Putting the New York Jets on the right flight path

In the interest of a better, more productive NFL offseason, SB Nation’s NFL crew is putting on the general manager’s cap and fixing some of the league’s most moribund franchises, from free agents to marketing campaigns guaranteed not to backfire.

The Jets were counted among the NFL’s best teams as recently as the 2009 and 2010 seasons, ascending to but losing back-to-back AFC Championships but since then, have fallen into mediocrity or worse. They’ve missed the playoffs altogether the past four years, going 8-8, 6-10, 8-8 and 4-12, respectively. That stretch leaves two fired general managers and a head coach in its wake, and it’s now up to new GM Mike Maccagnan and head coach Todd Bowles to get things going back in the right direction.

Together, they must take steps to add talent to their roster, boost the morale of the current nucleus of the team, and get Gang Green behind them. Developing and implementing a new philosophy and culture is one of the more abstract aspects of revitalizing the New York Jets, but there are a number of tangible steps they’ll need to take to get there.

Here’s what I got:

This would be step one for any new staff. Evaluate the roster you’ve inherited and attempt to determine which players fit your scheme, fit your desired culture and fit your budget. Another way of putting this: try to figure out which players you have that are good and which ones are bad. This won’t necessarily happen overnight, but you can project somewhat by studying the film from last year and beyond.

The most obvious question mark spot on everyone’s mind, and really, the most important one, will be -- what will the Jets do at the quarterback position?

Maccagnan and Bowles are bequeathed 2013 second-round pick by John Idzik’s regime in Geno Smith, and his first two seasons were inconclusive. The 24-year-old signal caller out of West Virginia has completed 57 percent of his career passes at 6.9 yards per attempt, with 25 touchdowns to 34 interceptions.

A lot of the time, a quarterback may not be the best fit for one system, but excel in another. The spread-like scheme that Chan Gailey is bringing to New York may be conducive to a big jump in development for Smith.

“I do think we need to kind of work and live with Geno for a little bit to kind of get a good feel for what he is, and his potential and what we feel he can do in our system,” said Maccagnan. “I don’t necessarily want to rule Geno out or anoint him. It’s a work in progress.”

New York Jets quarterback play, 2014

Reports have it that the Jets expressed interest in signing Josh McCown, but they did not make a strong enough push to beat Cleveland’s offer. I suppose you could infer several things from this. Regardless, a time-tested and, frankly, necessary step here is that in the absence of a better option (i.e., the pipe dream that Marcus Mariota falls to No. 6), would be to sign a veteran signal caller as a hedge to Smith’s potential development. If Smith catches on in the Gailey system and shows an affinity for it, great. If he doesn’t, you go to Plan B.

Brian Hoyer, Christian Ponder, Jake Locker and even Mark Sanchez could be options. Turns out finding a really good quarterback is hard, so it’s not like I’m going to have some novel answer for you here.

The next step would be to identify potential cap-saving cuts, and the first that comes to mind is WR Percy Harvin. Cutting Harvin not only saves you $10.5 million against the cap, it means you get to keep your fourth-round pick and give Seattle your sixth-rounder instead. Of course, that means you’re dropping a talented player who just may look pretty good in Gailey’s offense, which is predicated on spreading the field and utilizing explosiveness in space -- Harvin’s forte. The other factor here is that Harvin could end up on a division rival, like the defending Super Bowl champion Patriots.

Right now, the Jets have about $52.3 million in cap space, but at the end of the day, barring a contract restructuring (not a paycut, which he apparently has refused), the $10.5 million for Harvin is money you can dedicate to another premium free agent or spread around to other areas, diluting the risk involved. Plus, draft guy Mike Maccagnan surely wants that fourth-round pick.

Well, under my humbly submitted plan, you now have nearly $63 million to play around with. Step two is really multiple steps, in that it involves addressing several key holes with smart spending in free agency.

“I will say this: We definitely have a lot of cap space,” Maccagnan said recently. “Our goal is to look at all avenues possible in free agency. So our goal is to ideally fill some of our needs via free agency, which will allow us to be a little more flexible in the draft, in terms of looking for the best player available. Building through the draft is ideally what I’d like to do. [But], we’ll be very active in free agency.”

Maccagnan echoed, and clarified these comments later.

“We’re still forming our strategy in terms of how we’re going to attack free agency. I think we’re going to be very active in terms of going after a number of players, but whether they are the high-profile, big-dollar guys or spread the money around a little more and get the second-tier, good-value type guys, that’s sort of the process we’re working through right now, but we’ll definitely be active in free agency, that to me is a huge way to potentially bring talent in to our roster on a short term basis.”

So, a few avenues to explore: First, big name/big money free agency; Second, mid-level free agency; and, third, secondary free agency, or “cap casualties.”

John Idzik was roundly criticized for not being aggressive enough in free agency; I would assume Maccagnan is keenly aware of this. He may not go completely crazy with New York’s cap space -- he has to save some for re-upping key players like Muhammed Wilkerson -- but, that said, he’s in a position where he can spend some dough but do it wisely.

For big-ticket guys, I’d suggest looking first at the free agent cornerback market, because that’s really New York’s biggest weakness. For Todd Bowles’ blitz-happy defense, it’s especially important, because he often asks his defensive backs to cover man-to-man with no help over the top. I’d go out and heavily pursue some of the young, proven corners like Byron Maxwell or Kareem Jackson and look to reunite Bowles with Antonio Cromartie, who could help teach the system to the rest of the DB room. Players like Perrish Cox, Chris Culliver or Davon House are second-level corners who could step in and start from day one, and failing all else, old-school vets like Charles Tillman or Rashean Mathis could act as short-term bridges to any drafted players this year.

