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It’s that time of year again for the Jets.
Try or tank?
As a Jets fan, which would you rather see them do?
Would you prefer the Jets, losers of six of their past seven games, keep trying to win games before this miserable season comes to a close?
Or would you prefer to see them lose out to improve their position in the 2022 NFL Draft to make ’22 and beyond better than the last 11 playoff-less years?
If the season ended today, the Jets would have the fourth-overall pick next April in Las Vegas.
They do, however, have an outside chance to “earn” the No. 1-overall pick.
The Jets face a tantalizing opportunity (depending on how you view it) Sunday at MetLife Stadium, where they’ll host the 2-12 Jaguars, the current owners of the No. 1 draft position.
A loss to the Jaguars would make the final two weeks more interesting in terms of draft positioning, with the top pick still in play. The Jets last two games come against teams they’re not likely to defeat — Tampa Bay (10-4) at home in a game the Buccaneers surely will need for playoff seeding and at the Bills (8-6), who may need to win to qualify for the playoffs.
An 0-3 finish would leave the Jets at 3-14 and possibly in contention for the top pick along with the Lions, who are 2-11-1, the Jags and the Texans, who like the Jets are 3-11.
After Sunday’s game at the Jets, the Jaguars play the Patriots (9-5) on the road and the Colts (8-6) at home.
The Lions, fresh off their stunning upset of Arizona, play the Falcons (6-8) Sunday in Atlanta, then are at Seattle (5-8 heading into Tuesday night) and home against Green Bay (10-3) in a game the Packers may not need if they’ve already clinched the NFC’s No. 1 seed, which means they’d likely play a lot of backups.
The Texans play the 8-6 Chargers on Sunday, then play the 49ers (8-6) in San Francisco and finish with a home game against the Titans (9-5), who they defeated earlier this season.
So, the No. 1-overall draft position isn’t out of the question for the Jets should they lose and choose to pursue it.
The Jets, of course, were here a year ago. They were 0-13 and the leader of the pack for the coveted top overall pick before shocking the Rams (and themselves) with a win in LA and then beating the Browns in consecutive weeks to assure the Jaguars of the first pick.
That led to the Jags drafting Trevor Lawrence, the quarterback the Jets surely would have selected at No. 1 and the player their defense faces on Sunday.
The back-to-reality portion of this hypothetical draft-positioning scenario is this: Players don’t try to lose games; they’re not wired that way.
Players don’t give a damn about next year’s team because there are no guarantees they’ll be on next year’s team. Smart players play for what they’re putting on tape — either for their current team or another team that may find interest in them.
Also: Jets head coach Robert Saleh doesn’t strike me as the tanking type.
Saleh doesn’t need to win any of these final three games to remain the Jets coach next season, because he’s on scholarship as a rookie coach in the midst of a complete rebuild with a rookie quarterback and a roster littered with youth and inexperience.
Another issue at play here is the fact that there isn’t a no-brainer, franchise-changer-in-waiting in the upcoming draft. Instead, there are a number of really good players from which to choose who happen to fill Jets needs — like Michigan edge-rusher Aidan Hutchinson, Oregon edge-rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux or LSU cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. to name a few.
I’ve never been a proponent of tanking. I’m from the Herm Edwards school of “you play to win the game.”
I’m a believer that it’s time for the Jets to have a day on Sunday. They’re at home. It’s Christmas week. And they’re playing a team they’re actually favored to beat — a first in more than a year.
There are still baby steps the Jets can take in these final three weeks, like playing two good halves in one game, something that’s been missing all season — particularly on offense, where rookie quarterback Zach Wilson has yet to look like a No. 2-overall pick for four quarters once this season.
“It would be awesome to see us put a full game together,” Jets center Connor McGovern said.
Yes, it would. In the case of Saleh and Wilson, a tangible show of growth this month is more important than where the Jets pick in the draft next spring.
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