Supposed weakest spot on Jets roster is actually better than people think

The Jets off-season is winding down to its final few weeks. We are days away from the schedule being released and weeks away from training camps to start.

Still many Jets fans and Jets media are looking to tweak the roster prior to the 2024 campaign. They are going up and down the depth chart and they appear to have zeroed in on the main problem.

And they are wrong.

Several outlets, including Sports Illustrated and ESPN have identified the tight end position as one of “need” for the Jets to complete their offense. Aaron Schatz of ESPN thinks the “roster hole” for the Jets is tight end. Schatz writes, “the big issue being the lack of a star at tight end. Tyler Conklin, who signed with New York from the Vikings in 2022, hasn't had a positive receiving DVOA in six NFL seasons and ranked 43rd among qualifying tight ends in the past two seasons. Jeremy Ruckert, a third-round pick in 2022, could take over as the starter after becoming a bigger part of the Jets' passing game in Weeks 10-14 last season. New York should consider bringing in quarterback Aaron Rodgers' former Green Bay target Robert Tonyan, who is still a free agent.”

What a joke. First off, Tyler Conklin is in the final year of his contract is still only 28-years-old (he will be 29 at the start of the season). The Jets have only about $2.33 million in effective cap space after signing first round pick Olu Fashanu to his rookie deal. So, even if they were interested in signing someone, it doesn’t really make financial sense. And for Robert Tonyan?

Everyone wants to connect every player Aaron Rodgers ever played with to the Jets, completely forgetting the fact that he wanted off of the Green Bay Packers because they weren’t giving him what he needed along the offensive line or offensive weapons. Why would he then turn around and try to bring in all the guys that he just left?

Secondly, Conklin has been a steady presence in the offense. He is a reliable blocker and a nice safety outlet for a quarterback. Is he going to burn people down the seam? No. But you shouldn’t need him to with the weapons the Jets brought in on offense this year. He is a guy you can rely on to get you six yards on third and five. That matters in today’s NFL and it will matter for a Jets team that will still be able to stifle teams on defense.

How anyone looks at the Jets roster and thinks, they need to upgrade the tight end position, is simply someone who wants an all-star at every position. This is the reason the team has been in the hole it has been for the last decade plus.

But weren’t you the one who wanted Brock Bowers in the draft? Yes, I was. But as I said, Bowers isn’t a tight end in the traditional sense of the position. My argument was to utilize Bowers all over the field and Conklin still plays the traditional tight end role.

Finally, we can’t forget about Jeremy Ruckert, who became much more involved with the offense towards the end of the year. I have stated repeatedly that the Jets do not have one player on the offensive side of the ball who wasn’t a top 44 selection in the draft, or a free agent. Ruckert might have the chance to actually break that streak.

Ruckert was a third-round pick that you can’t just replace because it doesn’t look as good on paper. This might surprise some Jets fans to know, but just because a player wasn’t drafted in the first round, doesn’t mean they can’t be starters in the NFL. It might also surprise some to learn that just because a guy isn’t a starter on day one, doesn’t mean he can’t develop into a starter.

The idea that the Jets need to upgrade over a perfectly serviceable piece and abandon a third-round, third-year developmental project for a guy like Robert Tonyan is laughable. Unfortunately it is also just the type of Kool-Aid that too many Jets fan drink.