No NFL team looks forward to an underwhelming season, but when expectations are high in August, finishing out of the playoff picture is even more disappointing. Inevitably, injuries, variance and mistaken optimism lead to franchises widely pegged as playoff locks falling out of the race before December. Outside of the Chiefs, it seems like no team is a lock to make the playoffs every year.

The only thing worse than missing the playoffs? Missing the playoffs again the following season. In the interest of avoiding that fate, let’s lay out a retooling plan for four of the league’s most disappointing franchises in 2024: the 49ers, Bengals, Cowboys and Jets. I’ve tried to keep things realistic and reasonable and haven’t projected any extraordinary trades, but each of these teams is going to need to reimagine some elements of itself to make a deep playoff run next season.

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Two of these teams are hiring new coaches, and the other two are bringing in replacements for their defensive coordinators. One needs a new quarterback, and one needs to give its signal-caller a massive raise. I’ll start with the NFL’s most expensive quarterback and a team that has perennially disappointed. How can the Cowboys get back on track and return to the postseason?

Jump to a team:
49ers | Bengals
Cowboys | Jets

Dallas Cowboys (5-8)

1. Undo the 2024 offseason. Not the CeeDee Lamb and Dak Prescott contracts, of course, but every other move the Cowboys made hasn’t panned out. Ezekiel Elliott has been a replacement-level back and seen his yards per carry fall for the fourth consecutive season. Coordinator Mike Zimmer hasn’t built a reliable run defense. While his patented double-mug looks still lead to pressures on third downs, Dallas has the league’s worst first- and second-down defense. Eric Kendricks excelled under Zimmer in Minnesota and was a great player for a long time, but he’s not an NFL-caliber linebacker anymore. Teams exploit his lack of range on a weekly basis.

The Cowboys have to upgrade those spots. So Elliott and Kendricks, the two veteran free agents they signed during their all-in spring, probably are going to move on. Zimmer’s tenure with the team will also likely end after one season. And in fact, he’s not the only coach walking out the door …

2. Move on from Mike McCarthy. The former Packers coach won 12 games in each of the three seasons he had a healthy Prescott, but his teams struggled in 2020 and 2024 even before Prescott went down with season-ending injuries. McCarthy modernized his offense when he was hired, but some of his changes were fleeting; the Cowboys are back down to 29th in motion rate at the snap this season, as an example.

He sold himself to the Cowboys as an analytics-reformed thinker, but that didn’t happen in practice based on the comments he made to announcers about wanting to hit carry totals in the second half and his late-game management. He was better than he was at his worst in Green Bay, but the bar is a lot higher in Dallas. He isn’t a bad coach, but he’s not making the team drastically better in 2025. There is someone out there who can do that.

3. Offer Ben Johnson five years and $125 million to take over as coach. I wanted to argue that the Cowboys should hire Bill Belichick, who would have taken over in the hopes of immediately fixing the defense and left the offense to someone else. With Belichick taking the job at the University of North Carolina, though, Dallas might instead need to take a bigger swing to fix its offense.

Johnson’s work as the offensive coordinator in Detroit has been impeccable. While he won’t be able to bring that dominant O-line and some of the playmakers with him, consider how many of the people who touch the ball there were regarded before they got to Johnson. Amon-Ra St. Brown was a fourth-round pick. David Montgomery was a running back who had averaged fewer than 4.0 yards per carry in his four seasons with Chicago. Wideouts Josh Reynolds and Kalif Raymond were cut by Tennessee. And Jared Goff, now an MVP candidate, had essentially been benched for John Wolford in a playoff game and was salary ballast in the Matthew Stafford trade. They’ve all gotten better under Johnson.

The problem for the Cowboys is they need to find ways to get better that don’t involve adding significant talent or spending tons of money, owing to their roster construction. They couldn’t advance past the divisional round with Prescott, Lamb and Micah Parsons making about $60 million per year. They’ll be making more than double that figure once Parsons signs his offseason extension (more on that in a minute). The Cowboys need all three of those stars to stay healthy and play well, but they also need someone who can help produce useful players on cost-controlled deals in secondary roles throughout the lineup beyond that big three.

