Breece Hall extended! RB Room Talk + Schedule Discussion

Justin Fried and Mike Luciano discuss the New York Jets extending Breece Hall and preview what their 2026 schedule could look like. Subscribe to The Jet Press for Jets news, videos, interviews, reactions, and year-round coverage.

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Hello and welcome back to the Jet Press podcast.

My name is Justin Fried and I'm joined as always by my good friend and my non-ball knower, Mike Luciano.

Mike, we're a couple of minutes late.

Mike and I were, uh, we're having a fiercely intense NBA debate right before this.

Uh, but Mike, what's going on, buddy?

How are you doing?

Well, I'm already coughing my, my brains out over there, so that should tell you how the stream's gonna go.

On top of the fact that I'm gonna preface this, I've been having some internet connection issues, so God forbid if something goes wrong here, just know that it is, it is the, uh, It might, I have great internet, but for some reason the last couple of days it's been a, it's been a little screwy, so just putting that out there, but the Jets have extended Bruce Hall, which brings an end to a year of will they, won't they, how should they talk?

Now they, they have finally done the deal, we'll get into that.

We'll also try to make what we think, because I remember Justin confirmed this to, our least favorite part of football, which is the schedule release, you know how they're playing the Titans this year, but now we get to find out what week they play them in.

Oh, I, my, we're not, we're not fans of it, but we'll go, we'll try to at least look at the schedule and kind of see where this team is at record-wise.

The two most overrated football discourse items to me is schedule release.

I like, I do not care.

I, I, I used to go, I, I'm not gonna be able to do it this year, but in the past I've gone on like yearly trips, and I've strategically taken them right around the schedule release, cause I'm like, I don't even want to talk about it.

I don't even wanna go.

I don't want to create content around this, this annoyingness.

It's just not, it's not interesting to me.

And then I also think that Jersey Discourse is vastly overrated and I really do not care.

Yeah, I care.

I care immensely.

I know you do.

I'm OK.

There's a lot of people who have very strong takes.

I, what about, what about, because I remember you were saying this earlier, like the one thing I genuinely do care a lot about, like more than the Jersey stuff is Hall of Fame discourse.

I remember, I also don't care about that.

Oh, there you go too.

What, what, what do you care less about?

Uh, I care most about that than the other three.

I think I care the least about schedule release, and then it goes, and then it goes jersey discourse and then Hall of Fame.

I like, I, I, I get the need for Hall of Fame discourse.

It just feels like we're setting arbitrary requirements at this stage, but, well, that, that's the whole point because I know, and that's silly to me, because if it wasn't, then you just have to hit a checklist of things and then you get in automatically.

The point is for sure, for sure.

I, I just don't really find the debates interesting, but.

It's, that's neither here nor there.

The baseball one's funnier before we get into Bruce Hall, because like, my dad is very much a small Hall of Fame guy, so every time a guy like Harold Baines getting in was crazy, but every time like a Scott Rowland or a Harold Baines gets in, or call me up livid, like, I can't believe they did this blah blah blah blah.

He can't believe admittedly that Don Mattingly and Keith Hernandez are not in the Hall of Fame, and Both of these other guys are, which that's such a dad thing to get angry about, like to be so furious about.

Oh, he, yeah, well, he's a big, like he hates the compilers, he hates, you know, yeah, yeah, above average for 17 years.

He would rather, uh, he's anti-Frank Gore.

Yeah, he's anti-Frankel.

He'd rather be like an Earl Campbell where you have like 3 or 4 years where you're unstoppable.

Like you're telling me he doesn't think Jamie Moyer has a Hall of Fame case.

Jamie, Jamie Moyer is a little bit different because Jamie Moyer was average until he was 50, pretty much.

I mean, that's, it's the definition of compiling, though.

I, I, he meant more like Craig Bigio getting 3000 hits kind of thing is.

His definition, but we'll get into some football now.

Thank you for joining.

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Bruce Hall time.

3 years, just under $46 million for the extension, which it's gonna raise some eyebrows because now he's the 3rd highest paid running back in the league, only Saquon Barkley and Christian McCaffrey on a year, on an average per year value basis are ahead of him.

And that's gonna be a bold thing .

Oh my God, how did you pay a running back that, how could you pay a running back that?

At least for me, cause we've talked about the merits of paying Bruce Hall, and we've had the debate.

The, the main point I've still been on is an offseason that's been all about add around the quarterback, make this as desirable as possible, to the point where now where if the Jets draft a quarterback next year, he's walking into not only not a bad situation, like Donald walked into and just got the meat grinded out of him, but now they're walking into a dare I say, good situation.

With a good offensive line and weapons and all that, don't create a hole.

Don't force yourself to use a pick on a running back in a bad class to get Bruce Hall.

Most of my objection, you can go back and check the tape on this.

The thing that I hated about Brees the most, and it was nothing to do with him as a player, even if he's lost a step, he's consistent, he runs in between the tackles, he stopped doing that hesitation thing he did earlier in his career.

He's a lot more north-south than he was, very good pass catcher, blocks well enough.

The thing I didn't like was all the tweets about, man, my team stinks, I'd rather be on this other really good team, like, look, I know the Jets suck right now.

I know they're probably not gonna be good next year.

I know for your entire career, which is shorter than most other positions at running back, they've been bad.

I get why you're frustrated, you're allowed to be frustrated.

I mean, we are, and we don't play for them.

Imagine how frustrating it would be to play for them.

The thing I hated was just taking it out on social media and being, for lack of a better word, just a bit of a pest, because, OK, dude, knock it off.

You know how many times I've said knock it off when I'm reading brief tweets.

When he signed that extension, it seemed like he is a lot more focused, I believe, in Darren Mooji and Aaron Glenn.

One thing I thought was really interesting is he said, I'm a top 10 running back.

I haven't been really good, a good situation, which is true.

His whole career, that's been pretty much true.

Is he the only one, because he said he's the only one.

Could we think of another example like a guy who's been consistently that good and has not?

Oh, and I would also push back, the running back rankings fluctuate every now and again.

I would also push back on Bruce being consistently a top 10 running back because I definitely don't think he was in 2024.

I guess if you average it out over years, yeah, yeah, I would, I wouldn't throw.

The good thing though is that now he's locked up.

Once they pay Bejon Robinson, Atlanta does and Detroit does with Jamir Gibbs, he's gonna go down to top 5.

It's not gonna look nearly as onerous as a contract .

And I think those deals are gonna be a lot more than what Brace got.

And also, Bree isn't really, like, who else the Jets paying right now?

They have nobody to pay.

I remember I did a follow-up article about guys the Jets should look to pay next.

Outside of Titman, there's really no hot button guy.

It's Will McDonald and then everybody else like Membu's years away, Olu's years away, like, you gotta wait a little bit for somebody of that.

They're not paying anybody.

They have a bunch of cap space.

Now is when you can pay a Bruce Hall.

Maybe later if they ever get a quarterback and pay him 50 million a year, then you might not be able to, but now you can.

I say all that to say, after a lot of, I don't know if they should do that with Bruce Hall, I think they found a pretty equitable situation here.

Yeah, I, I'm just happy that they got it done now and we don't have to wait months and months and months of drama and speculation and oh, is he gonna get traded?

Oh, he's tweeting again.

Oh my God, right, as Brian said in Chad, glad to retire the hall monitor before the end of rookie camp.

Absolutely like that's.

The biggest win for me here is that we're getting this done right after rookie minicamp.

Like this is done before OTAs.

There's no speculation or outside noise or distraction.

It's done now.

Uh, and I, I still, I, I, I don't wanna like completely flip my stance on.

Where I see Brees in like 2-3 years in this Jets roster, I'm not confident he's on the team in 2 years.

I, I still think there's a world that I haven't seen anybody talk about how it was structured, if they can feasibly trade him at the deadline, if they're like basically like two straight franchise tags.

That's what I saw is that it's basically a 2-year deal with a team option for the 3rd year.

Like that's essentially how it's functioning, which that, that's very good for a running back, absolutely, because what he's, he's 25, he's gonna be 25 this year, right?

Which is so young still for a guy entering his his 5th year in the league now, 4th year.

He's he's been through some shit.

Yeah, it's gonna be his 5th year in the league.

Um, he's still extremely young, and so you get him for the next 2, 2.5, 3 years, whatever it's gonna be.

First of all, it's a really good deal for Bree cause it allows him to hit the market again and, and, you know, make good money once he, once, you know, a couple of years go by.

Uh, but it's a good deal for the Jets as well, because they have that, they maintain that flexibility, uh, and like you said, Mike, you wanna have the best.

Infrastructure possible for a young quarterback that you're likely adding in 2027.

You want to maintain that flexibility as much as you can.

You don't really have any other guys that you're trying to pay right now.

So it's a no-brainer to get it done.

Uh, you know, again, I, I, I'm still hesitant that he's definitely going to be a building block that you keep around for the foreseeable future, but he's a really good young player, and I think he's perfectly set up to have a career year this year.

I thought Bruce Hall in 2024 took a huge step back, and that's not, you know, it's not a hot take to say that.

Uh, you know, we said tell you that.

Yeah, after that 2023 season, there were conversations about Brees being a top five running back in football.

Like I, I remember us having those conversations on this show.

Like he ranked, I, I've said this stat a million times now, but he, he ranked top four in scrimmage yards in 2023.

The only three players who had more scrimmage yards in the entire NFL were Christian McCaffrey, CD Lamb, and Tyreek Hill.

All of those, all three of those players, I believe, played in top five offenses.

Brees played in the 31st ranked offense.

He was the Jets' offense.

He was the entire Jets' offense in 2023.

Then he took a step back in 2024, uh, you know, call it a toxic situation, whatever it was, like, obviously the Jets had higher expectations going into 2024 with Rodgers coming.

That was their first mistake was was expectations.

Well, that's always the Jets' mistake, isn't it?

His expectations, uh, but you know, things, things did not go according to plan, and, and Bruce himself had a bad year .

He also had ball security issues.

I believe he had 6 fumbles.

I think he led the team in like with like 9 drops, and Al Lazard was on that team still, and I believe Bruce Hall led the team in drops.

So, it was a very disappointing season, but I thought 2025, he, he bounced back.

You know, maybe he's he's not the same guy he was in 2023, maybe we'll never see that version of Brees again.

I do think this year we absolutely have a possibility to see that version of Brees just with, you know, even a semi-competent passing attack and a good offensive line and a defense that's allowing the team not to be trailing by 20 every single game.

He should be in line for a career year, but I think 2024, he ranked something like 23rd in rushing yards over expected.

