Jets' biggest 2025 strength may be holding them back in 2026

Going into the season for the New York Jets, the last thing on everyone's mind was the special teams unit. Sure, Chris Banjo's unit lost their kicker, who hit 96.6 percent of their field goals, but they were returning their punter, kick returner, punt returner, and a majority of their core special teamers.

Jason Sanders had a rough summer, and it was certainly an interesting first week of the season for him when he shanked his first kick way to the left down in Tennessee, but even Sanders has settled in nicely, going 8-for-9 on field goals and 7-for-8 on extra points.

Would you believe me if I said the thing holding the Jets back the most right now might actually be special teams?

New York Jets special teams ranks towards bottom of the NFL

The Jets are 11th in the NFL in DVOA, 14th on offense, third on defense, and 28th on special teams. Let's put a pin in overall, offense, and defense for a moment and focus on the special teams. What happened?

This was the league's best special teams unit last season, a unit that was on a historic pace. Here's where things have gone wrong.

The Jets are allowing the fourth-most punt return yards in the NFL, with an average return length of 14.1 yards. To put that in perspective, that's more than double what they finished last season, which was 6.3 yards per return.

In addition to giving up more return yards, if you look at net yards per punt, the Jets were sixth-best in the NFL last year, sitting at 43.2 yards. This season, they're down to 23rd in the NFL at 40.3 yards.

Austin McNamara also hasn't been as efficient as a punter. According to Pro Football Focus, McNamara's hang time dropped from 4.70 last season on average to 4.39. With a lesser hang time, there is more of an opportunity for returners to get a chance with the ball in their hand.

As far as the return game goes, the Jets finished second in the NFL in punt return yards and first in the NFL in kickoff return yards. That has also dropped significantly, as they now rank ninth in punt return yards and 30th in kickoff return yards.

So no, the drop-off hasn't come from the decision to let Folk walk in favor of Sanders. In fact, it's the coverage units, the punter, and the returners that have been the biggest factors in the Jets' special teams drop-off.

New York Jets overall DVOA ranking

As far as the rest of the DVOA rankings, this is a good sign for the Jets. Yes, they are sitting at 2-3 record wise, but their overall ranking coming in at 11th is downright flooring. Offensively and defensively, the Jets have been significantly better than expected.

Aaron Glenn deserves credit for how well the defense has played for the majority of this season. The fact that they are a top-three unit in the sport is very surprising considering the personnel they have.

Offensively, it feels like they haven't really hit their stride yet, and they still rank in the top half of the league. Anything above bottom 10 in the league would be considered a massive improvement, considering how poorly they've played on offense for the last 10 years.

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