The Cowboys can’t subvert the salary cap, and they can’t buy first-round picks, but spending on coaches is uncapped. Paying Johnson this much would represent a significant investment and probably make every other team in the league angry, but coaches as a whole are underpaid. This franchise is valued as being worth more than $10 billion by Forbes. If this move succeeds, Johnson would be a bargain. If it fails, the Cowboys won’t miss the money.

4. Allow Brandin Cooks to leave and expect to move on from Zack Martin and (potentially) Terence Steele. Cooks is a free agent ain 2025, and the combination of injuries and age have slowed down the well-traveled veteran wideout. He isn’t horribly overpaid on his current $8 million salary, but that’s a position the team will want to address by signing a replacement or adding a tight end to follow the leaguewide trend of more 12 and 13 personnel packages. The trade for Jonathan Mingo suggests he will be a regular next season, but I’d like to see them go after at least one veteran to replace Cooks.

The right side of the offensive line needs to be replaced, too. It’s unclear whether Martin will retire after battling an ankle injury in 2024. If the seven-time All-Pro guard wants to return, the Cowboys should bring him back, but they have to prepare for a world where he isn’t his usual self or isn’t on the field at all. They are usually content to target offensive linemen in the draft, so I expect their draft in this scenario will consist of defensive front seven players and offensive linemen.

Steele was a pleasant surprise earlier in his career, but he hasn’t been the same player since tearing his ACL and MCL in 2022. He has allowed 10.5 sacks this season, tied for second most by any lineman per NFL Next Gen Stats, and has a $13.3 million base salary next year. I don’t think Dallas can bring him back without a pay cut, even if means facing some semblance of uncertainty at tackle.

5. Bring back DeMarcus Lawrence on a one-year deal and sign Parsons to a record-setting extension. The Cowboys clearly have been preparing for life after Lawrence with some of their picks over the past few seasons, but 2022 second-rounder Sam Williams missed all of this season with a torn ACL and linebacker DeMarvion Overshown needs surgery after a knee injury in Monday’s loss to the Bengals. There’s just not as much surefire pass-rush depth as the team was hoping, which would justify a one-year deal for Lawrence. The 32-year-old’s price would have to come down from $10 million after an injury-hit season.

A massive deal for Parsons, who’s entering his fifth-year option in 2025, is inevitable. The star pass rusher is already in line for a jump from $3 million base salary in 2024 to a $24 million in 2025, but the Cowboys shouldn’t want to play the franchise tag game with their most talented player. After letting the Lamb and Prescott deals hang over the franchise for most of the offseason, they should break from tradition and get Parsons’ deal done in March.

He will understandably want to become the highest-paid non-quarterback in the league, and it would be a surprise if this contract didn’t grant him that title. With Justin Jefferson signing a four-year, $140-million deal ($35 million average annual value) last offseason, Parsons should expect to top that figure. Five years and $185 million ($37 million AAV) is probably where the team should hope to get the contract done, although I’m sure he will look to become the first $40 million non-quarterback.

Cincinnati Bengals (5-8)

1. Move on from defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo. It’s a shame, because Anarumo’s defensive tactics and schematic malleability helped create some memorable curveballs during the Bengals’ peak in 2021 and 2022. His move to drop eight in key situations against the Chiefs in the second half of the 2021 AFC Championship Game shut down Patrick Mahomes and sparked a dramatic Cincinnati comeback. Anarumo’s defense then held the Rams in check for most of the Super Bowl before Matthew Stafford and Cooper Kupp found a way through late in the fourth quarter.

