Jets brass confident they can be ‘competitive’ in 2026

After a terrible 2025 season that ended with a 3-14 record, how long will it take for the Jets to be competitive again?

General manager Darren Mougey doesn’t believe the Jets are far behind and believes they can improve starting next season.

For what?

“Because I’ve been here for a year, I’ve learned a lot, we’ve learned a lot,” Mougey said during Tuesday’s end-of-season press conference. “We have a clear vision. AG [Aaron Glenn] and I, as we said, we talk daily about this list and the vision and this division. And with the assets we have moving forward, the draft capital, the cap space, I know we’re going to continue to build and add good players to the team that are going to help us win.

Mougey and Glenn have a lot of work to do if they expect a drastic improvement. A lot of things went wrong with Gang Green during his first year on the job.

The 2025 Jets were one of the worst teams in franchise history, missing the playoffs for the 15th straight year and being out of contention before Halloween after an 0-7 start. They also posted a losing record for the 10th consecutive season.

Glenn was criticized by fans not only because of the Jets’ record, but also because of how bad the team looked down the stretch.

Gang Green lost their final five games of the season by 23 points or more, becoming the first team in NFL history to do so. Additionally, the Jets were outscored 188-54 during that span. Defensive coordinator Steve Wilks was fired midway through that stretch after a 48-20 loss to Jacksonville in Week 15.

The Jets defense also became the first in NFL history to not record an interception for an entire season.

Glenn told fans, “don’t let go,” urging them to entrust him with the rebuilding plan.

“We believe in Woody [Johnson]I have confidence in myself,” Glenn said. “I have confidence in some of the fundamental players that we have here, and listen, we’re frustrated with this season. I know the fans are frustrated about it as well, but there’s also the faith that comes with that and there’s also the fact that we’ve gone through this whole year to be able to learn a lot about ourselves, about our team, about how we can improve, and I have complete confidence in that and I want the fans to have complete confidence in that as well.

“It makes a huge difference to be in this seat and go through it for a year on both sides. It makes a huge difference to be able to have those conversations with your owner about the expectations that he has. It makes a huge difference to really know your roster and go through a whole year and the must-haves and needs and wants that you need to move forward. I hope and I would like our fans to have complete confidence in us to be able to do it, and we have to earn it too, and our plan is to do that.”

A day after the Jets’ 35-8 loss to the Bills in the season finale, Mougey and Glenn held one-on-one conversations with players until about 7 p.m. On Wednesday, they will meet with the coaching staff and discuss their vision for the future. Next, Mougey and Glenn will discuss their offseason plans later this week.

The biggest question facing the Jets this offseason is who will be the team’s starting quarterback in 2026? A year ago, the Jets signed Justin Fields to a two-year, $40 million contract in hopes he could revive his career after stops in Chicago and Pittsburgh. But the move proved to be a complete failure and Fields was benched after struggling in his nine starts.

Fields and the Jets are expected to part ways after just one season. He is expected to make $20 million next season, including $10 million guaranteed. However, the Jets would save $10 million if they released Fields with a June 1 designation.

“We had a clear vision for Justin and a good plan,” Mougey said. “Obviously, the season did not go as planned for several reasons.

“There’s not one person, player, coach, system that explains why we ended up winning three games, but that’s part of the process this week. It’s us diving in and really thinking about the season and the lessons learned for the future.”

Gang Green will be looking for both a veteran quarterback in free agency and likely in April’s draft. They will select No. 2, putting them in play for one of the top two quarterbacks, Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza and Oregon’s Dante Moore, if he decides to declare.

The Jets could also wait until the 2027 draft to select a quarterback. They will have three first-round picks, but after another horrible season, there is a lot of pressure to find a franchise quarterback as soon as possible.

No matter what the Jets leadership does, they are confident they have the infrastructure to pick the right quarterback and develop him.

“We’re going to exhaust everything we can to make sure we surround our quarterbacks now, and if we get quarterbacks in the future, with the guys that are going to help them,” Glenn said. We’re evaluating everything that’s going on, making sure we have the right people here that can help the quarterback. We’re going to evaluate everything and we’re going to exhaust everything to make sure we surround each of our guys with the right staff, with the right strength and conditioning, with the right medical, to make sure these guys are successful.