March 6, 2026, 6:46 a.m. ET
The 2026 NFL offseason has officially begun and the New York Jets will look to improve on a disastrous 3-14 season in Aaron Glenn’s first year as head coach. Glenn recently overhauled his coaching staff and now it’s time to overhaul the roster as he’ll need to show massive improvement in 2026 if he wants to have a job in 2027.
Jets Wire will break down each position on the roster to see if improvements are needed and the possible solutions to fix what’s broken.
For our next breakdown, we look at a position that the Jets have already started to make improvements on and that’s the defensive line.
Defensive Line Depth Chart
Harrison Phillips, Jowon Briggs, Will McDonald, T’Vondre Sweat, Jay Tufele, Khalen Saunders, Micheal Clemons, Eric Watts, Braiden McGregor, Tyler Baron
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2025 Review
The Jets took an interesting approach to addressing their defensive line issues last offseason, opting for quantity in hopes of finding players who can make an impact on a low salary instead of quality. They signed Jay Tufele, Derrick Nnadi and Byron Cowart to rotate with Quinnen Williams. By the end of the preseason, Nnadi was traded to Kansas City, Cowart was released due to injury and only Tufele was left to play alongside Williams.
GM Darren Mougey immediately went to work to fix this issue on the defensive line. He made two trades before the start of the season, landing Phillips from the Minnesota Vikings and Briggs from the Cleveland Browns for Day 3 pick swaps. Both were massive upgrades, especially Briggs who quietly carved out a role in the rotation with strong play.
At the trade deadline, the Jets sent Williams to the Cowboys after he quietly requested to be traded in a huge move that got them multiple picks and lineman Mazi Smith. Smith didn’t play a down for the Jets. The line struggled against the run especially after Williams left, allowing an average of 139.5 yards per game, ranking them 28th in the league.Â
Their pass rush was no better. Will McDonald had a down season with only eight sacks and four of those came in one game. Jermaine Johnson’s first year back from a torn achilles wasn’t great as he finished with only three sacks and a PFF grade of 61, ranking him 78th out of 115 defensive ends. The Jets only finished ahead of the San Francisco 49ers in sacks and their defensive coordinator was their former head coach, Robert Saleh.
How Can The Jets Improve This Position?
2026 Free Agency
The Jets may no longer need to address the interior defensive line after trading Jermaine Johnson to the Titans for defensive tackle T’Vondre Sweat. He was Tennessee’s 2024 second-round pick and depending on who you talk to, the Jets either got a massive steal or a very lazy player. Sweat is massive (6’4″, 366 lbs.) and was very impressive against the run with a PFF grade of 79.3, ranking him fourth. His overall PFF grade was 83.4, ranking him fifth out of 134 defensive linemen. He’ll slide into a rotation with Briggs and Phillips as the Jets look to improve a brutal run defense.
While acquiring Sweat improves the interior defensive line, losing Johnson leaves a massive hole at defensive end. McDonald is a lock to return but needs to be more consistent as a pass rusher. The numbers look fine on paper, but when most of your sacks only come from two games, it’s a bit of a disappointment. After McDonald, the cupboard is bare and players like McGregor, Watts and Baron did little to nothing to instill confidence moving forward. Clemons is one of those players who coaches are very high on, but fans and Jets media have no idea why. He falls for every fake, is not super fast and gets pushed around quite a bit at the line of scrimmage. He’s a free agent and it’s possible the Jets could bring him back for depth.
The Jets will have plenty of money to spend and there will be some good options available in free agency. Cincinnati’s Trey Hendrickson, Miami’s Bradley Chubb, Seattle’s Boye Mafe and Buffalo’s AJ Epenesa are all possibilities. The Jets can sign Chubb before the start of free agency next week as he was cut by Miami and can sign with any team.
Another former Dolphin, Jaelan Phillips could be an intriguing option as he’s only 26 and would be in his second season removed from an achilles tendon injury that ended his 2024 season after only four games. Phillips had five sacks between Miami and the Philadelphia Eagles last year as well as 73 quarterback pressures, ranking him ninth out of 115 defensive ends.
The 2026 Draft
The acquisition of Sweat from the Titans no longer makes the interior defensive line a priority heading into the draft. It’s highly unlikely the Jets will use a Day 1 or Day 2 pick, but they could look to add depth during Day 3 and names that could be on their radar include Cincinnati’s Dontay Corleone, Iowa State’s Domonique Orange and Arizona State’s C.J. Fite.
The Jets will almost certainly select a pass rusher with the number two pick and possibly add another edge rusher during Day 2. Ohio State’s Arvell Reese and Texas Tech’s David Bailey are arguably the two best in the draft class. Auburn’s Keldric Faulk and Texas A&M’s Cashius Howard are also options, but both could be gone before the Jets select in the second round.
Way Too Early 2026 Prediction
The Jets have already begun to try to fix the run defense by adding Sweat to their defensive line. With almost $90 million to spend in free agency and four picks in the first two rounds, you can rest assure they will pour plenty of resources into fixing a pass defense that couldn’t sack the quarterback and barely forced a turnover.
Hendrickson had a down year in Cincinnati, but had two straight seasons of 17.5 sacks in 2023 and 2024. Chubb has also been a pretty consistent player in Miami finishing with at least eight sacks in two of his last three seasons. If Glenn wants to poach from his former team’s roster, he could look to Al-Quadin Muhammad, who had the best season of his career in Detroit last year with 11 sacks.
The Jets will add either Reese or Bailey through the draft, spend big on at least one pass rusher and probably add another in Muhammad to go along with McDonald as Glenn tries to bring in former players from his past to change the culture of the team in the present.