Ole’ Past their Prime New York Jets (Part One)!

The New York Jets are notorious for signing Future Hall of Famers past their primes. Prime meaning, the best point in their career. This will also be a series but will be a long one. It’ll be a five-part series and will be worth it. Chances are you maybe have forgotten about these players. Anyways, irrelevant enough chitter chat, let’s get started!

List of Players:

#1, QB Brett Favre: Now, this man right here should’ve been a NY Jet in 1991. In the 1991 NFL Draft the NY Jets did not have a first-round draft pick, because instead the year before they participated in the 1st round of the supplementary draft. So, that means they lose their 1st round draft pick the year later (1991). Now, the Jets know he’s the best player in the draft thanks to Mr. Ron Wolf. If you don’t remember from my last article, Ron Wolf was the Personnel Director of the NY Jets who was high on Favre. Instead of doing the obvious and trading up before Atlanta to get Favre, they sat back and allowed Atlanta to draft the all-time great. So, then Ron Wolf became the Green Bay GM and traded for him. Favre, also known as the Gunslinger, is most definitely one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. He is a hall of famer and certainly deserves that title. The Jets didn’t draft him because of an injury that he had that ended Bo Jacksons’ career. It inevitably didn’t affect his career because he holds the record for the most games started in a row (253 games). After becoming an SB Champ, 3x MVP, 9x Pro-Bowler, and 3x First-team All-Pro member, he joined the NY Jets for a single season. He had injury issues but had a Pro-Bowl year in NY. His first 12 games were great until he contracted an injury and kept it a secret so he wouldn’t break his streak of starting 253 games in a row. He was an interception machine for those last five games. He announced for the second time he was retiring, but he returned and signed with the Vikings. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2016, well deserved. Imagine if the Jets had Favre in his prime years. History would be so different. 

#2, FS Ed Reed: Ed Reed is one of the greatest safeties of all time. He best known as a Baltimore Raven, but believe it or not, but he was a Texan and Jet in 2013. He initially signed a three year, $15M contract with the Texans in 2013, but due to not living up to his contract, he was released. After becoming an SB Champ, 9x Pro-Bowler, 5x First-Team All-Pro member, and 1x DPOY, he signed with the NY Jets in 2013 after being released. He was reunited with Rex Ryan (former defensive coordinator in Baltimore when Reed was there). Reed wasn’t terrible as many thought he would be. In his last couple of games, he showed up big with three interceptions. Those interceptions changed the landscape of the game. He helped the Jets go 8-8 and helped Rex Ryan save his job he most likely could’ve lost. Ed Reed certainly wasn’t a great player but was pretty good for the Jets. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2018, well deserved. Too bad we got him way past his prime. 

#3, DE/OLB Jason Taylor: From 1997-07, 2009, and 2011 the New York Jets had to face a monster on the defensive line. His name is Jason Taylor. Taylor was an absolute beast in his prime. In his time in Miami (his prime), he was getting 10+ sacks consistently. His highest was 18.5 sacks in 2002. He left the Dolphins in 2008 to join the Washington Redskins. He had an awful season with 3.5 sacks, yet he only started in 8 games. Then he returned to Miami in 09′ and put up a decent seven sacks. After becoming a 6x Pro-Bowler, 3x First-Team All-Pro member, 1x NFL DPOY, 1x Walter Payton Man of the Year award winner, and the NFL 2000s All-Decade team he joined the NY Jets in 2010. He certainly didn’t have a good season, put up a mediocre five sacks for the Jets, returned to Miami, and had seven sacks. The Jets haven’t had a significant edge rusher since Johnathan Abraham, Jason Taylor, could’ve been that edge rusher we needed. Imagine if we had him, things would be different. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2017, very well deserved. Too bad we got him way past his prime.

This has been Part One of Ole’ Past their Prime New York Jets, and I hope you’ve enjoyed it. Four more articles are coming your way on this topic. These articles may make you think; we could’ve/should’ve/would’ve won if we had these guys in their primes. It’s sad, but great times are coming for us New York Jets fanatics. This has been Jose Calderon III with FiveBoroughDispatch; have a great day, everybody!