The Jets may be sitting at 2-4 after a 26-19 loss to the New England Patriots in Week 6, but one piece of news out of Indianapolis gave New York fans something to smile about.
ESPN and NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo reported that the Colts are firing GM Chris Ballard, the same executive who sent the Jets two first-round picks in exchange for cornerback Sauce Gardner. For Jets fans tracking the long game, that development only makes the trade look better for New York.
Indianapolis is 2-4 after a 26-20 loss to the Tennessee Titans, a team that entered the game winless. That result clearly pushed the Colts over the edge. They now have the Minnesota Vikings, Jacksonville Jaguars, Dallas Cowboys, and Houston Texans coming up over the next five weeks, and the picture in Indy could get even uglier before it gets better.
The situation got even louder after the loss, when Colts star DT DeForest Buckner made his frustration public.
"I'm sick and tired of the same song and dance every year."
Then came the Ballard firing the next day, which only reinforced how bad things have gotten in Indianapolis.
There’s also a draft angle here that Jets fans can’t ignore. Right now, the Colts’ 2027 first-round pick sits at 10th, and while that figure will move around plenty between now and the end of the season, the early read is encouraging for New York. Based on how Indianapolis has looked through six weeks, the Jets could end up with a top-10 pick from the Colts, with a real chance it lands even higher.
Darren Mougey was able to get Ballard to give up two first-rounders for Gardner, and that haul looks stronger by the week. Gardner was a two-time All-Pro with the Jets, but getting that kind of return was still a huge win. As the season plays out, the only real question left is how high that pick climbs.
In Other News...
Jets Keep Dodging A Costly Nahshon Wright Roster Decision
Nahshon Wrights first season with the Jets has become one of those roster situations the team keeps side-stepping instead of answering directly. The cornerback was brought in after leading the NFL in takeaways last year, but his role in New York has been limited to special teams early on, and he has not carved out a real defensive spot as the season has gone along.
What makes the situation harder to ignore is the cost attached to it. The Jets gave Wright a fully guaranteed $3.5 million deal this offseason, yet they still have not moved on from him even with other cornerbacks available on the practice squad. For now, they are keeping him around without using him much, which leaves one of the more curious roster choices in the building hanging in plain sight. [Read more 🡒]
Jets Offense Keeps Making One Frustrating Mistake Fans Can See
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Even with the evidence piling up, the approach has barely changed. New York has kept leaning into a predictable pass-run mix even as the results have slipped in scoring and yardage, leaving the offense looking like a unit that knows where its best chances are but keeps driving toward the same dead end anyway. [Read more 🡒]
Jets Keep Wasting Chances As Pressure Builds On Aaron Glenn
The Jets keep finding themselves in familiar territory, close enough to matter and still not finishing the job. Their recent stretch has included the kind of late-half lapses that can tilt games before halftime or the final whistle, and the frustration is only growing because the effort has not disappeared. Geno Smith pointed to Omar Cooper Jr.'s return from injury as a boost and said the team showed fight in the second half, but those positives have not been enough to erase the bigger problem hanging over the season.
Aaron Glenn is now carrying the weight of those missed chances, because the margin for patience around the team is getting thinner by the week. Rich Cimini raised the possibility that a loss to the Dolphins could put Glenns status in real jeopardy, which is the sort of conversation that starts to follow a coach when repeated breakdowns keep showing up in the same critical moments. For the Jets, the next game now feels like more than a division test. [Read more 🡒]