RG was split between Colon and Winters. Colon impressed Bowles in training camp and extended his starting streak 35 games as a Jet and 38 of his first 39, but his aching knee cost him Game 4 in London and then sat him down for the rest of the season after Game 7 at Oakland.

Enter Winters, feisty as Colon and eight years younger. Winters, whose 2014 ended the same way as Colon's '15 did, on IR, did well in two starts against the Dolphins and Ndamukong Suh, scuffled in Game 14 at Dallas, and for what it's worth, in his 10 starts the Jets went 7-3.

Roles were filled well by T Brent Qvale (16 games played and his first pro start vs. Jacksonville) and at C by Dakota Dozier (his first three snaps as a C filling for Mangold at New England) and Wes Johnson, who logged his first pro start and 169 offensive plays over a four-game span until Mangold returned for good.

Looking Ahead

Some have raised the hobgoblin of age for this unit, and it's true that Ferguson, Mangold and Colon are all 32 and Willie said after the Buffalo season ender that he's considering his football future. But Bowles, asked if the number of collective candles on his linemen's birthday cakes concerned him, replied, "Not at this time."

GM Mike Maccagnan's take on the OL heading into Year 2 of his building program: "Our line is still a good line. We're going to try to keep it intact, but ideally we're going to try to groom, identify and target some young players to hopefully make that position more competitive."