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Keidel: Props To The Jets For Finally Looking And Acting Like A Franchise With A Plan

By Jason Keidel
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For those who have taken a jaded eye to the Jets' offseason, Las Vegas, the most objective arbiter of odds, teams, and terms, has cut their Super Bowl odds in half. Sure, it went from one long shot (100-1) to another (50-1), but the needle is finally bending in the right direction.

And while most of you think my singular purpose is to bash this team, I candidly and happily declare that Gang Green did a bang-up job with the 2015 NFL Draft.

As incongruous as it looks, feels, and sounds to say, the Jets are looking suddenly smart. For way too long they have been the solemn punchline of the AFC East, AFC, and NFL. And it has all started with the draft, from Johnny "Lam" Jones to Blair Thomas to Vernon Gholston.

But you'll notice the Jets look instantly and exponentially more competent than they did just a few months ago, while they were toiling in the shadows and gallows of the John Idzik/Rex Ryan era. By the end of last season, we knew that not only were the Jets a bottom-rung team, but that the men running them were little more than dead men walking.

With this past weekend, this draft, the Jets not only addressed some vital needs and filled some wide chasms, they also look relevant. With Darrelle Revis and Antonio Cromartie back in the fold, a young, bright coach with a supreme defensive pedigree ready to roam the sideline, and a fistful of solid draft picks in their stead, it's hard to imagine the Jets dwelling in the cellar much longer.

Mike Francesa, in his typically cynical state over the Jets, forever having fun with Jets Nation, said that they simply hung around while a top-3 pick landed in their laps at No. 6. Sure. Why not? Why not take the player whom most pundits rate the best player in the draft? Leonard Williams likely starts right away and dominates for a decade. No one has to apologize for a pick like that.

And don't start with this redundancy stuff. Who cares if they already have Muhammad Wilkerson? Since when is it a bad thing to have two beasts on the defensive line? Is there a cap? Only one per team?

And the Jets also plucked perhaps the sleeper of the draft. Bryce Petty, whom endless draft experts ranked just slightly behind Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota, is your future quarterback.

Sure, he has to learn their playbook -- well, his first playbook -- and get used to squatting under center, but he's got a bona fide NFL arm and all the intangibles. And, nowadays, he's also judged by what he's missing -- a troubling history. No shoplifting, no pending, troubling legal cases, just a young man who is singularly dedicated to football.

Just those two picks alone make their draft a home run, touchdown, or whatever the metaphor du jour.

Add to that the signings of Revis, Cromartie, safety Marcus Gilchrist, the trade for perennial All-Pro receiver Brandon Marshall and keeping linebacker David Harris and running back Bilal Powell in-house, and you've got a heretofore forlorn franchise with hope and direction.

More crucial than any particular draft moment or metric, the Jets finally look organized. They have a head coach and general manager who are in professional lockstep.

And more important than any misguided personnel move the Jets have made over the last decade -- or four -- has been the almost universal sense that they're incompetent. No one can say that today, this week, or this year. While the Jets could go 4-12 again in 2015, no one is expecting it.

And that, more than any one trade or a draft pick, is how you turn things around.

Follow Jason on Twitter at @JasonKeidel

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