The Bengals need to face the reality that their defense never recovered after losing star safety Jessie Bates III in free agency in 2023. Too many young defenders have failed to develop into reliable starters as cost-controlled answers. Dax Hill was moved from safety to cornerback before tearing his ACL this season. Cam Taylor-Britt has been benched twice. Zach Carter is out of the organization. Myles Murphy and Jordan Battle haven’t carved out regular roles, while DJ Turner II started his second season on the bench before getting hurt. That’s six Day 1 or Day 2 picks on rookie deals.

Given how many young players the Bengals are relying upon in the secondary, I’d look toward someone with a track record of developing defensive backs. The Jesse Minter/Mike Macdonald defenses from Michigan have thrived this season. Other potential options include Chargers defensive backs coach Steve Clinkscale or longtime Ravens secondary coach and passing game coordinator Chris Hewitt. Coach Zac Taylor was on the Rams staff with Carolina defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero before both left for jobs elsewhere, making Evero a viable option if he leaves the Panthers.

2. Shed veteran salaries. The Bengals have to be realistic about how much they can spend around Joe Burrow and what’s about to be an extremely expensive wide receivers room. Adding defensive draft picks was their plan to create efficiency, but when they struggled, the front office went after more free agents to try and plug holes. Most of those moves have been disappointing this season.

That money likely needs to be used elsewhere. Defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins has no guaranteed money in 2025, and cutting him would free up $10.5 million in cash and cap space. Cincinnati could create an additional $6.5 million by moving on from safety Geno Stone, who has struggled with his tackling this season. And while he played a valuable role for them during their playoff runs, edge rusher Sam Hubbard has just two sacks and nine knockdowns in 2024. The Bengals would save $8.1 million in cash and more than $6 million in cap space by cutting him. Mike Hilton, who was also excellent in the slot through the postseason, is a free agent and likely to either move on or only return on a modest salary.

3. Lock up Ja’Marr Chase. The Bengals either weren’t able or willing to sign their star wideout to a market-value extension last offseason, and that means the price is only going up next year. Chase leads all receivers with 1,319 yards and 15 receiving touchdowns, six more than any other player. The last player to have more receiving touchdowns than him through Week 14 in a given season is Randy Moss, who had 19 through 14 weeks for the 2007 Patriots.

Justin Jefferson‘s four-year, $140-million extension will inevitably be the model for Chase’s contract, but Cincinnati will have to go higher. As is the case for Parsons in Dallas, Chase will push to become the first non-quarterback to make $40 million per season on a multi-year contract. I would expect his deal to come in just a little short of that figure, with an average annual salary of $38 million.

The Bengals can structure his contract to have a more reasonable 2025 cap figure and restructure Burrow’s deal to reduce his $46.3 million cap hit in 2025. They’ll need the short-term cap space to retain some flexibility for a fourth move.

4. Franchise tag Tee Higgins for the second time with the expectation of trading him. It’s going to be tough for this team to adequately pay Burrow, Chase and Higgins while building a complete roster. It’s not impossible; the Dolphins are paying Tua Tagovailoa, Jaylen Waddle and Tyreek Hill, and the Eagles have given out new deals to Jalen Hurts, DeVonta Smith and A.J. Brown. The Bengals have too many problems elsewhere, though.

And yet, thinking about the free agent market, it’s clear Higgins will have no shortage of suitors. While it remains to be seen whether veterans such as Cooper Kupp and Deebo Samuel Sr. will be available, Higgins would be the best young wideout by a considerable margin. Other potential free agents are either coming off of injuries (Chris Godwin, Marquise Brown), on the wrong side of 30 (Amari Cooper, DeAndre Hopkins) or both (Stefon Diggs). Higgins should and would be the priority target.

The Patriots, Panthers and Commanders all have young quarterbacks who need pass-catching help. The Giants and Raiders might have rookie signal-callers after the draft and want another playmaker to take the load off of their excellent 2024 first-rounders in Malik Nabers and Brock Bowers, respectively. The Chargers could see Higgins as a missing piece in their offensive puzzle after getting by with Joshua Palmer and Quentin Johnston this season.

