{"id":501302,"date":"2026-02-26T18:05:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T18:05:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/501302\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T18:05:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T18:05:11","slug":"2026-nfl-trade-grades-jermaine-johnson-tvondre-sweat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/501302\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 NFL trade grades: Jermaine Johnson, T’Vondre Sweat"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Seth WalderFeb 26, 2026, 04:52 PM<\/p>\n

Close<\/a>Seth Walder is an analytics writer at ESPN, specializing in quantitative analysis. He is also a regular on “ESPN Bet Live” and helps cover sports betting. Seth has been at ESPN since 2017. He previously worked at the New York Daily News covering the Jets and Giants. You can follow Seth on X via @SethWalder.<\/p>\n

Multiple Authors<\/p>\n

NFL free agency<\/a> begins March 9 with the legal negotiating window, but the action has already started. The Jets and Titans made the first big move<\/a> of the offseason, with New York sending edge rusher Jermaine Johnson<\/a> to Tennessee for defensive tackle T’Vondre Sweat<\/a>.<\/p>\n

ESPN analytics writer Seth Walder is grading the biggest signings and trades of the offseason, putting each deal into perspective for teams and players. To determine each grade, Walder is evaluating moves based on multiple factors, including on-field impact, salary cap implications, compensation, player value\/age, and the context of a team’s short- and long-term outlooks. How large is the effect of this decision, and how sure are we it’s a good or bad choice? How does this affect a team’s chance to win the Super Bowl, this season or in the future?<\/p>\n

Follow along as Walder evaluates and grades each move, with the most recent grades at the top. We’ll start with the Johnson-Sweat swap.<\/p>\n

More coverage:
Top 50 free agents<\/a> | Best free agent fits<\/a><\/p>\n

Jump to a notable deal:
Johnson-Sweat<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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Jets get: DT T’Vondre Sweat<\/a>
Titans get: Edge Jermaine Johnson<\/a><\/p>\n

Jets grade: A-
Titans grade: C-<\/p>\n

For all their faults, the Jets came out of last year’s trade deadline<\/a> with two of the very best deals<\/a> in that period. While hardly on the same scale, they kicked off the 2026 trade season with another shrewd move in swapping out Johnson for Sweat in a one-for-one swap.<\/p>\n

The last of the Jets’ three 2022 first-round picks, Johnson put together one decent sack season in 2023, with 7.5 sacks en route to a Pro Bowl nod. That came while playing for current Titans head coach Robert Saleh, which I assume is a critical factor in why this deal was made.<\/p>\n

Editor’s Picks<\/p>\n

2 Related<\/p>\n

But Johnson managed only 5.5 sacks over his other three seasons in New York, though he played just three games in 2024 due to an Achilles injury<\/a>. Advanced pass-rushing metrics have not been kind to Johnson in his four-year career. His career pass rush win rate is only 8.4% (8.9% last season), while the average for a starting edge in that span is 15.6%.<\/p>\n

Sweat, a 2024 second-round pick, has been a solid starting nose tackle for Tennessee. He should help the Jets’ run defense and provide some pass rush from the nose. While his 6.5% pass rush win rate at defensive tackle is below average for the position, it’s not bad considering where he lines up. He’ll join a Jets interior group that includes Harrison Phillips<\/a> and Jowon Briggs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As for Johnson, the Titans need help at edge. But that need doesn’t make it worth the cost.<\/p>\n

Johnson is playing on his fifth-year option and will cost Tennessee $13.4 million, per OverTheCap<\/a>. By contrast, Sweat has two years left on his rookie deal and will cost the Jets just $1.6 and $2.1 million in each of those years, respectively. Sweat is also younger and, in my view, has a better chance to be a plus contributor than Johnson. That makes this deal well worth it for New York, especially considering the Jets will get a player with another year of team control for less money.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Seth WalderFeb 26, 2026, 04:52 PM CloseSeth Walder is an analytics writer at ESPN, specializing in quantitative analysis.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":501303,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[49,48,514,82],"class_list":["post-501302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=501302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501302\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/501303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=501302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=501302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=501302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}