The New York Jets haven’t had much to brag about over the past 15 years, but they do finally have something to brag about now: The Jets officially hold the title of having the longest active playoff drought in North American professional sports. 

The Jets have gone 15 seasons without sniffing the playoffs. Going into the 2025 NFL season, they were tied with the Buffalo Sabres for the longest playoff drought in North American pro sports, but the Sabres clinched a playoff spot over the weekend, ending their drought at just 14 seasons, so the Jets now stand alone. 

When you think about it, it’s a drought that shouldn’t even be possible. The NFL thrives on parity: The league is literally designed to help the worst teams get better by giving them a higher pick in the draft, but the Jets have defied all the odds by NOT getting better. It’s almost impressive how long they’ve been able to stay bad. 

With the Jets now holding the title of the longest active postseason drought, now felt like a good time to take a look at the longest active playoff droughts in the NFL and then after we do that, we’re going to rank each team based on their chance of ending their drought this year. 

Over the past five seasons, 28 of the league’s 32 teams have made the playoffs at least once. So who are the four teams that have failed to make the postseason in that span? Let’s take a look: 

Longest active playoff droughts in NFL

• Jets (15 seasons): Last playoff appearance came in 2010
• Falcons (Eight seasons): Last playoff appearance came in 2017
• Colts (Five seasons): Last playoff appearance came in 2020
• Saints (Five seasons): Last playoff appearance came in 2020

So will any of these droughts end this year? Let’s rank each team by their chances of getting it done. 

4. Jets

The Jets went 3-14 last year and the good news for them is that going from three wins in one season to a playoff appearance in the following season isn’t unheard of. As a matter of fact, since the NFL expanded the schedule to 17 games in 2021, we’ve had four straight seasons where a team with four wins or less made the playoffs the following season. 

• Giants went from 4-13 in 2021 to playoffs in 2022
• Texans went from 3-13-1 in 2022 to playoffs in 2023
• Commanders went from 4-13 in 2023 to playoffs in 2024
• Patriots went from 4-13 in 2024 to playoffs in 2025

Those four teams all have one big thing in common: They fired their coach and then their new coach led them to the playoffs during his first season on the job. The Jets did not do that. Instead, they’re riding it back with Aaron Glenn, which could end up being a move that they regret. 

That being said, the Jets do deserve some credit for what they’ve done this offseason to help their head coach: Glenn is a defensive-minded coach and the team added plenty of players on the defensive side of the ball this offseason that should make his defense better. Not only did they trade for Minkah Fitzpatrick and T’Vondre Sweat, but they also added solid players like Nahshon Wright, Joseph Ossai and Demario Davis. 

Of course, even if the defense is better, the Jets’ real problem is on the offensive side of the ball. Yes, they did trade for Geno Smith and although he’s better than Justin Fields, that still doesn’t feel like a huge upgrade. 

Although they should be improved in 2026, it’s hard to see them earning a playoff spot in the AFC. 

3. Colts

The Colts were the most surprising team in football through the first half of the 2025 season, going 8-2 to start the year, but then Daniel Jones got injured and things fell apart quickly after that. The Colts ended up losing seven straight games to end the season, including three that were started by Jones. 

The Colts playoff chances this year really come down to how you feel about Jones, who will be entering the year with at least two giant question marks hanging over his head. For one, how’s he going to look coming off a torn Achilles that he suffered in December? Although he seems confident that he’ll be on the field in Week 1, a torn Achilles is a tough injury to come back from. It’s one of the most brutal injuries in sports and there’s no guarantee he’s going to be on the field for Indy’s opener.

Even he is on the field in Week 1, the next question becomes: Will he be able to replicate his success from 2025? The Colts are taking a $50 million gamble that the answer to that question is yes. They gave Jones a two-year, $88 million contract that will pay him $50 million in 2026. 

Jones was good last year, but six of his eight wins came against teams that finished below .500. Also, he went just 2-5 against teams that finished above .500. The Colts are also stuck in a division with a resurgent Jaguars team and a powerful Texans team. The Colts went a combined 0-4 against those two teams last season. 

Michael Pittman led the Colts in receptions last season, but he won’t be returning after being traded to Pittsburgh, so Jones will be down one weapon. Speaking of Pittman, the Colts have lost a lot of talent this offseason and they haven’t exactly replenished it. From Pittman to OT Braden Smith to EDGE Kwity Paye to DL Neville Gallimore, the Colts have watched several players walk out the door. 

The Colts could certainly win nine or 10 games this year, but it took 11 games to make the playoffs in the AFC last season and Indy could have a tough time getting to that number. 

2. Saints

There’s a lot to like about the Saints going into 2026. They only finished two games out of first place in the NFC South last season and they did a lot to improve their roster over the past month. Not only did they sign arguably the best guard in free agency with the addition of David Edwards, but they also added Travis Etienne, which gives them a loaded backfield. They also made an underrated signing with the addition of linebacker Kaden Elliss. 

If the Saints are going to make the playoffs this year, Tyler Shough is going to have to take a step forward and based on how he played down the stretch last season, he proved that he’s capable of doing that. With Shough improving each week, the Saints caught fire at the end of the season, winning four of their final five games, a stretch that included wins over  both the Panthers and Buccaneers. 

In his first year on the job, Kellen Moore improved the Saints from a five-win team to a six-win team and it won’t be surprising if they get even better in 2026. One thing working in the Saints favor is that they play in a very winnable division and that’s a big reason why they’re ranked ahead of the Colts. It might only take eight or nine victories to win the NFC South, so it’s certainly possible that the Saints could end their drought by taking home the division title. 

1. Falcons

It might seem odd to have the Falcons at the top of this list, but this is a team that almost ended their playoff drought in 2025. It’s easy to forget that the Falcons actually tied for first in the NFC South last year with a record of 8-9, and now, they’ve added a new coach (Kevin Stefanski), a new quarterback (Tua Tagovailoa) and a new kicker (Nick Folk). 

And please don’t laugh at the fact that I just mentioned the addition of a kicker, because that might end up being Atlanta’s most important move of the offseason. 

The crazy thing about the Falcons is that they probably would have made the playoffs if they hadn’t gone through a nightmare situation at kicker in 2025. Atlanta used THREE DIFFERENT KICKERS last season and they all missed at least one clutch kick that cost the Falcons a win. 

• Week 1: Buccaneers 23-20 over Falcons. The Falcons lost their opener after Younghoe Koo missed a 44-yard field goal with just two seconds left. The Falcons decided to move on from Koo after the miss. He went 2 of 3 in the game against Tampa Bay, but after hitting just 73.5% of his field goals in 2024, the Falcons had lost confidence in him. 
• Week 9: Patriots 24-23 over Falcons. The Falcons went on the road and had a chance to tie the game up in the fourth quarter after scoring a touchdown with under five minutes left to play, but John Parker Romo missed the extra point. If he had made the kick, it would have tied things up at 24 and the Falcons might have beaten the eventual AFC champions. 
• Week 13: Jets 27-24 over Falcons. In this game, Zane Gonzalez missed a 50-yard field goal in the second half, which definitely hurt considering the Falcons ended up losing by three. 

If the Falcons had won just ONE of these games, they would have won the NF South. Well, they have now fixed their kicking problem by bringing in Folk, who has been the most accurate kicker in the NFL over the past three years. 

The Falcons have a solid trio of offensive weapons in Bijan Robinson, Kyle Pitts and Drake London, and they now have a two-time NFL coach of the year at head coach and he should be able to take advantage of the talent he has on the offensive side of the ball. If the Falcons can just get average QB play, they should be able to contend for a playoff spot and possibly even win the NFC South.