I believe he was right around like.

Like 0, like it was like, oh he might have had negative rushing yards over expected.

Uh, last year he ranked 7th, so a significant improvement, at least as far as the analytics go, and I thought the eye test, right, the old, the old eye test and on tape, he looked better, he looked more explosive.

He was more consistent as a runner, which 2024 was just a lot of, I feel like a lot of, of negative carries for Brees Hall, a lot of negative plays.

He didn't really get as many of those last year, so I'm optimistic to see what he could do this year.

I think he could be in line for a career season and.

I'm happy that he's just under contract now.

Looking back, because I really wanna highlight that quote about which I think was kind of a veiled shot at Joe Douglas, who remains gainfully employed for reasons that go beyond the limits of psychopharmacology.

I cannot understand that.

Sure, and Mike McAddon and Mike McCAnon together.

Yes, they're gonna be in the same meetings together, isn't that funny?

Yes, they will with Howie when I drafted this bus.

No, remember when I drafted a bigger one?

Oh, with Howie Roseman, with Howie Roseman go, All right, guys, shut up now.

Let's actually pick, right, right, but 2022.

Comes in like a rocket and then he blows out his knee, done after a couple games, was it 5 games?

It was like 6 games something like that or it was that the Denver game where he went nuts and then got hurt and AVT that same game and AVT what a disaster.

I saw the, the Jets just posted like some highlights from like some Bree's best runs, and I saw the run in Denver, and it was like, in my head it was like moments before disaster, cause ABT ABT is running right after him to celebrate in the end zone.

It's like it just stopped like I wish I could just rewind to that moment and be like , no, no, no.

End the game.

Just chill.

I played the Broncos again this year.

Like, what?

I know, dude.

I like I remember a while back, like late 2000 2010, they play the Raiders every year too.

I remember, yeah, and this is that equivalent.

Not only did the Jets play the Broncos again, so did the Patriots.

So ABT is not escaping the Broncos.

I don't know if that's home or not, but I'm not sure.

He is playing the Broncos.

So then 2023, that was the year if Rodgers didn't have the Achilles, but He got screwed.

Not only does he have Zach Wilson in, so again, there's no threat of a vertical passing game, but also, I mean, that offensive line at the end of the year too, literally, we're not exaggerating, like they were pulling guys off the street.

It was Chris Glazer time.

Chris Glazer, Jake Hanson, uh, I, I, some of the names aren't even, I don't even remember them at this point.

It's been a while .

That'll be, that'll be a fun research project, like name as many 2023 Jets alignment as possible.

Dude, I'm legitimately trying to remember off the top of my head, like was Carter Warren, did he get drafted that Carter Warren, yeah, Carter Warren was in the league, then Max Mitchell obviously was on that team.

Oh man, it was, it's, it's bleak.

Oh, didn't they?

Was that the year they signed Roger Saffold, and he never played, or was that?

Yeah, what the, what was that about?

I'm like, what happened was an all pro.

Was that that year or was that before that?

I think that was that year.

It might have been, or it was 22.

That was 23.

They signed Roger Saffold.

He never ended up playing.

Hilarious.

I throw Chris Glazer out there.

So he gets that.

I don't know how as a running back, you have a truly elite year with that setup.

Then 2024, Rodgers comes back.

Not only did he not have the great year over expected, but also we were watching those games.

They, they weren't even making an attempt to have a creative running game.

It was, there were a couple different run concepts.

The line was better but still not very good.

Rodgers was in shotgun 80% of the time, so it's hard for Brece to really get a full head of steam going.

That is stylistically scheme-wise, not necessarily talent-wise, scheme-wise, that's as bad of a fit for Bree as you could possibly get.

And then last year, Zach, they're actually running the ball well earlier in the year because Fields is a running threat, but then teams realized, oh hey, he won't even throw the ball forward.

Then they just stack the box and then Brees gets limited.

So those are 4 really bad situations, and he's been productive to some degree, maybe not elite, but productive, I think more than most would be in that situation, in all of them.

That's not something you give up when you're not paying anybody.

Like, what was the alternative, draft Jonah Coleman in the 3rd or 4th round and then get rid of him?

Like, like, is that better than this?

No, it's not.

No, I agree.

We, we forgot one legendary offensive lineman from that from that year, Mike.

Forgot Billy Turner.

Oh yeah, Billy Hackett's, uh, one of his many pacifiers that he had to bring along, uh, as Brian put it, one of the Rodgers crew of old weird bad veterans, yes, Randall Cobb included, uh, Brian put in chat, I don't think, I don't think we have contract terms, but it's not typically difficult to trade running backs.

He said David Johnson got traded on an awful contract, and then another example was that Joe Mixon's contract, of course, was not well regarded.

I remember that he was expected to be cut.

It was a shock when the Texans traded for him, and I remember people being like, this is a terrible trade.

Why would he Houston do this?

Um, but yeah, I look, I, I think the door is still gonna be open at some point if the Jets are bad, but it's only if they're bad.

Like if the Jets are even remotely competitive next year and they're going into the deadline and maybe they're like.

A game or two below 500, right?

4 and 5 or they trade him, even like 3 and 6, I don't think they're trading him, like they would have to be like horrific and at a point where it's like, OK, Aaron Glenn's fired.

Like once, if you get to the point where Glenn is getting fired mid-season and you know you're just, you're terrible, maybe Gino was awful and you're already thinking about playing Clubnick and it's, it's October or early November, yeah, then maybe you trade Brees.

Then maybe Brees probably wants out at that stage cause he's like, I'm wasting another year of my career here.

Uh, but they may have done it like sauce where they structure it in a way where they could, like, we could trade you now if it's not going good, but if it's going good, then you're locked in.

There's 29 million guarantees, so it's, it's gonna be even much, much fewer guarantees than sauce, and they were still able to trade sauce.

Uh, yeah, I don't know, man.

I , I, I'm not sold that he's gonna definitely be here, but I think right now, I think he's reinvigorated.

I think you see him at that press conference, he Are we, I don't know if I'm ready to say the mope is fully gone, but I think he himself is optimistic about where the Jets are going this year.

I think he himself looks at the offensive line.

I, I, it seems like he's happy with the quarterback and the receivers, and I think he feels like he could have a really good season this year.

And I think in his mind, he's like, all right, you know, I grind for these next couple of years, even if the Jets suck, hopefully it's a better situation.

I can make some really good money in a couple of years.

Like I, I think he's looking at this as next couple of years, I, I, I establish myself as top 5 running back in football.

I could get some, some really big bucks.

And who knows?

Maybe the Jets draft the quarterback, they overachieve, and, and he can have a long-term future with the Jets.

I think that's probably how he's looking at this, and he just made good money.

Like he's, he's making reasonable money, I think we've had bad days at work.

And then something goes, you, you know, it picks up your spirits a little bit and you go, well, you know, we never got $46 million.

We got $46 million.

It also helps.

I do what I do whatever.

Look, we have a lot of fun and we really like our jobs.

I'll do whatever the company wants at this job.

This podcast is really fun.

If they said, hey, you have to turn it into a stock like, like Mad Jim Cramer stock show.

$46 million.

Sorry buddy, that's what we're doing way worse for 36 $46 million.46 million dollars.

Yeah, I'll do I do a lot of things for $46 million.

Reese, the good thing about this too is he's, he's young enough where so many running backs just have to take whichever team, irrespective of the situation, just offers them the most money.

Like this is a really like small.

Example, but like Tyler Algier going to Arizona and they take Jeremiah Love.

They probably just gave him the most money and he knows, I'm only gonna get one more big contract, quote unquote.

Reese is young enough where after this with the Jets or somebody else, he's still probably gonna get one more paid like a starter, maybe not this, maybe not like top five money anymore, but one more contract of some note.

I think he's also in a spot where it's like, I'm not just taking the Jets because this is my only chance to make money.

He's only if you really want to force a way out, I think he could have.

I think he could have, yeah, no, for sure.

I, yeah, yes, it's funny to think too, like going back to the trade deadline, if Kansas City offers a 3rd round pick, he's gone.

He's not even on this roster right now.

And then the Jets obviously figure out something else at running back there.

They're probably, I don't know, they're probably, yeah, I was gonna say they're probably in the free agent market.

Rico Dowdell, it's funny you say that because that was the name that I had.

Mentioned before he even broke out with Carolina last year as a potential target.

I think they could have been in that market or whatever.

I don't think they would have been going after Kenneth Walker or, you know, that tier of running back free agent, but that, that's, that would have been the alternative, that Kansas City didn't want to pay up a third.

They ended up paying Kenneth Walker basically the same as what Brees is getting.

I'm pretty sure it's basically the same per year, I think.

Uh, and I don't know about you, Mike.

I think Bruce Hall might be better than Kenneth Walker.

I, I, I think Bruce is probably a better player than Walker.

Ken Walker's got a Super Bowl MVP, so that's, well, check in his favor, but yeah, you know, it helps when you're, you're playing on a Super Bowl contender and not the Jets.

That, that's uh certainly a big part of it.

Looking ahead to 2026 for Bree, as we kind of transition into talking about this running back room, unless you really quick, by the way, just cause I was curious, Bruce is currently 12th all time in.

Rushing yards in Jets history, almost 3400.

If he had, if he had 1100 yards this year, where does he end up breaking?

1100, so let's just say it's 34, 34 plus 11 is 45.

I figured that out.

Good work.

You got it.

He would be 4th all time.

Behind Emerson Boozer, Freeman McNeil, and Curtis Martin.

And then if he plays, if he has 2 years of 1100, just rushing yards.

Then he is firmly 3rd behind the Jets are a little bit weird in that regard because they had Martin and McNeil for so long that, Free McNeil was there for 11 years.

Curtis Martin was there for almost 10 years, so they just took up so much time.

But yeah, Bruce Hall is well on his way to being like a top 3 running back in Jets history if he plays at this level throughout the duration of his contract.

Literally, if he stays healthy this year, he'll be top 4 in rushing yards.

I, I don't.

He stays healthy, there's no reason he shouldn't have, you know, 1000 or 1100 rushing yards.

He had, he had 1,065 last year, and he, he missed the game and was in a horrific offense.

There's no reason to believe that he can't be, you know, top four in rushing yards by the end of the year.

Uh, but yeah, looking ahead to 2026 as we're kind of taking the guys he passed, by the way, Sean Green, Adrian Morrell, Bilau Powell, all buddy Bilau Powell has already passed or like will pass if he gets that.

A blau pal Thomas Jones, John Riggins, and Johnny Hector and Matt Snell, so he's, he's up there.

