It ain’t easy being a Jets fan. Playing second fiddle to the legendary Giants is humbling enough. Playing in THEIR stadium for 26 years is downright humiliating. But an even greater indignity for Jets fans has been the team’s losing ways.

The Jets have been in existence for 50 years but have only one championship to show for it. In that time they have accumulated just 18 winning seasons and only 13 playoff appearances.

But for many old-timers the worst was a brutal 25-year stretch between 1971 and 1996 when the team had just 5 winning seasons and only 3 playoff victories. Like most Jets fans, I grew tired of the losing and more than once questioned my desire to keep rooting for a team that gave me so little joy.

It was in 1991, however, when I really hit rock bottom and shifted my approach to my beloved team. The Jets had drafted Penn St. running back Blair Thomas the year before and he was touted as yet another “savior” who would propel this team to a championship. But like so many before him, he would never reach his potential. Thomas had 4 disappointing seasons and is still regarded as one of the biggest draft busts of all time.

Drafting young talent is the key to building a championship and throughout their history the Jets have done a consistently poor job in this area, particularly among their top picks. I grew frustrated with the organization and decided to take matters into my own hands. I would no longer hold my breath on draft day and hope the Jets selected the right players. Now I would know for myself.

I started researching college prospects before the draft so I could know if the Jets had, in fact, drafted promising players. The NFL Draft in 1991 was not nearly as a popular as it is today and it was difficult to find information on many of the prospects but Mel Kiper, Jr. put out his annual draft report and that would be enough.

I read as much as I could about the 300+ draft-eligible prospects and isolated those that fit the team’s offensive and defensive schemes and I became proficient in not only finding players that made sense for the Jets but also in identifying those who would go on to have productive careers with other teams.

I began writing draft newsletters for friends and eventually developed a following that eagerly awaited my scouting reports each year. In 2008 I launched jetsfan.com to break down the NFL Draft from a Jets’ perspective and quickly realized there was a demand for scouting all year round.

Now I scout the Jets’ opponents each week. I break down their strengths and weaknesses and provide readers with a blueprint for a Jets’ victory. I break down the post-game film and provide insights to the game that are typically missed when watching in real time.

During the off-season I analyze every position, identify the team’s needs in free agency and evaluate each player they sign. Now jetsfan.com is a year-round site, bringing insights to fans that they can’t find anywhere else.

I built jetsfan.com to be an educational site, designed to teach the finer points of the game to the dedicated fan. The focus will always be on player scouting and strategy – two things most media outlets ignore. You will always learn something new here and hopefully it helps you develop a better understanding of the game and be a more informed fan.

Other Jets sites may give you news about the Jets but at jetsfan.com we break down the game of football for the hardcore Jets fan.

Thanks for checking out the site!