Drilling in: Jets unit by unit analysis

QUARTERBACKS: Starter -- Josh McCown. Backups -- Teddy Bridgewater, Sam Darnold. Head coach Todd Bowles will likely start the regular season with the veteran McCown, who threw a career-high 18 touchdown passes last season. But it will be a balancing act, with three quarterbacks at very different points in the maturation process. This is McCown's last hurrah, Bridgewater could become trade bait if he can show his knee is 100 percent (which could also make him a candidate to start), and clearly Darnold is the future. RUNNING BACKS: Starter -- Bilal Powell. Backups -- Isaiah Crowell, Elijah McGuire, Thomas Rawls, Trenton Cannon, FB Lawrence Thomas, FB Dmitri Flowers. Despite the retirement of Matt Forte, the Jets have solid depth here. Powell is coming off a career season (772 yards and five touchdowns), Crowell, only 25 years old, never missed a game in four seasons in Cleveland and provides solid production (4.2 yards per carry in his career), and McGuire showed flashes as a rookie, including a 69-yard touchdown run against Jacksonville. The sixth-rounder Cannon could be a return specialist. TIGHT ENDS: Starter -- Jordan Leggett. Backups -- Chris Herndon, Clive Walford, Eric Tomlinson, Neal Sterling, Bucky Hodges. Neither Leggett nor the fourth-round pick Herndon have ever made a catch in a NFL regular season game, but they may be the Jets' best options after Austin Seferian-Jenkins signed with the Jaguars. Herndon showed promise in minicamp, but got a DWI in June. TMZ published the dash-cam, and the footage, showing an overturned car and Herndon struggling to walk a straight line, wasn't pretty. Eric Tomlinson is a strong blocker, but not much more. WIDE RECEIVERS: Starters -- Robby Anderson, Jermaine Kearse, Quincy Enunwa. Backups -- Terrelle Pryor, Chad Hansen, ArDarius Stewart, Andre Roberts, Charone Peake, Lucky Whitehead, Tre McBride. There's certainly potential here, no more than Anderson, who was on his way to a 1,000-yard season before McCown got his hand broken in Denver. Kearse is a steady veteran, but Enunwa is a question mark after missing last season with a neck injury, as is Pryor. Hansen had a strong minicamp and could work his way into the mix, but Stewart may find his way off the roster with a bad training camp. OFFENSIVE LINEMEN: Starters -- LT Kelvin Beachum, LG James Carpenter, C Spencer Long, RG Brian Winters, RT Brandon Shell. Backups -- T Ben Ijalana, G Dakota Dozier, C Travis Swanson, C/G Jonotthan Harrison, T Brent Qvale. Beachum is a solid veteran presence, but the line as a whole is still a weak spot despite signing Spencer Long from the Redskins to replace Wesley Johnson. The run game was inconsistent, at best, last season, and McCown was sacked 39 times in 13 games, including the hit that knocked him out for the season. Winters should be fully healthy after surgery to repair a torn abdomen muscle. DEFENSIVE LINEMEN: Starters -- DE Leonard Williams, NT Steve McLendon, DE Henry Anderson. Backups -- DE Xavier Cooper, DE Nathan Shepherd, DE Brandon Copeland, DL Foley Fatukasi, NT Mike Pennel, NT Deon Simon. Williams is one of the few blue-chip talents the Jets have on their roster. He's still only 24 years old and he's never missed a game in his three seasons. But he had only two sacks last season, and he will likely face consistent double-teams with the lack of a defined starter playing opposite him. Anderson came over from the Colts in an April trade to provide depth, and he will do so with third-round pick Shepherd and sixth-round choice Fatukasi. LINEBACKERS: Starters -- OLB Jordan Jenkins, ILB Darron Lee, ILB Avery Williamson, OLB Lorenzo Mauldin. Backups -- OLB David Bass, OLB Josh Martin, ILB Kevin Minter, ILB Neville Hewitt, OLB Courtney Upshaw, OLB Dylan Donahue, OLB Kevin Pierre-Louis, OLB Obum Gwachum. The inside should be stout, as Lee was one of the team's most improved players last year in his second season. He will make the defensive calls after the loss of Demario Davis (Saints), who was replaced by Williamson from the Titans on a three-year, $22.5 million contract. Jenkins had three sacks last season, but who will play opposite him remains up in the air. DEFENSIVE BACKS: Starters -- CB Trumaine Johnson, FS Marcus Maye, SS Jamal Adams, CB Morris Claiborne. Backups -- CB Buster Skrine, SS J.J. Wilcox, CB Juston Burris, CB Darryl Roberts, CB Parry Nickerson, S Terrence Brooks, S Doug Middleton, CB Rashard Robsinson, CB Derrick Jones. This is the Jets' best unit on paper. Johnson was given $34 million guaranteed to be the type of lockdown corner Darrelle Revis (who announced his retirement Wednesday) was for the Jets for so many years. If he is, that will allow Claiborne and/or Skrine to cover the other team's No. 2 receiver, while Maye plays centerfield and Adams jams tight ends at the line. It's a sound strategy that will also help an otherwise lackluster pass rush get heat on the quarterback. The Jets allowed 30 touchdown passes last season. If they have any hope of even being an above-average defense, that number will have to drop by at least five. SPECIAL TEAMS: K Cairo Santos, K Taylor Bertolet, P Lachlan Edwards. One of the most underrated losses for the Jets this offseason was Chandler Catanzaro, who signed a three-year deal with the Bucs. Santos, who missed most of last season with an injured groin, will battle with the unproven Bertolet for the starting job. Edwards was one of the most improved punters in the league, increasing his net by more than three yards per punt from his rookie season.