NEW YORK -- With all the new free agents and draft picks the Jets added this offseason, Willie Colon can sense that things in the locker room out in Florham Park aren't quite the same as they were last year.

"It's a real humble environment," Colon said Tuesday night at the 21st annual United Way of New York City's Gridiron Gala at the Waldorf-Astoria. "Just the locker room's a way different locker room from what I saw last year. Guys are mingling, hanging with each other, and I think we're forming something good."

Colon had joined the Jets last spring after seven seasons with the Steelers. And those 2013 Jets were a team in transition: a new general manager, several new, young players thrust into starting roles, and eventually a starting rookie quarterback in Geno Smith. They then went out and finished 8-8, something few observers actually thought was possible.

It's way early in 2014, of course. The Jets are less than a month into their offseason program, and the rookies and undrafted free agents only reported to One Jets Drive for duty for the first time earlier Tuesday.

The Jets this offseason added several need-filling free agents in quarterback Mike Vick, wideout Eric Decker, and running back Chris Johnson. They also just added 12 draft picks over the weekend, including safety Calvin Pryor and tight end Jace Amaro.

But was Colon suggesting there was no such mingling or camaraderie a year ago?

"Honestly, when I walked in here last year, it was different—it was different than what I was used to," he said, no doubt referring to his time in Pittsburgh, where he won a Super Bowl ring and was on injured reserve during a season in which the Steelers got back to the Super Bowl.

"But right now, guys are always around each other, it seems like more of a family environment."

And then, in the next breath, Colon said this:

"I wasn't here when they made the AFC championship run [in 2009 and 2010], but a lot of guys are talking that it starts to feel like that again, so that's a step in the right direction."

"A lot of guys"? There aren't many of those guys left at this point.

"Well," Colon added, "I've only talked to Nick [center Nick Mangold] and Brick [left tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson about it."

Colon clearly wasn't saying this Jets team will reach the AFC title game just because the room feels pretty chummy when players are changing their clothes. But he was adamant that something had changed for the better, even if it won't be clear for months whether that translates into wins on the football field.

Outside linebacker Quinton Coples agreed.

"I think that guys have a different vibe and a different feeling going into this season," Coples said. "Expectations are high, but we got a lot more firepower, we had a lot of additions in free agency, we had the 12 picks in the draft, there's a lot of things going great for us. There's a lot of momentum going into camp."