Johnny Hector, I feel like is not a name that anybody ever talks about in the running in Jets running backs lore.

Him and Freeman McNeil together because he was, I guess, a fullback, but that was talking about Thunder and lightning, those two.

Well, same with Snell was a fullback too.

That was back in the days though where like fullback running back was split equally and the Jets and the thing in the late 80s are one of the few teams that gave their fullback that many like carry carries.

Well, then they drafted then they drafted Roger Vick.

That was fun.

And then that was as we can see in the video we did with Charlie Wweni that worked out fantastically, sarcasm, obviously, yes, uh, yeah, as we look at.

In 2026, we're taking a look at this overall running back room.

You know, last, last week we did the quarterbacks.

Uh, we didn't time this, or this ends up being perfect timing because we were planning to do the running backs anyway this week, and then Bruce Hall gets extended a couple of days and we got the quarterbacks right before the Clubnick Aura video.

Yeah, dude, perfect timing.

What's gonna happen with the wide receivers next week because I think next week we're doing receivers.

Oh God, it's gonna be a trade.

You trade a wide receiver during while we're no Mims comes back it's gonna happen again.

They trade Arian Smith for a, you know, future 7th.

I don't know.

That should be good value, uh, they make that, that like veteran one year deal that we've been saying they should make for a while.

They get like Noah Brown in or something like that.

Tim Patrick, Tim Patrick still out there.

Makes too much sense.

Uh, yeah, I love at this point in the offseason when like.

Like you, you want, you're not gonna make like a huge big addition, like even Bobby O'Karake, we've been mentioning at linebacker for a while, but like, for multiple shows we're like, man, if they get Tim Patrick, like multiple shows we're like, please sign Tim Patrick, who's gonna have like 11 catches all year.

Yeah, well, I don't even think it's like a man, if they get Tim Patrick , watch out.

Who's stopping this secret weapon.

Who's stopping Geno Smith and Tim Patrick?

I don't think that's the combo.

It's more like nobody has ever said that it's more history of football.

Tim Patrick is a higher floor than Isaiah Williams and Aaron Smith, and it's more so just the connection, like the Muji connection, the Glenn connection, but anyway, Bruce Hall, 2026.

What are your expectations for him going into this year?

Last year, just for context.

243 carries, 1,065 yards, only 4 touchdowns.

He's actually never had more than 5 rushing touchdowns in a season, more just about the Jets than him.

He's never in position.

Number one, he has like, he had to have been tackled the one-yard line like 8 times that I can remember, yeah.

And then on top of that, when Zach Wilson is your quarterback and Justin Fields is your quarterback.

They're very rarely in field goal range, let alone touchdown range.

And then perhaps most interesting to me is his receiving production has really fallen off a cliff.

Two years ago, 2023, he had 95 targets, 76 catches, 591 yards, 4 touchdowns.

Year after that, only 483 yards, only 3 touchdowns, 57 catches.

This past year, 36 catches, 350 yards, 1 touchdown, the fewest, the lowest receiving production of his career since his rookie year where he only played 7 games.

Do you think that's gonna be a bigger point of emphasis to get him involved in the passing game in 2026?

And I guess what are your expectations from this year?

I think it's gonna be less of a passing game, and that's not his fault.

It's just gonna be because.

I think some of his targets from last year especially are gonna be dispersed among Kenyon Siddiq and Omar Cooper and Mason Taylor.

Now, I'm actually expecting.

A lot more rushing.

I, I want like 1300 yards out of Brees if he's healthy.

And I'm saying that because everybody , I guess cause he was a quarterback and all that, they have this picture of Frank Reich, it's passing games and quarterbacks and all that.

People forget like he had Jonathan Taylor in Indianapolis, and that was one of the main reasons I think that he kinda got off to the start that he did.

Frank Reich, even with subpar talent, if he was in Philly, his running backs were LeGarrett Blunt and Jay Ajayi, if you remember those guys, Corey Clement.

And they had pretty good running games, and they were making plays in the playoffs.

Frank Reich, he can whip up a running game, I think better than a lot of people gave him credit for.

Now Jonathan Taylor is a singular freaky talent where it's very easy to whip up a running game for a guy like that, but I'm expecting a lot out of Breese, and unfortunately though, for the other two guys like Braylan Allen and Isaiah Davis, I think last year, maybe this was.

Part of the year ethos of just let's see who can play, just we'll fumigate basically.

We're gonna see who can play, see who's bought in, everybody who isn't, we're gonna get rid of you.

I think Aaron Glenn won today, let's ride the hot hand , let's see how it goes kind of thing.

I think even with Braylo Allen and Isaiah Davis, with Allen coming off the injury, I think this is going to be Breese is getting 20 touches a game, every single game.

I don't think there's gonna be as much Braylin Allen, I don't think there's gonna be as much Isaiah Davis.

And that stinks cause I think both those guys have potential, especially, I think Alan, I think the physical tools, he's still so young.

I mean, running backs are getting picked this year that are older than him.

Oh, easily, yeah , so there's, there's still room for something there.

I just think with how they've committed to Bree and all that.

I think that there is an expectation that he's gonna be really for the first time in his career, a true bell cow.

Where he's gonna be like getting the bulk of the carries and there isn't gonna be much of a challenger.

Yeah, I'm looking at his uh snaps played last year down to 64%.

He was 72%, uh, ironically in the least efficient year in 2024, 61% the year before that.

Um, Roy Romano, Bruce Hall is not Jonathan Taylor.

I didn't say he was Jonathan Taylor.

I'm saying Frank Reich can cook up an offense that can make him look like 85% of Jonathan Taylor.

Correct?

No, we didn't.

No one's saying he's Jonathan.

No one's saying he's Jonathan Taylor or a top three running back in the NFL at this stage.

But look, if he gets 1300 yards, I'm looking at the rushing leaders last year, 1300 yards would put him, uh, 6th in the NFL.

So last year the only 5 running backs with more than 1300 yards were James Cook, Derrick Henry, Jonathan Taylor, Bajon Robinson, Devon HN, uh, HN, I don't know if he's gonna replicate that this year, right?

Henry, who knows how much he's got left in the tank at this stage?

Like, maybe I'm gonna say a lot probably, but who knows, man?

I'm waiting, you know, I've been waiting for him to hit the cliff, like hit that cliff for the last 4 guys just don't, and I thought he did but.

Before he went to Baltimore, I really thought he did at the end of his Titans career, and I'm like, OK, I think we've finally seen the end of like peak Derrick Henry, and then we didn't.

And then he's just, he's still awesome.

He's still a freak.

That's what he is.

Some guys are just built like that, Frank Gore.

Some guys are just built like that.

Yeah, no, I, I do think, I agree that I think it's gonna be primarily Bree.

Like it's gonna be maybe not full bell cow, but it's gonna be.

75% of the work I think is gonna go to Brees in in the uh in the Jets' backfield, which is probably how it should be.

I think Brees is just a significantly better player than any other running back on this Jets roster right now.

I think you are higher on Braylin Allen, and maybe it's just I'm lower on Braylan Allen than a lot of fans are.

I think Isaia.

Davis is the 2nd best running back in the Jets roster right now, and I've, I've kind of been on that train for a while.

Allen has a higher ceiling.

I think that's for sure, but when it comes to running backs, man, there's not a lot of examples of like developmental high ceiling running backs that like hit in the NFL that like actually develop a lot.

It's just one of those positions that a lot of times you just got it or you don't.

You know, it's rare to see a guy like take 3 to 4 years to fully reach their ceiling as a running back.

Like, generally, they're pretty productive, you know, earlier on, or at least they show you what they can be.

I think Raylan Allen is just.

A super physically talented guy.

I mean, he's, he's, what is he, 6 ft, 235 pounds, something like that.

He's even bigger.

Yeah, he's a, he's a Mack truck, dude's a bulldozer, right?

But I just don't see the down to down consistency with him.

I think Isaiah Davis is just one of those guys that He's a jack of all trades, master of none, does all the little things.

I think he's the best pass blocker on this Jets, in this Jets running back room.

He's a solid pass catcher.

He, he's not super big, he's not super fast, like he's not gonna be, if he gets in open space, he's generally not breaking it.

Like he's not, he's not a dude that's gonna outrun defense.

He just can't do that.

Neither really is Raylan Allen for the most part, he never really was at South Dakota State.

He didn't have a great team, but because he does all that stuff and because he's also, he, he plays a lot of special teams.

Isaiah Davis is, is clearly a favorite of this chess special teams staff.

I think he played like 65% of special teams snaps last year.

I think he's gonna, he's someone who's gonna have a 10-year NFL career.

I don't know if Raylan Allen gets a second contract in the NFL.

It's kind of where I stand on those two right now.

I hope he does, and I hope Raylan Allen team will take a chance on him.

Yeah, but with running backs, you never like just even if he gets a second contract, that doesn't mean he's gonna do anything with that second team.

Like I could totally see him as someone who's out of the league in 3 years, whereas Isaiah Davis, I, I, I would feel much stronger about him being on the team.

As far as 2026 goes, I think Davis still makes a lot of sense as the guy that you bring in as, as a third down back.

Obviously, you can use Brees in that role too, and I'm not saying that it's a strict, you, you take Breese Hall out on third downs.

In fact, you shouldn't be doing that cause you should be wanting to get him involved in the passing game and out of the backfield like.

and 5, you should have Bruce Hall as a threat out of the backfield.

It shouldn't just be as Isaiah Davis in their pass blocking, right?

It shouldn't be as, as obvious as that, which I feel like the Jets have had a tendency to do in the past.

Uh , but I do think that's where Isaiah Davis can get the the majority of his work.

And then Braylan Allen should be your short yardage back.

I mean, we've, we've been saying it for a while, but, you know, as, um, I'll show this.

Where was it?

Uh, Roy Romano said in chat, Reese isn't an in between the tackles running back.

I don't think that's his specialty.

I think he's, he can't do it, but he's gotten better at it.

I think he he had to because he got like a step slower after the injury and he had to be a little more north-south.

Yes, he, he, he is, uh, I don't know if I say this.

He said Brees is great in open space, but he avoids contact.

I don't know if I'd say Brees avoids.

I don't think you could say that about most.

That's a little harsh for a running back, but I get what you're saying.

He's not, he doesn't run like Sean Green, if that's what you're comparing him to.

He doesn't run like Derrick Henry.

He's not trying to run through guys, run over guys.

OK, those are your two points of comparison, Derrick Henry and Sean Green.

Sean Green, if.

He was as physically talented as that.

