Five Biggest Questions
1. Is any Jet QB worth drafting in two-QB leagues?
2. Will Matt Forte or Bilal Powell be more productive?
3. Is Quincy Enunwa a weekly starter?
4. Is any other wideout streamable?
5. Can Austin Seferian-Jenkins achieve his potential?
It's been 19 years since the Jets have won more than 11 games and 21 years since they've won fewer than four. Since losing the 2010 AFC title game to the Steelers, the Jets have wallowed in a sort of NFL purgatory. High-profile free agent acquisitions like Brandon Marshall, Eric Decker, and Matt Forte have served as band-aids for holes too massive to cover up. As with so many New York teams (the NBA's Knicks are a prime example), rebuilding is not an option. So this team will continue to limp along . . . and along with it, its fantasy potential.
The 37-year-old Josh McCown is emblematic of the Jets' offensive troubles. For his career, the journeyman QB has been barely adequate. When discounting his miraculous 2013 fill-in performances (career-high 66.5 completion percentage and a 13/1 TD/INT ratio), he's thrown more picks than TDs for his career. 2016 second rounder Christian Hackenberg could be worse. The Mark Sanchez experiment failed, as did Geno Smith. That a QB who should be retired is the frontrunner is all you need to know about this team's aerial fantasy implications.
Relatively speaking, the running game is a bright spot. Bilal Powell ran exceptionally well as Matt Forte's backup, and when turned loose starting Week 14, he dominated to the tune of 5.0 YPC on 82 carries, adding 141 receiving yards on 21 receptions. He owned an RB-59 ADP last summer, when subscribers to my preseason top 300 rankings observed that I had him at #35--ahead of far more celebrated starters like Jeremy Langford, Ryan Mathews, and Rashad Jennings. If Powell can earn 16+ touches a game, he should be able to meet the expectations of his now robust RB-24 ADP. But in the past month, both the head coach and offensive coordinator have insisted this will be a running-back-by-committee operation, meaning the 31-year-old Matt Forte (RB-37 ADP) could once again play a prominent role. So drafting either guy is a risky proposition until/unless one of them seizes starter's touches.
Last summer, little-known Quincy Enunwa earned the #3 receiver role behind high-impact WRs Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker. At season's end, he was the team's leading receiver (yards) and was two catches shy of leading the way in receptions. What I like most about Enunwa this season is (1) he's the team's #1 wideout, and (2) he's being overlooked in drafts (WR-53 ADP) and by experts (51st ranked WR based on 40 national experts compiled by Fantasy Pros). You can grab Enunwa late and snag an almost automatic WR4 with WR3 upside if the Jets' QBs aren't painfully bad. The rest of the WR looks will go to any combination of newly acquired Marquess Wilson, Robby Anderson, Charone Peake, and rookies ArDarius Stewart and Chad Hansen. Are you getting pumped? Enunwa is the one edible food on this plate of fantasy poop.
Finally, here's a shocker: Austin Seferian-Jenkins might actually be a "TE to watch" this season. Jettisoned by Tampa Bay last season and suspended for the first two games of 2017, ASJ is reportedly sober and focused on football. While he's in the "I'll believe it when I see it" camp, I never count out the talented. At his best, ASJ is a terrific tight end on a team lacking at receiver, and which will be playing from behind most games. National experts rank him, on average, as the 33rd best fantasy TE. I'm willing to put him in my top 20 if he gets through the preseason without incident, with top 12-14 upside if everything clicks. In other words, don't draft him, but don't ignore him.