The Breakdown

When I wrote this column a year ago, the vibes were very different. I was excited to know the Jets had a strong special teams unit to compliment the other facets of their football team. 4 plays into the season we all know the story. The offensive ineptitude should not take away from how awesome both Zuerlein and Morstead were in 2023.

Morstead was incredible in 2023 with 36 punts inside the 20-yard line (2nd in the NFL). He put on a clinic and kept the Jets in so many games they had zero business being in given how historically inept they were offensively. In 2024, I expect much of the same from the special teams’ fan favorite who got introduced during a late game in 2023. Keep the man healthy and the hangtime filled punts will come.

Zuerlein was second in FGM in 2023 behind only rookie Brandon Aubrey. He missed 1 XP all year which is as good as it gets from a kicker. Like Thomas, Greg kept the Jets in so many games because of his ability to kick it through the uprights. I’m a little less confident in Zuerlein given some of the misses he had during the preseason. Connor likened kickers to relief pitchers where you really don’t know what you will get year to year. I hope I’m wrong, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say I’m slightly nervous about the kicking game in 2024. The Jets have few holes on their roster but there usually is always a surprising one. We shall see how Greg performs in the big spot Week 1 vs SF.

The longest tenured Jet still is long snapper Thomas Hennessy. There isn’t much to say about Hennessy as he is very good at his job and the Jets usually have great snaps for both kicks and punts. Let’s hope we aren’t kicking the ball as much in 2024 to give Thomas some PTO. He’s earned it with the amount of 3 and outs he has dealt with dating back to 2017.

The return game should be quite interesting in 2024. The new rules that the NFL has rolled out will give us more excitement from the Jets’ return team. Brant Boyer is an excellent ST coordinator and I expect some trickery with this new setup. As it stands Xavier Gipson is penciled in at KR/PR. I predict that Isaiah Davis will be the second kick returner based on the decision to trade Codrington to Buffalo. Last year started out with a bang when Gipson had a walk off punt return to salvage the vibes of Rodgers going down after 4 plays. I’m hopeful that there should be some fun on kickoffs this year and I am eager to see what it looks like once the games matter.

The Prediction

Xavier Gipson takes on a significantly larger role on offense which prompts the coaching staff to remove his return duties and give Izzy a shot kick returner next to Davis. Izzy will end up returning a kickoff for a touchdown in a crucial game down the stretch to help solidify playoff positioning (week 14 @ Miami is my prediction for when it happens).