Training Camp Preview: Defensive Tackle
Edition #897: In just 24 hours the Jets veterans will report to camp and then the real work begins. Today we continue our preview series with a look at defensive tackles.
☀️ Good morning ☕
24 hours. In 24 hours everyone will be at 1JD and that means football is just around the corner. We’re also only 20 days away from the first pre-season game which will see the Jets travel to Lambeau Field to face the Green Bay Packers.
The NFL off-season is one of the longest in professional sports but there is really only a 6-7 week period that’s truly quiet. We’re about to come out the back of that, which means ramping things back up for the next 6-8 months.
Around The Jets 🟢
The Jets signed their final draft pick in Mason Taylor last week. The 2nd round TE signed a 4-year contract for $10.5M, which includes $9.6M guaranteed. That means that 91% of his deal is guaranteed, that’s around a 23% increase in guarantees for 2nd round picks in comparison to the 2024 draft. I imagine we’ll get to a point where 2nd round picks will have 100% of their deal guaranteed by default soon enough.
The Jets have placed edge Jermaine Johnson and wide receiver Irvin Charles on the Active/Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list. They can be removed from that list at any point and there is still a widely held belief that Jermaine Johnson will be ready to go by wee one without too many issues. Obviously the Jets need to build him up over the next month. When you’re on the PUP list you’re allowed to attend meetings and use the team facilities, but you’re not allowed to practice in any capacity.
Rookie LB Aaron Smith received an NFI designation due to an illness or injury he sustained outside NFL game or practice. No real details provided on that one, but his tough route to the final roster just got a lot harder.
Garrett Wilson gave his first interview after signing his extension: "It was about working with like-minded people," Wilson said. "It took me one conversation with [HC Aaron Glenn] and [GM Darren Mougey] to realize these dudes aren't messing around. … I've got an opportunity to go and prove who I am, show who I am and just meet them. Meet the people I want to work with and build something special with."
Wilson has been breaking Jets records since being drafted in 2022, but don’t expect him to slow down anytime soon: "Do I think I left a lot of plays out there these last three previous seasons? I have," he said. "Honestly, that's the part that gets me the most excited, is that I still have a lot of plays left to go make to go prove myself -- to my teammates and to this league. You can't get complacent. You can't be comfortable with what you just did. You can't rest on your laurels ever."
Here’s an interesting one, the Seahawks decided to cut veteran TE Noah Fant. He played a lot of his ball in Denver which means he has a connection to Darren Mougey and he’s coming off a season where he caught 48 passes for 500 yards, although just the single touchdown. As we mentioned last week in our TE preview, it’s Mason Taylor and then not a lot else. Putting too much pressure on a rookie TE is probably not a good idea, I’m always in favour of adding someone like Fant who showed he’s still got plenty left.
GMF presenter Kyle Brandt isn’t overly excited about the Jets signing two of their best, which is strange because Brandt seems to get excited about anything and everything: “Great, you stuck the landing a few years ago, you signed your players. I need to see some sort of progress,” said Brandt. “Anything other than ‘We signed guys, and we’re paying them a lot of money, and they’re good.’ We’ve had those guys; we know what they are like on the field, we know what you’re like with them on the field. I can’t do backflips here in New York City because Sauce and Garrett are signed. I will do backflips when they are actually playing in a game that matters in December, and it’s really time. So, great job, and I hate to be such a cynic, but it’s really time to start winning with those guys now that you’re paying them.”
Obviously there was another first rounder for the Jets in that 2022 class and Jermaine Johnson was asked about when he’d be getting his extension, and he had the perfect response: “Not worried about money right now. I’m worried about going out and balling and winning a chip. The way I play, that stuff will handle itself. Sauce and G more than earned that. I have not. Work must get done. 2025 gonna be legendary,”
PFF released their top 50 players ahead of the new season and the Jets had two players listed. Sauce Gardner came in as the 23rd best player in the NFL and Quinnen Williams was listed at #44: “Williams’ numbers dipped in 2024, mirroring the struggles of the Jets’ defense as a whole. He finished with a 69.9 overall grade, well below the elite marks of 90.1 and 90.8 he posted in the two prior seasons. With Aaron Glenn bringing a more aggressive, attacking front to New York, Williams is a strong candidate to rebound in 2025 and re-establish himself as one of the league’s most disruptive interior defenders.”
The search for Quinnen Williams partner continues into 2026 with a host of names looking to prove they’re the answer.
Quinnen Williams is an interesting case. He’s one of the best players at his position in the league, but he’s also never come close to replicating that 12 sack season of 2022. I think it’s fair to say that season was the outlier considering the other five seasons combined have resulted in 27 sacks. Quinnen is a 6 sack, 50 pressure a season type defensive tackle and that’s pretty damn good.
What’s interesting about Quinnen is that he took a big step back in 2024 in two regards, his ability to stop the run and his tackling. Over his first four years in the league he missed a total of 16 tackles, last season he missed 11 which represented a missed tackle rate of 26.8%, unsurprisingly both career highs.
The Jets had a load of issues stopping the run in general and the hope is that the Glenn/Wilks system will prioritise help in the middle a little more than the Saleh/Ulbrich system which got exposed far too often on ground. According to PFF’s run-defense grading system, Williams was at 57.5 last year which was a career low for him. His 6.2% run stop percentage was ranked 3rd on the Jets and 71st in the NFL for defensive tackles who had at least 100 run defense snaps.
