I'm sure many of you recall this analysis from Garret (
http://nhlnumbers.com/2015/12/17/helping-chevy-make-decisions-part-1-how-do-the-jets-compare-to-contenders/score).
If you look at the three clusters of bars on the left side of the graph you see a difference in distribution between the Jets, Contenders and Non-Contenders.
The Jets didn't have a single player with GAR above 20 (contenders average more than 1).
Note, however, that these charts were generated for two of the Jets seasons, including one in which several of their players had excellent seasons (notably Little and Wheeler). But, what if we look back to the Jets' "core" since 2011. How would they stack up to the standard of a "contender"?
GAR by season (2011/12 through 2014/15)
Little: 9.03, -0.57, 11.28, 23.00
Ladd: 11.50, 9.68, 12.27, 12.51
Wheeler: 12.10, 8.98, 14.18, 16.23
Kane: 12.84, 2.06, -3.82, -0.11
Enstrom: 9.00, 0.81, 1.85, 4.92
Buff: 1.99, 3.87, 0.33, 9.60
Bogo: -4.94, 2.24, -8.16, -9.68
That is the Jets' "core" through their prime years.
Based on Garret's analysis, a "contender" typically has 1-2 players with a GAR over 20. In 4 years, the Jets only had one player who reached that level in a season (i.e. 0.25 per year).
A contender would normally have around 5 players with a GAR of 10+. Between 2011/12 and 2014/15 the Jets had a total of 9 player performances that reached that plateau over a season, which averages to just over 2 players per year. The Jets never had more than 3 players from the original "core" with a GAR above 10 since 2011/12.
A lot of Jets had a "career season" in Maurice's full season, and I think that peak happened to come at a stage when many of the core were approaching the late 20's or 30 years old. Expecting that core to continue at that level of success at that age wasn't very realistic. Perhaps the Jets could have squeezed another year or two out of that vet core by building a stronger supporting cast, but that's hard to do consistently through free agency and unwise to do by trading young / future assets.