The Jets turned the page to 2026 when they traded Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams at the deadline last week. They were two of the three best players on the team, and the front office basically announced it was more interested in draft picks than retaining those players.
It’s hard to argue with the logic, but it also means the rest of the 2025 season is less about winning and more about evaluation. After facing the Patriots on Thursday night, the Jets have seven more games. The chatter around the team will be about draft position instead of playoff position.
But there are still some things to watch in the remaining games in relation to next year’s team. Here are the players and coaches who have the most to prove down the stretch of the 2025 campaign:
Justin Fields
I don’t think there is any way Fields can play himself into being the 2026 starting quarterback. It has been too bad this season. But he can convince the decision makers that he should stick around. Fields has $10 million guaranteed coming to him in 2026, so you’d think the Jets would be reluctant to just cut him loose. If they do cut him, he’d carry a $22 million dead-money hit.