Alex Kay of Bleacher Report recently published an article grading all 32 NFL teams’ free-agency performance and gave the Jets an A-.
"The Giants weren't the only team in the Big Apple to have a fantastic start to their offseason as the New York Jets also made great use of the mountain of cap space on which they were sitting at the start of the new league year," he wrote. "This roster had a litany of issues going into free agency, but the club was able to address many of them within the first week.
"The Jets had to make improvements to their receiving corps to give quarterback Sam Darnold a real shot at turning his career around — or at least assist whichever signal-caller they end up taking at No. 2 in the upcoming draft — and they were able to do exactly that by securing both [Corey] Davis and [Keelan] Cole on the open market.
"The secondary was also shored up with the acquisition of [Lamarcus] Joyner, who joins Marcus Maye (hit with the franchise tag for 2021) in an overhauled unit. The defensive front will also be rejuvenated with the [Sheldon] Rankins signing, which was a big score for this franchise.
"[Carl] Lawson will likely make the biggest impact of all the signings as the former Cincinnati Bengals defensive end has the talent to be one of the league's better pass-rushers. Getting him for just $15 million annually should give the Jets a great return on investment and help get them on the right track to exit their rebuild soon."
Jets GM Joe Douglas has signed 12 players in free agency: Lawson, Davis, Rankins, Cole, Joyner, LB Jarrad Davis, OL Dan Feeney, CB/special-teams ace Justin Hardee, TE Tyler Kroft, RB Tevin Coleman, DL Vinny Curry and LB Del'Shawn Phillips. He also re-signed RB Josh Adams and WR Vyncint Smith.
