their franchise quarterback<\/a> isn\u2019t too far from reach.<\/p>\nBut in the meantime, Smith, 35, has been lauded by Jets coaches and his teammates this spring. He has been praised for his everyday leadership, the way he has run the offense, and his humility.<\/p>\n
Smith is hoping to get back on track after a highly disappointing 2025 season with the Raiders in which he finished with a league-high 17 interceptions to go with his 19 touchdowns. Unlike Fields, Smith has a strong arm that he isn\u2019t afraid to show off. However, that can sometimes get him in trouble, as he has recorded the most interceptions in the league over the past two seasons (32).<\/p>\n
During OTAs and minicamp practices, Smith developed chemistry with both Garrett Wilson and Adonai Mitchell. The Jets have also surrounded Smith with a better supporting cast than he had with the Raiders after drafting wide receiver Omar Cooper Jr. and tight end Kenyon Sadiq.<\/p>\n
Smith has something to prove, just like the entire Jets roster after he has been traded in back-to-back offseasons. But he is optimistic about this year\u2019s Jets team.<\/p>\n
\u201cI haven\u2019t been here over the past couple years, but I\u2019m here now and what I see within this team is there\u2019s a unity here,\u201d Smith said. \u201cThere\u2019s a belief inside the building and I believe every single one of the coaches and players are working with the same intent, and I think that\u2019s something that\u2019s very powerful.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat unity, that intentionality that we have about our work, I think it breeds success and so we\u2019ve got to just stay down and keep our heads down, stay focused on day-to-day and all the big things will happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Previous Jets teams have tried to win tabloid headlines and spent recklessly in an effort to end their now 15-year playoff drought. But in addition to improving their roster on paper at some of the most important positions, Glenn has also sought to provide stability and structure to an organization that has desperately needed them\u00a0for over a decade.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why Glenn jettisoned half his coaching staff and brought in more experienced coaches to help a roster that was the second youngest in the league last year. The Jets also added veteran leadership, including Demario Davis, Minkah Fitzpatrick, and others, to improve a defense that plummeted to 31st in points allowed in 2025.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a team, we want to be one of the best,\u201d Jets running back Breece Hall said. \u201cWe want to be good regardless of whether this is the first year with the quarterback, the team, whatever the case may be.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe defense already has that mentality. If y\u2019all saw how hard they go in walkthroughs, y\u2019all would be like, \u2018Yeah, this is definitely different than we had in the past.\u2019 I think everyone has a common goal of we\u2019re hungry, and we are going to try to surprise everyone this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Jets players and coaches have said all the right things this offseason about their growth and trying to raise their standard. For the first time in a long time, the Jets appear to have a plan in place and aren\u2019t trying to take shortcuts.<\/p>\n
But everyone has a plan until NFL training camp starts and the pads come on. Glenn hopes this year\u2019s plan works much better than last season.<\/p>\n
\u201cI understand what it takes to win and how to win. So, it was very intentional trying to create that,\u201d Glenn said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Following a disastrous 3-14 campaign, the Jets reshaped their organization from the coaching staff to the roster. Now…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":922405,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2051],"tags":[1585,487,1469,7,1507,226,3217,1917,255,2321,2097,6,8896],"class_list":["post-922404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-jets","tag-aaron-glenn","tag-breece-hall","tag-darren-mougey","tag-football","tag-geno-smith","tag-jets","tag-mini-camp","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-jets","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkjets","tag-nfl","tag-training-camp"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116772396287698345","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/922404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=922404"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/922404\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/922405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=922404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=922404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=922404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}