Throughout the month of July, the Last Word On Sports NFL department has been exploring the three most recognizable figures for each team in the league. Only players who are currently on the roster will be considered. Today, the New York Jets are in our crosshairs.
Faces of the New York Jets
Geno Smith
You don’t necessarily have to set the world on fire with your play in order to make this list. After all, Johnny Manziel made our Cleveland Browns “faces of the franchise” despite a fairly forgettable rookie season. Geno Smith is in the same boat with the Jets. His far from stellar play in his first two seasons with Gang Green and the potential for improvement under a new coaching staff give him a continued level of recognizability heading into year three.
After a prolific college career at West Virginia that saw him throw for over 11,600 yards, 98 touchdowns and only 21 interceptions, the Jets selected Smith as their quarterback of the future with the 39th pick of the 2013 NFL Draft. He was expected to go in the first round and so he kind of fell into the Jets’ lap early in the second round.
Smith was thrown to the wolves right off the bat after beating out Mark Sanchez for the starting job during the 2013 preseason. He started all 16 games and though the Jets finished with a respectable 8-8 record (mostly off the back of a phenomenal run defense), it was a year-round struggle for Smith. Though he finished with a Jets rookie franchise record of 3,046 yards, he also threw just 12 touchdowns to 21 interceptions.
The Miami native slowly digressed over the course of his second season and it all hit rock bottom in week eight against Buffalo. Smith went two of eight for five yards and three picks in just the first quarter before being benched for the rest of the game in favor of Michael Vick.
He would eventually win back the starting job in Week 13 and actually had an impressive season finale. Against the Dolphins, he threw for 358 yards, three touchdowns and had an 80 percent completion percentage in a 37-24 win. In doing so, he became just the sixth quarterback in Jets history to finish a game with a perfect passer rating.
Much like the previous two years, Smith will be battling another veteran for the starting job in new arrival Ryan Fitzpatrick. He has a few new weapons to throw to in Brandon Marshall, whom the Jets acquired in a trade with the Bears, as well as second-round draft pick Devin Smith. Both should help improve the Jets red zone touchdown percentage, which was dead last in the NFL in 2014.
Cam Newton is a recent example of an NFL quarterback making strides in his third year as a pro. Jets fans are hoping the same thing occurs with Smith. If not, he may be looking for another team in 2016.
Sheldon Richardson
One of the few bright spots in an otherwise miserable 2014 campaign that led to the end of season house cleaning within the front office and coaching staff was the defensive line. In particular, the two ends Sheldon Richardson and Muhammad Wilkerson really stood out, combining for 123 tackles and 14 sacks. It’s tough to pick between the two for this series but I have to narrowly give the edge to Richardson.
Why, you ask? It all comes down to accolades received over the course of his career. Richardson was named AP and CBS Sports Rookie of the Year in 2013 after finishing fourth on the Jets in tackles (78) while also registering 3.5 sacks. He was used as a fullback on offense multiple times that year and actually scored two rushing touchdowns.
Richardson showed no signs of a sophomore slump in 2014. He started all 16 games and led the team with eight sacks. For his efforts, he was named to his first ever Pro Bowl. Both Richardson and Wilkerson should prosper under new head coach Todd Bowles and defensive coordinator Kacy Rodgers. Bowles proved while running the defense in Arizona that he could create schemes that fit the talent of his players. With that in mind, expect a base 4-3 that has both Wilkerson and Richardson continuing to create havoc as edge rushers.
Darrelle Revis
You can’t help but notice that the Jets brass kind of “got the band back together” so to speak with regard to their secondary. In the span of less than two weeks, the franchise doled out two contracts worth a combined $102 million with $46 million in guaranteed money to Antonio Cromartie and Darrelle Revis.
Cromartie had played with the Jets from 2010 to 2013 before spending last season in the Arizona Cardinals defensive backfield. He’s made the past three Pro Bowls, including two with the Jets. Revis was a first-round draft pick of the franchise in 2007 and played six seasons at the Meadowlands, making the Pro Bowl in four of them. He was traded to Tampa Bay to 2013 and then New England last season, where he finished the year winning his first Super Bowl ring.
Though both have been known as shutdown corners throughout their respective NFL careers, it’s Revis that clearly carries the more high-profile stature. After all, how many players in league history have earned a nickname associated with an isolated and sizable amount of land surrounded by water?
“Revis Island” carries with it the notion that the soon-to-be nine-year veteran is as good as the league has seen in being able to eviscerate an opposing wide receiver in man coverage over the course of a game. Having tallied 19 interceptions in his previous tenure with the Jets, he needs only five more to get into a five-way tie for third in franchise history. Assuming he plays the entirety of his current deal, he also has a chance to go after the franchise record of 34 set by Bill Baird, who played for the Jets during the AFL era in the 1960s.
New York Jets ticket information
Main Photo:
