The NFL offseason is always full of surprises, but this past spring seemed to be a bit more shock-inducing than others in recent memory.
The New England Patriots won Super Bowl LI yet somehow got significantly stronger. The New York Jets flushed all their top veteran talent out the air lock. The Jacksonville Jaguars must have something special in the water, because somehow they keep landing big-name free agents.
These were just some of the more shocking developments that occurred following the end of last season. Now let’s take a look at them in some more detail as we explore the top-10 most stunning things that went down in the NFL offseason.
1. Jets completely tear down roster
In hindsight, the New York Jets are doing exactly what they must do to have any chance of a bright future. But boy, oh boy, the moves this team has made throughout the offseason to tear down the roster sent shockwaves throughout the league.
Here’s a list of the mainstay players the Jets either cut or didn’t re-sign as they reshaped their roster ahead of the 2017 season.
Jets 2017 offseason cuts:
Nick Mangold
Breno Giacomini
Ryan Fitzpatrick
Nick Folk
Darrelle Revis
Brandon Marshall
David Harris
Eric Decker— Andrew Siciliano (@AndrewSiciliano) June 12, 2017
In particular, the decision to release Nick Mangold was an absolute stunner. Even he was completely caught off guard. Then the Jets followed that one up by releasing David Harris, which was equally shocking.
We’d heard whispers that Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker could be on their way out, and Darrelle Revis was already assumed to be on his way out. But combine all these moves and you have a legitimate demolition project that will take some years to recover from.