Have New York Jets Built Offense for Success Under Chan Gailey?

The New York Jets have been so aggressive with their offseason moves, you would think they are ready to make a run at the Super Bowl. A turnaround from worst to first could be coming, if only the Jets can get competent play from the quarterback position.

That may sound like a tall order with a depth chart consistent of struggling third-year incumbent starter Geno Smith, veteran journeyman Ryan Fitzpatrick and rookie Bryce Petty. If it does sound like a tall order, that's because it is.

Jets offensive coordinator Chan Gailey has made quarterback lemons into lemonade in the past, but that's not all he'll need to successfully execute his scheme. The Jets have given him some of the pieces he'll need but have left him shorthanded at other spots.

Gailey has run a wide range of different styles of offense in order to spotlight the strengths and window-dress the weaknesses of his passers, but one constant in his offense is the spread concept. Gailey often deploys four receivers in order to force a defense to cover the entire width of the field—or, at the very least, to force them to dig down to the bottom of the depth chart for cornerbacks. 

A vision of a spread attack would help explain the Jets' all-in approach at wide receiver. The Jets already had Eric Decker on the outside and Jeremy Kerley in the slot, but they also traded for Chicago Bears wide receiver Brandon Marshall and drafted Ohio State wideout Devin Smith. That's four talented receivers who can all take the field at the same time.

It just so happens that Petty's college experience was in a spread offense with some pistol formations, which are familiar territory for Gailey as well.  

Let's not forget that Geno Smith's success at West Virginia was within a spread offense. It was a knock on him when he entered the 2013 NFL draft; it could be a positive now that Gailey is calling the shots, and now that the Jets have a potent pass-catching foursome that can efficiently execute their assignments in spread concepts.

Marshall is the physical boundary threat who can dominate one-on-one matchups and is most likely to line up as the X or Z receiver. His downfield capabilities may be waning (he had five receptions on throws that traveled 20 yards or more in 2014, according to Pro Football Focus, after posting double digits in that category from 2011-2013), but he's still 6'4" and 222 pounds, and you can't teach that. 

Decker is also a big-bodied receiver at 6'3" and 215 pounds and has a little more downfield ability than Marshall at this point (seven receptions on passes that traveled 20 yards or more downfield in 2014). He could also line up as either the X or Z receiver on the boundary. Split out on the opposite side of the field from Marshall, opposing defenses would already be forced to defend the length of the field. 

Kerley is just the kind of athletic slot presence that can take advantage of the windows that the presence of Marshall and Decker will create. He's undersized at 5'9" and 188 pounds, but he has quickness to create separation on underneath routes. Most of his damage will be done on short passes over the middle; a combined 32 of his 81 receptions from 2013-2014 were on passes that traveled 0-9 yards downfield and over the middle.

Smith can complement all three, with the quickness to line up in the slot and on the side and the speed to make plays on the outside. He will need to improve his hands, but he has the physical tools to develop into a special player for the Jets. 

Once you start to look away from the wide receiver position, that's when it begins to look less certain that the Jets have given Gailey all he'll need to successfully execute his style of offense in 2015. The biggest questions facing the Jets on offense, besides quarterback, are whether they've done enough at the running back position and at guard. 

At running back, the Jets have stocked the cupboards full of tough-nosed between-the-tackles backs, some of whom have more explosive playmaking ability than others. Chris Ivory, Stevan Ridley, Zac Stacy and Bilal Powell are all similar-style backs, although Ivory is the most talented. The Jets don't have a lot of variety in their backfield, though, and they lack a true home run hitter and a more-than-capable third-down option.

Powell was used primarily on passing downs in 2014, serving 187 of his 242 snaps in the passing game (132 as a receiver, 55 as a blocker). He was kept in blitz protection more often than any other Jets running back, but he didn't make as much of his opportunities as a receiver as his teammates. No one will confuse any of the Jets backs with someone like C.J. Spiller or Fred Jackson, excellent receiving backs who lined up all over the field for the Buffalo Bills when Gailey was head coach. 

That being said, with four talented wide receivers, how often will the Jets actually need a back to go out and catch passes? Gailey can work around the lack of a receiving back by using tight ends on short passes and focusing on the slot receivers, so the Jets may not need their backs to be anything more than checkdown options.

That's not the only position where the Jets have issues. 

At guard, the Jets have made a couple of additions, but the Jets are resting their hopes on a lot of question marks.

Will left guard James Carpenter be more consistent with the Jets than he was with the Seattle Seahawks? Was Breno Giacomini a bad signing at right tackle, or did he simply get off on the wrong foot in his first year in a new system? Has D'Brickashaw Ferguson begun to fall off, or did he, too, simply have a bad season? Will someone, anyone, emerge from the big battle at right guard between Willie Colon, Oday Aboushi, Brian Winters, Jarvis Harrison and others?

The offensive line has the potential to be a catalyst for success or a cataclysm on their way to a disappointing season. 

There are ways to scheme around deficiencies in the offensive line, too; draw runs can keep a defensive line off-balance by tricking them into an upfield rush and leaving them vulnerable at the second level, and quick passes can get the ball out of the quarterback's hands before the rush has a chance to get home.

The Jets are off to a good start in building toward an offense suited to Gailey's style. Year 1 will likely serve as the foundation for the continuation of that build, as will the performance of the Jets quarterbacks. 

Unless otherwise noted, all advanced statistics obtained via Pro Football Focus.