The 2014 season was the New York Jets' 45th in the National Football League (NFL) and their 55th overall. The Jets failed to improve on their 8–8 regular season record in 2013. They were eliminated from postseason contention for the fourth consecutive season after a Week 12 loss to the Buffalo Bills. As a result, head coach Rex Ryan, along with most of his staff, and general manager John Idzik, Jr. were fired after the season. Ryan compiled a 46–50 record in six seasons as head coach, and would later go on to become head coach of the rival Bills.

This was the first season since 2005 that the team finished last in the division.

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Coaching and personnel changes Linebackers coach Brian VanGorder was hired as Notre Dame's defensive coordinator. Defensive quality control coach Bobby April III was promoted to replace VanGorder. Special teams coach Ben Kotwica was hired by the Washington Redskins for the same position. He was replaced by former LSU special teams coach Thomas McGaughey. The Jets promoted Tony Sparano Jr. to offensive assistant and hired former player Eric Smith as a seasonal intern. The Jets hired Aaron McLaurin as an assistant strength and conditioning coach and Kavan Latham as a strength and conditioning intern.

Arrivals The Jets signed Colin Anderson, T. J. Barnes, Tevita Finau, Michael Campbell, Dwight Jones, Dalton Freeman, Tim Fugger, and Rontez Miles to reserve/future contracts on December 31, 2013. The Jets signed Ras-I Dowling to a reserve/future contract on January 6, 2014. The Jets signed Patrick Ford and Lowell Rose to reserve/future contracts on January 8, 2014. The Jets signed Jacolby Ashworth and Nick Taylor to reserve/future contracts on January 14, 2014. The Jets signed Brandon Hardin to a reserve/future contract on January 15, 2014. The Jets signed Johnny Patrick off waivers on March 5, 2014. The Jets signed Breno Giacomini and Eric Decker on March 12, 2014. The Jets signed Michael Vick on March 21, 2014. The Jets signed Jeremy Reeves on March 28, 2014. The Jets signed Jacoby Ford and Dimitri Patterson on April 1, 2014. The Jets signed Chris Johnson on April 16, 2014. The Jets signed undrafted free agents Tevon Conrad, Steele Divitto, Anthony Grady, Kerry Hyder, Terrence Miller, Brent Qvale, Zach Thompson, and Chad Young on May 11, 2014. The Jets claimed Daryl Richardson off waivers on May 16, 2014. The Jets signed A. J. Edds and Markus Zusevics on May 19, 2014. The Jets signed Andrew Furney and Jacob Schum on June 19, 2014. The Jets signed Jason Babin on July 23, 2014. The Jets signed Michael Smith on August 1, 2014. The Jets signed Bruce Campbell on August 5, 2014. The Jets signed LeQuan Lewis on August 12, 2014. The Jets claimed Leon McFadden off waivers on August 31, 2014. The Jets signed Matt Simms, Daryl Richardson, Chris Pantale, Brent Qvale, Tevita Finau, Kerry Hyder, and Rontez Miles to the practice squad on August 31, 2014. The Jets signed Phillip Adams and A. J. Edds, claimed Walt Powell off waivers and signed LeQuan Lewis to the practice squad on September 1, 2014. The Jets signed Quincy Enunwa and Jeremiah George to the practice squad on September 2, 2014. The Jets re-signed Ellis Lankster on September 12, 2013. The Jets signed Brandon Smith to the practice squad on September 23, 2014. The Jets signed Marcus Williams to the practice squad on September 24, 2014. The Jets signed T. J. Graham and Chris Owusu on September 29, 2014. The Jets signed John Conner to the active roster and LeQuan Lewis to the practice squad on September 30, 2014. The Jets signed DaShaun Phillips to the practice squad on October 7, 2014. The Jets signed Josh Thomas and Wesley Johnson on October 13, 2014. The Jets signed Chris Young to the practice squad on October 29, 2014. The Jets signed Chris Owusu to the practice squad on November 3, 2014. The Jets signed Kona Schwenke to the practice squad on December 3, 2014. The Jets signed Keith Lewis to the practice squad on December 9, 2014. The Jets signed Mario Harvey to the practice squad on December 16, 2014.