Franchising Higgins a second time would cost the Bengals $26.2 million, which is a huge one-year salary, but it isn’t out of line for an upper-echelon wideout. He could immediately sign the tender and then all-but-ensure he’ll hit the open market as an unrestricted free agent in 2026, though that’s not really something the team should fear. If Cincinnati doesn’t use the tag on him in the offseason, it will lose him in the open market for nothing more than a compensatory pick. If that’s going to happen, better it takes place in 2026 than 2025.

Realistically, the Bengals would be franchising Higgins with the hopes of trading him to a wideout-needy team for guaranteed draft capital. They wouldn’t have to wait a year or worry about the compensatory formula, which would at best give them a pick at the end of the third round.

Higgins is more valuable than that. While Bengals fans would love for their team to land a first-round pick, that’s not likely to happen. Davante Adams and Hill had been more productive than Higgins when they landed first-round returns in trades. Brown had been in the same ballpark, but he was also entering the final year of a team-friendly deal for the Eagles and still had two potential franchise tags to go before hitting unrestricted free agency. Higgins is two years further along in that process.

Fair value for Higgins would be a second-rounder and a Day 3 pick. Given that so many teams interested in him will pick in the top 10, landing a selection in the 32-to-42 range would still give the Bengals a chance to add a difference-maker. After all, they once used the No. 33 pick to land Higgins himself.

5. Rebuild the pass rush around Trey Hendrickson. Nothing’s going to get better for the Bengals on defense until they fix their pass rush. While Hendrickson’s 12.5 sacks lead the league, the rest of the team has just 11.5 combined. That has actually happened before: A handful of players have finished the season with more sacks than the combined efforts of their teammates. Hendrickson only has 1.5 sacks over his past five games, so it might only take one big game to become the next.

Hendrickson is 30 and a free agent after next season, so the Bengals have to prepare for a universe where they’re not relying on him for 60% of their sacks. They’ve tried to do so by drafting Myles Murphy and signing players such as Rankins, but those moves haven’t worked out. If they move on from Rankins and Hubbard, they need to land multiple starters this offseason. The bulk of Cincinnati’s draft capital and free agent spending needs to go here.

San Francisco 49ers (6-7)

1. Clear out cap space by cutting and trading several veterans. There’s a big contract extension coming for the 49ers — I’ll get to that in a minute — and general manager John Lynch & Co. have already started preparing to clear out room. Wideout Brandon Aiyuk and offensive tackle Trent Williams pushed to get deals done over the summer to avoid being moved for salary cap reasons, but there are others who are simply going to need to be let go.

The 49ers made one move recently signaling their plans, as they restructured defensive tackle Javon Hargrave‘s contract Tuesday. The move reduced his 2025 base salary, which will allow the team to designate Hargrave as a post-June 1 release without carrying significant salary during free agency. The move signals that Hargrave likely will be one of the two players they will designate as post-June 1 releases for cap purposes.

The other might be a player fans are expecting to leave. Wideout Deebo Samuel can still take over games at his best and has been a historic outlier in terms of generating yards after catch, but the writing is on the wall for his time in San Francisco. He is 29 and entering the final season of his contract. The 49ers re-signed Aiyuk, used a first-round pick on Ricky Pearsall and gave a short-term extension to Jauan Jennings, who has been excellent in an expanded role this season. Jennings’ 2.9 yards per route run ranks fourth in the league among wide receivers. That’s where the 49ers are going at the position.

Samuel could have trade value, although I wonder whether teams will be desperate to give him a multiyear deal with significant guarantees. The comparable situation might be when cornerback Jalen Ramsey was finishing up a significant second contract in 2023 as he approached 30 and wanted to get a new deal done with a team that needed to cut salary. Fans were shocked when the Rams traded a franchise cornerstone to the Dolphins for a third-round pick and reserve tight end Hunter Long, but there just isn’t a huge market for veterans hitting their third deals in the modern NFL.

