Wins and Losses Aside, Talent Evaluation for 2020 Now In Focus for the Jets

While the losses continue to mount for the New York Jets, all is not lost. Especially when it comes to piecing together this team moving forward.

Which means that even for the 5-9 Jets, there is still plenty to play for, especially with a young group of players making a statement to be a part of this team’s core moving forward.

Injuries have decimated the Jets this season. In Thursday night’s 42-21 loss at the Baltimore Ravens, the Jets were without the likes of safety Jamal Adams and defensive tackle Quinnen Williams. On the offensive side of the ball, key contributors such as tight end Ryan Griffin and running back Bilal Powell were also missing.

All the injuries meant that the Jets played the role of sacrificial lamb in Baltimore to a team that had already clinched their division. It was never going to be an easy match-up, even if the Jets were healthy, but all the injuries made this a tall task at one of the best teams in the NFL this season.

“We just knew what kind of game we had to play. Any time that you're playing a team that they won their division, they're the one seed, I mean, they're pretty good,” Jets head coach Adam Gase told reporters on Friday in a conference call with the beat reporters.

“So, it is what it is. We knew we had to play a certain kind of game, can't turn it over. We've got to find ways to create third down stops on defense, we had to play well on special teams, which we did. We just didn't play a complete game. We knew we had to play a specific way to beat a team like that.”

The silver lining to all these injuries is that the Jets are able to take a look at these younger players.

In recent weeks, cornerback Bless Austin stepped into a depleted secondary and has played well. Now, it appears that the Rutgers cornerback has stated a solid case to be a part of this team moving forward. Austin is a rookie and a sixth round pick.

Wide receiver Robby Anderson, a known commodity, has also taken the last few weeks to show that he’s a potentially big part of the offense as the rebuild continues. Anderson is in the final year of his contract with the Jets.

The way he’s playing, the Jets have to be considering a long-term contract.

“I think the fact that we've played a lot of guys is really great, especially for our personnel department. They have a really good idea of who are guys that are going to have a possibility of having a future, if there are certain guys that have eliminated themselves, what guys to re-sign,” Gase said.

“I think there is a lot of guys that have probably helped themselves. Offensively, one guy that I can say, Robby Anderson I've seen really make some huge strides this last month and I've seen him do some different things that he wasn't necessarily doing earlier in the season consistently. He's really made some huge strides for us and I think that he's a guy that's really popped off on tape.”