A year ago, the Jets entered the offseason believing they were a kicker away from the Super Bowl. The Giants were coming off a 6-10 season with inconsistency on both lines and a rookie quarterback who struggled mightily.

Now, the two teams have dramatically switched positions. As the Giants try to find and assemble the final pieces of a Super Bowl contender, the Jets face a roster filled with holes and a long period of salary cap purgatory.

The Giants’ extraordinary turnaround was due to more than the maturing of quarterback Eli Manning and Tiki Barber’s 2,390-yard season. The moves made last spring by general manager Ernie Accorsi in effect provide a blueprint for how other NFL teams can best use free agency to pull themselves up by the bootstraps. The Giants succeeded not with quantity but with quality. Rarely does a team manage to fill three clear off-season lineup holes with players who were arguably the best available at each position, but the Giants pulled it off by signing wide receiver Plaxico Burress, middle linebacker Antonio Pierce, and right tackle Kareem MacKenzie.

This time around, the Giants will concentrate primarily on defense, especially in the secondary, where there may be as many as three new starters in 2006. Cornerback Will Allen will leave as a free agent, to be replaced by last year’s second-round draft pick, Corey Webster. Yesterday, Big Blue released safety Brent Alexander – who led the team last season in interceptions and passes defensed – and will seek a veteran to fill his role.

The question mark in the Giants secondary is cornerback Will Peterson, who missed most of last season with a stress fracture in his back. This weekend at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis, Accorsi made it clear that the Giants wanted Peterson to play if he was cleared by doctors, telling reporters, “we don’t have to face a decision with him, that’s all medical.” Even so, the first round of the April 29-30 draft is chock-full of quality defenders. By the time the Giants make the 25th selection, cornerbacks Ashton Youboty of Ohio State and Tye Hill of Clemson, and safety Ko Simpson of South Carolina may still be available.

The lack of depth at linebacker, which hurt the Giants toward the end of the season and absolutely killed them in the playoffs, will probably be addressed through the draft as well as free agency. Though he would not specify any players on his radar, Accorsi was enthusiastic about what he called “a deep group of linebackers.” Florida State’s Ernie Sims, Alabama’s DeMeco Ryans, and Ohio State’s Bobby Carpenter may be ripe for the picking at the end of the first round.

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Unlike the Giants, the Jets can’t focus on specific areas of improvement because they need everything. It’s a familiar pattern in the NFL: A successful veteran team is broadsided by the combined effects of aging and the salary cap. A few players get injured and lose effectiveness, and suddenly the team’s budget can’t swallow the contracts of those players and fit in replacements at the same time.

Last year’s debacle was not a one-year aberration. The Jets are about to enter the same extended period of futility that San Francsco and Tennessee have endured during the past two seasons. Gang Green began the off-season $26 million over the projected 2006 salary cap, second only to Oakland. They’ve already had to jettison cornerback Ty Law, backup quarterback Jay Fiedler, and steady fullback Jerald Sowell.

The Jets placed the franchise tag on free agent defensive end John Abraham, but cannot afford to pay him the $8.33 million salary it would entail should he sign the offer. A trade would prevent the Jets from getting nothing in return for Abraham, and reports say Washington, Denver, and Detroit have expressed interest in the pass-rushing specialist. It would, however, take some intricate maneuvering to make a deal happen. Washington and Denver rank just below the Jets among teams that must cut salary to get below the cap. But Abraham has stated in recent days that “it’s time to move on,” and the Jets don’t really want to keep him. The team will likely ask for a first-round pick in a trade, but that could be optimistic considering Abraham’s history of injuries.

Nowhere will the Jets suffer more than on the offensive line, where tackle Jason Fabini and guard Pete Kendall have already been released, and center Kevin Mawae may follow. This is a bigger problem than you might think because the Jets own the fourth overall pick in the draft, and most observers believe they will use it on a quarterback to replace the depleted Chad Pennington. Vanderbilt’s Jay Cutler wowed scouts at the combine this week with his velocity and accuracy, and will probably be available at no. 4.

Of course, stripping the offensive line of veterans will leave a line of blockers with less talent and experience. Houston’s David Carr, who has been sacked 117 times over the last two seasons, can attest that this isn’t the ideal situation for the development of a young passer. Jets fans may salivate at the thought of drafting a high profile “skill position” player, but the most practical pick is probably 6-foot-5-inch, 295-pound tackle D’Brickashaw Ferguson of Virginia.

The Jets’ predicament is in large part the product of their own hubris. They allowed MacKenzie to sign with the Giants and nose tackle Jason Ferguson to decamp for Dallas and replaced neither. They used their highest draft pick on a kicker no better than one they could have signed as a free agent instead of taking a young lineman who could have stepped in for one of the declining veterans.

The Jets can’t blame themselves for Pennington’s shoulder injury, but even here the team’s decisions may have inflamed the situation. The team bears some responsibility for the misdiagnosis that identified a labrum tear but not a rotator cuff tear, as well as the decision to rush Pennington back, which led to further tears and a second shoulder surgery just eight months later.

Pennington’s cap number for next year is $12 million, and if he does not agree to a restructuring (which would give the team more room beneath the cap),he could be dropped from the team by the weekend. But he won’t disappear from the budget; even if the Jets cut him, they would take a salary hit of about $10 million because of the prorated salary cap. Pennington is owed a $3 million roster bonus by Friday, so expect a resolution of his status by then.

It would be a fun cross-town rivalry between that young gun in blue, Eli Manning, and a young gun in green, be it Cutler or even USC’s Matt Leinart. But it will be a while before the rivalry on the field matches the one in the local sports pages. While Manning’s Giants have specific needs and their sights set on a championship, the Jets are desperate for anyone who can keep them from bottoming out as the worst team in the league. At least they won’t have to find a kicker.

Mr. Schatz is the editor in chief of FootballOutsiders.com.