Jets' Fans: Adding Brett Favre Does Not Make You a Super Bowl Contender

The New York Jets continued their offseason spending spree by acquiring Brett Favre from the Green Bay Packers.

Jets' fans should expect their team to go from a 4-12 team to maybe a Wild Card contender. The Jets' still have a lot more work to do before they can become a legitimate Super Bowl contender.

Last season, the Jets' defense ranked 18th in yards per game, and 19th in points per game. Any team would have to have an amazing offense to be a playoff contender with that kind of defense.

The Jets made major offseason moves to improve their defense. With the acquistions of Calvin Pace, Kris Jenkins and drafting Vernon Gholston, they have picked up some talent.

But fans need to  remember what they have lost.

The Jets traded away the leader of their defense, 26 year old linebacker Jonathan Vilma. With 3 straight 100 tackle seasons for the Jets, including a 173 tackle season in 2005, the Jets lost a legitimate tackline machine. Vilma was on his way to his fourth straight 100 tackle season before an injury forced him to miss the rest of the 2007 season.

The Jets also let starting LB Victor Hobson walk away. He had a down year last season with only 68 tackles and two sacks compared to his 100 tackles and six sacks in 2006. However, at the age of 28, Hobson had a good chance to rebound. 

What is probably the most significant loss, the Jets traded away Dewayne Robertson to the Denver Broncos. Robertson is only 26 years old, and is coming off a 57 tackle and four sack season, the best season of his career. Robertson has seen steady improvement over his career, and the Jets may have sent him away at the wrong time.

The addition of Pace has a lot potential. Pace is coming off of a 98 tackle six and a half sack season. At 27, he is young, but his production over the last four seasons is nothing to be excited about.

He reached 30 tackles only twice in his career, and had only one sack every year, with the exception of 2004 when he had four and a half. He only played 16 games twice in his four seasons seasons, including a five game season in 2005.

Pace is a good addition to an improving defense, but he's only proven to be a productive player once in his five year career.

Another major move for the Jets was trading for 29-year old, All Pro defensive tackle Kris Jenkins. The Jets acquired him from the Carolina Panthers for third and fifth round picks.

Now you may ask, how could they get such a talented and young player for so little?

One word. Injuries.

Kris Jenkins has played seven seasons in the NFL, but he has only played in 16 games five times. Three of those five seasons were the first years of his career. Over the last four seasons, Jenkins has only played 16 games twice. His Pro Bowl seasons came in 2002 and 2003, where hecombined for 12 sacks over that stretch.

In his other five seasons, he has combined for only eight and a half sacks. Despite playing 16 games the last two years, he has combined for only five and a half sacks. He has only forced one fumble in his career, and has recorded 40 tackles only 3 times.

What does this mean?

Kris Jenkins is not even close to the same player he was five seasons ago.

The last impact move the Jets made to the defense was drafting Vernon Gholston with the sixth overall pick. Gholston has huge potential, but what can fans expect from him this year?

He had a great season at Ohio State, recording 49 tackles and eight and a half sacks. It's hard to project what kind of impact a rookie will have, but I'm not sure that he will be a factor this season.

This would have been his senior year at Ohio State, so he might be overmatched in his the NFL.

Despite those additions, I don't believe the Jets have sufficiently replaced the talent they have lost.

The Jets also made great additions to their offensive line with Alan Faneca and Damien Woody, but the holes at TE and WR should be a concern.

They have a decent one-two punch at WR with Jerricho Cotchery and Laveranues Coles, but Coles missed four games in 2007, and finished with only 55 catches and 646 yards. A friend of mine believes that Coles is one concussion away from having to retire.

Cotchery is improving, coming off of his 2nd straight 80 catch season and his first 1000 yard season. He may very well be the Jets primary WR this season.

Other than that, the Jets have nothing special.

Brad Smith should be their third WR this year, but last year he averaged a meager 10.2 yards per catch. The fourth WR is Wallace Wright, who has only six career receptions. Behind them is Chansi Stuckey, who missed the entire 2007 season with a foot injury.

Their TEs are also unproven.

Chris Baker had a decent season last year, but with the selection of Dustin Keller in the 1st round it doesn't look like the Jets have any interest in Baker for the future.

Keller is a rookie, but it doesn't look like his impact will be anything special this season.

Bubba Franks is probably not worth mentioning.

The Jets offense was ranked 26th in the NFL last season. The running game was 19th, and the passing offense was 25th.

Will Brett Favre be able to improve those rankings? Of course.

But the Jets failed to make significant improvements to their skill positions.

Jets fans should not expect Favre to be as good as he was in 2007. Not only is he a year older, but the Jets' offense does not compare to the Packers'.

Greg Jennings, Donald Driver, James Jones, Ruvell Martin and rookie Jordy Nelson form the second best WR core behind the New England Patriots.

They also have a very good TE in Donald Lee.

Favre will be playing with an unproven WR core that is probably one of the 10 worst in the NFL. And none of the Jets' tight ends compare to Lee.

The Packers also have a better running game than the Jets.

The running game may have ranked 21st last season, but Ryan Grant didn't emerge until their seventh game of the season.

The combination of Grant, Brandon Jackson, Vernand Morency and DeShawn Wynn is superior to a Jets' backfield with Thomas Jones, Leon Washington, Jesse Chatman and Musa Smith.

Anyone that thinks the Jets can suddenly be a Super Bowl contender is dead wrong.

Face it Jets fans! Brett Favre will only make your team a Wild Card contender. The Jets have a long way to go before they see a Super Bowl.