Ah, 2020. A terrible year by most standards for a variety of different reasons. It wasn’t a banner year for the New York Jets either. It was the second and final year for Adam Gase.

The Jets finished 2-14 and inexplicably beat the Los Angeles Rams and Cleveland Browns to earn themselves the 2^nd overall pick instead of the first which would have netted them Trevor Lawrence instead of Zach Wilson.

The lone bright spot on the team that year was the 2^nd round pick from the previous draft out of Baylor.

Denzel Mims played in only 8 games his rookie season but looked every bit the part of an NFL wide receiver. He was a spark on the offense and seemed to be a big play threat. This was supposed to be the guy that was going to lock in with Zach Wilson to torture defenses for years to come.

Montana to Rice. Manning to Harrison. Wilson to Mims. Right? Wrong.

Things went downhill quickly for Denzel Mims and the Jets. Mims never really caught on with new head coach Robert Saleh or new OC Mike LeFleur. And he really didn’t catch on too well with Zach Wilson.

A bout of food poisoning in 2021 kept Mims out of most of the program that spring. He lost 20 pounds at the time, and it took him a while to regain his strength. When training camp began, he was buried on the depth chart and seemed to be in the coaches’ doghouse.

Mims only started three games for the Jets in 2021 and only appeared in 11 games total. He didn’t even dress for the other six games. Mims had only 23 targets in 2021 when he did play and only hauled in eight of them. So much for being the future star wide receiver in New York.

In August of 2022 Mims’ agent, Ron Slavin requested a trade for the disgruntled wide out. “It’s just time,” Slavin said in a statement to The New York Post. “Denzel has tried in good faith but it is clear he does not have a future with the Jets. Denzel vowed to come back better than ever this season and he worked extremely hard in the offseason to make that happen. Still, he has been given no opportunities with the starting offense to get into a groove with them. We feel at this point a trade is our only option, since the Jets have repeatedly told us they will not release him. Joe Douglas has always done right by Denzel and we trust that he will do everything in his power to find another team where Denzel can be a contributor.”

Jets coaches seemed to have an issue with Mims’ work ethic and attention to detail.

A trade never came to fruition for the Jets and Mims has been buried on the depth chart ever since only appearing in a handful of games.

Now, as the Jets finally have a QB that can run an offense at a high level, Mims finds himself in a crowded wide receiver room and likely on the chopping block in August. Mims was absent for OTA’s and never rescinded the trade request.

With guys like undrafted free agent Jason Brownlee out of Southern Mississippi turning heads with their opportunities to catch passes from Aaron Rodgers, it will be difficult for Robert Saleh to make the case to keep Mims on the roster.

Denzel Mims is likely another casualty in the Jets search for stability at the QB position. Mims showed flashes and has rare physical traits (6-foot-3, 207-pounder ran a 4.38 40-yard dash coming out of Baylor) but without someone to get him the ball, he simply wasted away into obscurity.

Had Sam Darnold or Zach Wilson been the player they were drafted to be, Mims might have developed into a player in this league. A bad attitude (if you are to believe the reports) and no impact on the field might mean we have seen the last of Mims in the NFL.

Hopefully, for Denzel’s sake, he will be able to catch on with a team who has enough stability to regain some of the hype he had when he was drafted four years ago. But that team will not be the Jets.

Featured Image via Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports