With a brutal season finally behind them and another step ready to be taken in their mass rebuild this offseason, the New York Jets are hoping that the worst is over.
Jets veteran safety Marcus Maye knows that the team will be making a lot of changes this offseason, but believes that the team currently has a core to build upon.
“We’ve got a great group of guys, we’ve got some pieces we can add to,” Maye said, according to the team’s official website. “For the most part I feel like the core is here. You just find more guys to plug in with this group and go on from there. The talent is here, there’s pieces here.”
Maye, like other Jets players, kept up their level of play throughout a difficult and trying season.
“I mean, guys could’ve given up a long time ago, they could’ve checked out a long time ago, but they didn’t,” Maye added. “Each week they came prepared to work, then Sunday they showed up prepared to win. Just the resilience of our team and the effort and the guys we have in that locker room shows we’re going to show up each week, we’re going to fight, we’re going to do whatever we can to get a win.”
While it may seem like a dismal situation in New York, Maye loves where he is.
“Just being here four years, stepping in day one, I’ve loved this place,” Maye said. “I’ve enjoyed the people here, the teammates. Even though there have been a lot of changes throughout my years here, I’ve always been the same person, I’ve always shown up to work excited and ready to go try to win a game for the Jets.”
Maye’s future with the organization is a bit uncertain, but general manager Joe Douglas stated in his season-wrap news conference, “Bringing Marcus back is going to be one of the priorities of our offseason.”
“I can only control what I can control,” Maye said. “I’ve just got to take my time, look at all the options, continue to get better. Don’t take a step off, don’t take a step back, and just continue to go forward.”
