{"id":146375,"date":"2026-02-26T18:29:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T18:29:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/146375\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T18:29:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T18:29:15","slug":"new-york-jets-swap-johnson-for-sweat-3-important-takeaways","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/146375\/","title":{"rendered":"New York Jets swap Johnson for Sweat: 3 important takeaways"},"content":{"rendered":"

He was dangled in trade talks months prior to the trade deadline. Now, Jermaine Johnson<\/a> is really out of New York.<\/p>\n

The Jets shipped<\/a> their first-round edge rusher to the Tennessee Titans for 2024 second-round pick T\u2019Vondre Sweat. Johnson recorded 13 sacks in four seasons with the Jets, but had been recovering from an Achilles injury that cost him most of his third season.<\/p>\n

Now, he reunites with former Jets head coach Robert Saleh in Nashville.<\/p>\n

As workouts are set to begin in Indianapolis, New York\u2019s trade with Tennessee changes the scope of importance across the board for Gang Green.<\/p>\n

There are three important things to immediately know following this semi-surprising combine trade.<\/p>\n

Updated cap space<\/p>\n

Johnson\u2019s trade to the Titans cannot be finalized until the new league year begins in March. It is also pending a physical, so things can certainly change over the next week before that happens.<\/p>\n

The move adds significant cap space to the Jets organization, though.<\/p>\n

New York frees up $13 million in space following the deal, increasing their current total to over $90 million<\/a>. Only the Titans and Las Vegas Raiders currently have more at this time.<\/p>\n

This will increase Gang Green\u2019s ability to remain as flexible as they want in the open market with some of the top free agents available. It also allows them to potentially take on larger contracts in trades, helping the talent on the roster as well.<\/p>\n

With over $90 million in space and an additional five first-round picks in the next two years, the Jets seem to be fully entrenched in their rebuild in 2026 and 2027.<\/p>\n

Defense continues revamp<\/p>\n

Both the Titans and Jets can feel like winners after this trade. Tennessee gets an edge rusher familiar with Robert Saleh\u2019s scheme, and New York acquires a player who fits into a complete scheme overhaul.<\/p>\n

Sweat is a built-in nose tackle at the NFL level. That means the Jets, who have usually run a 4-3 scheme over the last few years, may seem more comfortable running a 3-4 look next season, with Sweat seen as the anchor at nose tackle.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s been highly successful at it as well, posting an elite 83.4 Pro Football Focus grade<\/a> last season \u2014 fifth best among interior defenders. Sweat\u2019s grade by PFF highlights an ascending player with two more years of control on his contract.<\/p>\n

Adding to the desire for a scheme change, the Jets hired defensive line coach Karl Dunbar this offseason. He has worked almost exclusively in the 3-4 alignment with the Pittsburgh Steelers in recent years.<\/p>\n

Bringing Sweat into the fold is similar to adding Keeanu Benton from Pittsburgh. It highlights the changes coming to New York\u2019s scheme in 2026.<\/p>\n

More is coming<\/p>\n

Change isn\u2019t coming just in scheme for the Jets. The prevailing rumor around the combine this year has been that New York is willing to discuss many of its current players.<\/p>\n

There are many players on the Jets roster whose future could be in doubt. New York has to make a decision on fellow edge rusher Will McDonald, and it seemed open to giving him his fifth-year option on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

If the right deal can be had, though, would Gang Green ship another former first-round edge player?<\/p>\n

The only thing the Johnson trade guarantees for the team is that they are more likely now than ever before to add one of the top edge rushers with the second overall pick in the upcoming draft.<\/p>\n

Everything else, though, including the future of many players currently on the roster, will remain in doubt after this deal.<\/p>\n

Reporting from the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, Ind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He was dangled in trade talks months prior to the trade deadline. Now, Jermaine Johnson is really out…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":146376,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[41088,7013,23931,9,11,430,10,57094,22,57245,38486,38590,12125,7016,16328,38011,16329,15249,7018,61361],"class_list":{"0":"post-146375","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-faria-on-the-beat","9":"tag-free-content","10":"tag-jermaine-johnson","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-headlines","13":"tag-new-york-jets","14":"tag-new-york-news","15":"tag-new-york-titans","16":"tag-nfl","17":"tag-nfl-scouting-combine","18":"tag-ny-jets-column","19":"tag-ny-jets-image","20":"tag-ny-jets-news","21":"tag-ny-jets-players","22":"tag-ny-jets-rumors-transactions","23":"tag-ny-jets-salaries","24":"tag-ny-jets-trades","25":"tag-robert-saleh","26":"tag-standard","27":"tag-tvondre-sweat"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146375","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=146375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146375\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}