Lindenhurst's Jeremy Ruckert wants Jets to replicate Knicks: 'There's no city better to win in than New York'

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. – Jeremy Ruckert was still dressed in his Jets practice gear and wearing a baseball cap that read, “New York or Nowhere” with a Knicks emblem on the side of it.

Ruckert, a Lindenhurst native, is loyal Knicks fan and enjoying this playoff run. He proudly stated he had tickets to Game 4 of the NBA Finals, and that he and his wife would be in the Garden on Wednesday night. He also had tickets for Game 5 in the prior two series, but the Knicks won both in four.

A lifelong Jets fan, Ruckert dreams about being a part of a Jets team that captures the heart of New York the way the Knicks have.

“All the time,” Ruckert told Newsday. “I tell everybody, I tell [Aaron Glenn], every year I tell all the guys, ‘You might get tired of hearing that, but I’ve lived both sides of it.’ I've been a fan my whole life, and I'm on the team now. I won in college. I know what it's like to win, and to see winning, and I want it so bad for here.”

Ruckert, now in his fifth season playing tight end for the Jets, fondly remembers going to practices at Hofstra University and the last time the franchise enjoyed success. The Jets played in the 2009 and 2010 AFC Championship games.

Born in 2000, Ruckert walked around with his chest puffed out during those runs. Ruckert, who signed a two-year extension last December, wants to experience that feeling as a player.

“There's no city better to win in than New York,” Ruckert said. “The backing you get, the excitement that the whole city has. I remember being a kid when they went to those back-to-back AFC championships. You couldn't tell me anything going to school the next day, if you were a Giants fan or whoever. When we were in those games, and we were winning, man, it was the best week of my life.

“I’m just trying to relay the message. All these guys kind of sense that, seeing how expensive these tickets are, and all the videos of everybody on the street, and outside the Garden. It's a great time to be a New Yorker.

“That's why I signed back, I just wanted to be a part of the team that finally turns it around. When they were winning back then, those two years for my whole family, for my friends, for everybody, there was no better time to be a Jets fan than when they were having home playoff games and winning on the road and hearing Bart Scott say, ‘Can’t wait,’ and all that. It was just stuff that I'll never forget.”

Rex Ryan was the head coach then. His son, Seth, is now the Jets’ pass-game coordinator. Ruckert said he’s spoken to Seth Ryan about those teams, wanting to hear what it was like from the inside.

Ryan, who grew up around those Jets, hopes to help bring this franchise to where his father brought it. The Jets haven’t made the playoffs since 2010, which is the longest playoff drought between the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL. 

“It'd be really unbelievable,” Ryan said. “I was here in those AFC championship seasons, and I got to be on the field for that. I saw what the fans were like, and how amazing it really was, the stadium atmosphere, and just the energy around the team. That's something I hope to build and replicate here.”

It would be madness all around New York if the Jets — who last won a Super Bowl in 1969 — built a championship team. They’re coming off a 3-14 season. They have the draft capital next year to potentially take a franchise-changing quarterback. The Jets have three first-round picks.

The general feeling is the Jets are building something. It’s possible they could be a surprise team in 2026. They have more depth and leadership than last season and added good young players in the draft.

One of them is Kenyon Sadiq, a tight end from Oregon who Glenn called “a matchup nightmare.” It’s the second straight year the Jets drafted a pass-catching tight end. They selected Mason Taylor in the second round last year.

Glenn said the versatile Ruckert still has a role. He can line up inside, be flexed out, or play in the backfield as a halfback and be used in the pass and run game. Ruckert is looking forward to playing in offensive coordinator Frank Reich’s tight end-friendly system and being a leader to his young teammates.

“The number one role I'm trying to provide is to be a leader for our group and be a leader for the team,” Ruckert said. “Being one of the guys that they extended, I take that with pride, and I understand what comes with that, letting the younger guys know what it takes, and the direction that AG and the rest of us want to take this team.”

By Al Iannazzone

al.iannazzone@newsday.comAl_Iannazzone

Al Iannazzone covers the Jets for Newsday after spending nearly two decades on the NBA beat with Knicks and Nets.