Ramsey was a more productive player at the time of that trade than Samuel is now, which makes things even more complicated for the 49ers. Trading Samuel before June 1 would actually cost them more than $3 million in cap space, while releasing him as a post-June 1 cut would free up $17.5 million in 2025. They can maneuver salaries to make the cap work if they get a good offer for Samuel, but if they’re looking at only a late pick on Day 3, it might be more practical to release him and realize the short-term cap savings.

There are other options. The 49ers won’t want to tear apart their entire defense, but they could move on from veteran defensive lineman Maliek Collins and safety George Odum, which would free up another $7.5 million. Linebacker Fred Warner isn’t going anywhere, but restructuring his deal and reducing a team-high $29.2 million cap hit would create short-term cap space. They project to have $27 million in cap space next season, but that’s with a handful of defensive contributors hitting free agency.

2. Bring back one of the pending free agents on defense. There are three big names on the San Francisco defense hitting free agency. Linebacker Dre Greenlaw has missed the entire season because of a torn Achilles suffered running onto the field in Super Bowl LVIII. Safety Talanoa Hufanga, an All-Pro in 2022, missed the final 10 games of last season because of a torn ACL and had played just two games this season before returning for last week’s win over the Bears. And Charvarius Ward, the team’s top cornerback, has been in and out of the lineup dealing with a personal tragedy.

The 49ers would love to bring all three back, but they’ll likely need to be choosy. Lynch just signed cornerback Deommodore Lenoir to a five-year, $88.8 million extension, so the team probably won’t make a second large investment at cornerback, which would push Ward into free agency. Hufanga has All-Pro upside, but as a young safety with a proven résumé, he might come close to Xavier McKinney‘s four-year, $67 million deal with the Packers. That might push the 25-year-old out of San Francisco’s budget.

Of the three, I’d lean toward bringing back Greenlaw, who was one of the league’s most dynamic linebackers before his injury. He is set to return to the field shortly, and if he looks anything like his old self, the 49ers might still be able to retain a significant contributor without having to pay the going rate because of how the injury impacted his 2024 season before free agency. On the other hand, we’ve also seen this next guy develop Day 3 picks and waiver-wire additions into valuable linebackers, so maybe that pushes the organization toward paying for Hufanga and going with an option on a less expensive contract next to Warner.

3. Hire Robert Saleh as defensive coordinator to develop young talent. Saleh wasn’t able to make it work as the Jets’ coach, but there’s no arguing with the work he did on the defensive side of the ball. Taking over one of the league’s worst defenses, he built the Jets into a dominant unit in two years. They have also fallen apart on defense since he was fired, suggesting he played a key role in helping game plan and adjust on a weekly basis.

The 49ers are already familiar with Saleh’s work — he was their coordinator from 2017 to 2020 — and they shouldn’t be attached to their defensive leadership. Coach Kyle Shanahan moved on from Steve Wilks after one season and eventually promoted Nick Sorensen to coordinator, but the results have been indifferent. I’d blame that more on injuries than Sorensen’s scheme, but the 49ers don’t have the luxury of waiting to see how he develops in this role. If there’s an elite defensive coordinator available and no questions about how he would fit with this group of players, that’s a chance San Francisco has to take.

Teams have been able to attack the young players and especially the low-cost veterans in this defense all season, with safety Malik Mustapha as an exception. Defensive backs Ji’Ayir Brown and Isaac Yiadom and linebacker De’Vondre Campbell have struggled. Saleh has an excellent track record of both developing young talent and bringing through unheralded players while getting the most out of them in starting roles. With the Jets, he had superstars Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams, but he also developed Bryce Huff, Quincy Williams and John Franklin-Myers into useful players.

With how much the 49ers are spending elsewhere, they’re going to need to have spots in their starting lineup and in key depth roles for rookie-deal players and modestly paid veterans. I’d trust Saleh to help pick the right guys for those spots and get them playing well on Sundays. While Saleh is currently spending time in Green Bay as a consultant, the 49ers should give serious thought to hiring him back for 2025 — if he’s interested.

