The New York Jets 3 Greatest Players of All Time
Flying High: 3 Best Players in New York Jet's History
“Face of the Franchise” is a phrase thrown around a lot in NFL circles.
It’s a title that should be reserved for only the very best an individual team has to offer, not only in terms of footballing ability but also that person's character and importance to the franchise.
There are very few NFL personnel in history that have become so synonymous with a franchise that their name immediately springs to mind when a football fan thinks of a particular NFL team.
Let’s look at the history of the New York Jets. Who is the Face of the Franchise? And who is the best player in New York Jet’s History?
These are our 3 best New York Jets of all time
Joe Namath
Role - Quarterback (1965-1976)
Joe Namath is one of the greatest New York Jets ever. However, I’d go a step further and argue he’s far and away the most important individual player in Jets’ history.
Namath was a first-round draft selection in both the AFL and NFL when he turned professional in 1965. This was a pre-NFL & AFL merger and so a bidding war commenced for Namath’s services, not only between two teams but between two professional leagues.
He chose the Jets, the upstart AFL, and history suggests that the decision worked in Namath’s favour.
The Jets failed to reach the post-season the first three years Namath donned the Gotham green of New York.
However, Namath wasn’t the problem as the superstar quarterback earned “AFL Rookie of the Year” in 1965. Namath made history in 1967 as he became the first professional quarterback to pass for 4,000 yards in a season when he threw for 4,007 yards during a 14-game season.
For the first four Super Bowls prior to the official merger, the winners of the NFL and AFL competed for the grand prize.
The NFL champion Baltimore Colts were the heavy favourites entering Super Bowl III against the unfancied AFL Champion New York Jets, led by newly crowned AFL MVP, Joe Namath. Namath was criticised in the media prior to the game when he publicly guaranteed the Jets would win the game.
A few days later, Namath was named Super Bowl MVP as the new superstar of the game outplayed fellow legendary quarterback on Baltimore’s side, Johnny Unitas, guiding the Jets to an improbable 16-3 victory.
Namath backed up the season that secured his place in Jets folklore with a second AFL MVP award in 1969. However, the Jets would lose in the Divisional Round of the playoffs to the Kansas City Chiefs.
That proved to be Namath’s final playoff appearance of his career as the Jets failed to reach post-season the next seven seasons before Namath’s departure in 1976.
Injuries perhaps prevented the most important New York Jet from leading the team back to the Super Bowl but he stamped his mark on the game nonetheless. Namath was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985.
Somehow he didn’t make our Top 10 of the greatest Quarterbacks of all time, but it was a close call.
Darrelle Revis
Role - Cornerback (2007-2012 & 2015-2016)
Very few cornerbacks have played to the standard Revis reached whilst playing for the Jets.
The front office traded up in the 2007 NFL Draft to select Revis 14th overall in the first round. At notoriously one of the most difficult positions in the sport, Revis flourished immediately during his rookie season.
He finished with three interceptions but earned praise all year long for his man-to-man coverage ability against some of the league’s biggest names. Revis earned five more interceptions and his first Pro Bowl honour in 2008.
However, over the next three seasons, Revis went on to display some of the best cornerback skills the sport has ever seen.
Revis earned first-team All-Pro honours each season from 2009-2011, the premium positional award in the NFL. With hindsight, we can officially label this the “Revis Island” years, a nickname that gained traction while Revis was at the height of his powers.
His man coverage skills are what made Revis special, who week after week lined up against the opposition’s best receiver and consistently shut them down for four quarters. Not many can claim to have got the best of Revis during his first stint with the Jets.
What makes Revis even more special to the Jets is that he performed at this elite level during the time of the team’s most consistent period of success in the 21st century.
With “Revis Island” in full effect, the Jets made back-to-back AFC Championship games in 2009 and 2010. Despite losing both title games, Revis was excellent in both post-season campaigns.
His interception of Phil Rivers in the divisional round win over the San Diego Chargers in 2009 changed the entire momentum of the game, and eventually led to a Jets victory. In 2010, Revis held star Colts wide receiver, Reggie Wayne, to just one catch in the team’s 17-16 wildcard round victory over Indianapolis.
Revis’ first stint with the Jets ended unceremoniously, as following several contract holdouts and a severe injury, the star cornerback was traded away in 2013. In fact, he earned his only Super Bowl victory with division rival New England Patriots during his time away from New York.
However, Revis returned to the Jets in 2015 and although playing past his peak, he still put together two solid seasons with the Jets, earning a Pro Bowl nod in 2015.
Revis retired after a brief stint with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2017 but will go down as a Jets legend and should earn Pro Football Hall of Fame honours when he becomes eligible.
Curtis Martin
Role - Running Back (1998-2006)
A Pro Football Hall of Famer, Curtis Martin has to be considered the greatest running back in Jets’ history.
However, it was actually the Jet’s greatest rivals, the New England Patriots, who first selected Martin in the third round of the 1995 NFL Draft.
Martin was excellent in New England, rushing for over 1,000 yards in his first three seasons in the league. Yet Martin was a restricted free agent after the 1997 season and the Jets pounced, signing Martin to a long-term contract.
Martin kept racking up the rushing yards with the Jets. In fact, he went on to rush for at least 1,000 yards in the next seven seasons in New York.
In addition to his first three in New England, Martin rushed for at least 1,000 yards in his first ten seasons in the NFL, only Emmit Smith has compiled more such seasons in NFL history (11).
Martin was the definition of consistency in the running back position. He only missed one game in his first seven years with the Jets.
NFL was not his thing!
However, it wasn’t until 2004 that Martin secured the first rushing title of his career.
Martin won the NFL rushing title by only one more yard than runner-up Shaun Alexander, and at 31 he became the oldest player in league history to win the rushing title.
This was also the season Martin earned his only First-team All-Pro honour, on a Jets team that reached the playoffs before losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Divisional Round. Martin made 10 playoff starts throughout his career, rushing for 795 postseason yards.
That 2004 campaign proved to be Martin’s last fully healthy season.
A knee injury forced him to miss four games in 2005 and the entire 2006 NFL season before Martin announced his retirement in July 2007. Martin ended his career having amassed 14,101 total rushing yards, still the sixth-highest total in NFL history as of 2021.
Following his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in February 2012, the Jets retired Martin's No. 28 jersey in a halftime ceremony at New York’s season-opening game of the 2012 season.
A running back who deserved more attention for what he brought to the game, Martin will forever be remembered as one of the greatest New York Jets of all time.
Read more top articles on our NFL blog
