NY Jets: 3 non-QB storylines to watch in Week 1 vs. Panthers

With football season around the corner, the NY Jets enter 2021 looking to shed their skin and kickstart a new era its fan base can be proud of. However, with that comes a lot of questions that will be unfolded over the team’s 17 weeks.

While all eyes in Week 1 will be on the highly anticipated quarterback matchup between Zach Wilson and Sam Darnold, there are other aspects to watch for in the team’s season-opener against the Carolina Panthers.

1. Robby Anderson revenge game against the NY Jets?

Now in his second season as Jets general manager, one of Joe Douglas’ biggest mistakes since assuming his current position is letting wide receiver Robby Anderson walk in the 2020 offseason.

Signing a two-year, $20 million contract with the Panthers, the Temple alum decided to join his former collegiate coach Matt Rhule in Carolina.

In his first season with the Panthers, Anderson recorded 95 receptions for 1,096 yards and three touchdowns, earning him a two-year, $29.5 million extension running through the 2023 season.

“I’ve thought about Robby a lot,” Douglas said midway through last season. “As you guys know, there are thousands of decisions that come across your desk throughout the year and I go back and I look at what I could have done better in specific situations.”

Douglas would go on to express his regret and admit he misread the receiver’s market.

"I thought our guys really did a fantastic job of really analyzing every position group’s market value leading up to free agency last year and I think what was wrong with us and Robby, we thought that Robby’s value was going to be even greater than what he signed for in Carolina. I think that’s on me ultimately and that’s on us moving forward to get a better handle on every player’s market value. Honestly, we would all love to see Robby here doing what he’s doing and I tip my hat to the success he has, but obviously we don’t want to be in the business of losing big players."

Joe Douglas

While Sam Darnold did not have a lot to work with during his short stint with Gang Green, Anderson emerged as a security blanket for the young QB and one that he seemed to develop good chemistry with.

Now, the two are once again reunited, so whether or not the decision to let both of them go will come back to bite the Jets remains to be seen.

2. The return of C.J. Mosley to the NY Jets

Outside of Wilson, there might not be another Jets player entering 2021 with more pressure than linebacker C.J. Mosley.

Since inking a five-year, $85 million deal in 2019, the former Baltimore Ravens star has offered Gang Green little as he missed almost all of the 2019 season due to injury and opted out of the 2020 campaign due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now, with the season-ending injury to defensive end Carl Lawson along with injuries to Vinny Curry and Jarrad Davis, Mosley’s role becomes even more crucial as he looks to anchor a defense that is banged up in the front-seven and thin in the secondary.

“It’s been a breath of fresh air, that’s the best way to put it,” Mosley recently said on The Official Jets Podcast. “I’m happy to be back in the building with my teammates, to be around the locker room and the new energy. What we’re doing now is building a great foundation, setting this team on course to stack up wins and get to where we want to go.”

The case of Mosley is a tricky one because he has proven he can be a productive player whether it be in his time with the Baltimore Ravens or in the Jets’ 2019 Week 1 game against the Buffalo Bills where the Alabama native was all over the field.

Despite losing 17-16, Mosley showed he was a force to be reckoned with as he racked up six tackles, a pick-six, a fumble recovery, and two passes defended.

Now, the goal for Gang Green is to be able to keep him on the field.

3. A revamped NY Jets offensive line

Since joining the Jets, it seems as if plans A, B, and C for Douglas have been to build up the team’s offensive line.

Whether it was convincing Ryan Kalil to come out of retirement, drafting Mekhi Becton and Alijah Vera-Tucker, or signing Connor McGovern and Morgan Moses, Douglas has spent the last two years trying to give whoever his QB is as much protection as possible.

“I think there’s a real shortage of quality offensive linemen in the NFL,” Douglas said in a pre-draft conference call in 2020. “So we’re going to do our best to get as many quality ones as we can because you can never have too many.”

On paper, the Jets should have a much-improved offensive line compared to what they had the last few years.

However, paper does not play football. As such, the performance of this new-look line will likely determine how the season goes for Gang Green.

That will very much be the case this week as well. Week 1 should be a solid indicator for how the rest of the season might go for the Jets' offensive line.