Departures The Jets released Antonio Cromartie on March 9, 2014. The Jets released Santonio Holmes on March 10, 2014. The Jets released Mark Sanchez on March 21, 2014. The Jets released Tevon Conrad on May 16, 2014. The Jets released Dwight Jones and Jacolby Ashworth on May 19, 2014. The Jets released Mike Goodson on June 18, 2014. The Jets released Terrence Miller on June 19, 2014. The Jets released Lowell Rose on July 23, 2014. The Jets released Brandon Hardin on August 1, 2014. The Jets released Tim Fugger on August 12, 2014. The Jets released Michael Smith, Bruce Campbell, Patrick Ford, Markus Zusevics, Steele Divitto, Andrew Furney, and Jake Schum on August 23, 2014. The Jets released Jacoby Ford, Michael Campbell, Colin Anderson, Chad Young, Anthony Grady, and Ras-I Dowling. The Jets released Tajh Boyd, Matt Simms, Alex Green, Daryl Richardson, Clyde Gates, Stephen Hill, Chris Pantale, William Campbell, Brent Qvale, Caleb Schlauderaff, Tevita Finau, Kerry Hyder, Zach Thompson, Troy Davis, A. J. Edds, Garrett McIntyre, Brandon Dixon, Rontez Miles, Johnny Patrick, Dimitri Patterson and Jeremy Reeves on August 30, 2014. The Jets released LeQuan Lewis on August 31, 2014. The Jets released Quincy Enunwa, Jeremiah George, and Ellis Lankster on September 1, 2014. The Jets released Leon McFadden on September 11, 2014. The Jets released Ellis Lankster on September 23, 2014. The Jets released Jalen Saunders and LeQuan Lewis on September 29, 2014. The Jets released Brandon Smith from the practice squad on September 30, 2014. The Jets released LeQuan Lewis from the practice squad on October 7, 2014. The Jets released Josh Bush on October 15, 2014. The Jets released David Nelson on October 17, 2014. The Jets released A. J. Edds on October 28, 2014. The Jets released Chris Owusu on November 1, 2014. The Jets released Antwan Barnes on December 1, 2014. The Jets released Josh Thomas on December 16, 2014.

Trades

To Jets Percy Harvin was traded from the Seattle Seahawks to the Jets on October 17, 2014, in exchange for a conditional draft pick from New York in the 2015 NFL draft.

Free Agents Position Player Free agencytag Date signed/released 2014 team Notes LB Nick Bellore RFA March 10, 2014 New York Jets CB Aaron Berry UFA June 2, 2014 Cleveland Browns G Willie Colon UFA March 19, 2014 New York Jets WR Josh Cribbs UFA – – – TE Jeff Cumberland UFA March 7, 2014 New York Jets LB Jermaine Cunningham UFA January 13, 2014 New York Jets DE Leger Douzable UFA March 12, 2014 New York Jets G Vladimir Ducasse UFA March 24, 2014 Minnesota Vikings PK Nick Folk UFA February 28, 2014 New York Jets QB David Garrard UFA – – – RB John Griffin ERFA – – – WR Vidal Hazelton ERFA – – – FB Lex Hilliard UFA – – – T Austin Howard UFA March 12, 2014 Oakland Raiders CB Ellis Lankster UFA March 5, 2014 New York Jets LB Josh Mauga UFA July 24, 2014 Kansas City Chiefs LB Garrett McIntyre RFA April 9, 2014 New York Jets LB Calvin Pace UFA March 16, 2014 New York Jets S Ed Reed UFA – – – TE Konrad Reuland ERFA – – – RB Darius Reynaud UFA – – – QB Matt Simms ERFA January 13, 2014 New York Jets CB Isaiah Trufant RFA March 12, 2014 Cleveland Browns CB Darrin Walls RFA March 5, 2014 New York Jets TE Kellen Winslow II UFA – – –

Draft

Draft trades The Jets acquired an additional fourth-round selection as part of a trade that sent cornerback Darrelle Revis to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Jets were awarded four compensatory selections after losing free agents Yeremiah Bell, LaRon Landry, Mike DeVito, Shonn Greene, Dustin Keller, and Matt Slauson.

