Darren Mougey: Jets can be competitive and respectable right away

The Jets finished the 2025 season losing five straight games by a combined score of 188-54, making it difficult to see many signs that the team was going in the right direction under head coach Aaron Glenn and general manager Darren Mougey.

Glenn and Mougey remain on the job, however, and their Tuesday press conference wasn’t filled with talk of how far the team is from the cap. Mougey said he is more confident than ever in “what we have” and said he believed the work could start to bear tangible fruit next season.

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“I believe that we can be competitive and respectable right away. Next year,” Mougey said, via SNY.

Mougey pointed to the draft assets the team accumulated by trading Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams as well as their cap space as reasons to think the future will be better than the present. There are a lot of roster spots the team needs to address with their picks and cap space, but quarterback will be at the top of the list.

Glenn noted during the press conference that Justin Fields and Brady Cook remain under contract, but neither will inspire the kind of outside confidence Mougey has in the team’s future and the general manager said the team “exhaust all options” to find a better solution at this position. If they don’t succeed, patience in the duo’s work will likely be harder to come by this time next year.