Starting with the new league year in March, all NFL uniforms will be designed and produced by Nike after a long-standing contract with Reebok expired.

The results will be most felt by the players, in their sleeker, lighter, more ergonomically designed jerseys. But it also means that there could be some alterations in a few teams’ looks. We’ll find out soon enough.

Artist Wes Kull decided to go one step further, and he’s started a project where he’s reimagining the team logos for all 32 teams in the league, in his own unique style.

Check out the site over at Gridiron-League.com, where Kull has created 32 logos, one for each team, in what he calls a work-in-progress of alternative designs of each NFL team logo.

From the site’s About page:

Gridiron League is a collection of idealized NFL insignias that pay tribute to each team’s history and geography in a period-specific aesthetic that glorifies the Vince Lombardi-era over the Cold-Activated-era. This is not an exercise in nostalgia but an interpretation of the league’s founding principles through the symbols that we, as football fans, identify with most.

Some of the logos are really creative. The New York Jets logo he designed is pretty slick, but there are really a ton of sleek-looking, aesthetically-pleasing logos that are all worth a look.

Check out the site and I’m sure you’ll find your own favorites as well. I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing quite a handful of these logos out there over some of the current ones the NFL actually uses.

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Under head coach Rex Ryan, the Jets have been relatively successful, compared to many of the other teams in the league. They haven’t reached their ultimate goal yet, which of course is a Super Bowl championship.

I’m pretty confident that Ryan will get there one day. He’s a terrific football coach and the Jets have a pretty good core to build upon going forward.

I really liked the hiring of former Miami Dolphins head coach Tony Sparano as the new Jets offensive coordinator. He and new offensive line coach Dave DeGuglielmo should give the Jets some added toughness on offense.

I’m a big believer in smash mouth football, controlling the clock with the running game and simply dominating at the line of scrimmage and at the point of attack.

The Jets offensive line had a down year by their standards in 2011, especially in pass protection, but they could certainly improve as a run-blocking unit as well.

To be truly dominant at the line of scrimmage, you ideally need at least one tight end who’s physical enough to take on blockers and give a good push at the point of attack.

Quite frankly, I don’t know if there’s a tight end on the Jets roster who’s capable of that.

I’m not very enamored with Dustin Keller, the 2008 first-rounder who’s a pretty solid receiver but nothing special in my eyes.

Pro Football Focus rated him as the 7th worst run blocker in the NFL in 2011, and I shudder to think that there were actually six players worse than him.

When I watch Keller, I don’t see a guy who I trust to make a big play in a big spot. I don’t see a guy who’s particular tough, as a blocker or as a receiver.

I see a guy who seems to underwhelm me every time the ball is thrown his way. He’s got pretty good hands, but is he a gamebreaker that defenses have to plan around? Certainly not.

He’s not very explosive and he’s not a very good route-runner. He’s been one of Mark Sanchez’s top targets though, so that probably counts for something.

However, I imagine that if Keller returns to the team in 2012, it very much could be his last. He can be a free agent after the 2012 season if the Jets let him walk.

He’s more of a wide receiver than a tight end, and he’s only slightly above average, at best. Maybe fellow fans will disagree with me, but I just don’t see the toughness the Jets want coming from a guy like Keller.

I hesitate to call anybody “soft,” but I don’t know what you call a tight end who can’t block and seems to disappear after he takes one big hit.

The Jets have a bunch of holes they need to fill on both sides of the ball, and upgrading the tight end spot is on the backburner for now. But it’s only a matter of time, in my opinion.

If the Jets don’t see a marked improvement from Keller, especially as a blocker, in 2012, he very much could be suiting up elsewhere sooner rather than later. I won’t miss him.

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However, on Thursday, Slauson revealed that the extent of the damage was far more serious than he ever let on.

The third-year player, who turns 26 years old on Saturday, played the 2011 season with a left shoulder injury that included a torn labrum, a torn rotator cuff and a torn bicep.

“I knew something was wrong, but I was like, ‘OK, I’ll keep on playing as long as I can play,’ and I was able to get through it all,” Slauson said. He added that he was in “quite a significant amount” of pain throughout.

The big 6’5, 315 pound Slauson said that he originally felt pain in his shoulder back in December of 2010, but he never got it checked out and didn’t think much of it until recently.

“I thought it was no big deal, the fact that I could play,” he said. “I didn’t think it was a big deal or anything was wrong.”

