FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — There was a lot of optimism in the New York Jets locker room that winter afternoon in New England — the final game of the 2023 regular season. With one win, they took down an old bully and celebrated their future.
It’s been a chaotic year for the Jets, who stumbled to 7-10 after Aaron Rodgers’ season-ending injury in Week 1, but they snapped a 15-game losing streak to the New England Patriots in Bill Belichick’s final game as coach. After two decades of hoodie-induced agony, the Jets felt as if they had finally surpassed the Patriots, who finished last in the AFC East.
After all, Rodgers was on the mend from a torn Achilles tendon and will be healthy by spring. His expected return, combined with the maturation of a gilded 2022 draft class, would have made the Jets a Super Bowl contender. That was the plan anyway.
The ’22 players — Soos Gardner, Garrett Wilson, Jermaine Johnson and Bryce Hall — played key roles in the 17-3 win, none more so than Hall, who slid down the snow-covered field like a slalom skier. He ran for 178 yards, still a career high. The four players were the main reasons why Rodgers wanted to play for the Jets, and why the Jets felt as if they were on the cusp of something special, on the cusp of ending the longest playoff drought in major North American sports.
“Once you put that uniform on, you’re part of history,” Captain C.J. Mosley said that day. “So it’s time to start changing this history and start moving forward.”
It turned out to be a snow mission.
The Jets are 7-19 since beating Belichick, having replaced their coach, general manager and quarterback. Gardner is gone, traded last week in a stunning move at the deadline. Hall and Johnson wonder about their long-term futures, while Wilson – coping with injuries for the first time – contemplates his football death.
The Jets (2-7) and Patriots (8-2) meet Thursday (8:15 p.m. ET, Prime Video) at Gillette Stadium, 677 days after the Final 23. A rejuvenated Pats are back in the championship chase. The Jets are back to planning for the future, with a core team of four turned into a three yearning for that kind of success.
NFL 2022 The draft was in Las Vegas, right for the Jets. They hit the jackpot under former general manager Joe Douglas, selecting Gardner (No. 4), Wilson (No. 10) and Johnson (No. 26) in the first round. They were put on a private plane and flew to New Jersey, enjoying the trappings of luxury travel and talking about all the wonderful things they were going to do together. In Jersey, they are joined by Hall, a second-round pick, 10 spots behind Johnson.
“They are the future,” Mosley said during the Core Four’s early days.
The quartet remained intact for three-and-a-half seasons before Gardner was traded to the Indianapolis Colts, bringing back a slew of first-round picks in 2026 and 2027 and wide receiver Adonai Mitchell. The ’22s had individual success, with nine-figure contract extensions for Gardner and Wilson, but no team success. Not a single winning season.
For the record, the four have only played together in 26 of a possible 59 games, mainly due to major injuries to Hall (2022) and Johnson (2024). They haven’t lasted long enough, or done enough, to be considered their own era.
“Obviously this is kind of a reminder of the business we’re in,” Wilson said, referring to the Gardner trade and the league’s ups and downs.
Now, even though they arrived at the same time, they are in different places in the NFL ecosystem.
Hall is in the final year of his contract, heading toward free agency. He’s only 24 years old and has a 1,200-yard rusher. He’s looking forward to a big payday in March — at least for running backs — whether it’s from the Jets or another team. From all indications they will try to re-sign him. The franchise tag is expected to be worth $14 million.
Johnson is signed through 2026 ($13.4 million guaranteed, which is the amount of his fifth-year option), but he will certainly look for an extension. He made the Pro Bowl after a breakout season in 2023, but also missed 18 games due to injuries. That didn’t stop teams from showing significant interest during last week’s trade deadline.
Wilson has a four-year, $130 million contract extension he signed last July guaranteed — or does he? Gardner, who has the most impressive resume of the group after being named Defensive Rookie of the Year, All-Pro (2022, 2023) and a Pro Bowl selection (2022, 2023), signed a similarly structured deal for roughly the same amount ($120 million) at the same time as Wilson, and was traded.
“We are all replaceable,” Wilson said. “That’s the way I see it.”
