If you were hoping for a miracle in the Meadowlands, last year wasn't it. Not even close. Honestly, looking back at the 2025 season feels a bit like watching a slow-motion car crash where every time you think it’s over, another hubcap flies off.
The New York Jets finished the 2025 season with a 3-14 record.
It’s a number that stings. It’s the kind of record that makes you want to hide your jersey in the back of the closet for a few months. But the record itself only tells half the story. To understand why things went so sideways, you have to look at the historical "firsts" this team managed to pull off—and unfortunately, none of them were the good kind.
Breaking Down the New York Jets Record Last Year
The Jets landed at the bottom of the AFC East. Again. They didn't win a single game against a division rival, going 0-6 against the Patriots, Bills, and Dolphins. That’s a tough pill to swallow when you’re trying to build a winning culture under a first-year head coach like Aaron Glenn.
The season started with a glimmer of hope that vanished almost instantly. After an 0-7 start that had fans calling for changes by October, the team actually put together a tiny bit of momentum. They beat the Bengals 39-38 in a Week 8 thriller and followed it up with a win over the Browns in Week 10. For a second there, it felt like maybe they’d figured something out.
Then the wheels fell off.
They lost seven of their last eight games. To make matters worse, they finished the year on a five-game losing streak where they didn't just lose—they got demolished. We’re talking about losing every single one of those final five games by 23 points or more. According to league historians, that is the first time in NFL history a team has closed out a season with such a sustained run of blowout losses.
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A Defense Without a Takeaway
If you want to know what was the jets record last year and why it was so historically bad, you have to look at the interceptions. Or rather, the complete lack of them.
Aaron Glenn was brought in as a defensive mastermind. He played defensive back in this league at a high level. Yet, somehow, the Jets' defense finished the entire 17-game season with zero interceptions.
None. Nada.
Think about the odds of that. In a league where the ball is in the air more than ever, a professional defense couldn't snag a single pick over four months of football. It’s another "first" that nobody wanted. This was a unit that ranked 31st in points allowed, giving up nearly 30 points a game. When you can't take the ball away and you can't stop people from scoring, a 3-14 record starts to look inevitable.
The Quarterback Carousel and the Breece Hall Bright Spot
The offense wasn't doing the defense any favors. Consistency is a word that didn't exist in the Jets' playbook last year. They cycled through three different starting quarterbacks:
- Justin Fields (who led the team with 1,259 passing yards but only 7 touchdowns)
- Tyrod Taylor
- Brady Cook
None of these guys managed to throw for double-digit touchdowns. When your leading passer has seven TDs in a full season, you aren't winning many games in the modern NFL. The wide receiver room was decimated by injuries too. Garrett Wilson, the undisputed star of that group, only played six games before a season-ending injury. He still led the team in receiving yards with 395. That tells you everything you need to know about the depth—or lack thereof—in the passing game.
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However, if there was one guy you could actually cheer for, it was Breece Hall.
Despite playing behind a line that was constantly under fire, Hall put the team on his back. He became the first Jets running back to break the 1,000-yard rushing mark since Chris Ivory did it back in 2015. He finished with 1,065 yards on the ground and was basically the only reason opposing defensive coordinators had to wake up early on Saturday mornings.
Why the Injuries Hit So Hard
It’s easy to blame the coaching, and believe me, people are. But the injury report last year looked like a CVS receipt.
By the time Week 18 rolled around, the Jets had 16 players on the roster who weren't even with the team when training camp started. Eleven of those guys were signed after Week 1. You had rookies like tight end Mason Taylor and safety Malachi Moore playing massive snaps because there was simply no one else left standing.
General Manager Darren Mougey has been vocal about the "youth movement" being a forced hand rather than a choice. While it gave guys like Moore (who had 101 tackles) a chance to develop, it also meant the team was playing a lot of "wait, who is that?" football in December.
Special Teams: The Lone Survival Guide
If you’re looking for a reason to smile, look at the special teams unit. It sounds like a consolation prize, but Chris Banjo’s group was legitimately elite. They led the league in kickoff return average (29.9 yards) and field goal percentage.
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Nick Folk was a machine, hitting 28 of 29 field goals. He was the most accurate kicker in the league, even if the offense didn't give him enough chances to actually win games. Then you had Isaiah Williams, who was essentially the team's MVP for his work as a returner, taking two punts back for touchdowns. When your special teams unit is your most productive offensive weapon, you know you're in for a long winter.
What Happens Next?
So, what was the jets record last year? 3-14. Where do they go from here?
The silver lining—and it’s a thin one—is the draft capital. By being "historically terrible," as some analysts put it, the Jets secured the No. 2 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. They also hold extra picks from the mid-season fire sale that saw Sauce Gardner head to the Colts and Quinnen Williams go to the Cowboys.
The front office has the money and the picks to fix this. But as any Jets fan will tell you, having the tools and actually building the house are two very different things. The focus this offseason is almost entirely on the quarterback position. Whether they draft a franchise savior at No. 2 or look for a veteran bridge, the 2025 season proved that the current "plug and play" approach at QB is a recipe for disaster.
Actionable Steps for the Offseason:
- Prioritize the QB: The 2026 draft class has two high-end prospects that fit the Jets' system; they cannot afford to miss at the No. 2 spot.
- Health overhauls: The team needs to investigate why their soft-tissue injury rate was among the highest in the league last year.
- Find a Ballhawk: You cannot go another season with zero interceptions. The secondary needs a veteran safety who can actually track a ball in the air.
- Support Breece: Hall is entering a contract year. If they don't improve the passing threat, teams will continue to stack eight in the box and waste his prime years.
The 2025 season is in the books, and while it was a year of "worst-evers" for the franchise, the draft assets gained from those losses represent the only real path back to relevance.