It’s time for Jets to evaluate their young talent

Now that the New York Jets are officially eliminated from 2017 playoff contention, it is time for them to stop prioritizing veterans, and get a good look at all of the younger players on their roster.

Coming into this season, the New York Jets were expecting to be competing for a playoff spot in December mainly due to the wealth of talented veterans on the roster. Instead, they find themselves completely out of the playoff picture with a 3-9 record thanks to severe underachievement on the part of many of the roster’s veterans.

The Jets have a plethora of intriguing, young players on their roster, and it is clearly time for the team’s brass to start evaluating these players. They need to have a feel for what they have on the entirety of their roster in order to make the right decisions for the organization in the offseason.

When thinking about the younger portion of the Jets’ roster, there are a few names that come to mind. The most prominent of them all, though, would have to be twenty-five-year-old quarterback Bryce Petty.

In his second season in the league, Petty has only gotten one start, and it came after a week where he did not get the full reps that a starting quarterback should be getting. New York needs to truly find out what Petty is at this stage of his career by closely evaluating him. The good news is that he has been named the starter for the remainder of the season.

Some of the other more promising young players on the roster come from the same position group. At wide receiver, players such as Robby Anderson, Charone Peake, Jalin Marshall, and Devin Smith should all be seeing more opportunities as they all have the potential to be legitimate playmakers.

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On the defensive side of the ball, we have already seen linebacker Darron Lee and defensive lineman Leonard Williams become increasingly involved. Both are former first-round draft picks, and both look to be cornerstones on defense moving forward.

Now, it’s time for the coaching staff to dig even deeper and get a look at even more of the young defensive players. Players like cornerback Juston Burris, defensive lineman Deon Simon, and linebacker Julian Stanford should all be seeing more opportunities after waiting behind veterans for such a long period of time.

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The Jets have plenty of young players who have been waiting all season for their opportunity to shine. Gang Green must now take a very close look at all of these players to be sure that they know what they have.

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