It can be overwhelming, so Athlon is here to help keep up with your favorite team all season long.
Keeping up with your favorite team can be an all-consuming task. We’re here to help indulge that need to follow all aspects of the NFL on Twitter.
For all 32 teams, we’re picking the best Twitter accounts for each franchise. They run the gamut from players, coaches, executives, traditional media, bloggers or simply accounts that keep us informed and entertained.
Whether you’re a Twitter neophyte or simply trying to spice up your feed for football season, we’re here to help. And it all starts with the New York Jets official Twitter account:
@NYJets (Followers: 425,845)
Top Jets To Follow:
Note: Followers as of date of publication, August 7, 2012
| Name | Pos. | Followers | ||
| 1. | Tim Tebow | QB | @TimTebow | 1,781,345 |
| 2. | Mark Sanchez | QB | @Mark_Sanchez | 739,857 |
| 3. | Darrelle Revis | CB | @Revis24 | 297,575 |
| 4. | Santonio Holmes | WR | @santonio10 | 159,864 |
| 5. | Nick Mangold | C | @nickmangold | 116,793 |
| 6. | Dustin Keller | TE | @DUSTINKELLER81 | 78,018 |
| 7. | Greg McElroy | QB | @GVMcElroy | 72,600 |
| 8. | LaRon Landry | S | @MrLandry30 | 44,173 |
| 9. | Bart Scott | LB | @Madbacker57 | 43,460 |
| 10. | D'Brickashaw Ferguson | OT | @Dbrickashaw | 37,393 |
| 11. | Kyle Wilson | CB | @KWilson20 | 29,870 |
| 12. | Aaron Maybin | LB | @AaronMaybin51 | 29,178 |
| 13. | Calvin Pace | LB | @jetsPACE97 | 28,438 |
| 14. | John Conner | FB | @JCONNER38 | 25,060 |
| 15. | Mike DeVito | DE | @MikeDeVito70 | 23,357 |
| 16. | Sione Pouha | DT | @Pouha91 | 18,304 |
| 17. | Muhhamad Wilkerson | DL | @mowilkerson | 15,812 |
| 18. | Marcus Dixon | DT | @MarcusDixon94 | 15,513 |
| 19. | Joe McKnight | RB | @OfficialJoeJet | 12,499 |
| 20. | Eric Smith | S | @Esmitty33 | 10,533 |
| 21. | Ricky Sapp | LB | @Sapp55 | 10,178 |
| 22. | Jeremy Kerley | WR | @Jkerley_11 | 8,634 |
| 23. | Nick Folk | K | @nickfolk2 | 8,543 |
| 24. | Kenrick Ellis | DT | @KenrickEllis | 8,509 |
| 25. | Stephen Hill | WR | @_StephenHill_ | 7,578 |
It's a good thing that the Jets' starting quarterback decision isn't decided by Twitter followers, otherwise Mark Sanchez wouldn't have a chance. Even though Sanchez has more than 700,000 followers, his backup, Tim Tebow, has more than twice as many at nearly 1.8 million.
Even third-stringer Greg McElroy gets into the act as his more than 72,000 followers places him seventh on this list. For what it's worth, McElory has considerably more followers than Hall of Fame quarterback and Mr. Jet himself, Joe Namath (@RealJoeNamath).
Quarterbacks aside, what's a little surprising is the absence of two prominent Jets on this list. Neither head coach Rex Ryan nor cornerback and self-proclaimed No. 2 wide receiver Antonio Cromartie made the cut. Cromartie deactivated his Twitter account in May (but hasn't let that decision prevent him from speaking his mind), while Ryan has yet to embrace the world of Twitter. Then again, it's not like his lack of Twittering has any affect whatsoever on his media exposure, right?
Last, but certainly not least, a special mention to Jets legend and one of the newest members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Curtis Martin (@CurtisMartin28).
The Jets Beat:
Manish Mehta, Jets beat writer for the New York Daily News: @MMehtaNYDN (31,021)
Rich Cimini, covers the Jets for ESPNNewYork.com: @RichCimini (29,385)
Jenny Vrentas, Jets beat writer for The Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J.: @JennyVrentas (13,915)
Jane McManus, covers Jets for ESPNNewYork.com and ESPNW: @janesports (12,143)
Ben Shpigel, Jets beat writer for The New York Times: @benshpigel (7,699)
Ian Begley, covers Jets as a writer for ESPNewYork.com: @IanBegley (6,008)
Brian Costello, Jets beat writer for the New York Post: @BrianCoz (5,457)
Kristian Dyer, covers the Jets for Metro - New York: @KristianRDyer (3,238)
Kimberley A. Martin, Jets beat writer for Newsday: @KMart_LI (2,731)
Dennis Waszak Jr., AP sports writer who's covered the Jets since 2006: @DWAZ73 (2,346)
Jets Blog Roll:
Jets Blog is the New York Post's home for all things J-E-T-S related.
The Jets Stream is the New York Daily News' Jets blog.
Gang Green Nation is SB Nation's Jets blog.
The Jets Blog is part of the SNY (SportsNet New York) Blog Network and was founded by @Brian_Bassett with additional coverage provided by Jake Steinberg (@Steiny31), among others.
New York Jets Confidential and Dan Leberfled (@jetswhispers) have been covering the team for 16 years.
Jets Insider is "The Most Heavily Trafficked NY Jets Fansite on the Planet," in case you were interested.
Turn On The Jets is home to "Ground and Pound Writing."
You can make your own conclusions after checking it out, but if anything JetsTwit has an intriguing sales pitch, if you will - "THE New York Jets Blog covering the players from the social media perspective." It was founded by Erik Manassy (@e_man) and also appears to be tailor-made for Twitter (@JetsTwit).
JetNation, The Jet Press, and Jets Gab are just a few of the other ones out there.
The ESPN AFC East blog is run by James Walker and you can follow him @espn_afceast.
2012 Athlon Sports NFL Power Rankings and Team Previews:
No. 32: Jacksonville Jaguars
No. 31: St. Louis Rams
No. 30: Minnesota Vikings
No. 29: Indianapolis Colts
No. 28: Cleveland Browns
No. 27: Miami Dolphins
No. 26: Arizona Cardinals
No. 25: Tampa Bay Buccaneers
No. 24: Kansas City Chiefs
No. 23: Oakland Raiders
No. 22: Washington Redskins
No. 21: Seattle Seahawks
No. 20: Carolina Panthers
No. 19: New York Jets
No. 18: Wednesday, Aug. 8
Order your 2012 New York Jets Athlon Sports NFL Preview magazine here
Related: 2012 New York Jets Season Preview
Related: 2012 New York Jets Schedule Analysis
- By Braden Gall and Mark Ross, published on August 7, 2012