4. Get the Brock Purdy deal done. I’ve written at length about the Purdy situation, and nothing has changed to impact those thoughts. Yes, the 49ers could take the bold stance of trusting they’ll find the next Purdy on Day 3 of the draft, deal the quarterback for significant draft capital and use the picks and the cost savings to spend heavily throughout the roster. Nothing about his play or the organization’s public comments suggest that’s likely to happen.

If the 49ers pay the going rate for a franchise quarterback next year, they’re topping the deal Dak Prescott just inked with the Cowboys, which is north of $60 million per season. I suggested over the summer a Purdy deal would come in at five years and $325 million, or $65 million per year. That’s still the number he and his agents are likely targeting.

5. Prepare for life without Christian McCaffrey. One of the many injuries that have sidelined the 49ers this season, the running back’s nagging calf injury over the summer eventually became dual Achilles tendinitis, which kept the star back out for the first eight games. When he returned, he averaged just 4.0 yards per carry before suffering a torn PCL, which returned him to injured reserve and ended his season.

While the 49ers gave McCaffrey a two-year extension over the summer, they could get out of that deal this offseason, albeit while still owing him $8.5 million of a $14.3 million roster bonus for 2025. That seems unlikely, given how successful elite backs have been this season and how valuable he was to the 49ers in 2022 and 2023. The only way San Francisco could justify moving on before 2025 would be if it was confident his injuries would prevent him from contributing on a regular basis.

Even if we assume McCaffrey is still on the roster in 2025, the 49ers have to be realistic about their expectations. Three of his past five seasons have been significantly impacted by injuries, with the 28-year-old limited to three games in 2020, seven in 2021 and four this season. It’s not impossible to pay a quarterback and a running back significant money, but McCaffrey’s $19 million average salary is way ahead of Saquon Barkley ($12.6 million) and Derrick Henry ($8 million).

In addition, while Alvin Kamara might be the only other back in the league with McCaffrey’s versatility and ability as a pass-catcher, the 49ers have had success running the football in McCaffrey’s absence. Jordan Mason, an undrafted free agent, ran for 667 yards over the first seven games of the season and averaged 5.2 yards per carry before struggling with injuries. Rookie Isaac Guerendo has averaged 5.7 yards per carry, and he just racked up 128 yards from scrimmage in Sunday’s win over the Bears, although he suffered a foot injury. Shanahan’s offense had a long track record in the past of succeeding with journeymen running backs and lightly regarded rookies, although much of that was also in an era when the rushing attack was more one-dimensional and zone heavy than it is today.

Obviously, the 49ers are better with McCaffrey than they are without him. If he isn’t healthy or the 49ers find themselves in a salary crunch in 2025 and beyond, though, they’re going to need a plan for how to replace him. Maybe that’s Mason and Guerendo and spending money along the offensive line. Maybe it’s another veteran back who hits the market in 2026. Everyone hopes we see more seasons like 2023 from McCaffrey in the years to come, but San Francisco can’t expect that to be the most likely scenario over the remainder of his deal.

New York Jets (3-10)

1. Move on from Aaron Rodgers. This one’s easy. The Jets will have to designate Rodgers as a post-June 1 release, which would free up $9.5 million in cap savings in 2025, albeit at the expense of $35 million in dead money in 2026. Rodgers was owed $37.5 million in cash, all of which is unguaranteed. The Jets could technically wait until the day before the regular season to make this move, given that his base salary is only $2.5 million and wouldn’t be difficult to carry throughout the spring and summer, but it’s time for the organization to be decisive.

