X
Lost password?

Don't have an account?
Gain Access Now

X

Receive free daily analysis

NFL
NBA
NHL
NASCAR
CFB
MLB
MMA
PGA
ESPORTS
BETTING

Already have an account? Log In

X

Forgot Password


POPULAR FANTASY TOOLS

Expert Advice
Articles & Tools
Import Your Leagues
Draft Rankings
Draft Simulator
Enter League Settings
Value Picks
Compare Any Players
News and Alerts

Tape Tells All: The New York Jets Are A Mess

Justin Carter breaks down the Jets performance in Week 3 and evaluates whether there is any fantasy football upside with the team going forward in the 2021 NFL season.

Welcome back to Tape Tells All, the weekly series where I look at film for something that happened in the NFL this week.

Usually, I like to keep things positive, but the New York Jets are a mess. The team hasn't scored a touchdown in two consecutive weeks. Now, that's not even close to being a record or anything, but in the 2021 NFL where offense is at a high, it's notable when a team is this inept.

So, I wanted to explore the Jets some. Is there fantasy value left on the green side of the Meadowlands? Or is it time to jump ship on every player on this team?

Be sure to check all of our fantasy football rankings for 2025:

 

Background Information

The Jets made a coaching change this offseason. And a quarterback change. And almost half of the initial 53-man roster was new. And there were 12 rookies.

The point is, the Jets look a lot different this year than last year. And yet...

New York is 0-3. Rookie quarterback Zach Wilson always was going to be the rookie quarterback with the least fantasy value -- Trevor Lawrence is a generational prospect, Trey Lance and Justin Fields are more mobile and theoretically have a decent floor when they get named starters (although Fields on Sunday was rough) and Mac Jones plays for the Patriots -- but it's been really, really bad.

Wilson threw two touchdowns and a pick in a competitive Week 1 game. Since then: no touchdowns, six interceptions, a 55.88 completion percentage, and nine sacks.

Looking just at this week, we saw Michael Carter and Ty Johnson combine for 41 rushing yards. We saw Corey Davis have a disappointing day. We saw Braxton Berrios crash back to earth after a shockingly decent start.

Is there any upside here? Should a single player on this Jets roster be rostered in redraft leagues? Let's take a look at some of the ups and downs of Week 3 and see if we can find anything good.

 

The Game Tape

First, you probably all saw this, right?

Yeah, that's a pretty normal Jets play at this point.

I mean, just no pass protection here. The Broncos send the linebacker over the middle and he gets "picked up" by Ty Johnson. I have that in quotes because...well, look at this play. Johnson offers minimal resistance while the Jets offensive line offers him zero help. Before there's time for any play to develop, Wilson is on the ground.

Here's another play. He isn't sacked, but the pocket collapses quickly, forcing Wilson outside and into a throwaway. At least one receiver actually has some separation, but you aren't going to be able to get the ball to anyone when you're running for your life. Credit to Wilson for not getting sacked, but also...yeah, flipping the ball out of bounds at the last second doesn't help you for fantasy purposes.

Here's a Corey Davis target. Davis has been disappointing and he probably should have brought this one in, but the Broncos defense is surrounding him pretty well, so despite the ball coming to him, Davis doesn't have room to cleanly bring in the ball.

Here's another incompletion to Davis. Just doesn't have space here. He's 40th among wide receivers in target separation, plus second in drops. 88th in true catch rate. 67th in yards per targets. Etc., etc., etc. Bad year for Davis so far, though there is a possible bright side:

If Wilson can start hitting on those air yards, Davis can find some success. Of course, Wilson is ninth in air yards but just 17th in completed air yards per PlayerProfiler. Wilson also has the second-worst completion percentage above expectation.

Sorry, got sidetracked on some data. Back to some film -- specifically, some film of Michael Carter. Remember when everyone was hyping him as a preseason sleeper? Well, he'd probably be...except he ranks 36th among running backs in opportunity and the Jets are running just 20.7 run plays per game. Playing from behind -- it's bad for running backs!

There's a lot of impressive stuff in the above video from Carter (from the New England game, not the Denver one.) He's a smart runner who makes the most of every opportunity, but...man, those opportunities aren't really there, because the QB play and the OL play are so bad that the Jets don't have the luxury of getting Carter the football.

 

Fantasy Impact

So, fantasy. The Jets and fantasy. What's the situation with that?

Let's just kind of run down things position by position based on how the first three weeks have gone.

Quarterback

Zach Wilson is the QB30 in overall points. Tyrod Taylor has played two games and is ahead of Wilson. No player below him has started three games. It's bad.

And none of the film I watched suggests it'll get too much better. The protection is bad. The weapons are mediocre. Wilson just keeps throwing interception after interception.

Wilson isn't rosterable in most leagues. He's literally the second-to-last QB I would want to play in a 2-QB league, with only Davis Mills worrying me more.