Like he would run.

He runs the same way as Derrick Henry.

He's just smaller and way less athletic.

Like he's just not a tank.

I run the same way too.

I'm just like, he's got like, you know, 100 pounds on me, so you don't, you would not run.

You would get snapped in half.

You would not.

Derrick Henry is 240 pounds, and you would avoid do that.

You would avoid contact.

Uh, I don't know my, my play style is that of, uh, of Jalen Saunders.

Oh, sure, sure, not an NFL player, sure, exactly.

Hey, you know, we're both not in the NFL, so what do you got there, Jalen?

Yeah, my, my NFL comp is Christian Hackenberg, neither of us have played an NFL game.

Uh, Roy Romano highlights.

I'm watching all 22.

Yeah, I don't know.

I don't know what, I don't know.

I don't know what you're, I don't know what you're objecting to that we just said, um, but yeah, I'm a bigger Davis fan.

I think Davis is going to, I think Davis plays more than Allen this year.

That would be my immediate prediction if I'm making one right now.

I don't know where you stand on that.

Well, see, here's the two, and again, I've, as I've, as it's been established, I like Raylan Allen more than Isaiah Davis.

Here's the problems with Raylan Allen.

There are two of them.

One goes back to Wisconsin.

Number 1.

He doesn't run like a guy Ray uh Ray Roman Ray Romano, Roy Romano says I would like to see him drop a shoulder.

He doesn't run like Derrick Henry when he, I think he's talking about Breece, but I think that does work for Raylan Allen as well.

It works for Braylin Allen.

Braylan Allen should be.

End zones that way.

Here I come, boom, run over you, especially nowadays with how small defenses are size-wise.

Makes like he doesn't.

It's like a lot of back and forth and juking and stuff, and I feel like if Shaq was trying to be Jalen Brunson stylistically, like it could the visual, the visual that like it Shaq playing style wise they're very different .

But, and the other thing too is, and this isn't really his fault, but because he's not, he's just never gonna be a great receiver, and I think that even when the Jets drafted him, they knew that.

When he comes on, everybody up, run, run up the middle.

And that's partly just because stylistically he, he's that type of runner, but like you're not gonna have him catch a wheel ride out of the backfield, you're not gonna motion him out and have him line up in the slot or something like that in that in his, uh, they're so limited with what they can do when Braylan Allen's on the field.

In his 2nd career game, didn't he catch a wheel route touchdown?

Perhaps he did.

No, it was a screen.

Oh, a screen, whatever it was.

I know we had a receiving at the Titans game.

Yeah, it was a screen, and we were like, oh my God, the Jets have a 1-two punch.

It's Bruce Hall and Brayw Allen.

This is crazy.

And then they almost lost that game.

They just needed Will Levis to immolate in the 4th quarter and then they won.

And then that, that literally was the peak of Raylan Allen's career.

I hate to say that.

But that was, that was, that's been the peak so far of his career.

I actually thought, what was week three that year?

What happened?

Oh no, that was same old Jets' death because they killed the Patriots.

That was that game.

That was, that was 24 to whatever it was, Patriots game.

Yeah, it was same old, and then they all lived happily ever after.

yep, and then they never played another game after that.

And then, and then they lost, I think it was to the Broncos because of a bunch of missed field goals.

Woody Johnson was like, fire everybody.

It's like you were almost 3 and 1, but OK. Um, I actually thought Braylin Allen showed some progress last year in his limited playing time before he got hurt.

Like, I think he was averaging close to like 5 yards of carry, which obviously we're not gonna box score watch here , but I did think he showed some, some improvement, and then for some stupid ass reason, Mike, they put him on the kick return team.

And he got hurt returning that I, it's so easy.

Like, it's gonna get lost the time because the Jets special teams was so unbelievable for the vast majority of problem number 30 on the list of problems they had last year.

But the first few weeks of the season where they were just throwing, remember Avery Williams, who they threw out there.

It was maybe the slowest returner I've ever seen in my life.

Oh, they had Isaiah Williams, and he muffed a punt, and we're like this guy, no, it was a fair caught it like the one, yeah, yeah, Isaiah as a doofus and Isaiah Williams was, you know, a disaster.

They brought in Avery Williams from the Falcons who legitimately looked like he was running with cinder blocks on his feet.

They put Raylan Allen, their 240 pound power back, back as a kick returner they're figuring if he gets up to speed, he's hard to tackle, and then he got hurt and he missed the rest of the year.

That is all gonna get lost to time.

No one's ever gonna talk about that in the next year or so, but.

What was any of that?

Like, that was, what a disaster that was.

So hopefully, the Jets have learned their lesson and they're not gonna have Braylan Allen returning kicks this year.

Uh, thankfully they have Kenne Wonwu.

They, they have Isaiah Williams there.

I guess, looking at the rest of this running back room too, Wang Wu is gonna be on the roster.

He's gonna be their kick returner.

He's their 4th guy.

I don't, they, they do have two other UDFAs on their roster.

I know.

One of them you did look at, right, you did watch Chip train him at at Toledo.

Uh, Sam Scott, I'm sure was not on your radar, anyone's radar.

I do wonder though with Nwangw, like, is there a chance the Jets just say, you know what, Isaiah Williams is doing both, and then they use the other roster spot for Nwanggu and somebody else.

What was Wongu's contract that they gave him?

I'm pretty sure he had some guarantees in there, um, because they brought him back.

1 million guaranteed.

So I'll be a decent like that, it's half his contract is guaranteed.

So I, that tells me they probably expect him to be on the week one roster.

Uh, he's just so freaking good, dude.

Like I, I was kicks.

I had these numbers.

I had these numbers the other day, and I think I should be able to find them, uh, like just showing how unbelievably, like, historically, historically good Kenne Wongu is as a returner.

Uh, he's averaging, he has, so he's, I think, 8th or 9th all time already in kick return touchdowns in NFL history.

There's only 8 players in NFL history who have more kick return touchdowns than Kenne Wonw.

Cordero Patterson, I'm guessing.

Cordell Patterson is #1.

Won.

Uh, Wangu has the same number of kick return touchdowns in his career as Devin Hester.

Now, yeah, yeah, obviously Hester, the punt returns , but Devin Hester had 5 kick return touchdowns.

I'm not gonna have the exact numbers here, but it's, this is roughly what it was.

He has 5 kick return touchdowns in his career, Hester, on like 200, 260 attempts, something like that.

Wangu has 5.

I think 89 attempts in his career .

Wongu is averaging 1 kick return touchdown per every 17.8 kick returns.

Hester, what, like every third game or fourth game he's running one back.

Hester averaged 1 every 59 attempts.

Corderell Patterson, who was the all-time leader with, I think 9 kick return touchdowns, he averaged 1 every like 28 or 29 kick return touchdowns, or 11 touchdown every 9 uh 29 kick returns.

Wongu was at 1 every 17.8.

He, he is like statistically the best kick returner in NFL history, at least efficiency wise.

There's only one player in league history.

I just did a video on this, that's why I know these numbers.

There's one player in league history who has averaged more kick return yards like per per return in their career, and it's Gayle Sayers.

That's it, which is pretty good.

Hall of Famer.

Knew was 2nd.

So I know and Gayle Sayers, especially that rookie year.

Had that may still be, I think the best rookie year in NFL history.

Count counting all rushing, receiving, and kicks, he touched the ball 232 times, and he scored 22 touchdowns.

So about every 10 times he touches the ball in any capacity, he's scoring a touchdown, which is absurd.

That's insane.

Oh, I wish he didn't get hurt.

So I, I know Wang Wu is a walking hamstring pole, and, and it's good to have depth behind him for that reason, but Dude, when he's out there, I mean, teams, teams late in the year last year were literally kicking the ball through the end zone, giving the ball, they're giving the Jets the ball at the 35, partially because they, they didn't care, you know, because that was their best, their best offense, partially because Brady Cook was the quarterback, but also because one of the game, one of the, the Browns game.

Yes, like they were more scared of Kenne Wongu and Isaiah Williams returning kicks than Brady Cook at quarterback, and I agree that was the right strategy.

They should be, uh, but I, I, I only thing I wonder though is like.

And, and I don't know every single team across the league how they're allocating roster spots.

Are teams gonna use two designated roster spots on just pure returners?

The Jets would be doing that with Isaiah Williams is the way the new kick return rules work, like especially with the landing zones, you kind of have to have two really good returners back there, like, cause otherwise teams will just kick away from them.

That's what they were doing when, uh, I believe Won Wu got hurt, right?

And then Isaiah Williams was the only one back there with Isaiah Davis.

They're just kicking Isaiah Davis every time.

They were, they're gonna kick away from him.

If you have both of those guys out there, you are, you are making them choose.

Uh, Brian asked, is Wongu threatening a franchise record.

I believe Justin Miller is tied with 5.

Leon Washington has more than 5, but I don't know how many came with the Jets.

I think Leon Washington had 6 when I was looking at those numbers, maybe he had 7.

Uh, but I believe Justin Miller also has 5, and those Leon Washington has 4.

That is the Jets' record.

That's the Justin Miller.

Who, who else did Justin Miller have a return?

Miller has 3.

Brad Smith is 3.

Was it with the, who else did Justin Miller play for that he would have had a kick return?

I think he had the, I think the Raiders, the Raiders maybe he left the Jets because he has 5, so in that case, Wongu is, uh, Woned for 4th.

He was he have 3 with the Jets?

2.

He only has 2 with the Jets.

Oh, you know who he's tied with?

RIP Joe McKnight.

He's one of the guys with 2.

So Wangu is 3 with the Vikings and then 2 with the Jets, that's what that means.

It's ridiculous.

Like that's absurd though.

I mean, he's barely played with the Jets.

He's played how many games with the Jets total?

Like 1514, 14 games total with the Jets .

Like Jericho Cory ran a kickback for a touchdown.

He didn't seem like a kick returner.

I don't remember that.

Aaron Glenn has one, by the way, so yeah, that makes sense.

Probably his rookie year.

Who was the last one before Wangu to have one?

Last jet to run a kickback for a touchdown before Nwwu.

I don't have that up right now, but trying to think of who that would.

Andre Roberts.

Andre Roberts.

Oh yes, Andre, dude, he was great that one year, Pro Bowler.

Yeah, the Jets have weirdly always have good returners, yeah, which is what made it frustrating the early portion of last year where they were throwing out again.

I, I can't.

No one's gonna remember Avery Williams in a year from now, but Jets fans who I didn't until you brought him up, right?

I don't think I've ever seen a slower player running, running back kicks.

