Heading into the 2006 off-season, the Jets looked as if they had a massive rebuilding effort ahead of them. They were coming off a four-win season, new coach Eric Mangini planned to overhaul the team, and quarterback Chad Pennington’s shoulder couldn’t be trusted to hold up for 16 games.

What a difference a year makes. Mangini and Pennington proved themselves in 2006, leading the Jets to a surprising playoff berth, and with a good off-season this year they could challenge the New England Patriots for AFC East supremacy.

With the start of free agency, the NFL’s off-season has begun, and on offense and defense the Jets’ top priority is the running game. The old bromide that championship teams have to run well and stop the run took a hit when the Indianapolis Colts won the Super Bowl with a pass-first offense and a weak run defense. Still, on both sides of the ball, the running game is a liability. Last year the Jets gained 3.5 yards a carry on offense, 30th in the league, and allowed 4.6 yards a carry on defense, 27th in the league.

Running back Leon Washington played well as a rookie, but he seems better suited as a change-ofpace back carrying 10 times a game than a featured runner carrying 20 times a game, so the Jets will likely add a running back through free agency or the draft. The Jets already released running backs Kevan Barlow and Derrick Blaylock, neither of whom became an adequate successor to Curtis Martin. The bounty of veteran running backs available includes New England’s Corey Dillon, Indianapolis’s Dominic Rhodes, Washington’s T.J. Duckett, and Tennessee’s Travis Henry.

Dillon would be the Jets’ best choice because his greatest skill, strength in short-yardage situations, is a nice complement to Washington’s greatest ability, speed and ability to break big plays. Dillon also knows Mangini from their time in New England, and leaving the Patriots for another AFC East team might provide him with extra motivation.

The Jets could also improve the running game in the draft, but to land a sure-thing prospect they would need to orchestrate a huge trade. Adrian Peterson of Oklahoma is the best back in this year’s class by a large margin, and the Jets would have to give up a bounty of players and draft picks to move from the 25th overall pick into the Top 5, where Peterson is likely to be drafted.

The best news for the Jets is that even if they don’t add any new players, their running game should improve solely because the three rookies from last year’s offense (Washington and linemen D’Brickashaw Ferguson and Nick Mangold) have another year of seasoning. The run defense is a bigger concern. Last year, the Jets’ personnel was more suited to the 4–3 front that former coach Herm Edwards ran, and one goal of this off-season will be to attract more talent to fit into the 3–4 that Mangini prefers.

A good place to start would be signing free agent defensive end Kenyon Coleman, formerly of the Dallas Cowboys. The Jets are expected to make Coleman an offer, and if they sign him they’ll add a lineman who played in the 3–4 in Dallas, has talent as a run stopper, and last year recorded four sacks. The Jets could also be interested in adding a 3–4 linebacker such as Tully Banta-Cain, whom Mangini coached in New England, or Joey Porter, whom the Pittsburgh Steelers released last week.

In the first few days of free agency the Jets kept a low profile, and that’s a good sign. Often the teams that make the biggest splash by giving star players lucrative contracts are the teams that end up with aging rosters and bloated payrolls. The Jets have about $15 million in salary cap space available, but they don’t need to spend all or even most of it on adding free agents. A lot of that money should be used for locking in their current players to longterm contracts.

They already started that process last week by signing receiver Jerricho Cotchery to an extension. Cotchery caught 82 passes for 961 yards last year, and his deal lets the Jets retain a valuable player just entering the prime of his career while also giving Cotchery a substantial raise from about $1 million a year to about $4 million a year.

The Jets should use some remaining cap space to extend the contract of safety Kerry Rhodes, who is establishing himself as one of the best young defensive backs in the league and has two years left on his rookie deal. If the Jets’ 2006 season demonstrated anything, it’s that the team is going in the right direction. That means that after a 2006 off-season of uncertainty, the 2007 off-season should be relatively quiet.

Mr. Smith is a writer for FootballOutsiders.com.