Guaranteed: The Jets have a winning record in 2017

I know what you're thinking. Crazy, right? There's no way the Jets can have a winning record in 2017.

Ah, but they do.

The Jets beat the Buffalo Bills on January 1st, 2017, so they actually do have a winning record in 2017. They are 1-0 in 2017 and have been for five months (and will continue to be for three more months).

I didn't say they'd have a winning record in the 2017 season. And granted, that's looking increasingly unlikely. However, that one win perhaps gives us something to cling to in our increasingly fading hopes of a competitive team next season.

The Jets are a team that has "the worst roster in a decade" and is likely to go 0-16 according to some recent hyperbolic punditry. Rotoworld said in a story on Tuesday that said they have "zero chance of winning multiple games" although they later softened that to "the worst team in the league".

The Jets beat the Bills pretty comfortably, 30-10, in the season finale last year with many of the unknown quantities they'll rely on this season playing big roles. Doesn't this provide something to cling to?

Of the 37 players that played at least one offensive or defensive snap in that game, 30 are still on the roster. So perhaps they aren't as far off the team that showed that they are capable of winning a game at the end of last year.

This desperately needs context though. The Bills were somewhat going through the motions with Rex Ryan having been ousted and Tyrod Taylor rested for contractual reasons. But the Jets will meet teams with key players out and that have seen the wheels come off next season. They might even meet some teams that are tanking for draft position. Imagine that!

Those seven players no longer on the roster accounted for 120 offensive snaps (18%) and 184 defensive snaps (26%) in the win.

Here's whose contributions they would need to replace:

QB Ryan Fitzpatrick - Replacement: Josh McCown

We've already made note of how poor Fitzpatrick was last year. McCown's worst year, which was a decade ago, was barely any worse based on quarterback rating. Fitzpatrick had a solid game manager type performance to end his Jets tenure but ultimately passed for just 210 yards and two touchdowns. Maybe it's not impossible for McCown to emulate such contributions and "give us the best chance to win".

TE Brandon Bostick and WR Devin Smith - Replacements: Jordan Leggett and Chad Hansen

We'll lump these two together because, although they played 54 snaps between them, they combined for just seven yards on one catch. These contributions are easily replaced and Leggett and Hansen are just two possibilities for who might do that. Bostick wasn't even a particularly good blocker.

RB Brandon Burks - Replacement: Elijah McGuire

Burks only played four snaps and lost four yards on his two carries. That production can easily be replicated or hopefully improved upon by a guy like McGuire.

That's all there was in terms of offensive players that contributed to that 2017 win but are no longer on the roster. How about the defense, though?

LB David Harris - Replacement: Demario Davis

Harris is probably going to be the most difficult to replace. However, it's his quiet consistency that they'll miss most of all in terms of his production. Davis was more inconsistent but capable of outperforming Harris on a single-game basis, so you can count on him to contribute well some of the time. It might be Harris' steadying influence on others that is toughest to replace though.

CB Darrelle Revis - Replacement: Morris Claiborne

Revis had a rough year last year and Claiborne was arguably better for as long as he was able to stay on the field. You probably can't count on Claiborne playing a full season, but he can be capable of emulating Revis in a given match-up. To be fair to Revis, he played okay in this one, recording his only interception of the year. However, he also gave up a 64-yard catch.

S Calvin Pryor - Replacement: Jamal Adams

Jets fans won't just be hoping Adams can be an upgrade over Pryor, they'll be demanding it. In any case, Pryor's contributions to this win (two tackles, one pass defensed, one penalty) weren't particularly significant.

So, perhaps it's not impossible the Jets can be competitive some of the time with their current roster.
We're not even taking into account all of the new additions, any improvements the young players might have made or a return to form or from injury from some of the veterans still on the team. (The likes of Matt Forté, Austin Seferian-Jenkins, Steve McLendon, Lorenzo Mauldin and Brian Winters did not play in that win over the Bills).

The issue with this team is that while that patchwork line-up was able to put together a competent display against a bad/disinterested team at the end of last season, some of those players are more likely to be exposed in a bigger role over a longer period of time. What matters most is which ones can handle it and prove they deserve to be part of the longer-term nucleus.

For now, though, they're 1-0 in 2017 and nobody can take that away from them.

Until September...