I don't know how that I, I, he, and he, he's been a kick returner in his career, like in Atlanta.

That, that's why he's still in the league.

He got drafted as a cornerback.

Isn't he's still, there's no way he's still, he's he on an NFL roster right now.

I don't know if he is now, but he's around the periphery of the league.

No, but he's literally listed as a return specialist too, so there you go.

Yeah, no, he didn't sign with the team after that Jets stint, and I, I don't know what happened 4840.

Yeah, it looked like he was running with two broken feet, like he couldn't move.

I, I was like this is crazy for a dude returning kicks.

He's so slow.

But anyway, Wonwu is good.

What do you think about before we move on to Club Nick talk and schedule talk?

What do you, do you have any thoughts on Chip, uh, Chip Trainham?

Do you think he's anybody that can, you think he's gonna be like the Donovan Edwards of, of camp?

I think he's gonna be, well, that, that's why I was wondering about Won Wu because.

If the Jets, I know they say you need two good returners, but a lot of teams returners at least have some sort of role other than returning, and Isaiah Williams would be wide receiver 4 or 5 or whatever, but hey, Wongu was playing running back in like week 17 last year, week 18, that doesn't count.

So I was just wondering if they're gonna have a devoted kick returner and a devoted punt returner taking up 53 man roster spots.

And if they decide, you know what, Isaiah Williams and Isaiah Davis, that's fine.

Then I wonder if they could get rid of Wang Wu and then Trey Aum is like the RB4, which I don't know if they keep 4 running backs in that situation, they might, but I think Wang Wu stays and I think they're, I think they're fine with Wang Wu's RB4.

I think their biggest hesitation about using him there is him getting hurt, like, legitimately, I think that's, I think that's their best, I, I, if he's their spot running back, whatever.

Training is gonna be this year's like Jamal Pritchettt.

Or he's gonna be on the practice squad and they're gonna be begging like every week.

They're struggling.

Oh, call Chip Trey and I I think that's, I think that's Colin Lacy.

I think Colin Lacy is this year's Jamal Pritchett.

Actually, I don't even think Lacey is the guy who's most likely to like be around the Jets.

I think it might be the um DT Sheffield, uh, Malik McCLean.

Well, I, so my take has been that Colin Lacy is the Jamal Pritchett of this year's summer, and, and, uh, Malik McLean is the Quentin Skinner.

That's my take.

I think, yeah, I think, I think that's pretty damn accurate.

So you wanna talk Klubnick for a little bit?

Let's talk the aura man himself.

Let's talk Cade Klubnick, Mike.

Let's talk Cade Klubnick.

Chad Chad Pennington 2.0.

I do like the fact not that he took 10 because of Chad Pennington, but if he took 2, which was his college number, immediately there'd be Zach Wilson vibes.

Yeah , but there's no Jets quarterback can ever wear number 2 ever again.

Especially if you're a smaller guy who looks like Zach Wilson.

Yeah, you gotta just, you gotta look like, you just have to be very different.

You have to look like JaMarcus Russell or something like that if you're, if you're wearing number 2, you can't look at all stylistically similar to Zach Wilson.

Like Brownlee, different position, you can wear 2, that's fine.

So Geno Smith could have wore 2.

He plays very different than Zach, like, yeah, but you had to give him 7, so, yeah, of course.

Klubnik, and look, I don't wanna get too caught in.

I don't even wanna say hype cause there wasn't really a lot of things to get hyped over.

He just walked out of the.

The uh facility kind of cool and had some cool press conference answers that I liked.

The one thing that I actually thought was interesting slow-mo video.

No, that's slow-mo video, Mike.

Don't downplay that.

I was, as you said, James Morgan never did that.

That was some aura right there.

But one answer that I thought was surprising, he said, uh, and man , this quarterback class got injured a lot.

Ty Simpson, Nussmeyer, all smaller guys, isn't that funny?

But he said his ankle was hurt so bad he had to take an elevator to meetings cause he couldn't walk up the stairs.

Which for a guy who's so much of his game is about running, the fact he was toughing it out, man, and look, I don't want to just absolve him of blame, cause yeah, Clemson was terrible, but you're the quarterback, you bear some responsibility for that.

You're part of the reason that Antonio Williams didn't have the year that people thought he would.

The thing about Klubnick though, like we were saying originally, gotta get Russ, gotta get Russ, because if you want a veteran QB2, that's the only guy that is not replacement level because other than that's Josh Dobbs and Cooper Rush is, I think, a mini camp tryout with the Vikings, so he's not a serious guy either.

He wait, he really, he got a mini camp tryout.

He was at Vikings rookie minicamp like as a camp arm.

I missed that actually.

Interesting.

He was at some, it might have been a different team.

I think it was it was Vikings.

It was Vikings.

There we go.

The Jets aren't gonna give Kate Clubnick QB2 based off of aura or looking cool, but why not?

Why, why not?

I don't know.

Why not?

Why isn't that the basis that they're using?

I don't know, because I wanted to make decisions based on data and not cool videos.

I don't.

Then, OK, Brick Johnson.

All right, listen, man, I, that video, I'm telling you, it's great.

I will say this though, like, no matter, they could have signed Russ yesterday, and I would still have this opinion.

I think the Jets need to give Klubnick, at least, even if they had signed a veteran, need to give him a chance to prove he can be QB2.

And I think why they need to sign a veteran is cause right now, I think if they had to play tomorrow, I think Klubnik is the QB2.

Because I, Brady Cook certainly wouldn't be it.

It's either Zappy or or Clubnik, which Zappy was on the Browns practice squad all of last year.

So yeah, Zappy, uh, inferior to Dylan Gabriel, barely.

I would love to see how often it is.

That a team , like how many times in NFL history it's happened, that a team signed a guy to a futures deal, and that guy ended up being their QB2 to start the season.

Like that is, that's gotta be unbelievably rare.

That's good that it takes so much research that I don't feel like there's no way you could search.

There's no, I don't know how you'd even figure that out, but I would love to see another example of that happening if Bailey Zappy end of the end of New Year's QB2.

But I think there is a if you sign this veteran guy, like if they signed Russ.

I think there might be kind of a Mac Jones, Cam Newton thing that happens here, where I know we signed him and this was the plan, but you know what, we're gonna just roll ahead with Kate Klubnick.

Because as we said, they're probably drafting a guy next year.

You want Kate Clubbing to develop into a long-term backup, and your odds of him developing into a long-term backup, I would say increased significantly if he can win the job this year.

I think he's gonna, he should be playing 75% of the preseason snaps.

I'm not even kidding about that.

Let Gino play a drive or two every game just to keep him fresh kind of thing.

You don't wanna see Brady Cook.

Don't wanna see Brady Cook play Klumnick the entire 2nd and 3rd quarter for every single game, and then maybe Zappy gets what's left over.

Like, I want this to be the Cade Klubnick show, as Jake Assman.

Two legends talking Jets.

Nothing like it, folks.

Much appreciated, Jake.

It was great.

Thanks for having us on the show, by the way.

Yeah, it was great chatting Jets on Monday.

I, I met Beast a little bit, uh, for those who are, you know, uh, Asmond fans, as maniacs, as they call them.

Beast was, uh, you know, he was interesting.

I think we kind of hit it off a little bit though.

He, he, he knows his wrestling.

I'll say that.

Thanks right now, obviously, look, if your opinion on Cade Klubnick changed because he's jogging out all slow and slicking his hair back, that's a problem.

But it did, it did.

Oh, it did.

OK, totally.

Now just keep me one, yeah, OK. All right, that's the end of the show.

Thank you.

Obviously, obviously like my stance on, on Klubnick is still basically the same, but I will, I also don't want to, before you get it though, like I don't want people to be too reactionary because obviously we're all having our fun with.

You know, the, the aura video and all that, and I do think that there is a legitimate argument for just saying, all right, you're a QB2, and 2025 was a little bit of a whiff.

I get all that.

And I think that Klubnick is going to be in the NFL for a while cause he seems like a guy who can pick up a playbook really well, and he's a good athlete and coaches are gonna like him, and I think he's better than what he showed last year at Clemson.

I'll give you all that.

I don't want fans to be too reactionary though and go, well , remember he was awful last year and this is ridiculous, and I don't want that to happen.

Like, let's treat this guy appropriately.

Jets fans reactionary, right?

No way with a young quarterback that their team just drafted.

No, never.

They would never.

Connor Rodgers mentioned this too.

He goes the Jets can't draft backup quarterbacks because if they do anything, it's like, oh, he could be the look, Justin, do you remember when Brady Cook threw that touchdown against the Jaguars?

The things that were tweeted, and then what happened the rest of that game.

We, we saw one slow-mo video of Klubnik, and now everybody like the, the talk on like WFAN is, well, what if Klubnick's the guy and they just use their three first round picks to, to build around him next year, and I'm like, oh, how do we get here?

No, you know what my favorite was, um, do you remember when Rodgers scores against the Niners and it goes, this will be wherever referred to as the drive?

00, I remember.

Oh, that was the infamous tweet from he who shall not be named.

Uh, that, that's the, that's the infamous tweet, isn't it?

Uh, that's what Jets fans do.

I, I've never forgotten that.

That is, that just grilled on my brain.

Forever be the drive, Mike.

We can't forget it.

I, I still call it the drive, but I was just talking to my buddy yesterday about the drive, the drive, and that was a turning point for Jets.

He goes, John Elway, what are you talking about?

I go, No, no, no, Rodgers, Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets against the Niners in a game that they lost.

Remember that?

And he's like, the Achilles?

No, no, not the Achilles, not the Achilles, the other one, the other drive, the other, other drive, yeah, uh, Mike, do you know?

So funnily enough, no.

Quarterback since Chad Pennington has wor number 10, Ian Blackshear, who was on the practice squad last year, which I don't even know why he's counted because he didn't play in the game with the Jets.

There's only been wide receivers who have worn number 10.

Can you name it?

There's a, you can probably name a couple of them.

There's a couple of notable names since then.

Santonio Holmes is the big Holmes is the big one.

There's a couple of notable ones.

Jermaine Curse, I think you're Curse, yes, yes.

And then there's one or two more that I would expect you'd be like, oh, of course, trying to go.

I'm trying recent guys, yep, those two are both more recent than Curse, the other 20 God.

Oh, I know Salah era.

I'm trying to think.

Oh Brios, Barrios Barrios, there you go, Brios.

I'm blanking on one.

The other one's Lazard, Alan Lazard.

Oh, Lazard, how can I forget Lazard?

I don't blame you for blanking on that.

