The Jets' special teams, under first-year NFL coordinator Chris Banjo's direction, were their top-performing unit last season and he sounded, in his first remarks to reporters this offseason, as if he's ready to suit up again.

"I'm really excited to be back, really glad to have the guys back in the building and back on the field," Banjo said Wednesday, in the middle of the first week of the offseason program's Phase 2. "The juice and the energy they bring with them on a daily basis and even so early in this process has been phenomenal. So I'm really excited to have the guys back and looking forward to the opportunity we have together to put the work in, a day at a time."

But what about a special teams encore after 2025? Banjo, a smart young STC, isn't going there yet.

"Definitely different," Banjo said of his own Year 2-plus as well as the year ahead for his special units. "So much work to be done. I mean, some faces are a little bit more familiar. ... It's another opportunity to step up to the plate, put the work in, put your head down and continue to grow the unit."

Banjo definitely has some of his key performers back at the Jets facility. The returners, team MVP Isaiah Williams and dynamic kickoff returner Kene Nwangwu, are back. So is Austin McNamara. who had an eye-opening first season as the Jets punter, especially in setting the franchise's seasonal net average mark. So are many of the kick coverers and blockers — among them teams captain Marcelino McCrary-Ball, gunners Arian Smith and Qwan'tez Stiggers, Mykal Walker and Andrew Beck. And don't forget old reliable long snapper Thomas Hennessy.

One name not on the list of returnees is a big one, though. Kicker Nick Folk, who was nearly flawless in his own Green & White encore after his first Jets tenure from 2010-16, signed as an unrestricted free agent with Atlanta. So there is a big opening to fill, with the candidates lining up so far including third-year free agent Cade York, first-year International Pathway Program K Lenny Krieg, and undrafted free agent Will Ferrin.

"In terms of the next few months, I don't know if I can really get into that because right now we're really just excited about the process we got going on," Banjo said with a good dose of spring caution. "When you talk about Lenny, when you talk about Cade, both guys are very, very talented and we're excited to have them in the building, and we're just looking forward to the process, looking forward to attacking it every single day and I think they are as well, too."

Even Williams, who checked in as one of the NFL's best kickoff and punt returners last season and one of the best in Jets history, doesn't get a pass when it comes to the foundational months ahead.

"Isaiah did a phenomenal job last year," Banjo said, "but last year was last year and we're looking forward to putting in the work this year about this whole new unit that we have. To be able to build on that for him will be huge. And I think he showed a lot of that maturing throughout the year last year, but now we just want to continue to build on that and I think he's already been doing that from day one, just his attention to detail."

Banjo has lost a few young players among his coverage and return troops, but he's also getting an addition of more special teams speed with the infusion of draft choices David Bailey, Kenyon Sadiq, Omar Cooper Jr., D'Angelo Ponds and VJ Payne.

"I definitely love the direction AG [HC Aaron Glenn] and Mouge [GM Darren Mougey] are sending us in regards to the type of character guys that they're bringing in here," said Banjo, who will get to work with the Jets' first-year class when they report for the start of the rookie minicamp Thursday afternoon. "In regards to what they can do on the field, I think it's better suited when they get here to be able to get a better feel for that."

But Banjo admits to having a touch of nostalgia upon greeting veterans Demario Davis and David Onyemata at the door of the Atlantic Health Training Center.— he played alongside both on the Saints' special teams. He was asked what the two can add to the Jets' special development, even if they don't take many or any ST snaps in the season ahead.

"The better question in my opinion is what can they not add to the locker room," he said. "When you talk about from a leadership standpoint, a presence, high-character men, I think they play the game the right way. Just everything about them as men, more importantly, and then also as players. I think they've set a really high standard in terms of how they approach this game, how to be a professional, and then also bringing other guys along.

"Me, personally and selfishly, you know, kind of going back to the memories I was fortunate enough to share with those guys out in New Orleans, to have them here now in the building, it means a lot."