When most sports fans think of the worst franchise in all of sports, there is one team that instantly comes to mind—the Cleveland Browns. While the Cleveland Browns have been making their fans miserable for decades, no franchise has disappointed its fans and been more dysfunctional than the New York Jets.
It should be a telltale sign that your franchise is the worst when your winningest quarterback of the twenty-first century is best known, not for his beneficial plays on the football field, but rather for his fumble.
Despite leading the New York Jets to four playoff wins, Mark Sanchez is best known for his infamous “butt fumble” against the New England Patriots, when Sanchez went to run the ball down the middle and ran into his own center’s butt. The play is so bad that it even has its own Wikipedia page and has garnered over 3 million views on YouTube.
The Jets front office has been the most dysfunctional in all of sports, dating back to the early 1980s when the Jets drafted Quarterback Ken O’Brien over Dan Marino. Today, Dan Marino is regarded as one of the best quarterbacks ever, throwing for over 60,000 yards and 400 touchdowns in his NFL career, cementing himself as a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
The front office mistakes don’t stop there, though. The Jets also passed on all-time greats Jerry Rice, Tom Brady, and Chris Johnson, who have a combined 11 Super Bowls and 31 Pro-Bowls, leaving fans questioning the Jets’ decision-making.
In recent years, the Jets have made even more questionable decisions, such as selecting Quarterback Zach Wilson with the second overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft. Zach Wilson showed elite arm talent and good mobility coming out of Brigham Young University. However, top analyst Mel Kiper had concerns about Wilson, highlighting the fact that he had never played top competition in the Mountain West Conference.
These concerns were present throughout all of Wilson’s time in New York. During his time with the Jets, Wilson threw 23 touchdowns and 25 interceptions, while having an NFL-low quarterback rating of 38.
Following a 10-3 loss to the Patriots in November 2022, where the Jets’ offense struggled significantly, Wilson’s time with the Jets was nothing short of underwhelming, causing the Wilson experiment to end in New York after just three seasons.
What makes the selection even worse is that the Jets could have selected Ja’Marr Chase, who had over 1000 receiving yards in each of his first four years in the NFL while being selected to the Pro Bowls, in each of those seasons, which is more than all of the Jets’ offensive players combined in this timespan.
As a result of all of the Jets’ front office woes, they haven’t made the playoffs in nearly 15 years, which is the current longest playoff drought out in all of sports.
Being good at football and making good decisions isn’t the only thing that the Jets struggle with. They have also come under scrutiny in recent years for the treatment of their players. A 2025 NFLPA survey ranked the Jets 29 out of 32 teams for their player treatment.
Jets’ owner Woody Johnson hasn’t done this ranking any favors recently, with him publicly criticizing Jets quarterback Justin Fields after an 0-7 start to the season. It doesn’t stop there, as former Jets quarterback Jordan Travis, who had to medically retire in April as a result of a serious leg injury, accused Johnson of making “slick” comments about his injury.
Despite all of the Jets’ blunders, their fans try to argue that the Cleveland Browns deserve the title of the worst franchise in sports because the Browns went 0-16 in the 2016-17 season. While this is true, the Browns have had a lot more success than the Jets have had in recent years.
Since the Jets’ last playoff appearance, the Browns have had two playoff appearances, coming in 2021 and 2024, and even had a playoff win during this stretch. Furthermore, in 2024, the Browns made the playoffs, led by none other than former Jets third-string quarterback Joe Flacco. As NFL fans say, “success comes before or after the Jets, not with the Jets.”
From front office blunders to poor player treatment, and having the longest playoff drought in all of sports history, there is one thing the Jets are good at, and that’s being the worst franchise in all of sports.