The other two, for some reason, and I know the Jets retired 13, I just think I saw Packers 13.

The other three that you're not gonna, you, you wouldn't get, and there's a reason for that, but they, they did it like AFL guys.

No, no, no, they were, they were, you will remember all of these guys, like you will remember them as Jets wide receivers, but none of them were particularly significant.

One of, one of them is significant for a very bad reason, but all right.

Oh, Ken Thompkins, it's Ken Thompkins, it's one of them.

The other two are TJ Graham and Jeremy Ross, both wore 10.

I think I remember returner, right?

Ross?

Yeah, Ross returned as well.

Yeah , OK, yeah, yep, obviously didn't do much, but Graham was, uh, I believe drafted by the Bills .

I know he played for the Bills.

He was, wait, didn't he play for the Chiefs?

Who?

TJ?

Oh, no , no, Justin Ross.

That was Justin Ross, my bad.

Justin Ross, yeah, no, very different, different, different, very different, 2016, uh, very different, OK, but Klubnick, yes, Klubnick, um, yeah, I don't know where I was going with that, but, uh.

Yeah, I don't like, obviously I'm not gonna completely change my stance on the guy because of an aura video.

I will say I do think he won rookie minicamp as much as any player can win rookie minicamp.

Now that literally means nothing come September, but we've seen Jets quarterbacks lose in rookie minicamp.

Hackenberg.

He, he seems like a guy who belongs in the NFL.

He said all of the right things.

He did all the right things.

I know Rosenblatt, or I forgot if it was a Rosenblatt reporter if Clubnick said this.

In a press conference himself, that they're at the team hotel and he organized a little like study session with the players to go over some plays and some install.

Like that was kind of club they take in charge there.

It's the stuff you want to see from a young quarterback, right?

Does that mean he's going to be a great player at the NFL level?

No, I I certainly think his ceiling is low, like it's not particularly high.

I don't think he's somebody that is like, even if in a, in a, you know, 100th percentile outcome, he's not gonna be a top 10 quarterback, right?

He just doesn't have that potential.

I think your absolute.

Ceiling with him, like, best case scenario, he's actually a starter is like a Brock Purdy type, right?

Like that's kind of what you're hoping for him.

It's like an experienced guy.

He played a lot of games in college and, you know, I think Purdy's last year at Iowa State wasn't great, right?

Am I making that up, or it wasn't, he kind of flatlined.

People expected him to kind of take a step forward and then he, it wasn't bad.

People were just like, that's it, kind of, yeah, it wasn't quite the same as Klubnick who had a really good 2024.

He fell too far though.

I remember even looking at like the pre-draft stuff.

I don't think anybody had him going like last pick of the draft.

It was like, yeah, round 5, that's kind of where you want him and then he has this crazy fall, which is probably around where Klubnick was expected, 5th or 6th round was, was kind of where people thought he'd go.

The Jets obviously took him a little bit higher, uh.

But yeah, I, I don't want to get carried away with that stuff.

If you're the Jets, if Klubnick is QB2 as a rookie, that's a huge win.

That's a successful draft pick.

If Klubnick wins the backup quarterback job, whether they bring in Russ or Cooper Rush or Josh Dobbs or they just roll with Bailey Zappy and Brandy Cook, if Kade Klubnick is your.

1 QB2, that's a win and that's a successful draft pick.

Whatever you get from there is gravy, right?

The Jets didn't draft Clubnick to be their franchise guy.

I, I know we wanna, you know, we wanna get carried away with all that talk about, oh, Chad Pennington and maybe he is the next Brock Purdy or Dak Prescott or I, I don't, let's relax, right?

If he's a backup quarterback, that's great.

If he's Gardner Minho, this is a 10 out of 10 pick.

If he's Minho, that's a fantastic pick in the 4th round.

But that, that's everything you want.

Like they drafted him to be a backup quarterback.

You're not drafting a quarterback on day 3 with a chance, like with the thought that they're gonna be a starter, right?

You're either drafting a guy who's a high ceiling, or I'm sorry, high floor backup like Klubnick that you're hoping could be an NFL.

Caliber backup or you're taking a one in a million swing on a tail and green and you're like, you know what, maybe there's, maybe we can make, maybe it finally clicks, maybe, maybe we could figure it out or like, uh, uh, Joe Milton when he was drafted, right, like that type of quarterback.

Hey, he's a QB2 in the league right now, so he's a QB2.

He is, he is, he is a QB2, uh, but yeah, that, that's what Jets fans should be hoping for with Clubnick.

You're hoping he just Comes into the NFL and he looks the part and you get to, you get to the preseason and you're like, oh, there's something here with this guy, right?

Maybe he's not a starter, but we see enough from him that we feel good going into 2027 with him as our QB2 and him like featuring in our quarterback room.

And you know what, Mike, Mike, maybe he gets a couple of starts down the stretch, right?

Maybe in December, Kate Klubnick.

Hearts 4 games.

I can see that 21 to 32 with one touchdown.

Everybody's going, oh, we got him, we got him.

And, and he looks like serviceable is how I would put it.

Like he looks kind of like Spencer Rattler, and you're like, Oh, great.

Now we're going into 2027.

We're not obviously , you know, factoring Clubnick.

Like Clubnick is not gonna prevent us from taking a quarterback , but we feel good about.

Drafting a quarterback and having them enter a quarterback room with Cade Klubnik.

And Klubnick can be the guy that we kind of lean on as the stabilizer in the room.

The guy that's been there a year, he's your backup.

He could even start week one if we don't think the the rookie is ready.

That is like best-case scenario for Cade Klubnick.

I know you want to say starter or whatever, all that stuff.

Realistic best-case scenario is probably that.

I think one thing that's helping him, and this is just what it looks like outside looking in.

I think one of the things helping him is I don't think he's under any illusions about kind of what the score is.

Yeah, there are a lot of quarterbacks who come in, it's like I gotta beat the guy, and like you wanna beat the guy, you want that competitiveness, but I think he knows, look, I'm a backup right now.

That's how they view me.

I was drafted to be a backup.

Let me do backup quarterback stuff, cause that's gonna help me endear myself to those coaching staff.

Me going and saying, oh, I'm, I'm taking over for Gino, that's not gonna help anybody right now.

Doing this stuff is, I think, the kind of thing that the Jets want to see from him right now.

Yeah, and I, I think we're gonna get it, we're gonna get to a point again, it's the Jets, and with the Jets, there's always one rule of thumb with quarterbacks is that everyone on the roster will play at some point.

If you are a quarterback signed to the Jets, whether you're on the practice squad or the active roster, almost every situation, with the exception unfortunately of 2024, where Rodgers started all 17 games.

Yeah, and Hackenberg, I guess.

In the exception to that, if you are under contract with the Jets, you are almost definitely gonna play in a game.

I think Brett Rippon didn't play in a game, but I was like they had like 4 other quarterbacks that did that year.

Uh, so I, I'm assuming we see Klubnick at some point.

Ideally, if the Jets are in the hunts, right, which, listen, the bar for Jets fans is in the hunts.

If we're in December and the Jets aren't eliminated from the playoffs and they're like, hey, maybe, you know, if we win 3 of our last 4 games, we could somehow sneak in or we win these last 4 games, we, we still have I'd be thrilled with that after amazing, right?

Incredible.

That's, that's what we're hoping for.

If you're in that situation, then maybe you're not starting clubbing, but once you get to a point where you're probably eliminated and, or maybe even, you know, Gino if Geno gets hurt, right?

You give Klubnick a start, you see what he does.

And if he performs reasonably well and he looks competent, that's what you can hope for.

That's the best case scenario for Cade Klubnick, and I think everything we saw this past weekend, everything we heard, you know, it's a step in the right direction for him.

Obviously , the big test will be training camp and preseason and seeing how he looks there, and if the Jets don't bring in a veteran, I'm going to be under the assumption that they feel good about Clubnik is QB2.

That's gonna be my my assumption.

Let's go and talk about that schedule right here because you know we're not big schedule release guys and the schedule is gonna come out tomorrow, actually tomorrow night, so it'll be almost a week after that.

So we wanna get some schedule stuff in kind of preempt that even though we don't know exactly when the games.

We know the opponents and we've known the opponents forever because of a very rigid formula that everybody follows, but organizing them is apparently a marquee team.

That's the, that's NFL soft power.

Yeah, more people will probably care about this than like the NBA draft, and that's NFL or like or like the All-Star game for MLB, like yeah, which I don't know what that means, but what says something before we, I'll ask you to start this conversation, Mike.

I wanna ask you this first.

What do you actually care about with the schedule release?

Like, is there anything that when the schedule release comes out, you really are paying attention to, like you think that actually matters, cause I know we're not gonna be sitting here being like, oh man, the Jets play the Cardinals in week 16.

I can't wait to see David Bailey when they have prime time games.

Yeah, yeah, cause we're not gonna be looking at week 16 and saying, oh, I can't wait for David Bailey to go against Paris Johnson.

I wonder who's gonna win that matchup, like if they're playing the Cardinals late in the year.

So you, you care about primetime matchups is what you're looking at.

So like I'm looking at the at what they got right now.

Obviously 6 of the games are divisional opponents, Buffalo, Miami, New England.

I think they go 2 and 4.

Against that, I think they either, I would love to win more than 2 division games in a year.

I think they either beat the Dolphins both times, or they split with the Dolphins and have one crazy upset.

Against the Bills and the Patriots, and that's like their crazy upset win of the year.

I think if they steal a win against the Patriots, that's awesome.

That's keeping his job.

That would be one of the best wins of the year against interim coach Josh McDaniels at home.

You're hosting New England.

I know we could dream about Fox, but is that, is that gonna be the, uh, the Rossini Bowl considering how, uh.

I guess giving her ties to vote.

Literally the only thing she did for months was talk about the Jets as Austrian Jet fan, by the way, comes in here doing what he does as I, I'm trying to click on the damn thing.

Oh my God, dude, dude, what are you?

I'm clicking the wrong thing.

There it is.

Austrian jet fan donating 20 memberships.

Austrian jet fan, you are the man, and I have Austrian fun facts pulled up for you in preparation of.

Whenever the next Austrian Jeffin appearance was, uh, by the way, I'm just noticing now healing journey is what his, uh, his profile pic.

I've never actually noticed that.

I, you know what I assumed, I assumed it was something Austrian cause it's red and white colors, but it's not.

Uh, your Austrian fun fact in honor of these, these 20 gifted memberships, which again, thank you so much, man.

Like it's always, always so much appreciated.

