Jets DL Look Ahead | Still Work to Do, but What a Rush in ’22

No Longer with Team: Martin (trade to DEN)

Signed Reserve/Future Contract: Smart, Marquiss Spencer

POTENTIAL FREE AGENTS IN ’23

Unrestricted: Rankins, Shepherd, Thomas, Curry

’23: More, More, More
It’s been said before but the Jets for the first time in a while came after opposing passing offenses with a top NFL pass rush. And with the big three of Quinnen Williams (career and team highs of 12 sacks and 28 QB hits), Carl Lawson (seven sacks, 24 QBH) and John Franklin-Myers (five sacks, career-high 19 QBH) all expected back along with the likes of Bryce Huff (3.5 sacks, with his sack for every 54.6 defensive snaps leading the defense, not just the line) and now second-year players Jermaine Johnson and Micheal Clemons, plus the young secondary playing its role in QB pressures, another excellent year of D-line play could be in the offing.

HC Robert Saleh, DC Jeff Ulbrich and DL coach Aaron Whitecotton know how to rotate a DL, getting nine or 10 players defensive snaps every game. That helped optimize line leader Quinnen Williams’ contributions, as he translated his tame-sounding but hard-working 690 D-snaps into the most sacks and hits by a Jets defender in almost two decades (along with Muhammad Wilkerson, who also had 12 sacks and 28 QBH in 2015).

And it gave valuable playtime to Huff, Johnson and Clemons as they vie for greater exposure in the coming season. “it’s a benefit to our rotation that we have on our D-line,” Ulbrich said. “A lot of guys play, a lot of guys have game experience.”

With Sheldon Rankins, Nathan Shepherd and Solomon Thomas eligible to enter free agency, the Jets may be in the market for interior players alongside “Q”. And the run defense, which of course falls on all players on defense and in particular the front seven, did improve from 29th in the first year of the Saleh/Ulbrich scheme to a 16th-place tie, but more work remains to be done against opponents’ ground games.