Huff Will Be Jets’ Top Priority In Offseason That Should See Few Changes To Defense

Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

Aaron Rodgers said on Tuesday that he’ll back to quarterback the Jets in 2024 and 2025.

As for 2023, well, Gang Green’s tombstone was already chiseled before his proclamation on ESPN’s The Pat McAfee Show. The season actually went down the tubes before Rodgers’ unfortunate Achilles rupture on the fourth snap. The offensive line, from the starters to the depth, was ill-conceived. No QB could have survived for long.

With the offense stuck in the mud, New York’s coaching staff put a hefty load on the defense to flat out win the games, an unsustainable plan. While the defense was very good (10^th in points allowed per game, 7^th in yards), it was never going to be good enough to overcome the stench on the other side of the ball. When the Jets forced turnovers, they had a chance; when they couldn’t, it often got ugly. By midseason, opponents figured this out and prioritized ball security—after collecting 11 takeaways in going 3-3 over the first six games, the Jets picked off just four passes and recovered four fumbles in their last eight games. They won two of those.

Since the remaining three contests, starting with the home finale versus Washington on Sunday, are all about the future, let’s take a look at what the Jets defense should look like next season. As you’d expect, there aren’t nearly as many tough decisions for whoever is running the front office to make this offseason as with the offense. (For the keep/dump post on the offense, see: With Playoff Fantasy Bursted, Jets Move On To Next Year (substack.com)).

Defensive line:

Keep: Quinnen Williams, Jermaine Johnson, John Franklin-Myers, Will McDonald IV, Michael Clemons, Quinton Jefferson (FA), Bryce Huff (FA), Solomon Thomas (FA)

Release: Carl Lawson, Al Woods (FA)

At the top of the organization’s to-do list in advance of free agency should be the re-signing of Huff and Jefferson, two of General Manager Joe Douglas’ best acquisitions since he took over in 2019. Huff, a 2020 undrafted free agent, leads the team with eight sacks and boasts the league’s second-highest pressure percentage behind Dallas’ Micah Parsons among defensive linemen with at least 100 pass rush snaps this season, per ProFootballFocus.com. Huff is going to get paid, perhaps up to a $25 million AAV. I don’t see how the Jets can justify losing him for nothing. They can get a little help by freeing up about $4.725 million from cutting 2021 free agent bust Lawson, though it will trigger dead money cap hits through 2027 thanks to the void years added in Lawson’s contract restructuring last offseason. Jefferson, a relative bargain 2023 free agent signee whose solid season (six sacks, seventh among interior linemen in pressure percentage) ended with a hip injury in Miami last Sunday, should also be a priority, even if it means he’ll get a raise over the $3.6 million in cash payouts he just earned. Woods will turn 37 in May; who knows if he’ll even want to go through the rehab on the torn Achilles he suffered in Week 8, which would obviate any decision as to whether the Jets should extend him. For this purpose, I’m assuming Head Coach Robert Saleh, like Douglas, will be given another mulligan (no matter how wrong-headed), so since he adores Thomas, who has picked up his play as the season progressed, he’ll be back as well. Though this unit is one of the team’s few strengths, the one thing you can count on is that management will be looking to add more depth this offseason. These guys collect d-linemen like Jay Leno collects cars. They can never have enough.

Linebackers:

Keep: C.J. Mosley, Quincy Williams, Jamien Sherwood, Chazz Surratt, Zaire Barnes

Release: Sam Eguavoen, Maalik Hall

Mosley and Willians have played 99% and 96%, respectively, of the Jets’ defensive snaps this season. They were very good, with Williams knocking on the Pro Bowl door. Other than restructuring Mosley’s contract (again) to lower that approximately $21.5 million salary cap hit for 2024, I don’t see the organization making any changes here.

Cornerbacks:

Keep: Ahmad Gardner, D.J. Reed, Michael Carter II, Brandin Echols, Craig James (FA)

Release: Bryce Hall (FA), Justin Hardee (FA), Javelin Guidry (FA)

The Jets were fortunate that their terrific starting trio was fairly healthy this season—Reed and Carter missed two games, Gardner one—for their depth looked shaky. However, Echols did have a pick-six against Miami and I thought practice squad player James performed admirably in an emergency role in the Jets’ upset of the Eagles. Hall, however, never could earn the coaching staff’s trust—the 2020 fifth-round pick’s time in New York might be coming to an end. I’ve always been a fan of slot corner Guidry—his season-ending knee injury in training camp was unfortunate. As for Hardee, I can never tell how highly management values his special teams abilities—for the last two years, I thought his contract would be too rich (he earned $2.35 million this season) for someone who can’t play defense, and every year I’ve been wrong. We’ll have to see what the market for him will look like.

Safeties:

Keep: Tony Adams, Jarrick Bernard-Converse, Ashtyn Davis (FA)

Release: Jordan Whitehead (FA)

Count me among Whitehead’s many detractors, even if he did come cheap relative to free agent alternatives at the time and led the team with four interceptions this season. PFF held him responsible for 8 touchdown passes against, almost double the amount from the next-leakiest safety. I’m a bit jittery about extending Davis too, but he probably has shown enough improvement this season at safety that when you factor in his special teams prowess (he’s tied for the NFL lead in tackles with 12, per teamrankings.com), he should be back. Adams was a rare Jets gem in the weeds, with the 2022 undrafted free agent going the whole year without being charged with a touchdown pass allowed in 395 coverage snaps, per PFF. Bernard-Converse, New York’s sixth-round pick in the 2023 Draft, played just four snaps on defense all season due to injuries, so he gets a mulligan, at least until the Jets draft a new safety in a later round.

Specialists:

Keep: Greg Zuerlein (FA), Thomas Morstead (FA), Thomas Hennessy

Release: None

The aging kicker/punter tandem of Zuerlein and Morstead deserved a large share of votes for team MVP this season. Considering this franchise’s troubled history with these positions, it would be a crime to allow them to leave the building. Long snapper Hennessy is the longest-tenured Jet, which says it all about the sorry state of the team.

Prediction (Yeah, I’m still doing this, only to complete my accuracy experiment—I’m currently 10-4 picking winners, 9-5 versus the spread, though understand that past performance is no guarantee of future results): Commanders 19 Jets 6