Running Back

This is where things get more interesting.

We looked at some Michael Carter film and he looks the part of a solid NFL back. But we also looked at some really poor opportunity numbers.

Without improvement across the board by this offense that allows Carter to stay on the field longer, he's a low-end RB3. It's a shame, but when he had 11 touches in a terrible offense in Week 3, there's not a lot of upside.

There's also the fact that this isn't really Carter's backfield yet. He took 43 percent of the snaps this week. Ty Johnson outsnapped him, getting 57 percent of the snaps. Johnson had just three carries, but was targeted five times to Carter's two -- for now, Johnson will get that passing down work, but he'll get so much less work than Carter that he can pretty much be ignored.

Wide Receiver

Corey Davis has struggled. Drops. Poor separation. But he's still the best receiver on this team and has the most upside. He was targeted 10 times this week and is a low-end WR3, even if he's likely going to continue to struggle to get open as teams devote a lot of energy to defending him. Davis will produce sometimes. He'll struggle sometimes. Zach Wilson might occasionally find him in the end zone for a touchdown.

Beyond Davis...things are rough. I want to say a healthy Jamison Crowder has WR3 upside, but we haven't see Crowder yet. Braxton Berrios has been provided a decent facsimile of Crowder, but he was down to three targets this week. Keelan Cole is back, but he also had two targets. Both of those guys are now off my radar -- this offense can't sustain them.

Elijah Moore is interesting, as he's the No. 2 receiver now. He has 14 targets over the past two weeks and has a higher aDOT than Davis. He's also caught just eight of his 18 targets, ranking 92nd among wide receivers in catchable target rate, with just 11 of his targets classified as catchable. He's also dropped three passes already. Moore is interesting, but not for redraft.

Tight End

We didn't even look at any tight-end video. There's a reason for that.



Download Our Free News & Alerts Mobile App

Like what you see? Download our updated fantasy football app for iPhone and Android with 24x7 player news, injury alerts, rankings, starts/sits & more. All free!

More Fantasy Football Analysis




POPULAR FANTASY TOOLS

Expert Advice
Articles & Tools
Import Your Leagues
Draft Rankings
Draft Simulator
Enter League Settings
Value Picks
Compare Any Players
News and Alerts