Now, Slauson is ready to put the injuries behind him and get ready to take the next step under new coaches and offensive line gurus Tony Sparano and Dave DeGuglielmo.

“I felt like I had a fairly successful year [battling through the injuries]” he said. “So I’m really excited about next year without having pain.”

A 2009 6th-round draft pick out of the University of Nebraska, Slauson has become a steady, reliable starter for the Jets as a starting guard the last two seasons.

The entire offensive line as a whole needs to do a better job in 2012, but you have to tip your cap to Matt Slauson. He’s certainly one tough son of a gun.

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Linebackers coach Bob Sutton has a new title. In addition to his duties as linebackers coach, the 61-year-old has been named assistant head coach in 2012.

Sutton has been on the Jets coaching staff since 2000, including a three-year stint as defensive coordinator from 2006 to 2008 under Eric Mangini. The departed Bill Callahan held the assistant head coach title the last four years.

As expected, former Minnesota Vikings defensive line coach Karl Dunbar has officially been hired for the same position in New York. He replaces Mark Carrier, who took a job as defensive backs coach in Cincinnati.

In a somewhat surprising move, the Jets will bring back quarterbacks coach Matt Cavanaugh for a fourth season, giving Mark Sanchez some continuity as the Jets made other changes on offense.

Cavanaugh had reportedly told friends that he expected to be fired in the immediate wake of the Jets’ disappointing season, but the Jets never found a replacement for him, so he will return for another season.

Other new coaches this season include offensive coordinator Tony Sparano, receivers coach Sanjay Lal, offensive line coach Dave DeGuglielmo, and assistant strength and conditioning coaches Justus Galac and Paul Ricci.

Additionally, 30-year-old Mike Smith will be the outside linebackers coach after weighing other others. Smith spent the last two seasons as a coaching intern and was instrumental in the development of linebacker Aaron Maybin.

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The Jets also announced the hiring of defensive line coach Karl Dunbar, assistant strength and conditioning coaches Justus Galac and Paul Ricci and outside linebackers coach Mike Smith.  Bob Sutton also was promoted to assistant head coach/linebackers and Lance Taylor has been promoted to assistant tight ends coach/quality control.  Dunbar joins the Jets after spending the last six seasons with Vikings as their defensive line coach.  The Vikings defense during his time allowed the fewest rushing yards(8,141) in the NFL and ranked sixth in sacks with 242.  Galac comes to New York after seven seasons with Villanova  where he served as their strength and conditioning coach  and earned recognition as the Samson FCS strength and conditioning coach of the year in 2010.  Ricci previously spent part of 2011 as the director of basketball performance for Texas Tech after serving in the same capacity at the University Of Maryland for three seasons.

It is somewhat interesting that Sutton has been elevated to an assistant head coach.  It may just be a title but it still is interesting as to why Rex Ryan would need that.  He talks a good game and likes to think he is a great coach.  He shouldn’t need an assistant head coach if he is so great.  The Jets though need to get last season behind them as quick as possible.  They finished 8-8 and it got ugly afterwards as their was a lot of finger pointing.  The Jets still have a good team and need to turn the page and move on.  The Jets need to get better and show they weren’t just a flash in the pan team.  They need to show they are for real and a team to be reckoned with for the foreseeable future.

The St. Louis Rams are looking for a new general manager, and they interviewed Jets’ vice president of college scouting Joey Clinkscales (above, between team owner Woody Johnson and head coach Rex Ryan) for the job.

Jenny Vrentas of the Star-Ledger is reporting that Clinkscales is out of the running in St. Louis, which means the long-time Jets scout will likely return as VP of college scouting for another season.

The 47-year-old Clinkscales, who briefly played wide receiver in the NFL in the late 1980s, has held that position with the Jets for the last four seasons. He’s worked in the Jets scouting department for the last 17 years.

As Vrentas points out, the NFL scouting combine begins in less than two weeks, so the Jets are probably pretty happy they’ve got all of their scouts back for this crucial period of player evaluation.

Clinkscales has been praised by Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum as a valuable piece of the puzzle when it comes to the draft each season, and barring something unforeseen, it looks like he’ll back.

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Perhaps the most unsung hero for the Jets over the last three years has been nose tackle Sione Pouha. A third-round pick back in 2005, Pouha is one of the longest tenured Jets, and one of the best.

Pouha, (who’s name is pronounced see-OWN-nee BO-oo-ha) was a late bloomer, as he didn’t become a full-time starter until midway through the 2009 season, replacing the injured Kris Jenkins.

