The Franchise 9: New York Jets

One feature I want to make for this blog is to feature the best nine players for each franchise.  Why nine?  Because then I get to create a binder with a page for each team, of course!  To make my task a little easier, I've decided to narrow the field to Super Bowl Era players only.  First of all, it eased the selection process because I wanted to keep each team to nine players.  Trying to take a team like the Bears or Packers with all its history and whittle the greatest players to nine is a daunting task.  For some of these teams, it was hard enough to make the cuts that I did.  To double the length of the history and decide between Norm Van Brocklin and Torry Holt was beyond the scope of what I wanted for this project.  Sorry Norm, it's just easier to justify excluding you because of your time period.  Second, it makes it a bit easier to collect the cards I need without having to bust my budget on a lot of vintage.  Third, since half the teams in the NFL don't have history too far beyond the advent of the Super Bowl, it levels the field a little for the newer teams.

As is always the case with any type of ranking, there will be plenty of room for debate.  This is in no way a definitive list.  I have a soft spot in my heart for the guys in the trenches, so some may say that I have included too many offensive linemen.  Interestingly, I have found that most teams have a 5/4 split between offense and defense, or vice-versa.  I didn't intentionally try to even it out, that's just how it turned out.  This is just my opinion, and I tried to base it on both stats and status.  I've learned a little bit of football history in the process as well, and having a bit of history is one of the appeals of collecting to me.  In any case, it gave me another something to do with my cards, and that's why I did it in the first place.

The teams will be presented in no particular order; basically, I have chosen the players already and am in the process of filling in the gaps as I do not currently own a card of every player I have chosen.  I'll present each team as I complete its page.  Players are in order of position, not ranking.  I don't really care to take my nine franchise players and try to rank their greatness.  I'll just leave it as a team.


The Jets have not had a lot of success in their history.  They did make it to Super Bowl III and became the first AFL team to win it; they haven't been back since. 

1. Joe Namath, QB (1990 Pro Set Super Bowl MVPs)
Broadway Joe's legend is greater than his performance on the field.  His 1968 season, however, almost singlehandedly cements his spot on this list.  In that season, he threw for over 3,000 yards and 15 TD, earning the AFL MVP award.  Oh, there was that Super Bowl guarantee that he made good on, too.  He led the AFL in passing yards twice and the NFL once after the merger.  In one of those years (1967), he achieved the first 4,000 yard season.

2. Curtis Martin, RB (2002 Topps Debut)
Curtis Martin is just the kind of player I like: he's quiet, not flashy, and he just produces consistently.  For his career, he ranks 4th on the all-time rushing list, with over 14,000 yards.  That might surprise some people, considering he was only voted to the Pro Bowl five times in eleven years, despite the fact that he failed to reach 1,000 yards only once--in his final season.  Eight of those seasons were spent in New York, where he racked up 10,302 yards rushing and eventually ran into the Hall of Fame.

3. Freeman McNeil, RB (1990 Topps)
Before Curtis Martin, Freeman McNeil was the franchise's leading rusher.  McNeil didn't put up such big numbers, but he earned a spot on this team.  He had two 1,000 yard Pro Bowl seasons, but his best season came in the strike-shortened 1982 season.  In 9 games, he gained 786 yards to lead the league and earn 1st Team All-Pro.

4. Don Maynard, WR (2008 Upper Deck Football Heroes)
As Joe Namath's partner in crime, Maynard led the AFL in receiving yards in 1967 and receiving touchdowns in 1965.  He was a big-play receiver who averaged 18.7 yards per catch for his career and retired as the league's all-time leader in receptions (633) and receiving yards (11,384).

5. Kevin Mawae, C (NO CARD)
Mawae anchored the Jets offensive line for seven seasons, being named to the Pro Bowl in five of those seasons.  He was also an All-Pro five times, receiving a 1st-Team nod three times.  Largely due to his success with the Jets, Mawae was named to the NFL All-Decade team for the 2000s.  Despite his dominance as a player, cards of Mawae of a Jet are really hard to find.  Card companies have no love for centers anymore.

6. Marvin Powell, T (1983 Topps)
Powell spent nine years with the J-E-T-S.  During that time, he made four Pro Bowls and three 1st-Team All Pro teams.  According to Pro Football Reference, players with similar careers through the nine years he spent in New York include Walter Jones, Willie Roaf, Dermontti Dawson, Gary Zimmerman, and Joe DeLamellieure.  That's five Hall of Famers who had similar career trajectories to Powell.  I suspect that if Powell had maintained his level of play for longer, he'd be regarded more highly.  Instead, his career tapered off after he left for Tampa Bay in 1986.  However, his Jets career was outstanding and earned him a spot on the Franchise 9.

7. Mark Gastineau, DE (2008 Leaf Limited Team Trademarks)
Gastineau was the leader of the New York Sack Exchange defense in the 80s.  He spent his entire 10-year career with the Jets, and rewarded them with 5 Pro Bowl appearances and 3 All-Pro performances.   Sacks became a recorded statistic in 1982, so when Gastineau led the league in the category in 1983 with 19 sacks, he set the single-season record.  He followed that up with 22 sacks in 1984, breaking his own record.  That record stood for 17 years, until Michael Strahan broke it in a controversial manner with some help from Brett Favre.  From 1981-1985, Mark Gastineau was simply unstoppable.

8. Mo Lewis, LB (1993 Fleer)
A lifelong Jet, Lewis played his entire 13-year career (1991-2003) in New York.  As of the beginning of the 2018 season, he ranks 2nd on the Jets all-time tackles list (1,006), 4th in sacks (52.5), 1st in fumbles forced (26), and 4th in fumble recoveries.  That's a pretty good body of work.

9. Darrelle Revis, CB (2015 Prestige)
"Revis Island" in his prime was one of the best corners the NFL has ever seen.  He spent eight seasons with the Jets, making the Pro Bowl in five of those seasons and earning All-Pro nominations three times.  He ranks 3rd on the Jets' all-time list in interceptions, but it's the passes defensed category that is truly eye-opening.  His 111 career passes defensed outpaces the next player on the Jets (James Hasty) by 47.

Years of mediocrity have resulted in an interesting Franchise 9--whereas some teams seem to have players clustered together when they had really good teams, the Jets have players spread out from the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s, and 2010s.  They never really had a team with many great players to carry them. 

What do you think?  Who would you change out if you had to limit this team to the 9 best players of the past 50 years?  Let the discussions begin!