Wilson has declared his confidence in coach Aaron Glenn, but will he be on board if it means having to endure the growing pains of a rookie quarterback in 2026? Wilson is a fierce competitor who wants to win desperately, and his NFL clock is ticking.
This season has been an emotional roller coaster for Wilson, and besides the contract and reunion with former Ohio State quarterback in Justin Fields, there are the injuries. A source told ESPN that he is expected to miss at least three to four weeks due to a knee sprain, after missing two of the past three matches due to an injury to the same knee. By then he had played 57 consecutive matches.
He said that that period taught him that football can be cruel, and that no one guarantees anything.
“Maybe I was taking it for granted a little bit,” Wilson said.
Then there is the loss. This can take a toll on the psyche of proud athletes. There was a time, in a lost season in the 1990s, when a Jets player named James Hasty was crying in his locker. Nearby, he saw his teammate Mo Louis Hasty and was surprised that a player could be affected by constant losing.
It happens.
It happened to Quinn Williams, who, after more than six seasons, wanted a change of scenery. He ended up being traded last week to the Dallas Cowboys, where he admitted his feelings for the Jets. The 22 players do not want to be in this situation. The hall may already exist.
1:22
Should the Jets have traded Breece Hall?
Rich Eisen discusses the Jets’ strategy at the trade deadline and why he agrees with their decision to retain Breece Hall.
“It’s very frustrating,” Hall said. “I don’t want to compare myself to other people, but I feel like I’m one of the best running backs in the league. But if you’re losing games, going down early, you can’t always show it.
“I’m definitely at a point in my career where I’ve been here for three or four years where we were expecting to win and it didn’t happen,” Hall added. “So it sucks, but it is what it is.”
The planes have plan. Big plan.
After the Gardner and Williams trades, they have five first-round picks and three second-round picks for the next two drafts — the kind of stock organizations dream of. They have enough capital to trade their favorite quarterback or perhaps trade a veteran. First-year GM Darren Mougey has the option. He could draft another starting four, and reset the organization.
“The new regime is making its mark on him,” a rival executive said. “It’s also an opportunity to get their salary cap and customize them maybe a little bit more the way they want, creating flexibility in the draft and free agency. Good players are coming out, but future assets to help build it through see them coming in.”
Patriots coach Mike Vrabel, who interviewed for the Jets’ vacant head coach job last season, said of their division rivals: “I see a young, motivated team that basically said, ‘This is what we’re going to do for our future, and we’re not going to complain about it.’ We will not mourn him.”
Despite a 2-7 record, heading into their 15th straight season of the playoffs, the Jets have some building blocks in place.
They have Wilson, young tackles Olu Fashanu and Armand Mimbo and promising rookie Mason Taylor. They have standout edge rushers Will McDonald IV (four sacks last week) and Johnson, who will almost certainly attract trade interest this offseason. Can the Jets resist the temptation to trade him again?
The big question (aside from the constant search for quarterback) is Hall, who is averaging a career-best 98 yards from scrimmage. He’s producing at such a high level that if the Jets have thoughts of letting him test free agency, they may have to reconsider.
In the past two games, both games won, Hall has 216 rushing yards, 2 rushing TDs, 1 receiving touchdown and 1 passing touchdown. On Sunday, he made a stunning escape, leaping away from two would-be attackers in the backfield, moving sideways for a moment and blasting through a hole 30 yards. Even in slow motion, it was difficult to understand.
“He’s that guy,” Fields said. “It’s simple. He’s that guy.”
A team should want to keep a player like that, but there are no guarantees on the Jets, not anymore, not after they’ve traded two popular players. Some players privately said any sense of security in the locker room was shattered by the trades.
Of course, that could be part of Glenn’s motivations. His mentor is Pro Football Hall of Famer Bill Parcells, who never wanted players to get comfortable. In their world, complacency is the C word.
Hall—still sliding across the fields (snow or no snow)—lived with commercial speculation for months. The conversation about his future will undoubtedly continue into the offseason as free agency approaches.
A lot of players will be nervous. hall?
“For me, it’s like ‘fuck off,’” he said.