However, Pouha has taken full advantage of the opportunity, emerging as one of the best 3-4 nose tackles in football over the last few years, despite not a single Pro Bowl appearance.

A leader on and off the field, many consider the 6’3, 325 lb Pouha the best run-stuffing nose tackle in the game, and as a free agent to be, the Jets would like nothing more than to see him be a Jet for life.

That’s why, according to Len Pasquarelli of Yahoo! Sports, the Jets are doing everything they can to try to sign him to an extension before he becomes an unrestricted free agent when free agency begins March 13.

He’s the Jets’ top priority this offseason, and it’s unlikely they would place the franchise tag on him, which would pay him $7.9 million on a one-year deal if they did.

The Jets would much rather sign him to a multi-year extension and continue to build their defensive line around him as they’ve done admirably the last few years.

A unique twist in negotiating a contract with Pouha, however, is his age. Although he’s only played seven seasons in the NFL, Pouha turned 33 this month, and did not enter the league until he was already 26 years old.

A member of the Church of Latter-day Saints, Pouha went on a Mormon mission for two years before he enrolled in the University of Utah.

His senior season at Utah under head coach Urban Meyer, Pouha was first-team All-Conference as the Utes went 12-0 and won the 2005 Fiesta Bowl.

The Jets selected him with the 88th overall pick of the draft as a project player, and their faith in him was rewarded as he finally put it all together under current Rex Ryan’s tutelage.

The question is, how many years should the Jets commit to him? He’s 33 years old, but he also doesn’t have as much physical wear on his body as most players his age.

He was a seldom used backup most of his career, and he didn’t play football for two years between high school and college, so it stands to reason that he’s still got a few elite years left in him.

It’ll be interesting to see what kind of contract he could command on the open market, but I hope we don’t have to find out.

Pouha is a huge part of the Jets defense and is well-liked and well-respected in the locker room by players and coaches alike.

With about four weeks left until Pouha can conceivably be available for any team looking for a Pro Bowl-caliber linemen, I’ve got my fingers crossed that the Jets can work out a deal as soon as possible.

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The New York Jets have already taken care of one of their own, as they recently re-signed 24-year-old wide receiver Patrick Turner to a one-year contract.

Turner was originally a third-round draft pick by the Miami Dolphins in 2009, and he played collegiately at USC with current Jets teammate Mark Sanchez.

That existing chemistry with Sanchez enabled Turner to find a spot with the Jets after the Dolphins cut ties with him after his rookie year.

Turner scored his first career touchdown in Week 17 of the 2011 season, when he got extended playing time in the finals series when Santonio Holmes was sat down.

The young receiver will make around $665,000 as a base salary in 2012, and will likely be the Jets’ fourth-string receiver behind Holmes, Jeremy Kerley, and likely a yet to be determined offseason addition.

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When you put yourself out there the way Ryan has, you open yourself up to heavy criticism when things don’t turn out the way you’d hope.

Although he’s known for his brash talk, the Jets head coach actually toned it down for the most part this past season, at least by his standards.

Yes, there was that infamous Super Bowl prediction. Back in the summer, before the NFL lockout even ended, Ryan polished off that trademark confidence that he’s known for.

Unfortunately, the Jets were unable to repeat the magic of his first two seasons and get over the hump. They never found much of an identity in 2011, and they were spectators in January for once.

For whatever reason, Ryan’s players were unable to back up his words. But to Ryan’s credit, he’s been doing his best to adapt and learn from his failures, and that even means toning down the talk.

“I think I’m out of that prediction game,” Ryan said Saturday night in Indianapolis, where he and many others gathered for the inaugural NFL Honors award ceremony on the eve of Super Bowl XLVI.

“What was I supposed to say?” Ryan said of his summer Super Bowl proclamation.

“We had gone to back-to-back championship games. I just wanted to make sure our team knew that, ‘Hey, look, guys, we were so close, we’re going to win this thing this year,’ and I was telling our players that and I was telling the league that. Unfortunately, it never quite worked out that way.”

Some may find it hard to believe that a guy like Rex Ryan will truly be able to change, but leading up to the Super Bowl he showed a little bit of that self-awareness that can only help him get better as a coach.

“If I make a prediction on the Super Bowl, and if that team loses, I’ll get blamed for it,” Ryan said with a smile Saturday night. “So I’m not picking anything.”

The Jets head coach talked about 20 different things he wants to improve upon on next season, without going into specifics. But I’m glad to hear he’s identified areas of improvement and will work diligently on them.

