{"id":116262,"date":"2026-01-29T12:39:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T12:39:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/116262\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T12:39:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T12:39:09","slug":"day-1-senior-bowl-winners-for-the-new-york-jets-at-dt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/116262\/","title":{"rendered":"Day 1 Senior Bowl winners for the New York Jets at DT"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jan. 29, 2026, 6:45 a.m. ET<\/p>\n

The New York Jets<\/a> remain in the process of hiring a new defensive coordinator<\/a>. Arguably the biggest key to ensuring that DC is positioned for success is to improve the roster on defense. The Jets will have an opportunity to do that through the 2026 NFL draft<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 2026 Panini Senior Bowl officially got underway on Tuesday. The Jets, equipped with 11 selections in April’s draft, are on sight in Mobile, Alabama. The defensive tackle position is in dire need of an upgrade after trading Quinnen Williams at the deadline.<\/p>\n

A number of defensive tackle prospects stood out during the first day of Senior Bowl practices. We’ve identified three in particular who captured the Jets’ attention.<\/p>\n

Rayshaun Benny, DT, Michigan<\/p>\n

Michigan defensive tackle Rayshaun Benny was consistently quick and disruptive. It’s worth noting one of the Jets’ top defensive coordinator candidates is Don “Wink” Martindale<\/a>. Martindale coached Benny at Michigan in 2025, drawing a potential connection.<\/p>\n

Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a>Gracen Halton, DT, Oklahoma<\/p>\n

Oklahoma defensive tackle Gracen Halton was among the more surprising Day One performers. The Sooners<\/a> standout was a nuisance in the run game throughout team periods. Halton also hit this violent spin move during pass-rushing drills.<\/p>\n

Lee Hunter, NT, Texas Tech<\/p>\n

Lee Hunter possesses rare size at approximately 330 pounds. The Texas Tech defender displayed impressive movement skills at practice. The talk among NFL scouts is that Hunter performed like a potential first-round pick. The Jets could utilize his size and toughness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jan. 29, 2026, 6:45 a.m. ET The New York Jets remain in the process of hiring a new…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":116263,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[679,9759,9,11,10,1673,1674,27744,948,3723,950,1675,932,3712,947,51441,1328,18024,51440,949,19785,682],"class_list":{"0":"post-116262","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-d-c","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-headlines","12":"tag-new-york-news","13":"tag-sstssportsnfljets","14":"tag-sstsnjets","15":"tag-tag2026-nfl-draft","16":"tag-tagamerican-football","17":"tag-tagcollege-sports","18":"tag-tagnational-sports","19":"tag-tagnew-york-jets","20":"tag-tagnfl","21":"tag-tagnfl-draft","22":"tag-tagnfl-hub","23":"tag-tagoklahoma-sooners","24":"tag-tagoverall-positive","25":"tag-tagquinnen-williams","26":"tag-tagsenior-bowl","27":"tag-tagsports-news","28":"tag-tagwashington","29":"tag-typestory"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116262"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116262\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}