2. Also move on from as many of the Rodgers trappings as possible. It’s time for a reset. All the stuff the Jets brought in to support Rodgers has to go. Backup quarterback Tim Boyle and receiver Randall Cobb didn’t return for 2024, but there’s no reason to keep Rodgers’ support staff around for another year. Wideout Allen Lazard‘s $11 million base salary for 2025 is unguaranteed and not justified by his production. Nathaniel Hackett already has been deposed as offensive playcaller and doesn’t have the sort of résumé that justifies his return.

And yes, that also includes Davante Adams. I know the Jets sent a third-round pick to the Raiders to acquire Adams, but without the Rodgers connection, there’s no strong case for bringing him back. Adams turns 32 on Christmas Eve, and his production has declined by 25% between the 2022 season with the Raiders and his work in 2023 and 2024 with Vegas and New York. Drops and mental mistakes, such as going out of bounds late in the game against the Dolphins on Sunday to open up an opportunity for Miami to launch a last-second comeback, aren’t helping matters.

Adams is still a good player, but his contract is about to pay the three-time All-Pro like he’s prime Justin Jefferson. His base salary spikes to $35.6 million in 2025 and 2026, a contract mechanism that was designed to both report an inflated figure when it was signed and trigger a renegotiation when it arrived. The hope naturally was that he would be playing well enough to earn another significant extension, but he wouldn’t get that sort of deal on the open market.

There’s just no realistic way Adams will be back with the Jets on that figure in 2025. They could try to negotiate a pay cut, but given the expected departure of Rodgers and the uncertainty about the team’s chances of competing, Adams might prefer to go somewhere else. I can’t imagine any other team paying him north of $35 million per season, so even a trade would have to come with a pay cut, which means he would essentially have to approve any deal.

In what looks like a deep market for veteran wide receivers, Adams’ age and declining production might limit his suitors. My guess is he will likely land something more like $12 million per season on a short-term deal. If the Jets can get him to take a pay cut into that range, they should bring him back. If not, they need to treat the trade for him as part of the Rodgers sunk cost and move on.

3. Pursue a coach with experience who can rebuild the team’s culture. Organizations usually replace the coach they fired with someone who represents the polar opposite of that coach stylistically. The Jets fired defensive-minded coach Todd Bowles in 2018 and replaced him with an offense-first (in theory) option in Adam Gase. When Gase failed, the Jets fired him in 2021 and turned to Robert Saleh, another option whose roots are on defense.

Given that habit and the questions about what they’ll do at quarterback after moving on from Rodgers, I wouldn’t be shocked if the Jets hired a coach with an offensive background. Are there really great options available on that front? I’m not so sure. On the coordinator side, Bobby Slowik has had a rough year in Houston. Arthur Smith didn’t wow during his time in Atlanta as a head coach. Kellen Moore was once thought of as a head-coach-in-waiting, but he has been with three organizations in three years and might not be ready to take over. There’s a big drop-off from Detroit OC Ben Johnson to the other candidates, and precious few have the experience of building a culture and handling major media markets. Matt Nagy is one of the few coordinators with head-coaching experience, but the Jets probably don’t want to go down that road.

And likewise, at the college level, there isn’t the ready-made option Jim Harbaugh was for the Chargers a year ago. Lincoln Riley has struggled since joining USC. Steve Sarkisian might be settled at Texas. Dan Lanning isn’t leaving Oregon. Ryan Day could become available if Ohio State fires him, but that’s a slim group of potential coaches.

The logical fit might be the guy rumored to be in the running to replace Day if the Buckeyes let their coach go. Mike Vrabel went 54-45 in six years with the Titans, which gives him a leg up on just about every other Jets coach in history; the only one to be in the job for more than a year who finished his tenure with a winning record was Bill Parcells. Vrabel was regarded as an elite coach at his best, although the bottom fell out after his final two seasons in Nashville. He spent most of his playing career dealing with the media in Boston and has the credibility and charisma to handle the pressures of both reporters and fans in New York.

Frankly, looking around the market, there aren’t many options with more impressive résumés available. Vrabel wouldn’t be the offensive coach Jets fans might hope to see walk through the doors in Florham Park, but he would be a more experienced option than former Jets cornerback (and current Lions defensive coordinator) Aaron Glenn, another top choice for the role.