“This year that list was a little longer on my improvement,” Ryan said. “I want to win, and I want to be here, I want to be in this Super Bowl.”

“I have never been considered the weakness of a football team, ever. I’ve always been a strength, if anything, and when I look at this past season, I have to do a better job.”

The Jets defense, which is Ryan’s specialty, was the top-ranked defense in 2009, in Ryan’s rookie season as head coach. It dropped to third in 2010, and fifth in 2011. Not a huge drop-off, but a drop-off nonetheless.

It also coincided with Ryan ceding more control of defensive responsibilities, including playcalling, to defensive coordinator Mike Pettine. Rex called most of plays in 09, but it shifted to mostly Pettine this year.

“I know I can make an impact on defense,” Ryan said. “I always have my whole life, and I think I’ll even get more involved.”

“I’ve already talked to Mike about, ‘Shoot, I’m going to run more meetings.’ Not because he can’t; he is terrific, Mike is absolutely terrific. But just for myself, I want to be more in touch with our players.”

Does that mean Ryan will also take back a lot of the playcalling responsibilities he had been delegating? Maybe. He wouldn’t tip his hand on that one quite yet.

“We’ll see how that goes,” he said. “We’ll share like we have done in the past. I think that will be what we do. We have always gotten input, whether I am making the final call or Mike Pettine is making the call.”

Since the season ended sourly for the Jets, Rex Ryan has been adamant that changes will be made. He’s not blaming anyone but himself for the struggles they had, and he knows it’s his responsibility to get through it.

It was tumultuous at times, but it’s no different than any other good team that has a down year. It happens all the time, to nearly every team at some point.

What separates the good teams from the mediocre ones is how they respond in moments of crisis.

The 2009 Steelers finished in third place in their division, missed the playoffs, and Mike Tomlin even admitted that he lost the locker room at times. They bounced back to reach the Super Bowl the following season.

The Jets need to prove they’re on that level. They need to bounce back and go on a deep playoff run once again, like they did in 2009 and 2010. Their 2011 needs to be the outlier, not the norm.

The only way to make it so is to identify your flaws, find ways to fix them, and get better.

Rex Ryan is up for the challenge. He will do everything in his power to make sure the disappointment of 2011 never happens again.

If that means toning down his brash talk and letting the Jets fall under the radar, so be it. The Jets have personnel moves they need to make, but I trust that the Jets braintrust will make them.

They admittedly failed to properly prepare post-lockout for the 2011 season. But they’ve got cap room and a good draft pick this year. There’s no excuse not to get better.

The young players will have a year more of experience, and the team will have a full offseason to work with this time around.

The Jets will be back. I’m very confident of that. Rex Ryan knows there’s work to be done. It would be foolish to doubt him. You can, if you like. But I wouldn’t recommend it.

We haven’t seen the last of Rex Ryan. Perhaps a new and improved version is coming soon. The Jets have plenty to build upon, and they’re not going away anytime soon. Take that prediction to the bank.

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After a stellar 11-year career running the ball for the New York Jets and New England Patriots, Curtis Martin has been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his second year of eligiblity.

Martin was elected Saturday night along with defensive tackle Cortez Kennedy, defensive end Chris Doleman, left tackle Willie Roaf, center Dermontti Dawson, and cornerback Jack Butler.

Notably, Martin’s mentor and former coach Bill Parcells did not make it in with Martin in the 2012 class, just missing out on his first year of eligibility.

Wide receivers Tim Brown, Cris Carter and Andre Reed were snubbed from this year’s class as well.

Curtis Martin played three seasons in New England before coming over to the Jets, and his 14,101 rushing yards are fourth all-time behind only Emmitt Smith, Walter Payton and Barry Sanders.

Martin is one of only two players ever to rush for 1,000 yards each of his first ten seasons, with Sanders being the other. All four of the top four rushing leaders are now enshrined in Canton.

A third-round draft pick in the 1995 NFL draft, Curtis Martin made five Pro Bowls in his career. His lone rushing title game in 2004 at age 31, when he rushed for a career-best 1697 yards and 4.6 yards per carry.

He finished his career with exactly 100 touchdowns, 90 on the ground and 10 in the air. He also threw two touchdown passes to Wayne Chrebet on his only two career pass attempts, one each in 2000 and 2001.

A consummate professional on and off the field, Martin was elected to the Jets’ Ring of Honor at MetLife Stadium in 2010, and now he will forever have a place in football immortality.

Congratulations, Curtis!

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