With just ten days remaining until the season opener, ESPN has released their predictions for the Top 100 players of the 2025 NFL season. In making their list, ESPN asked 10 NFL analysts to rank players based on projections for the upcoming season, rather than past performance. Three Jets players made the cut: receiver Garrett Wilson at No. 82, defensive tackle Quinnen Williams at No. 52, and cornerback Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner making New York’s highest rank at No. 32.
Rich Cimini, ESPN’s Jets insider, had the following to say about this trio: “Wilson could also draw extra coverage because the Jets don't have another playmaker on the outside… The Jets expect Williams to be as disruptive as he was in 2022, when he posted a career-high 12 sacks and was a first-team All-Pro. They will have a pressure-based scheme that should create favorable matchups for Williams… Gardner is poised for a bounce-back year after a season below his standard.”
What’s truly interesting about this list, however, is comparing it to the annual player-voted NFL Top 100 list. While we don’t yet have all the names from that list (only ten names are being released every week, and the most recent were No. 20 and 19), Wilson is not likely on the list at all while Williams checked in at No. 87, an appalling plunge from his ranking last year. As for Gardner, he is almost certainly within the Top 18, well ahead of ESPN’s ranking.
At the end of the day, lists like these don’t matter. The only thing that truly matters is wins and losses, and the Jets will get their chance to start stacking wins in two weeks when they welcome the Pittsburgh Steelers, and former quarterback Aaron Rodgers, to MetLife Stadium.
This is a pivotal season for Gang Green. Hope runs high with a new head coach and general manager, but roster realities make it hard to be too confident. New quarterback Justin Fields is expected to be the Jets’ biggest challenge in 2025 as they need him to have the kind of comeback year that Sam Darnold had in 2024. While the Jets are not expected to end their 14-year playoff drought just yet, significant improvement from a chaotic 2024 season shouldn’t be too much to ask.