Preseason Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Recap 1 Indianapolis Colts W 13–10 1–0 MetLife Stadium Recap 2 at Cincinnati Bengals W 25–17 2–0 Paul Brown Stadium Recap 3 vs. New York Giants L 24–35 2–1 MetLife Stadium Recap 4 at Philadelphia Eagles L 7–37 2–2 Lincoln Financial Field Recap

Regular season

Schedule Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Recap 1 September 7 Oakland Raiders W 19–14 1–0 MetLife Stadium Recap 2 September 14 at Green Bay Packers L 24–31 1–1 Lambeau Field Recap 3 Chicago Bears L 19–27 1–2 MetLife Stadium Recap 4 September 28 Detroit Lions L 17–24 1–3 MetLife Stadium Recap 5 October 5 at San Diego Chargers L 0–31 1–4 Qualcomm Stadium Recap 6 October 12 Denver Broncos L 17–31 1–5 MetLife Stadium Recap 7 at New England Patriots L 25–27 1–6 Gillette Stadium Recap 8 October 26 Buffalo Bills L 23–43 1–7 MetLife Stadium Recap 9 November 2 at Kansas City Chiefs L 10–24 1–8 Arrowhead Stadium Recap 10 November 9 Pittsburgh Steelers W 20–13 2–8 MetLife Stadium Recap 11Bye 12 at Buffalo Bills L 3–38 2–9 Ford Field Recap 13 Miami Dolphins L 13–16 2–10 MetLife Stadium Recap 14 December 7 at Minnesota Vikings L 24–30 2–11 TCF Bank Stadium Recap 15 December 14 at Tennessee Titans W 16–11 3–11 LP Field Recap 16 December 21 New England Patriots L 16–17 3–12 MetLife Stadium Recap 17 December 28 at Miami Dolphins W 37–24 4–12 Sun Life Stadium Recap Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Game summaries

Week 1: vs. Oakland Raiders

The Jets got off to a sloppy start when Raiders rookie starting QB Derek Carr torched the Jets defense early in the game to take a 7–3 lead after Charles Woodson picked off Jets 2nd year QB Geno Smith in his 17th start. However, the Jets quickly rebounded with a 5-yard shovel TD pass from Smith to Chris Johnson to take the lead 10–7 going into halftime. The Jets would never trail the rest of the game, although Carr threw a late TD pass to Raiders WR James Jones in garbage time, and attempted a failed onside kick. Chris Ivory had a solid day, rushing for 102 yards and a TD. The score came when Ivory ran 71 yards for a TD during the 4th quarter; it was the Jets' longest TD run since Thomas Jones 71-yard TD run back on October 19, 2009. Geno Smith completed a career-best 82.1% completion percentage (23/28 for 221 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT); it was the best performance delivered by a Jet quarterback since Chad Pennington completed 82.1% of his passes in a loss to the Buffalo Bills way back in 2007.

Week 2: at Green Bay Packers

After racing to a 21–3 lead in the second quarter, the Jets were outscored 28-3 for the remainder of the game. A game-tying 37-yard touchdown throw by Geno Smith to Jeremy Kerley with five minutes to go in the fourth quarter was wiped out when assistant coach Marty Mornhinweg called the Jets' final timeout just as the ball was snapped; even more egregiously Mornhinweg was not authorized to call timeouts, the responsibility of head coach Rex Ryan. The Jets failed to convert after this and fell 31–24; it marked only the second time for Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers that he won a game despite a deficit exceeding eight points.

Week 3: vs. Chicago Bears

Week 4: vs. Detroit Lions

Week 5: at San Diego Chargers

Geno Smith was benched in the middle of this game for Michael Vick. CBS imposed the "mercy rule" (switching to another program) towards the end of this game because of how poorly the Jets were playing. This marked the third season in a row in which a New York team was the first team to be shut out in a game.

Week 6: vs. Denver Broncos

Week 7: at New England Patriots