The Jets will almost surely look to add some dynamic playmakers to the linebackers group as well, and Baltimore’s Pernell McPhee, Washington’s Brian Orakpo, Pittsburgh’s Jason Worilds and Houston’s Brooks Reed make a lot of sense in this scheme. Bowles’ defense is multiple and aggressive, constantly attacking from different angles, and he’ll need versatile and explosive players that can line up and rush the passer or blitz from a variety of spots.

On the offensive side of the ball, there are some very interesting linemen the Jets could/should pursue, and if Percy Harvin is wayward, an infusion of talented playmakers would make some sense. Enter: C.J. Spiller. When healthy, Spiller is one of the most explosive space players in the NFL and it’d make a lot of sense seeing him reunite with Chan Gailey in New York at a reasonable price. With Chris Ivory as the thunder element to the run game, Spiller would be the lightning, and would be used frequently in the pass game as well. Spiller’s best season as a pro came in 2012 under Gailey, where he rushed for 1,244 yards and six scores while adding 459 receiving yards and two touchdowns.

New England’s Shane Vereen is another interesting prospect on the free agent market here and if all else fails, grabbing Reggie Bush on a club-friendly deal would make some sense as well.

In terms of receivers that the Jets could go after, if Percy Harvin ends up as a cap casualty, there’s an argument to be made in taking a run at Randall Cobb as the potentially more reliable replacement as a joker type of player. Cobb is good in the slot, can play outside, has taken snaps as a running back, and would be a factor in the return game. He may end up costing somewhere in Harvin’s range, but doesn’t present a new regime with some of the same headaches (no pun) that Harvin could potentially bring.

I also think that Philadelphia’s Jeremy Maclin would be an interesting target for the Jets in that he’s proven he can produce in a spread-out offense with questionable talent at the quarterback position.

Mike Maccagnan was hired to kill the draft, period. I realize that “don’t suck at drafting” is a very obvious and simplistic “step” in the road back to AFC prominence, but in all honesty, the subtext of this hire is a shift in philosophy that highly emphasizes building a roster with the draft.

John Idzik got the ball rolling on volume drafting with 12 picks last year, because building through the draft generally means you take a lot of shots at it and then develop those players you select with a long-term approach. The Texans haven’t drafted less than eight times going back to 2009, and this is a stark contrast to the Jets, who drafted three times in 2009, four times in 2010 and six times in 2011. It speaks volumes that Woody Johnson replaced John Idzik with a guy whose entire career has revolved around evaluating college players.

Maccagnan was hired away from his job as the Texans’ college scouting director, which is another way of saying he was essentially the “top college scout” in their department. Before that, he was an assistant college scouting director. Before that, he was a coordinator of college scouting, a pro scout, a college scout and any other derivation of “scout” that you can think of. His education in the NFL revolves around the draft. Ron Wolf, who sprouted the GM tree that includes Ted Thompson in Green Bay, John Schneider in Seattle and John Dorsey in Kansas City, among others, was one of the main consultants in decision to hire Maccagnan, so Wolf’s endorsement certainly speaks to Maccagnan’s evaluation chops.

So: kill the draft. How do you do that? Well, the first thing to do is hit some of your goals in free agency so you aren’t forced to reach or panic once the draft rolls around. Once that’s taken care of, the next big decision for Maccagnan will come at No. 6. Depending on what happens in front of them, the Jets could conceivably find themselves on the clock with Oregon QB Marcus Mariota still on the board. The option to potentially trade back with, say, the Eagles, may present itself. Do you accept a bounty in exchange for Mariota’s rights or do you go with the Oregon signal caller yourselves? It all depends on how you view Geno Smith, of course, but for a guy like Maccagnan, the option of grabbing multiple first rounders over the next few years might be too big of an enticement.

Of course, if Mariota is not there, there are still enormous decisions to be made. For my money, if I’m New York and I’m sitting there at No. 6, I’m taking the highest-rated pass rusher on my board, feeling good about it. Combining one of Florida’s Dante Fowler, Clemson’s Vic Beasley, Kentucky’s Bud Dupree, Nebraska’s Randy Gregory or Missouri’s Shane Ray with the front that includes Sheldon Richardson, Damon Harrison and Muhammed Wilkerson sounds pretty scary/awesome, especially with Bowles at the helm.

Now, a lot depends on what happens in free agency, and that could influence what Maccagnan does, but when you’re picking so near the top of each round, value is what you want. Is a pass rusher the best value you can get there? Arguably, it is. The top pass rushers will fly off the board in the teens. Go grab a cornerback or one of the higher-tier receivers with your early second-round pick. Grab an offensive lineman with your early third-round pick, and grab a running back or a corner/safety hybrid in the fourth, for instance.

This will be a common theme for teams with new coaching staffs and/or front offices, but it will be important to identify and implement a new philosophy and identity. I have the feeling the Jets will want to be one of the most difficult teams to prepare for on both sides of the ball. With Chan Gailey’s offense, opposing coordinators will have to be prepared to defend the entire width and length of the field and make sure to focus on getting their fastest players and best tacklers on the field. With Todd Bowles’ defense, opposing coordinators will really, literally, have to be ready for everything. He throws the kitchen sink at you, and forces you to execute. The Jets will like to be known as a tough, physical and fast team.

For more information on the Jets’ big changes this offseason, make sure you check out Gang Green Nation.