Mougey says “I wouldn't call it a teardown” as Jets eye 2026 reset

Hoarse from “a batch of talking. And dealing,” first-year wide manager Darren Mougey insisted the New York Jets are not blowing it up aft a frantic deadline day. “I wouldn't telephone it a teardown,” helium said, hours aft sending franchise defenders Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams to caller homes with eye-catching returns. The 1-7 Jets, staring astatine a 15th consecutive twelvemonth without the playoffs, are re-aiming astatine 2026 portion refusing to question disconnected 2025. “The extremity is ever to win,” helium said. “Look, these coaches and players enactment excessively hard each day, each day, with the extremity of winning connected Sunday. And that ne'er changes due to the fact that that's what the fans deserve. That's what the players deserve, that's what the coaches deserve, and that ne'er changes.”

The deals, the logic, and the draught haul

New York shipped Gardner to the Indianapolis Colts for first-round picks successful 2026 and 2027 positive wide receiver Adonai Mitchell. Williams went to the Dallas Cowboys for a 2026 second-rounder, a 2027 first, and antiaircraft tackle Mazi Smith. According to ESPN Research, the Jets became the archetypal squad successful the common-draft epoch to execute aggregate in-season trades that nett a first-round prime successful the aforesaid year.

Gardner’s determination landed arsenic the bigger jolt, coming months aft a four-year, $120 cardinal extension. Mougey said the Colts’ connection changed the calculus: “Indianapolis kept getting richer and richer with their value, and yet it was excessively bully to walk up.” He explained that apical contracts, including Garrett Wilson’s, were built to beryllium movable: “You ne'er cognize however the aboriginal is going to unfold, and we ever wanted to beryllium successful a presumption to perchance commercialized these contracts ... [in] lawsuit that you get into a concern wherever the worth you deliberation is conscionable excessively bully to walk up.”

Quiet exits, remaining pieces, adjacent steps

The Williams statement “came together” rapidly amid vexation astir the team’s direction; Mougey declined to wade into speculation. “I'm not present to speech astir rumors and antithetic things.” In the past week, New York has moved 3 antiaircraft starters—Gardner, Williams, and nickel Michael Carter II—yet present holds 2 firsts successful 2026 and 3 successful 2027, a warfare thorax Mougey said helium is “excited” to use. Discussions touched different names specified arsenic Breece Hall and Jermaine Johnson, though Hall stays for now. “Through these processes, we speech astir a batch of things and we tract a batch of calls and we've got values, and Breece is simply a talented player,” Mougey said. “He's going to assistance america vie and triumph games the remainder of the season. ”