New York State of Despair: After yet another lost season, do the Giants or Jets have a better future outlook? |Max Sporty|

There are few NFL franchises in a sadder state of affairs than the two that reside in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The New York Jets are 3-8 and one of the most disappointing teams in the NFL. The New York Giants are 2-8 and have set their starting quarterback.

The Jets have already fired both their head coach and their general manager, and taken play-calling duties away from their offensive coordinator. Frankly, it would be pretty shocking if the Giants didn’t part ways with their own coaching staff and front office at the end of the season.

Since they will likely be under new leadership before this upcoming offseason, it seems appropriate to try to figure out which of these two teams is actually in a better situation going forward. None of them are in a good place, mind you, but the task of rebuilding one is probably more difficult than the other.

The roster

The Jets and Giants each have a number of what I would describe as “blue” building blocks — elite players either in the prime of their careers or with their prime still ahead of them — under contract for the foreseeable future. . They are:

Then there are the guys who are either high-level veteran contributors who are past their prime, or young players who aren’t quite (or not yet) stars but should be very reliable as either starters or rotation pieces:

• Jets: Davante Adams, Braelon Allen, Alijah Vera-Tucker, Will McDonald IV, Micheal Clemons, Jamien Sherwood
• Giants: Wan’Dale Robinson, Tyrone Tracy Jr., Brian Burns, Kayvon Thibodeaux, Bobby Okereke, Deonte Banks, Andru Phillips

And they each have some high-end players (or players they count on as quality starters) headed to free agency:

You’ll notice that neither team’s quarterback is listed.

Aaron Rodgers looks like a shell of himself at age 40 and coming off an Achilles tear. Counting on him as a starter beyond this season would be foolish. It also seems extremely unlikely given the changes that are about to take place in the organization. All the Jets have behind him is Tyrod Taylor, who is a solid backup but not a future plan.

The Giants just benched Daniel Jones, and he will be cut this offseason to save money. They’re turning to Tommy DeVito at center instead of Drew Lock, which gives you an idea of ​​how they think their offseason signing of Lock worked out. There is also no answer at the most important position of the game here.

Advantage: (Slightly) Jets

The salary Cap

The Jets are in a pretty significantly worse cap situation than the Giants are. According to Over the Cap , the Giants are set to enter the offseason with $42.3 million in cap room and the Jets are set to have $33.9 million. On the surface, that’s not too different. But the Giants just have a lot more flexibility.

By releasing Jones outright, the Giants can add $19.4 million in cap room. By calling him a post-June 1 release, they can bump that up to $30.5 million. They have several large contracts that can be restructured, such as those for Thomas, Burns, Lawrence and Okereke, to create a significant amount of additional space. They can save money by moving on from players like Jermaine Eluemunor, Rakeem Nunez-Roches, Graham Gano and Jon Runyan if they want to. Their most notable free agents aren’t necessarily key pieces.

Unless they really tear everything to the bone, things are more complicated for the Jets. Cutting Rodgers would directly result in $25.5 million added to their books. Calling him a post-June 1 release saves just $9.5 million. They can part ways with Adams (even though they just traded a third-round pick for him) and that would save a significant amount of money, but also significantly decrease their skill positions. (They can do the same with Allen Lazard, to a significantly lesser on-field disadvantage. ) The only major restructuring they can do is with Quinnen Williams. And they’ll likely want to retain Reed, who could cost quite a bit if he hits the market.

Advantage: Giants

The outline

The Jets are set to send their third-round pick to the Raiders, receive a third-round pick from the Lions, trade fifth-round picks with the Steelers, receive a sixth-round pick from the Chiefs in exchange for their seventh (which is now headed to Arizona) and send sixth to the Lions. In 2026, their third-round pick will go to the Eagles, they will receive sixths from the Bills and Broncos and their seventh will go to the Lions. They are not projected for any compensatory picks this year. Netted, they move down a third- and seventh-round pick and up two sixth-round picks.

The Giants will send either their fifth-round pick or the Seahawks’ fifth-round pick to the Panthers and their sixth- or seventh-round pick to the Bills, and in 2025 they’ll get either a sixth or seventh pick from the Cowboys. They are also projected to receive one fourth-round compensatory pick this year.

Advantage: Giants

The division/conference

Both the AFC East and NFC East are kind of bad. It’s hard to say which division will be more difficult over the next few years.

In the AFC East, Josh Allen looks like he will continue to dominate for years to come. The Patriots look like they hit a home run with Drake Maye. The Dolphins always look good when Tua Tagovailoa is under center, but they also look like an epic disaster when he’s not. In the NFC East, all three opposing teams have good quarterbacks (Dak Prescott, Jalen Hurts, Jayden Daniels), but the Cowboys are a tire fire, the Eagles are inconsistent and Washington continues to have holes elsewhere on the roster. There is less of a clear dominant team in the Giants’ division, but it could be tougher every year because any of the other three can emerge with a strong season.

The top of the AFC looks considerably stronger than the top of the NFC for the foreseeable future (except maybe the Lions, who are an absolute machine), but there’s more middle-of-the-pack depth in the NFC that could do. competing for wildcard points a little stickier.

Advantage: Even

The verdict

It’s probably a bit of a cop out to say this, but the ultimate difference here will come down to a) which team employs the better front office and coaching staff; and especially b) which team hits their quarterback in the upcoming draft or the trade market. Those are the things that most determine success in the NFL, and if you land on the right pieces, you can overcome almost any other disadvantage you might have.