New York Jets: Two players land on PFF’s Top 50 free agent list

The New York Jets have some key players set to hit the open market this offseason and two of those players landed on PFF’s Top 50 free agent list.

The upcoming offseason is set to be an interesting one for the New York Jets. With multiple key players on expiring contracts and a lot of work needed to be done with the roster, first-year general manager Joe Douglas is sure to have his hands full.

But before they start adding players in free agency and before the 2020 NFL Draft is upon us in late April, the Jets must first make some important decisions regarding their in-house free agents.

The Jets have 23 players slotted to be unrestricted free agents this March and a number of them played key roles on the 2019 team. As expected, those players should have sizable markets if the Jets fail to retain them.

Pro Football Focus recently released their list of the top 50 free agents this offseason and two Jets players found themselves in the top 40. First, coming in at No. 40 overall was slot cornerback Brian Poole.

Poole was signed by the Jets to a cheap one-year, $3 million contract in the offseason after spending three seasons with the Atlanta Falcons. The 27-year-old went on to have a career year finishing with a coverage grade of 80.0 per PFF.

After a few seasons of declining play with the Falcons, Poole played the best football of his career in 2019 and he’s sure to be rewarded for it on the open market.

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The second Jets player who made the list was wide receiver Robby Anderson who ranked No. 11 after putting together another solid season. The speedy deep threat totaled 779 yards and five touchdowns on 52 receptions in 2019.

Durable deep threats are hard to find and Anderson is expected to make upwards to $14-15 million per season on the open market this offseason — a figure the Jets might not be willing to pay.

A notable omission to PFF’s list was edge rusher Jordan Jenkins who is set to be a free agent for the first time in his career. Jenkins has developed into a very solid edge defender and finished with a career-high eight sacks in 2019.

The Georgia product has 15 sacks over the last two seasons which ranks 33rd in the NFL over that timespan. To put that in perspective, that’s more than the likes of Trey Flowers, Melvin Ingram, and Everson Griffen.

Jenkins is still expected to draw significant interest around the league — despite his exclusion for this list — if the Jets can’t find a way to lock him up long term.

The Jets will have plenty of decisions to make this offseason and it’s clear that those decisions will start with the pending free agents on their roster.