In fact, Mike, I'm gonna turn this into a trivia question for you, so you're gonna have to think, OK. Austria borders 8 countries in Europe.

How many of those do you think you can name?

I think you can name 4 or 5 of them.

Germany, Switzerland, yep, Italy, yep .

Czech Republic or Chechnya, yep, yep, absolutely.

Poland.

Not Poland.

Not Poland.

OK, not Poland.

That's your first strike.

You get 3 strikes.

So I got 4.

You got 4 right, you get 3 strikes.

Slovenia or Slovakia, one of them.

Both of them, both of them.

All right, you're cooking.

You got 2 left.

You, you have the hardest one, and Croatia.

I don't know.

I'm thinking of like Yugoslavia.

Croatia is a great guess, but no, that's your 2nd strike.

That's very close.

Any other former Yugoslav states or no?

No, there are not.

There is one that was formerly part of a different country, Hungary.

Yeah, Hungary.

There you go.

Austria-Hungary, duh, yeah, and then there's one left.

This is a micro nation.

This is a very small country like Liechtenstein or something or.

Mike, you got all 8.

That's insane, dude.

What, what do they, what do the kids say?

W geography knowledge, is that what they say?

Happy Mr. Di Giacomo like this, holy shit, I'm actually like he was, he was an old history teacher.

Happy Mr. Di Giacomo, cause as a certified geography nerd myself, I'm so.

So ecstatic for you and that, that made my day.

I, you cannot, you, I cannot explain how much that made, how happy that made me.

Austin and Jeff, and I hope that made you happy.

So I was off the dome too.

So anyway, 2 and 4 against the divisional opponents, either one crazy upset and split with the Dolphins or beat the Dolphins twice.

At Chicago, loss, at Detroit, loss.

Kansas City is a weird one because I don't know when they're gonna play him, or if they're gonna play Mahomes, and if they play Fields, even though it's at Arrowhead, I think they got a shot.

But if it's against Mahomes, it's probably gonna be a loss.

At the Chargers, I could see being an upset win.

I could see that being like a frustrates Herbert kind of thing.

McDaniel against Glenn is a very fun matchup with Herbert too, but also, and I know they're gonna get Rashaan Slater and Joe Altbach, but that offensive line against a new look Jets front seven, I think can be Makai Beckton still isn't signed anywhere, right?

Nope.

Can't pass the physical.

I don't know.

I I shouldn't have said anything.

That's my he's Albert Haynesworthing.

Yeah, that's my fault.

I should, can you run from there to there?

No, man.

Nah, I can't.

I can't do that.

Yeah, see, the big problem though is, uh, he was gonna go like the Chargers were gonna bring him back and then he, he was disappointed I remember because he went there and there was no Krispy Kreme near the facility, so I was waiting for a doughnut reference.

You hadn't made a donut reference yet, by the way, are you, are you Krispy Kreme or Duncan?

What do you prefer?

I've only had Krispy Kreme once in my entire life, and it was at the subway at Penn Station right where you go in and get off New Jersey Transit, and it was not very good.

So, well, that's not the best.

I'm not you're the donuts I get from, there's a place by me called Duck Donuts, and they do amazing donuts.

It's like crumble with all the crazy flavors, they do that.

I, I had only, I had mostly had Dunkin' in my life, and then when I was in Germany for a few years, the, uh, the military base near where I lived, uh, I had Krispy Kreme everywhere, like every store Krispy Kreme, they loved Krispy Kreme there, and so I would get it all the time.

And then I, I missed, I kind of missed Duncan, so I came back home and I was like, you know what, I think I underrated Duncan cause I was just used to having it for so long.

Uh, I'm kind of, I'm kind of in the middle of both.

I think they're both really good.

So I'm, I'm predicting 5 road wins for the Jets.

Because I think Buffalo, Chicago, Detroit, Kansas City will give them losses, Chargers an upset.

Tennessee, at Tennessee, I think they win the Solid Bowl.

Arizona at Arizona, I think they win, yeah.

Las Vegas at home, I think they win that.

And then Cleveland at home, I think they win that.

Look , the Jets leaves, but then that leaves them with Minnesota, Green Bay, Denver.

Those are losses, but that comes out to a 7 and 10 record.

If the Jets are 7 and 10 and they have awesome two upset wins, one of them against the division rival, one of them against the AFC West team, how are you feeling after that?

Oh, I'm feeling great.

I'm feeling fantastic.

If the Jets are 7 and 10, I feel really good about the irrespective of how they get there.

Like if it, if they get there, but Geno sucks, or if the defense sucks out of their way.

Well, the weirdest outcome is if Geno's awesome in the defense.

sucks, but that, that we talked about this, that's definitely the weirdest like throw your hands up.

I'm not sure exactly what you do then.

What's the point of analyzing football because nothing makes sense, right?

If the defense is bad and Aaron Glenn, like, you know, like the defense just we're, we're mad at the play calling or whatever or the guys they brought in suck, but Geno, like has a 2023 Geno season.

And you're just like, oh, what do we do with this information?

I, I don't, I don't know, now I, I would almost, if that happens, I'd almost feel like we wasted that.

Like I'd feel like we wasted one's not gonna do it again, because if he does that, that's one of the best seasons by any quarterback in Jets history, if that happens.

I mean, technically Rodgers had one of the best seasons of any quarterback in Jets history if you think about what you said, and he was like the 20th best quarterback in in football that year, and that was one of like the 5 best ever.

Yeah, like I, I, as we've talked about, I hate schedule release content.

I also hate game by game prediction content.

I hate going like, oh, this is a win, this one's a loss, this one, cause I have no idea what the especially now, you know.

Yeah, it's May.

I don't know if they play the Raiders week 14.

I don't even know what those rosters are gonna look like.

I have no idea, let alone what Fernando Mendoza is gonna look like coming if they get him early and they get Kirk Cousins.

Yeah, I have no idea.

Like I, I have no clue.

So I'm not, I, I'm not gonna go game by game.

I'll, I'll say I think this is roughly a 6-win team that could be elevated beyond that if the quarterback play is better than I hope it's gonna be.

I, I, I'll say that.

I think baseline, they should win 4 to 5 games just because of the roster, even if the quarterback sucks.

They should be able to win those games, and if not, then that's not good for the coaching staff.

If the quarterback is better than we think, and the offensive coordinator is better than I think he's gonna be, then they could win 7 games.

Hell, they could win 8 games.

They maybe they push 9 if everything goes great.

I think that that's within the realm of possibility.

Uh, as far as which of those games is gonna be wins, I don't know.

I, I would like.

I think I, I would love to win more than 2 division games.

I'd love if they won 3.

If they, if they sweep Miami and win 1 of the games against Buffalo or Miami, I'm thrilled.

The Patriots having hitting on all those picks, having may take that leap, like it's 99th percentile offseason that just supercharged them.

If their secret ingredient head coach is not there, we don't know.

I, I will say this, we make jokes about that.

I do think it's kind of weird how TMZ clearly has more info and they're just like right when things die down, they just drop new things to keep it going like they're sitting on something like some more stuff popped up right on Mother's Day and I'm like this is crazy, like this is wild.

This is, yeah, they're sitting on like really good points here.

Brian said 7 and 10 is fine, but 7 losses before December is not.

One other thing that I, I really like, if we're looking at things that actually matter with the schedule release, what are their opponents like in the first like 4 games of the year?

Who were they playing last year they got that was a tough way to start.

It was, and they actually played competitive at the start of the year, uh, for some, but then they, but then they got their wins against the, the worst team.

I mean, Cleveland was in November, Cincinnati was had injuries, like if you're a Jets fan, you're hoping you get Tennessee, Cleveland, Vegas, you wanna get a Miami game in there early on, like, you want those games early in the season.

You don't wanna play Green Bay, New England, Detroit, Denver, Kansas City to start the year, Detroit, like.

There's some tough games in the Jets schedule, and the last thing you want is to start the year 0 and 6 or 0 and 7 again, and then start winning late again, it's all you're screwing because if they start the year 0 and 6 or 0 and 7, regardless of their opponents, I mean, obviously we could try to use nuance and context, but if they start 0 and 7, who's saying Woody Johnson is not gonna just fire Glenn right there, and he might be deserved, like at that point, man, if you start 0 and 7 consecutive years.

That's tough.

That's really tough to keep the locker room engaged and maybe it's the quarterback place is bad and, and maybe the the the the schedule is really difficult, but that's just a really tough sell.

So I think what actually matters there is you're really paying attention to.

You know, who were you playing in those 1st 4 games?

Uh, Brian did say 9 and 8 Steelers, 8 and 9 Bucks.

The Bucks was, I know, expected to be like that.

I think that was a better team.

They were better than 8 and 9.

Carolina made the playoffs.

Tampa had a really bad year or bad finish to the year.

Uh, I, I would say it wasn't like super difficult though.

I agree with that with, with Brian.

It wasn't like the most challenging part or a schedule that they could have had to start of the year.

Um, it wasn't like it wasn't a cake, a cakewalk, right?

Uh, Jeff says 6 and 11.

Seems fair.

Jeff, Jeff says, yeah, 7 of 10, 7 of 10, 7 and 10 will put the Jets out of quarterback picks.

Well, when you have Dallas's pick and Indianapolis's pick.

Or Green Bay or Green Bay pick, Dallas or Green probably Dallas's pick.

Maybe, I mean, what if Jordan Love gets hurt week one, not to like will into existence.

Ty Tyrod, Tyrod starting here.

Oh my God, Tyrod parting gift to the Jets.

Imagine Tyrod starting a season with the Jets pick, like draft pick on the line.

That is just no Matt LaFleur's offense, he's gonna put up numbers and yeah, for the 4 games he plays, like then you get, who's their third string?

Kyle McCord.

Oh my God, another guy who Jets fans wanted because Syracuse guy.

That'd be, that would be very, very funny.

Uh, well, Jeff, like, you don't want to finish as a 3-win team .

Like, I know as much as great as it would be to, to have that 1st overall pick or 2nd overall pick in a, in a supposedly loaded quarterback class.

You don't want that because that means everybody's fired.

You're starting over with your roster building now because you're Davis probably gone.

You're bringing in a new regime that's likely to want to make significant sweeping roster changes.

You're gonna completely overhaul the philosophy that you've tried to install.

Over the last two years, and it means you're a lot further away from competing than you thought you were, whereas Wilson's gonna probably ask out, yeah, maybe I wouldn't blame him, whereas I wouldn't blame him at all if you finish 7 and 10, and maybe you don't end up getting the top quarterback in the class, but you could end up trading up to 5, right, to get a quarterback or like the Jets did that when they got Sanchez.

