade him in the offseason, roughly eating him up two-thirds of the team’s salary cap for next season. With Watson’s contract on the books, there is little the Browns can do to improve their roster. They can’t get past the quarterback, and they’re running out of ways to do so determine the salary limit without making things more painful in the future. It’s no exaggeration to say this is the bleakest situation for any franchise in professional sports. And that’s before we get into the ethical questions of giving hundreds of millions of dollars to someone with serious allegations against him.
Hopelessness rating: 10/10. Full marks for the weight of the Watson contract, in football and moral terms. This stink will linger on the franchise for quite some time.
Carolina Panthers
Property: Few owners will ever come close to stealing Dan Snyder’s championship title as the worst owner of the modern era, but David Tepper has put together a strong resume. Since purchasing the Panthers in 2018, Tepper’s record stands at an astonishing 32-77, with his ethos appearing to be: move fast and break everything. Tepper has consistently chased sugar highs and cycled through coaches at a pace that would make even Roman Abramovich blush.
Coach: After working with Russell Wilson and Baker Mayfield, Dave Canales was hired to assist in the development of Bryce Young. After two weeks, Canales decided to bench Young in favor of Andy Dalton, a move that seemed like a coach already looking over his shoulder. Dalton has made the Panthers more competitive in the short term and given the coach a chance to prove he can be the person to turn the franchise around, but jettisoning the No. 1 overall pick so quickly wasn’t part of the job .
Quarterback: At some point this season, the Panthers could return to Young as the full-time starter. A spell on the sidelines may have helped him regain his confidence or better understand the nuances of Canales’ plan. But what’s more likely is that the coaching staff has already decided Young isn’t the right fit and will look for a new quarterback this offseason.
Hope for the future: The Panthers followed an unusual but admirable path last season. They broke down a solid defense and piled resources into their offense in an effort to figure out if Young could be a competent starting quarterback. It didn’t work. They’ve already moved on from Young and are now saddled with an expensive, injured offensive line and one of the least talented defenses in the leagues. It will take years to solve the problem – and the owner has shown no signs of being willing to put up with lean seasons.
Hopelessness rating: 9/10. They burned draft picks to move on to Young, who doesn’t appear to be the quarterback of the future. Tepper has shown no signs of knowing how to run a competent franchise.
Arizona Cardinals
Property: The NFLPA’s annual franchise report card called the Cardinals the worst organization to work for in the league heading into this season – after owner Michael Bidwill made efforts to address concerns raised the year before. The knock on Bidwill is that he is stingy and a uncomfortable working environment. If you were to bet on an owner cashing out in the next five years, Bidwill would be at the top of the list.
Coach: Considering the state of the roster he inherited last season and the turmoil behind the scenes, Jonathan Gannon deserves credit for keeping Arizona competitive week after week. His 6-16 record as a head coach is a slight mirage, thanks as much to the franchise’s rebuilding plan as to his coaching. In his second season, there are signs of a team on the rise. The attack finally has enough firepower to keep up with everyone. And Gannon, a defensive coach by trade, has kept a defense devoid of talent afloat early in the season.
Quarterback: After returning from an ACL injury midway through last season, Kyler Murray reflects on his best this year. There were rumors last year that the Cardinals could trade away Murray, despite giving the quarterback a hefty contract extension in 2023. But he has justified the investment this season, fitting into Drew Petzing’s offense and connecting quickly with rookie receiver Marvin Harrison Jr.
Hope for the future: The Cardinals already have a talented, young offense that produces on a top-10 level. That alone gives them a chance to hang around in the division race this season. If they can find more toys for Gannon on defense, then they have the quality to be a consistent playoff contender.
Hopelessness rating: 4/10. There are ownership concerns, but there is talent in the coaching and playing ranks.
Jacksonville Jaguars
Property: In his 12 years as owner, Shahid Khan has made a lot of crazy decisions: hiring Urban Meyer, blindly trusting general manager Trent Baalke, flirting with a move to London while making plans. to build a new stadium in Jacksonville and some of the league’s best uniforms are on the shelf. But you’ve got to hand this to Khan: he’s not cheap. Jacksonville has a few best facilities in the competition and Khan has consistently indulged in free agent excesses. When it came time to sign Trevor Lawrence to a contract extension, the franchise was making over $275 million Guaranteed $200 million. And unlike other owners who have thrown money at their problems, Khan hasn’t had a quick trigger. Beyond the Meyer experience, Khan has been patient with coaches and general managers. But it didn’t work; his ownership record now stands at 61-139. Maybe Khan should be more merciless.
Coach: After the Meyer debacle, the Jaguars hoped to gain immediate credibility by hiring Doug Pederson, a coach with championship status. But we are now in the final stages of the Pederson era. The coach has gone 18-20 as Jacksonville’s head honcho, including a dismal 2-10 record in his last twelve games. All signs point to the Jaguars hitting the reset button this offseason unless they can claw themselves back into the playoffs. If they fall to 1-5 with a loss in London on Sunday, Pederson could be left on the asphalt.
Quarterback: Lawrence remains one of the league’s most enigmatic quarterbacks. Despite all his physical gifts, he continues to make sloppy decisions. In his three seasons as a starter, Lawrence has averaged 14 interceptions per season and 25 (!) turnover-worthy plays, according to Pro Football Focus. Some of the blame for Lawrence’s struggles can be attributed to poor coaching and weak rosters, but there have been minimal signs of progress from the former No. 1 overall pick over the past two years.
Hope for the future: Lawrence is the hope. If he can take away the lame-duck play, Jacksonville will have a perennial top-10 quarterback. The concern would be that what he has shown so far is who he is at this stage of his career. But if the Jaguars move on from Pederson, there will be a line of coaches who think they can smooth out the rough edges of the quarterback’s game. Additionally, the Jaguars will have a ton of cap space this offseason to refocus the roster around the quarterback, as the meat of Lawrence’s extension won’t kick in for the next few seasons.
Hopelessness rating: 3/10. The owner is more strange than disastrous. And if Lawrence can rediscover his potential, they should flourish.