I always trust Quinnen to come good and I do think a change in coaching could help him in terms of his run-defense and his tackling, I’m never worried about his pass-rush potential, but if the Jets want to be a dominant defensive front, they need to plug those gaps against the run. Having an active and fast linebacking duo will help, but Quinnen and co understanding their roles and responsibilities and playing unselfish football in terms of their gap assignments will also go a long way.
So we have one of the best DT’s in football…who’s going to partner him?
Last season it was Javon Kinlaw who got a very generous contract offer from the Washington Commanders. Next on the list was Solomon Thomas who’s now playing his football in Dallas.
The logic suggested that the Jets would dip into the deep draft class to at least help plug the gap, but picks came and went without a DT being called.
Last season there were 1,835 stats played by defensive tackles not named Quinnen Williams, 1,153 of those were played by Kinlaw and Thomas, which highlights the uncertainty heading into 2025.
So who are the candidates looking to fill the gap:
Derrick Nnadi - Nnadi has spent the first 7 years of his career in KC with the Chiefs where winning was second nature. He only played 273 snaps last year but historically he’s been he’s usually good for between 500-700 snaps. He’s not renowned as a good run defender and his sack numbers are pedestrian as well. I wasn’t overly excited about this signing but I’d be surprised if he doesn’t play a significant part this season for the Jets.
Jay Tufele - Another signing that confused me a little bit because historically he’s not been overly good. He’s maxed out at 242 snaps in a season which came in 2024 and his highest run defense grade per PFF was 47.2 in 2023, and that’s below average. He’s a 300+ body and I think the hope with Jay is that he can eat up some space and let Quinnen go to work, but you’re probably only getting around 200 snaps from him.
Leonard Taylor III - I was excited when we signed Leonard Taylor III last off-season and for a UDFA to come in and play over 250 snaps on the defensive line shows the potential. LT3 has 1.5 sacks and 4 tackles for a loss and graded out at 56.9 against the run, which is average. He also contributed 9 pressures and rated #1 on the Jets with a 6.5% run stop percentage. I’ve got really high hopes for Taylor this year and maybe we’re not talking about him enough.
Byron Cowart - Another signing for the Jets in free agency that was rather underwhelming. Cowart was a 5th round pick of the Patriots in 2019 and he’s bounced around the league since then. He played over 300 snaps for Chicago last year and contributed 11 pressures and 2.5 sacks with a run defense grade of 60.1. The Jets are hoping they are signing a player here who’s working it out at the NFL level.
Phidarian Mathis - I’m old enough to remember Mathis getting spoken about as a first round prospect, something I couldn’t believe at the time. He ended up being a 2nd round pick in Washington (which was still far too high IMO) and has really struggled ever since. After three years of non-existent production in the capital the Commanders finally lost patience and cut ties. The Jets claimed him off waivers and are again hoping to turn the switch. Mathis had a 29.0 run defense grade last year in over 250 snaps for Washington and is still searching for his first NFL sack.
Fatorma Mulbah -All of the names above should give someone like Mulbah hope. The UDFA out of Virginia gained a reputation at the end of his college career as a + run defender. He had 80.5 and 77.6 grades over the final two years and contributed with some pressures and his a fundamentally sound tackler. He has some athleticism limitations but he will be looking at this as the perfect opportunity to break through.
Payton Page - The final name on the list is another UDFA who will like his chances of making the roster. He was also a good run defender in college but added more in the pass-rush game with 39 pressures over the final two years. The issue for Page was that he was one of the more highly sought after prospects in his recruiting class so the expectations were immense. He has all the physical tools that you could hope for and now it’s time for the Jets coaching staff to get the production out of those tools.
Around The League 🌎
Chiefs, DE George Karlaftis agreed to four-year, $93 million contract extension.
Lions DL Levi Onwuzurike to miss 2025 NFL season due to ACL injury
Shemar Stewart remains unsigned as Bengals rookies report for training camp.
QB Desmond Ridder is signing with the Bengals
OK kids, first of all let’s all remember not every DT is ideally suited to excel in every phase of the game. Basically we have our 1-2 techniques that stop the run. They basically do that by either making the tackle or by tying up blockers which frees up the LB’s to make the tackle. Then we have the 3tech’s that are the better athletes capable of using speed and quickness to penetrate into opponents backfield vs.the run or to pressure the QB vs.the pass. That’s what “Q” is. That’s also what Leonard Taylor is. He’s not a good run defender so pairing him with “Q” is really not gonna be a regular thing. If we recall he fell in the draft last year because Miami tried playing him as a 1, 2 tech. Basically a NT. That’s not his game. He’s a penetrator like “Q”. NFL teams do not play multiple 3tech’s together as it makes them vulnerable to the run. As for the other stiffs we have a have to agree with David. They aren’t very good and my expectations are dim. Unless one of the undrafted rookies shakes free or AG can inspire one or two of our offseason imports to play a lot better than they have our run defense may be even worse that what we saw last season.
I do like like LT3 and the UDFA’s on the D line. These guys are hungry. Will be interesting.
There is nobody less interesting than Kyle Brandt. I met him in person and while he is nice enough, there is nobody on earth more interested in being liked than Kyle. Unfortunately in NY, that means bashing the Jets if you are in the media. Boomer Esiason is another example - biggest Jet hater of them all.