They traded up for Sanchez.

Where were, where were they?

Picking then.

They were picking like 10 or 12 or something like that.

The fact that's like an example of like, oh, Mark Sanchez, and I'm showing an example of a of a situation where the Jets traded up to draft a quarterback, like a guy that they did it with Arnold.

I mean, I know they're picking 6th with Arnold, but they traded up to 3 to get Arnold.

Like you're, you're, you're gonna be in a position where you're likely trading up to get a quarterback and you have 3 1st round picks.

I'm not concerned where they're gonna end up picking, you know, I, I'd rather just see them win games.

Like I, I think a quarterback they can get him.

Jets fans should be going into 2026 with the mindset, let's try and win as many possible games.

It should not be, I know we're looking at the 2027, but you want to be in a good situation for that young quarterback, and if you're winning three games, the odds are you're not.

And with that, I think we're gonna call time on this episode of the Jet Press podcast.

I will say though, to sign off here, Justin Fried of the Jet Press podcast, that's me.

Last year, I think, and this is not gonna be the, the most optimistic thing ever, I think last year we were saying they can be scrappy, and if they surprise people can win 7 games.

I think I'm expecting them to win around 7 games this year because really outside they don't have a ton of great.

Units, they don't have a ton of abysmal units.

They are OK pretty much everywhere, and you're an OK team everywhere should be an OK team that wins 7 games.

The, the only, as, as I'm gonna say this every damn stream at this point, the only caveat is quarterback and offensive coordinator.

Those are the, those are the two caveats there, cause I, I agree, the roster is solid.

Like if you put.

Justin Herbert on this Jets roster, they're a playoff team.

I, I, I fully believe that they're a playoff team as long as they get good health because another, you know, weakness that you have with this O line, oh my God, that would be, yeah, we throwing Garrett Wilson, Omar Cooper, Adani Mitchell, Kenyon Siddiq, Breece Hall, running back.

Hell, he'd sign up for that in a heartbeat.

Mason Taylor, amazing, that'd be great.

Obviously the caveat is also like injury luck like the Jets have to stay healthy because.

One issue that you have with younger teams that are early in the rebuilding process is they don't have depth.

I think the Jets did a good job of improving their depth this offseason, but, you know, you're, you're one wide receiver injury away right now from Isaiah Williams or Aaron Smith in, in Tripp's formation, right?

You're, you're a full-time slot receiver, Kenyon Siddiq, or, or that.

Maybe you're, you're one or two offensive line injuries away from Max Mitchell playing significant snaps, or Xavier Newman or Landon Young or whoever else they're throwing out there.

Oh yeah, the new guy Landon Young.

I actually think he has a better chance to make the roster in like a Kraor or, yeah, he, he kind of, he's just the Saints.

Max Mitchell could play tackle, could play guard.

He's not really good at either, but because he could play both that he's better than Max Mitchell, so was he better than Max Mitchell?

I was talking to our Saints guy and I basically, I actually brought up Max Mitchell, and he said I think he, I think he's better than them.

So that's the, well, he's never watched Max Mitchell.

I think he's better.

I think he might be better than Max Mitchell.

He was grinding, uh, maybe he was grinding Max Mitchell Louisiana Lafayette tape because that's where he went school, right?

Better than nothing.

I don't know, like that's the Louis the New Orleans area, Louisiana area, but, uh, I don't know.

I, I think PFF has young graded lower, but.

Who cares?

It's not.

They're, they're back.

I don't even have people who work for the ghost ship over there.

So the , the point is that the depth is still an issue, right?

But if they stay healthy and they get moderately OK quarterback play, which is, that is a high bar for the Jets, I'm aware, but if they can get that, then great, um, then we'll see, then maybe they can win 7 or 8 games, but Until next time, Mike, I, really quick, week one prediction.

Who do they play?

Who do you think they play?

Week one predictions.

I know there's something out there about it being the Dolphins.

I think that might be fake news.

That might be fake news, but I think it makes sense .

I think that'd be a fine game.

Ryan Duker revenge game.

Division rival early on, not crazy hard.

Geno playing in Miami.

He's from Miami.

He's from the Miami area.

He is.

I don't, I don't think everybody's saying Jets Titans week one.

I don't think the league views the Robert Sala Bowl as a marquee week one attraction.

I mean, who else are they, who else is Tennessee playing that's interesting in week one?

Yeah, I'm not the schedule maker.

Like, everybody there's 32 teams you gotta figure out.

I'm just saying, you know, it makes a lot of sense.

Like the, the Jets, they, they plays Raiders could be fun.

They had Jets Steelers last year, 2021.

They did Jets Panthers because, no, I haven't beat Jets Raiders, and then Mendoza's first game is against the Jets, and then they could do that.

And then David Baileys Saxon.

I don't know if they're gonna do that though, because I don't know if, if Mendoza starts week one.

I think they'd be, you, you know, it'll be, it'll be like Baker when he was on the Browns, and then week 3 prime time.

Oh my God, you're remember that?

You're so right, and I knew going into that game.

I knew that was gonna happen.

I just completely melting down.

I, I, I, I was watching with a buddy of mine who was a Browns fan, and I was like, I swear to God, I do not want to see Baker make this.

When it happens because it's gonna happen Tyrod too, yeah, if Baker comes into this game, they're gonna win, they're gonna win, and then, and sure enough, Tyrod gets hurt, caught, he caught a touchdown , I remember, yeah, he clowned them like that was his, that was like as much as I'd seen the Jets get clowned in a long time.

Like and then the next week I remember they play the Vikings and Donald looked like a high school quarterback.

I'm like, man, they.

Well, we were having some doubts here.

We were, we were feeling, we were riding the high, man, after week one, we were riding the high after that that Lions game week one.

That was the same year, yeah, that was the same year.

That was the same year, and then a month later, it's all of it just obliterated.

Hey, this year, remember the high we were riding a Fields in that Steelers game?

I know.

Then he completed 3 passes in 3 quarters the next week.

I'm like, what happened?

The think pieces after week 1.

Justin Fields of wow, he might have figured it out.

This might be the Jets guy.

No, he got worse.

He somehow had the worst.

What happened ?

Somebody's gotta tell me because he, he figured it out for a week.

What happened?

Brian said Jets Raiders week one is more interesting to me than Jets Titans.

If Mendoza is playing, yes, but I don't know if he's playing week one.

I, I didn't the Raiders, wasn't there a report that said that they, they want, they don't want Mendoza starting week one.

I don't think they're gonna hand him if they have Kirk Cousins.

I don't think they're gonna, yeah, Cousins totally could start week one.

It is more interesting if it's if, if.

Do is starting and you got, you could literally sell the David Bailey versus Fernando Mendoza against that old line.

David Bailey.

Also, Mike, we're overlooking the Dylan Parham revenge game, which you know it's something and that's at home, that's a home game too.

No way, it can't be because that's a home game for the Jets.

Oh, is it?

Yeah, and the Giants are home week one.

So the Raiders, who, who do the Raiders, are you a former Jets on the Raiders that that's gonna be a revenge game for him.

I'm looking at, I'm not sure, so it would have to be because the Jets are gonna be on the road week one because the Giants are at home.

I didn't even consider that.

Yeah, the Jets have to be on the road.

It has to be one up.

That's why Titans would make sense because they're on the road.

Oh my God, Philip Dorsett is on the Philip Dorsett's on an NFL roster.

How?

It was no way.

It's gotta be special teams.

There's no when's the last they caught a Patans Titans, Cardinals, nah.

At Miami, at New England, at Buffalo, I don't think Buffalo is week two, so they're not, it's not that dude, Philip Dorset is 33 years old and he's on an NFL roster.

He hasn't, OK, he, he, to be fair, he hasn't played a game since 2023, and he played two games that year.

He hasn't caught a pass since 2022, but he's currently on an NFL roster.

How about Jets Chargers week one?

In LA, I don't want that.

That's a loss, man, they're losing that game.

They're going on one .

I mean, which road game are they winning except for Miami and Arizona is not gonna be week one.

Tennessee, they could be, they could beat Tennessee.

I know, but like that's what everybody's picking.

Like if it's not that, you want to be the contrarian.

I'm, I'm, I'm just, I think that's the most logical pick if they want the narrative, if they want storylines here in the NFL has a flair for the dramatic with stuff like recreate the Donald thing, have to be at the Lions, recreate that.

Lions also makes sense because Glenn obviously, but that's, that's a lost waiting to happen, man.

That is, yeah, although if anybody Chiefs aren't week one either because they're Monday night, no, and also it's Mahomes is probably starting, starting the year.

That's what it sounds like.

It sounds like Mahomes expects to be ready for week one, so I would, that would be put him week two.

Maybe Fields is still there.

I don't know.

Probably not.

Are we gonna rush him back to play the Jets?

I don't know.

Well, if they rush him back for week one to play the Broncos, what, what if they play in week one, then they're like, we don't need to push it against the Jets.

So like we'll start Fields and then, and then we like back.

Oh yeah, he stubbed his toe.

We don't, we don't need to worry about this.

Broncos, we need him.

She, uh, Jets, we don't want to.

Justin Fields can handle week two.

Yeah, that's fine.

That, that would be pretty crazy.

That would be the ultimate, the ultimate disrespect load management in the NFL where they just give a quarterback a week off.

They're platooning.

They're playing the matchups.

It's like, oh my God, when a left-hander, right, yeah, lefty, righty.

Well, we'll see, man.

Next week we'll be back breaking down some of the schedule, maybe it'll be kind of old news by then, but, and who will, who will actually care, but we'll probably talk about that.

OTA is starting up very, very soon, right?

When the Jets OTA start?

Is it next week, I think.

So, uh, no, a couple weeks.

May, thank you, much, much appreciated, friend.

Uh, May twenty-seventh is, so we got a couple more weeks until OTAs, but.

We'll see.

We'll be back, uh, doing some more Jet Press podcasting as we do.

But until next time, thank you all for joining us on the show today.

You can find Mike on Twitter at by Mike Sean.

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By the way, Mike, I believe we streamed live to TikTok today for the first time ever.

I tried to do it.

I tried to set that up.

I'm just remembering it now.

I haven't even checked to see if that's working.

Uh, it didn't show up on the viewer live viewer stats, but I don't know if TikTok has that integration yet.

So, well, Twitter doesn't show up on that either, and we're definitely streaming live on Twitter, so, so I said it could be that, so we don't know.

I have no idea, but I will see after this, um, but yeah, uh, subscribe, like, hit the notification bell.

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