There was a euphoria emanating from the Jets’ locker room Friday, as if they had just won a big game.
But there was no game, just an announcement from team ownership that head coach Todd Bowles and general manager Mike Maccagnan had their contracts extended for two years, locking them in though the 2020 season.
For the Jets, to a man, this was received as great news.
“I said, ‘Hell, yeah,’ when I heard it,” linebacker Jordan Jenkins said.
“I’m excited because I like stability,” defensive lineman Leonard Williams said.
“I think [Bowles is] great for this team and the direction of this team,” receiver Jermaine Kearse said.
“That’s what most guys were hoping for. [We’re] glad to keep [Bowles] here,” linebacker Darron Lee said.
“It’s extremely important when you have consistency,” left tackle Kelvin Beachum said. “It’s good for the players and the team to have stability with the coach and the GM.”
But is it good for the fans?
Stability is terrific, as long as your team is winning, but the Jets are out of the playoffs for the third year under the collective watch of Bowles and Maccagnan, and the seventh consecutive season overall.
That makes it imperative that Bowles lead the Jets to the playoffs next season if he’s to continue his duties as Jets head coach. Next season should be a playoffs-or-bust scenario for Bowles, who shouldn’t go four years without a postseason berth and retain his job.
By all accounts, the Jets are a team on the rise with developing young talent. They’ll have a high draft pick with which to pick a top collegiate quarterback if they opt for that route. They, too, will have upward of $100 million to spend under the salary cap this offseason. That will allow them significant maneuverability in free agency.
These are enough resources for the Jets, who have lost six games by one score or less, to build a playoff team in 2018.
“I want to make the playoffs every season,” Bowles said Friday, when asked if there were an edict from ownership to make the playoffs in 2018. “It’s never a ‘have to.’ It’s always a ‘want to.’ ”
Wrong. It needs to be a “have to.” That’s only fair to the fans, who have waited too long to watch their team in the playoffs.
The 5-10 Jets play the 12-3 Patriots on Sunday in their season finale at Gillette Stadium, where they’re 14 ¹/₂ -point underdogs. Translation: The wise guys in Las Vegas expect the Jets to lose and finish 5-11.
If that turns out to be the case, the Jets will have finished 5-11 the past two years. Including the loss to Buffalo in the 2015 season finale that cost the Jets a playoff berth in Bowles’ first year with the team, the Jets will be 10-23 in their past 33 games under this coach.
That makes this extension news lukewarm to many Jets fans, who are growing tired of hearing about the progress of the young team and continue to be starved for a playoff berth.
“I don’t think there’s anyone in this locker room that doesn’t believe in coach Bowles,” Williams said. “I’ve been talking about it for awhile — to keep him, keep him, keep him. He knows where we’re going and he’s going to take us there.”
Kearse said it “annoys” him when he hears people saying: “Just make the playoffs.”
“I want to win the AFC East,” he said. “Nobody [but the Patriots has] won the AFC East in like seven years. That’s the first goal right there.’’
Sounds great, but baby steps are in order here. Get in first and then …
“We’re going for it all,” Jenkins said. “Our goal this year was to go to the Super Bowl and win the Super Bowl. That’s going to be our goal next year. We want to win the Super Bowl.”
It has been only 48 years.
“The future is very, very bright,” tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins said. “I know this organization is going in the right direction. Once we add a couple more pieces, this is going to be a really, really good team for a long time — especially with all the youth. Add a few more pieces and it’s going to be a different discussion this time next year.”
It has to be, or else all that continuity and stability the players were celebrating in the locker room Friday will end up being a lot of empty hot air on a frigid cold day.