Roster Breakdown: Defensive Tackles

Edition #1210: We are just over a week away from rookies reporting for duty, so let's crack on by looking at the defensive tackles.

Good Morning ☕

Finally the circle on the calendar marking the start of the 2026 season for the Jets has come into focus.

The rookies will arrive a week tomorrow (25th), followed by the veterans three days later (28th) with the first practice taking place a day after that (29th).

A lot has been said about the Jets, about the additions and subtractions, about Darren Mougey, Aaron Glenn Woody Johnson and Geno Smith.

Well the time for talk is almost over, and while the first pre-season game is still just under a month away (15th August), we’ll hopefully see more content filtering through. Who looks good? Who looks back? Who’s on the bubble and who’s the surprise package destined to snatch a spot on the 53? Are you all ready to overreact to every little thing? I know I am.

Right now as I sit here in the Norfolk countryside with the sun shining and the birds chirping, I can’t help but think the Jets are capable of surprising a few teams this year. It may not be our year, but it needs to be a better year. Losing takes it’s toll, we saw what it did to Quinnen Williams, and we can’t afford for the rot to set in amongst our young core.

Today, I want to take a look at the defensive tackles.

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NEWS & NOTES

• At the end of last season I said that this year on TJW we’d be paying closer attention to the college QB situation. It makes sense considering we’re almost certainly going to be drafting one in the first round in 2027. PFF released their list of the 50 best college players ahead of the season, let’s take a look at the 7 QBs who made the cut:

  • #4 - Julian Sayin - Ohio State - “Sayin was historically accurate in his first season as Ohio State’s starting quarterback. The redshirt freshman completed 77.0% of his passes, the third-highest completion percentage in college football history, trailing only the 77.4% marks posted by Bo Nix in 2023 and Mac Jones in 2020. Sayin’s 74.2% accurate throw rate also set the PFF College single-season record.”

  • #7 - Dante Moore - Oregon - “Moore surprised many when he announced he would return to Oregon despite projections that had him as a top-three pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. Those projections were fueled by his outstanding redshirt sophomore season. Moore ranked sixth among FBS quarterbacks in PFF passing grade (90.2), while his 30 big-time throws tied for the most in the FBS. He also led the nation in PFF passing grade on deep throws (98.5) and quarterbacked the Ducks to the College Football Playoff semi-finals.”

  • #9 - Arch Manning - Texas - “Because Manning entered his first season as a starter as the Heisman Trophy favorite, many were quick to write him off after a slow start to the 2025 season. However, he was terrific during the second half of the year, ranking sixth among FBS quarterbacks in PFF passing grade (89.5) since Week 9. Manning’s 87.3 PFF passing grade for the season also ranked among the top 15 in the nation. He was much more of a dual-threat quarterback than either of his uncles, tying for fifth among Power Four quarterbacks in rushing touchdowns (10).”

  • #14 - CJ Carr - Notre Dame - “Carr is currently tied with Arch Manning as the betting favorite to win the Heisman Trophy (+750) at DraftKings Sportsbook. That follows a strong redshirt freshman campaign in which he ranked 14th nationally in PFF passing grade. His 6.5% big-time throw rate also ranked sixth in the Power Four.”

  • #29 - Darian Mensah - Miami - “Mensah paced the Power Four in passing yards last season (3,951) and could be primed for an even bigger year in Coral Gables. His 85.0 passing grade ranked 12th among FBS quarterbacks, while his big-time throw total ranked sixth in the nation (28). Mensah led Duke to a surprising ACC title run last season and could do the same at Miami with an outstanding supporting cast.”

  • #30 - Jayden Maiava - USC - “Maiava is back for another season in Lincoln Riley’s high-flying offense. Flanked by Makai Lemon and Ja’Kobi Lane last season, Maiava averaged 9.1 yards per attempt and recorded 27 big-time throws, ranking among the nation’s top 10 in both metrics. He’s still a bit loose with the football, as his turnover-worthy play total ranked tied for ninth in the nation (21). Still, Maiava is all but certain to put up big numbers for the Trojans again in 2026.”

  • #41 - Sam Leavitt - LSU - “There will be no shortage of pressure on Leavitt to perform as the leader of LSU’s revamped offense. While last season was a disappointing one by his standards, Leavitt is as physically gifted as any quarterback in the country. He ranked among the nation’s top 10 in big-time throw rate (6.9%). His athleticism is just as dangerous, as he has produced 39 explosive runs over the past two seasons.”

• Garrett Wilson was named as the league’s 18th best wide receiver by PFF:

  • “Wilson endured an injury-plagued 2025 season that limited him to seven games and 395 receiving yards. Still, he surpassed 1,000 receiving yards in each of his first three NFL seasons despite the Jets’ poor quarterback play. If Geno Smith provides steadier play at quarterback in 2026, Wilson is a strong bounce-back candidate.”

• I missed this one earlier in July, but Breece Hall was listed by ESPN as the 10th best RB in the league ahead of the new season:

  • No Jets player in franchise history produced more scrimmage yards through the first four years than Hall, who has 5,040 yards despite missing much of his rookie year with an ACL tear. Hall turned in his first 1,000-yard rushing campaign last season for the Jets, who rewarded Hall with a three-year, $43.5 million extension this offseason.

  • “True three-down back, creates as a runner and can play in the passing game with good hands,” a high-ranking executive with an NFL team said of Hall. “He’s a big back [at 220-plus pounds] with the ability to create on his own with good body control and is strong through contact.”

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Defensive Tackles

Like most teams in the NFL, the Jets will be a hybrid defense in 2026, switching between a 3-4/4-3 depending on situation and need.

Fortunately for the Jets, they have the personnel on the interior to run both systems effectively.

Defensive tackle is right up there with RB and OT in terms of position groups that I’m not worried about. I look at this collection of defensive tackles and I see talent, leadership, experience and measurables.

There are some players here who will shift out to DE when the Jets align in a 3-4, but their positional designation is and will stay as a DT.

Key Players

The Jets have some very nice depth at the position and how they structure the roster will be interesting considering the positional flexibility of some of the names below. But if you asked me to name the four key defensive tackles on this roster, it would be relatively straight forward.

T'Vondre Sweat - I remember the excitement I felt back in 2008 when the Jets traded for for former 2nd round pick Kris Jenkins, a 360lb nose tackle renowned as one of the premier run stoppers in the NFL. I get the same excitement from Sweat who’s also a former 2nd round nose tackle who plays at 360lbs and is renowned as a good run defender. In his first two years in the league Sweat has been graded as one of the best run defending nose tackles in football, has 41 QB pressures, 4 sacks and 37 stops that constituted an offensive failure. He has a missed tackle rate of just 4.4% and an underrated trait, he’s only been called for 3 penalties in over 1,000 defensive snaps. The Jets had a real issue with stopping the run up the middle, which put teams in 2nd and short constantly, Sweat should help across the board.