REAL-TIME FANTASY NEWS

Griffin Conine

To Have Shoulder Surgery On Tuesday
Luke Keaschall

Twins Prospect Luke Keaschall Suffers Broken Forearm
Logan Gilbert

Leaves Friday's Start With Forearm Tightness

Vikings Select Tai Felton To Finish Day 2

Seahawks Select Quarterback Jalen Milroe With The 92nd Pick Overall

Browns Select Dillon Gabriel 94th Overall

Packers Pick Savion Williams At No. 87 overall

Steelers Snag Kaleb Johnson In Round 3

Broncos Select Wide Receiver Pat Bryant With The 74th Overall Pick

Texans Select Jaylin Noel With 79th Pick

Lions Select Wide Receiver Isaac TeSlaa With The 70th Overall Pick
Jack Leiter

To Start On Sunday

Patriots Add Wide Receiver Kyle Williams In Round 3

Browns Draft Harold Fannin Jr. With 67th Pick
Garrett Mitchell

Makes Early Exit
Luke Keaschall

Removed Early On Friday
Blake Snell

Likely Avoids Major Injury
Cole Ragans

Dealing With Mild Groin Strain

Broncos Add RJ Harvey To Backfield With 60th Pick

Raiders Select Jack Bech With 58th Pick

Chargers Add Wide Receiver Tre Harris In Round 2
Detroit Lions

Lions Acquire 57th Pick From Broncos

Seahawks Draft Elijah Arroyo 50th Overall
Carolina Panthers

Panthers Acquire 51st Pick From Broncos
Arizona Cardinals

Cardinals Snag Will Johnson At No. 47

Jets Add A Pass-Catcher With Mason Taylor At No. 42

Rams Select Terrance Ferguson With 46th Pick
Houston Texans

Texans Acquire 48th Pick From Raiders, Draft Aireontae Ersery

Saints Snag Tyler Shough At No. 40
Brenton Doyle

Out For Personal Reasons On Friday
Brandin Podziemski

Not On Injury Report For Game 3
Jimmy Butler III

Warriors Optimistic About Jimmy Butler III Playing Saturday
Jae'Sean Tate

To Remain Out Saturday
Jock Landale

Unavailable For Game 3
Terry Rozier

Out On Saturday
Jrue Holiday

Ruled Out For Friday Night's Game 3 Against Orlando
Kevin Love

To Miss Saturday's Game
Jaylen Brown

Available For Friday Night's Game 3 Against Magic
Gary Payton II

Iffy For Saturday's Action
Jayson Tatum

Officially Available On Friday For Game 3 Against Magic
Will Smith

Back From Injury On Friday
Luke Kennard

Questionable For Game 4 On Saturday
Darius Garland

Listed As Questionable For Game 3
Ja Morant

To Miss Game 4 On Saturday
Rui Hachimura

Available For Game 3 In Minnesota
Aaron Ekblad

Available To Return Saturday
Erik Swanson

Ryan Burr Progressing
Daulton Varsho

To Return On Tuesday At The Latest
Max Scherzer

Takes Positive Step On Friday
Aleksander Barkov

Questionable For Saturday
Gabriel Landeskog

Set For Larger Role In Game 4
Calvin Pickard

To Start Game 3 For Oilers
Randy Arozarena

Resting For First Time This Year
Jonas Siegenthaler

To Play Limited Minutes In Game 3
MLB

Red Sox-Guardians Game Postponed On Friday
Luke Hughes

Remains Out On Friday
MLB

Tigers-Orioles Postponed On Friday
Patrik Laine

A Game-Time Decision Friday
Yainer Diaz

Out On Friday Against Royals
Iván Herrera

Ivan Herrera Hopes To Start Rehab Assignment Next Week
Salvador Perez

Sitting Out For First Time This Season
Jaylen Brown

Questionable For Game 3 On Friday
Brendan Donovan

Back In Action On Friday
Jimmy Butler III

Could Miss Game 3 On Saturday
Coby Mayo

Getting On A Roll At Triple-A
Carlos Prates

Looks To Remain Undefeated In The UFC
Ian Machado Garry

Set For UFC Kansas City Main Event
Cade Cunningham

Collects Double-Double In Loss
Jalen Brunson

Drops 30 Points In Game 3
Karl-Anthony Towns

Leads All Scorers In Game 3 Victory
Zhang Mingyang

Scheduled For Co-Main Event
Anthony Smith

Set For His Final UFC Bout
David Onama

Set For Featherweight Bout
Giga Chikadze

Looks To Bounce Back
Abus Magomedov

Looks For His Third Consecutive Win
Michel Pereira

Returns To Action At UFC Kansas City
Nicolas Dalby

An Underdog At UFC Kansas City
Randy Brown

A Favorite At UFC Kansas City
Andre Muniz

Set To Open Up UFC Kansas City Main Card
Ikram Aliskerov

Looks To Get Back In The Win Column
Sergei Bobrovsky

Shuts Out Lightning In Game 2
Cam Fowler

Finishes Thursday's Win With Five Points
Robert Thomas

Posts Four Assists In Game 3 Win
Pavel Buchnevich

Celebrates Hat Trick During Four-Point Performance
Dylan DeMelo

Battling An Illness
Marcus Johansson

Exits Early Thursday
Aleksander Barkov

Hurt In Game 2
Jrue Holiday

Tagged As Questionable For Friday
Jayson Tatum

Likely Out Again On Friday
Anthony Cirelli

Good To Go Thursday
Andrei Vasilevskiy

Looks To Bounce Back In Game 2
Rasmus Ristolainen

To Miss Training Camp
Jonas Siegenthaler

Returns To Practice
Aliaksei Protas

Traveling With Capitals
Gabriel Vilardi

Still Out On Thursday
Max Pacioretty

Set To Join Maple Leafs Lineup For Game 3
Cam Davis

Looking For Better Fortunes At TPC Louisiana
Adam Svensson

Making Third Apperence At Zurich Classic
Max Greyserman

Aiming For Similar Success At TPC Louisiana
Lee Hodges

A High-Upside Player In New Orleans
PGA

Nico Echavarria Looks To Ride Off Of Elite Putting In New Orleans
Gary Woodland

A Player Worth Watching In New Orleans
Max McGreevy

Returns To The Zurich Classic Of New Orleans
Rasmus Hojgaard

In Search Of Consistency Ahead Of Zurich Classic
Sam Stevens

A Boom-Or-Bust Candidate In New Orleans
Nicolai Hojgaard

Looking To Turn Season Around At Zurich Classic
Christiaan Bezuidenhout

Looks To Sway A Hot Putter In Teams Favor At Zurich Classic
Akshay Bhatia

Looking To Bounce Back At TPC Louisiana
Carson Young

Looks To Turn Things Around At TPC Louisiana
Erik Van Rooyen

Looking For Momentum In Louisiana
Andrew Novak

Making Start At TPC Louisiana After Near Miss At Harbour Town
Ben Griffin

Making Third Career Start At Zurich Classic
Taylor Moore

Competing With A New Teammate In New Orleans
Wyndham Clark

Making Return To New Orleans
Kurt Kitayama

Teeing It Up Again In New Orleans
Collin Morikawa

Back At Zurich Classic For Fifth Time
Thomas Detry

Making Third Appearance At New Orleans Team Event
RANKINGS
C
1B
2B
3B
SS
OF
SP
RP

RANKINGS

QB
RB
WR
TE
K
DEF