Five pressing questions for Jets to answer before regular season begins
· New York PostThe Jets will open their season in four weeks from Sunday when they travel to Nashville to face old friend Robert Saleh and the Titans.
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That may feel like a lot of time, but things begin to move quickly for teams once preseason games begin. The Jets have five more training camp practices and then the season will be here.
With that in mind, here are my five biggest questions remaining about these Jets:
1. Who is starting next to Minkah Fitzpatrick?
The Jets traded for the veteran Fitzpatrick to strengthen their secondary but there are questions around him. The biggest is, who will be the other starting safety? Andre Cisco appears to have the lead in the competition there, but that should worry any Jets fan. Cisco has not been good. Former Giant Dane Belton has consistently made plays in training camp and could beat Cisco out. It feels like Malachi Moore, a 2025 draft pick, is a long shot to start.
2. What about backup quarterback?
The Jets have four quarterbacks on their roster — Geno Smith, Cade Klubnik, Bailey Zappe and Brady Cook. Smith is the unquestioned starter, but it gets murky behind him. The Jets are giving Klubnik, a fourth-round pick, every chance to win the backup job. He has been up and down in camp practices, so preseason games will be huge for him. Zappe has had some good days, but it feels like this is Klubnik’s job to lose. General manager Darren Mougey could try to trade for a veteran if the team has reservations about Klubnik and Zappe.
3. How good is the offensive line?
It feels like everyone who follows the Jets has anointed the offensive line as a strength of the team, but I still want to see more from this group. I think Armand Membou is primed to have a big season and Olu Fashanu has shown promise in his first two years. But I have questions about the interior of center Josh Myers and guards Joe Tippmann and Dylan Parham. Then, there is the question of depth. The Jets had the same five starters for every game last season. The chances of that happening again are infinitesimal. Very few teams in the NFL can afford injuries along the offensive line and I don’t think the Jets are one of them.
4. Who is the kicker?
The most puzzling decision of the offseason with the Jets was not bringing kicker Nick Folk back after an outstanding 2025 season. Folk left in free agency to sign with the Falcons. It has left a hole in a special teams unit that was nearly perfect last year.
The Jets are having a competition between Cade York and Jason Sanders for the kicking job this summer. York has the bigger leg but Sanders has more experience. It has been a close competition throughout camp and may come down to how they perform in the preseason games when the lights are on.
5. Can they stop the run?
The Jets were 29th in the NFL in run defense last year and it is amazing that there were three teams worse than them. They clearly identified it as an area to address this offseason and they added some big bodies to do it.
It has not looked good in training camp so far. The Jets offense has had some big runs and so did the Buccaneers this week in joint practices.
To be fair, the Jets are missing some of those big bodies they brought in. T’Vondre Sweat and Joseph Ossai have yet to practice due to injuries. Kinslgey Enagbare went down this week and now he will miss some time. That has left some problematic lineups against the run for the Jets with Will McDonald on the edge more than Aaron Glenn probably wants. But the reality is that injuries happen all the time and the Jets may have to play without some of their top run defenders in season.
It feels like a vulnerable spot for the Jets right now. Maybe it gets better as they get healthier or maybe it is going to be an issue again this season.