4. Get in the Sam Darnold negotiations. Hey, it would save some of the fans money on jersey sales, right? Darnold’s first run with the Jets ended poorly, although his success with the Vikings clearly affirms the portion of the fan base that believed Darnold’s failure was down to his surroundings. Given that he finished his tenure with the Jets with Gase as his coach and Jamison Crowder, Breshad Perriman and Denzel Mims as his top wide receivers, there’s a case to be made that it was going to be difficult for any quarterback to succeed.

The Jets might not be able to bring back Darnold, whose contract with the Vikings expires after this season, but they can offer a clear path to a starting role and two elite playmakers in Garrett Wilson and Breece Hall. Olu Fashanu has been inconsistent in his rookie season, but he’ll get a full year at left tackle in 2025, and the Jets have invested heavily up front. We’ll have to see who ends up as the offensive coordinator, but there’s enough to like in New York relative to other potential openings around the league.

The Vikings might franchise-tag Darnold to try to facilitate a deal, which could make things more difficult for the Jets, given they might not want to give up a second-round pick when their third-rounder went to the Raiders in the Adams deal. (They do have another third-rounder, although it’s coming from the Lions and about to fall at the bottom of the round.) Then again, if the organization believes Darnold can be the guy in his second go-round, a second-round pick wouldn’t be a ridiculous price to pay. With a top-10 pick in a draft that isn’t projected to have a great quarterback class, New York could make a move for Darnold and reevaluate its situation after 2025.

5. Sign (some of) their young stars to extensions. It hasn’t been a great year for former general manager Joe Douglas’ much-vaunted class of 2022. Cornerback Sauce Gardner has struggled with his tackling and allowed a passer rating north of 100. Wilson’s numbers haven’t grown with Rodgers taking over for Zach Wilson. Edge rusher Jermaine Johnson tore an Achilles in Week 2, and Hall had just one 100-yard game in three months before suffering a knee injury that might keep him out the rest of the way.

Even with those issues, the performances of those guys in 2021 and 2022 and the need to develop some sort of young core means that whomever the Jets hire as GM needs to start working on new deals. I’d hold off on Johnson, given the investment required to lock up a young pass rusher and his injury, but the team can start negotiating with the other three after this season. Hall is a free agent in 2026, while the others would hit the market a year later.

Hall’s blueprint will be the three-year, $42 million deal Jonathan Taylor signed with the Colts last year. Hall doesn’t have Taylor’s résumé, but both the salary cap and the market for running backs have gone up since Taylor inked his extension. A deal in this range makes sense for both parties, especially because Hall was a second-round pick and has made only a little over $7 million in the first three seasons.

Wilson’s deal might be tougher, given that the wide receiver market has exploded. He doesn’t have the Justin Jefferson– or CeeDee Lamb-level production that would justify a market-shifting contract, although his representation could point to quarterback play as the factor holding him back. I’d look toward the deals signed by DeVonta Smith (three years, $75 million) and Jaylen Waddle (three years, $84.5 million) as more reasonable comparisons; given the rise in the cap, three years and $90 million for Wilson would lock in a significant raise and still give him a chance to hit free agency again in his prime.

Gardner might be the trickiest of the three, if only because his play has been so disappointing this season. D.J. Reed has also struggled across from Gardner, especially after Saleh’s departure. We’ve seen teams pay premiums to add significant talents at cornerback in previous years, with the Rams sending two first-rounders to the Jaguars in 2019 for Jalen Ramsey in the fourth year of his rookie deal. Would the Jets be willing to test Gardner’s market to see if they can land the sort of haul that would allow them to rebuild the rest of the roster? They should consider it if Gardner is asking to top Pat Surtain‘s four-year, $96 million extension. It might behoove both sides to wait a year to see how Gardner performs under a new coach.