JetsFix Mailbag 2026: Part One

It's time for the 2026 JetsFix Mailbag, which will run over a few parts between now and training camp. Remember, the idea is for everyone to ask one Jets/NFL question and one non-NFL question, a rule which many of you - as always - failed to adhere to. Here's part one:

BubbyBristerShovelPass

Whats going on with the Jets special teams? Who do you think are the kicker, punter, and gunner?

It will be interesting to see what happens with the kickers. Sanders is a solid fallback option as long as he's fully recovered from whatever it was that caused him to miss all of last year. He's only 30, too, so could have several years left. Getting cut so early by the Giants doesn't bode well though.

Cade York would never have been drafted in the fourth round if he wasn't talented but he's lost a string of kicker battles since a mediocre but not terrible rookie year four years ago. Maybe this is the opportunity he's been waiting for.

Some people have been wondering what the Jets will do at the gunner position now that Irvin Charles was traded but they're forgetting we answered this last season when he missed the entire year. Arian Smith, Kene Nwangwu and Qwan'tez Stiggers split those duties and all three are still on the roster.

Dane Belton gives them another option to add into the mix and a few of the undrafted rookies might be good at this too.

Finally, the punter is an easy one after Austin McNamara's 2025 season.

Which Star Wars trilogy was better and why? The original trilogy or the prequel trilogy? Was it a wise decision to open with ‘A new hope’ in 1977 and if not that one, what would be your next best pick to start off the whole cultural phenomenon?

I have them all ranked equal first.

Supposedly, Lucas opted to start with Episode IV because that was the one that worked best as a standalone and he couldn't be certain he'd get a chance to make any more, so he opted to divide his original plans into trilogies instead.

Now the "Skywalker Saga" is supposedly complete, anyone (like younger generations) that wants to see it now for the first time has to decide whether to watch them according to their release order or in the order of their release.

Everyone focuses on the Vader reveal at the end of episode five, with many suggesting that gets ruined if you already saw the prequels. Personally, I don't think that moment makes or breaks the series, though, and I've been trying to figure out whether Lucas designed the prequels assuming viewers knew what happened in the original trilogy and just wanted an origin story - or did he have half an eye on making them stand up in their own right with the knowledge that people were going to watch and re-watch them?

If you start with the first three, then the big twist instead involves Darth Sidious and, although it's heavily telegraphed throughout, they don't explicitly make that link until the key scene. Big budget prequels were still a new concept until the Phantom Menace, so maybe he tried to thread that needle and didn't quite stick the landing.

For what it's worth, I'll always rewatch them in Episode order. It's surprising how well they kept the tone consistent so the original trilogy isn't so jarringly old-fashioned when you watch it sandwiched between the much newer ones.

SumJetsFan

Jets related: I have never seen you raise a red flag before (or I don’t recall might be more accurate) about a potential top 10 player who we ended up drafting. Can you grant us more hints if this is:

1. Something we have not heard about?

2. Off field related?

3. His play on field related?

Yes.

Something interesting about that (he's talking about David Bailey, if you hadn't guessed) is that with both Will McDonald and Jermaine Johnson, the last two first round pass rushers drafted by the Jets, we had no inkling of any off-field concerns before or right after they were drafted but in each case heard concerns about attitude and effort from teammates during their rookie season. (And then, again in each case, we had heard that they came back for year two with a much better effort and it was reflected in their improvement).

It would be interesting in that light if Bailey, a player I had a pre-draft concern about, was the complete opposite and reports filtered back about how good his attitude and professionalism is. If that's the case, he would probably have a much better rookie year than either, regardless of how his career pans out.

Non-Jets related: which qb do you really like from next year draft you have watched so far?

(It's supposed to be non-NFL rather than non-Jets, but we'll accept this as it's ostensibly a college football question).

Honestly I didn't get a chance to see enough of these guys to make a final determination on them yet. The few games of Arch Manning and Dante Moore that I have seen tended to be some of their worst performances and I guess they're the two main names to watch.

I'm actually rooting for Sam Leavitt to climb the charts because his brother Dallin (former Raiders safety) is a great guy, but I don't think he's viewed as a potential first rounder right now.

Creepypasta

Jets Related: Design an alternate helmet for The Jets based on the 80's bubblegum pop group with the same name.

Here's what I know about the Jets:

1. They are distinct from the English band also called the Jets who had a couple of hits in the early 1980's;
2. The only song of theirs I've heard of is "Crush on You" which sucks;
3. The only reason I've heard of it is because my sister bought the version that Nick Carter from the Backstreet Boys' late nine-year old brother released in 1997.

Wikipedia tells me they used to be called "Quasar" so I opted to design (or get AI to design for me) a helmet with a quasar blast on the side.

Okay, it's nothing special but it does levitate in mid-air, which is pretty cool.

Non Jets Related: You can either be Kenny G or the drummer for High on Fire. Which do you choose and why? Note that this isn't asking which job would you rather do. In this scenario you do not exist and you must instead be one of these people.

Eww, who would ever choose to be a drummer? I'd rather be Kenny G.

How would this work anyway? Do I suddenly get transported into his body as soon as I decide and live out the rest of his life? Is there a deadline or can I just take a knee forever so this never happens? Or do I have to live out his entire life with no free will to just cut my hair and become something other than a cheesy musician?

Besides, you didn't specify which Kenny G, so I hereby invoke the option to live out the rest of my days as Kenny Golladay.

Enumerated Powers

Considering salary, player ability, and position, which free agent signing could improve the current Jets team the most?

I was asked this last year and I said Josh Reynolds, so I don't have a great track record. Although, to be fair, there weren't many free agent additions that made any impact. Brandon Stephens and Josh Myers I suppose.

Anyway, I think Demario Davis is the one signing that should make a huge difference if he doesn't immediately fall off a cliff. He's so good - and the linebacker play last year was so bad.

When will Q Day arrive?

I didn't know what this was and was assuming it either had something to do with Quinnen Williams or Q*Bert.

Having done some brief research, it appears to be a very similar type of question to what I wrote my college dissertation on, though, which was the Y2J "Millennium Bomb". I got a 2:1 and the feedback was essentially "you didn't really say anything of substance but it was so well-written we'll give you a good mark anyway". Sounds like one of my mailbag answers.

15,000 words on whether we should be concerned about this thing that may or may not happen (and ultimately didn't, rendering the whole project pointless) and how people were preparing for it. After that, writing a 2,000-word BGA on a UDFA the Jets might cut before the article gets published seems easy.

Anyway, I digress. 2029 is my guess, which ironically comes direct from AI, thereby arguably providing more evidence that we are closer to Q day than ever.

Still to come: Food, movies, wankers, hip-hop and dollhouses...plus maybe even some Jets stuff! Part two will be up within the next week or so...

Note: If you didn't get to ask your questions yet, please put these in the comments section and we will answer them in part two or three. Remember, you need to ask one Jets/NFL question and one non-NFL question (with no politics allowed).