Here are two (mostly) factual sets of information about the 2024 New York Jets, delivered with as little editorializing as I can possibly muster.
No. 1: The Jets’ 2024 season will feature four-time MVP Aaron Rodgers at quarterback, former Offensive and Defensive Rookies of the year Sauce Gardner and Garrett Wilson, eight-time Pro Bowler Tyron Smith (seven of those Pro Bowls came in consecutive seasons) and Morgan Moses, who had an eight-year stretch in which he played every single game, at the other tackle spot. Wilson will be aided at wide receiver by a former No. 7 pick, Mike Williams, who has had two 1,000-yard seasons and a 10-touchdown season during his Los Angeles Chargers career. They will have the distinct advantage of facing either rookie quarterbacks, largely unproven quarterbacks or journeyman quarterbacks in four of their first five games.
No. 2: The 2024 Jets will feature a 40-year-old quarterback, two 33-year-old offensive tackles, one of whom has not played a complete season since ’15, and a 30-year-old No. 2 wide receiver who played in just three games last season. That crew will play on a home field comprised of sometimes snaggy artificial turf, and against a schedule that features back-to-back road trips to start the season (one game against the defending NFC champions), three games in the span of 10 days, a net rest differential six games worse than the year before, the second-highest number of back-to-back road trips in the NFL this season, the most prime-time games of any team the season, the second-most short road weeks and short weeks in general of any team this season, and the ninth-most grueling travel schedule measured by total miles traveled. The slate also includes an international game and, instead of a bye week after that trip, a prime-time matchup against the division-rival Buffalo Bills.
