Jets Draft Players from Winning Programs to Support Culture Change

The players' origins in winning programs were critical. Specific contributions, such as a game-winning catch against Penn State, forced fumbles, and run-after-catch ability were noted. These elements speak volumes when brought into the locker room. The team hopes to end a 15-year playoff drought and a 10-year streak of losing seasons.

A player said he thinks he can bring some of what worked at Indiana to the team. “I mean, I would just say the mindset, the mindset that was instilled into me and then just trying to bring others along,” the player said. “And also, just creating a relationship with everybody in the locker room.

” The players were part of the Hoosiers going from perennial losers to a playoff team in 2024 and then national champions last year.

A player spent three years at Stanford before transferring to Texas Tech last year. The Red Raiders went from also-rans to a playoff team in that one year there. “Yeah, 100 percent, man,” the player said when asked if he can bring the lessons learned from Tech with him to the NFL.

“The reason that we had the success we had at Tech was a lot more than me, it’s just a whole bunch of things. It was [coach Joey] McGuire and it was the staff and it was the alumni and the players that we acquired. But I learned from myself, like, at least what’s important for success is creating a great, effective routine, and staying consistent to that routine, so I’m looking to carry on the same thing in my pro career.

The team has tried this avenue before both in free agency and the draft. A player talked about turning the team around in 2017 after he was drafted from LSU. The team signed a player from the Ravens in 2019 with the idea he could bring some of the Baltimore culture with him.

It has not worked so far, but maybe this group can change the team’s mojo. “I think it’s something that I’ve talked about before is, when you have targets, you identify guys you like, you love, you go get them,” a coach said. “And that’s exactly what we did [Thursday].

And any time you can bring guys with a winning background on your team, that only helps the morale of your team.