There are still plenty of questions with the Jets heading into 2026. The offense is the obvious one. Maybe Geno Smith settles things down. Maybe the run game is actually something you can lean on. Maybe the line holds up just enough to keep things from spiraling by midseason. We’ll see.

But if this thing goes sideways again, it’s not going to be because of the defense.

That’s the part of this offseason that stands out the most. The Jets looked at what they were defensively last year — and it wasn’t just bad, it was messy, soft, and kind of directionless — and they didn’t try to talk themselves into it being a fluke. They treated it like a real problem, and then they went out and attacked it.

That doesn’t mean this suddenly turns into the 2000 Ravens. But it does feel like a team that actually understood why things went wrong and made moves that line up with fixing those exact issues. And honestly, that alone is a pretty big step from where they were a year ago.

Last Year Was a Complete Mess Defensively

The Jets gave up 29.6 points per game last season, second-worst in the NFL. Teams rolled up 6,041 total yards on them. They gave up 355.6 yards per game. They were 28th in pressure rate, 29th against the run, 30th in EPA per play allowed, and 31st in sacks. And then there’s the stat that still feels fake when you say it out loud: they went the entire season without recording a single interception.

And it wasn’t like this was empty yardage either. The Jets couldn’t get off the field on third down, didn’t take the ball away, and rarely made things uncomfortable. There’s a difference between a defense that bends and one that just never pushes back.

More than anything, it just felt disjointed.

You can live with a weak spot here or there. Every defense has one. But when everything starts to feel a little off — guys reacting instead of playing fast, too much cleaning up instead of creating — that’s when it starts to unravel. That’s what last year looked like most weeks.

Sherwood piling up 154 tackles kind of sums it up. That’s a big number, but it’s not always a good sign. When your linebacker is constantly making stops downfield, it usually means too much is getting through to him.

And then you factor in what the roster looked like by the end of the year. Sauce Gardner was gone. Quinnen Williams was gone. Jermaine Johnson, too. At that point, this wasn’t just about fixing a bad defense anymore — they were trying to rebuild any semblance of an identity.

Aaron Glenn Didn’t Try to Hide From It

One of the most important parts of this whole thing, at least to me, is that Aaron Glenn didn’t duck it.

Glenn said he needed to do better, and then backed it up by taking action. Wilks is gone, and now Glenn’s taking the play-calling back himself in 2026.

He’s said before that calling the defense is his thing, and you can tell he wants it to look a certain way again. Bringing in Brian Duker — someone who already knows how Glenn wants this to run — fits right into that.

And honestly, a lot of this offseason feels like it was about cleaning things up more than anything. Less overthinking. Less mixed messaging. Less of that gap between what the coaches want and what actually shows up on Sundays.

The Jets Rebuilt the Defense From the Middle Out

They came into this offseason with clear priorities.

Size. Structure. Leadership. Competence.

That’s the theme.

The Jets didn’t go chasing big names just to say they did something. They went after the spots that made them way too easy to play against last year — especially right up the middle.

Trading for T’Vondre Sweat was one of those moves that made sense right away. There’s nothing complicated about it. He’s big, he’s strong, and he gives you a real presence inside. Last year, teams were way too comfortable running straight at the Jets. They got movement, stayed on schedule, and never really felt pushed off their plan. Sweat is the kind of guy you bring in when you’re tired of watching that happen every Sunday.

And it’s not just about plugging a hole. It’s about changing how the front feels.

Glenn’s talked about wanting to be more multiple up front — mix in different looks, move guys around, keep offenses guessing a bit more. That’s a lot easier to pull off when you’ve actually got guys inside who can hold their ground. Sweat gives them that starting point.

Then they added David Onyemata, which I like for a lot of the same reasons.

He’s not flashy, but he’s solid. He knows what he’s doing, he plays with good leverage, and he helps you on early downs. Every good defense has a couple guys like that — the ones who might not show up on highlight reels but make everything around them work better.

And that’s really what this is about. They went and got bigger, stronger, and a little more experienced inside. No overthinking it.

That’s how it should work.

Demario Davis Is the Adult This Defense Needed

If I had to pick one move that tells you what Glenn wants this defense to feel like, it's adding Demario Davis.

He’s 37. That’s the obvious concern, and it’s a fair one. You don’t sign a 37-year-old linebacker expecting to fix everything forever. But that’s also not what this move is about.

This move is about control. Davis is still one of those linebackers who's more like a quarterback of the defense. He gets people lined up. He communicates. He sees things quickly. He plays with urgency. He hits. He brings the kind of grown-man presence the Jets badly needed in the middle of the field.

