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One of the challenging parts of being a reporter, if you are doing your job right, is calling out issues related to the beat you cover.
Before I continue, let me be clear, this job isn’t nearly as challenging as being a police officer, fireman, soldier, heart surgeon, and so forth.
So “challenging” is probably an overstatement, but do you think it’s fun to call out human beings for their mistakes and then look them in the eye repeatedly?
No way.
A long-time member of the media asked me my thoughts about Michael Clemons finally being gone.
Clemons, a defensive end, signed with the Indianapolis Colts in the off-season.
I was critical of his play on occasion. It was never personal, but the player had some issues while with the Jets, getting off blocks, and would too often get outflanked to the edge by runners for big chunk gains. It was never a lack of effort, but more related to flexibility issues (not his fault, it’s how he’s built).
This was going on his entire time with the Jets, but they just kept rolling with him, the former staff, and then the current one last year.
Same with Quincy Williams. No matter how many times he was out of position in pass coverage, or ran around blocks in run support, taking himself out of plays, they kept rolling with him. He was benched this past season briefly, but then they quickly went back to him, and the same problems reared their heads. By some accounts, he gave up four TD passes in the Jets’ loss to Jacksonville.
Quincy’s a great guy. It pained me to have to write about his issues, especially in coverage, over and over again. I took no joy in doing that.
Same with Jamien Sherwood. Great guy. Hard worker. I’m not going to lie. I was shocked with the new regime last year gave him big money. He was not good in coverage before they got here, so why give him that contract? But good for him in his family. Good people, and they are set for life.
He also got briefly benched last, but not for long, and then it was business as usual.
So what is the point of this article?
Simple.
The Jets look like they had a good plan this offseason, adding a lot of players, especially on defense, with more talent about to arrive with four picks in the top 44 in the draft.
But if they want to turn this around, they’d better run a true meritocracy moving forward, or nothing is going to change.
Something that drove me crazy with some of these players is that I had to write about the same mistakes over and over again, and they kept rolling with them.
That can’t continue.
This was more of a defensive issue than an offense.
Armed with what looks like great defensive depth this year, if certain players are not getting the job done, and the film is bad, get their asses off the field.
Don’t keep rolling with cats ad infinitum who continue to have the same issues repeatedly.
What is that old saying about people who do the same thing over and over again?
Robert Saleh was guilty of that quite a bit. I thought that would change under Aaron Glenn, but for the most part, it did not.
Some would argue that they didn’t have the depth to replace more players.
Well, that is no longer an excuse.
They have plenty of depth now and need to be more proactive in replacing players in the lineup who are struggling.
And I’m not talking about a move like replacing safety Tony Adams for Malachi Moore, which happened early last season.
That wasn’t a meritocracy move.
That was a lateral move, and the coverage at the position didn’t improve.
The Jets have done some impressive work this offseason so far, like adding two massive run-stuffing defensive tackles, a huge need, literally and figuratively.
And if they stick to their board and get great value with their four picks in the top 44, their impressive work will continue. Don’t pander by trading up to pick a receiver. That is absurd with so many other needs.
This isn’t about me. You should never make it about yourself as a writer. But my wish as a writer is actually something that would help the Jets on the field.
I don’t want to have to criticize certain players over and over again because they keep making the same mistakes, and the powers-that-be won’t take them off the field.
With all these shiny new toys already in the building, and more to come, always play the best players, and if guys are struggling, put their fannies on the bench.
April 22, 2026
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