When Kingsley Enagbare was young, his mother gave him the nickname JJ because of the cartoon show “Jay Jay the Jet Plane,” and now as an actual Jet himself, that nickname truly fits.
The Jets have two Kingsley edge rushers on the roster: Enagbare and Kingsley Jonathan.
“Only met one other Kingsley in my life, but first time I played with one, so I definitely had to go by JJ, so one of us had to take a nickname,” Enagbare said. “I think the first team meeting, coach said ‘Kingsley’ and both of us raised our hands so it was one of those awkward moments.”
Enagbare (6-4, 258) signed with the Jets in free agency after four seasons with the Green Bay Packers. He was selected in the fifth round of the 2022 NFL Draft out of South Carolina.
“Just the opportunity to change, pretty much change the narrative and create a winning culture and have the league fear us,” Enagbare said about what appealed to him about the Jets.
He also had an earlier relationship with head coach Aaron Glenn. They met at the 2022 Senior Bowl when staffs from the Jets and Detroit Lions coached.
“He impressed me at the Senior Bowl, coming out,” Glenn said on Wednesday. “I was shocked that he went in the fifth round to Green Bay, and to be able to bring him here now, knowing everything I knew about him, I feel really good about that pick. I feel really good about getting him in free agency, so he fits everything that I want to do on defense, so I’m looking forward to him improving on what he’s doing too.”
Last season, Enagbare played in 17 games (7 starts) and had 39 tackles and 2 sacks — in his career he has 11.5 sacks. He said the key to being a good edge rusher is being “violent.”
“Playing defensive line is a violent game; football itself is a violent game, and then D-line on top of that, I feel like we have to be the most violent,” Enagbare said. “It starts with us and pretty much we stop the run and it helps the pass game and helps everyone else. If we do that, play with violent hands, good pad leverage.”