And to make things even better, Glenn already knows exactly what he’s getting. Davis played under him in New Orleans. He trusts him. The Jets have made it clear Davis is expected to grab the green dot and become the leader of this defense.

They Didn’t Ignore the Pass Rush, Either

One thing I think people can miss with this offseason is that the Jets didn’t just go hunting run defenders. They were trying to piece together a group that fits together and can handle all the different things that offenses are going to throw at them.

That’s why Joseph Ossai was such an important move.

He’s not being brought in as some savior, but I do think there’s a lot to like there. He’s still relatively young. He has been a real three-down player, he’s had five sacks in each of the last two seasons, and he's coming off career-highs in pressure percentage and pass-rush win rate. That’s the type of player you bet on.

More than anything, he gives the Jets another legitimate pass-rush piece instead of forcing everything onto Will McDonald.

McDonald is still the most interesting holdover in this front. He had eight sacks last year and was one of the only reliable defenders against the run. But he still feels like a player who benefits from having more real help around him. The Jets don’t need him to be the entire pass rush. They need him to be part of one.

That’s where Kingsley Enagbare helps, too.

Enagbare isn’t some massive star move, but he’s exactly the sort of rotational edge teams end up appreciating by midseason. He’s durable, and he’s played a real role before. The Jets are betting a little on upside there, and that’s fine. Not every move has to be glamorous. Sometimes it’s enough to just add another competent body who can keep the room from bottoming out.

And again, look at how these moves connect.

If the Jets are better against the run on early downs, the pass rush gets more opportunities to hunt.

That’s what I mean when I say this wasn’t random shopping. The Jets weren’t adding pieces in isolation. They were trying to build something that actually works together.

This Time, They Might Actually Take It Away

You don’t go a full season without an interception and just shrug it off as bad luck. At some point, that’s who you are. The Jets knew that, and this offseason you can feel them trying to flip that identity on its head.

Start with Minkah Fitzpatrick, because that’s the move that kind of sets the tone for everything else. He’s not the same all-over-the-field eraser he was at his peak, but he still brings range, instincts, and — maybe most importantly — control. He’s played a ton of football, he’s been in a bunch of different roles, and he understands how to keep things from getting messy on the back end. After the way last year looked, that alone is a big deal.

And it’s not just about what he does on his own. He’s the type of safety that makes everyone else's job easier. Corners can play a little more aggressively when they trust what’s behind them. The spacing gets better. All of a sudden you’re not just trying to survive each snap — you’re actually playing defense.

That’s where the rest of these moves start to connect.

Nahshon Wright is a bit of a swing, but you can see exactly what they’re going for. He’s long, he fits what they want to do in press, and he’s coming off a season where he actually took the ball away. Yeah, he gave up some plays — that’s part of the deal with him — but last year the Jets didn’t have anyone back there who made quarterbacks pay. Wright at least gives you that element.

Dane Belton is quieter, but I like that addition too. He tackles, he’s around the ball, and he gives you flexibility at safety.

That’s the biggest difference with this group compared to last year. It actually fits together.

You’ve got a safety in Minkah who can organize things and let the corners play with a little more confidence. You’ve got length on the outside with Wright. You’ve got multiple safeties who can rotate, tackle, and handle different roles. And if the front does their job and actually speeds things up for quarterbacks, this group suddenly has a chance to be around the ball a lot more.

This Should Be a Much Harder Defense to Play Against

That’s really the simplest way to put it: the Jets should just be harder to play against this year.

Last year, teams got comfortable way too easily. They stayed ahead of the sticks, ran right through the middle, waited out a pass rush that didn’t show up enough, and threw at a secondary that never made them pay. After the first quarter, it felt like the Jets were just trying to hang on.

This year should feel different. The front looks sturdier, the second level should be more controlled, and the back end finally has guys who can make a play on the ball. Add in Glenn taking back the play-calling, and it at least feels like a defense that can dictate a little more instead of constantly reacting.

Now, it’s not perfect. Davis is older, Wright comes with some volatility, Minkah is more of a stabilizer than a game-wrecker at this point, and guys like Ossai and Enagbare still have something to prove. They’re also probably still one true difference-maker on the edge away from being a legitimately scary unit.

But even with all of that, this still feels like one of the more coherent resets of the offseason, mostly because every move actually lines up with something that went wrong in 2025.

All stats courtesy of NFL Pro.

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