Who were the stars in punt and kickoff coverage for the 2019 New York Jets?

Michael Nania continues shining the spotlight on the overlooked stars of the New York Jets' elite 2019 special teams unit. Yesterday, I took a look back at each of the Jets' successful kick returns in 2019 and handed out credit to the blockers who played a part in making those big plays happen. Today we flip the script. We'll be looking at the Jets who were the most actively involved in limiting opposing returns to minuscule yardage. Brant Boyer's special teams group was fantastic in both punt and kickoff coverage this past season. The Jets' punting unit ranked fourth with a DVOA of +10.1, which made it the seventh-most valuable special teams unit of all 160 in the league (each team has five - field goal/extra point kicking, punt, punt return, kickoff, and kickoff return). In kickoff coverage, the Jets topped the league with a DVOA of +6.5. Who were the studs most responsible for those tremendous rankings? Let's dive in. Punt coverage Here is the leaderboard for total tackles made in punt coverage: Interestingly enough, the Jets' top-four most efficient weapons in punt coverage (by percentage of coverage snaps recording a tackle) will most likely not be returning in 2020. Brandon Copeland signed with the Patriots, Maurice Canady signed with the Cowboys, Darryl Roberts was released, and Albert McClellan remains unsigned going into his age-34 season. In addition, fifth-ranked Rontez Miles remains a free agent. Thomas Hennessy led long snappers with four tackles in 2019. His unique ability to get down the field quickly and make an impact in coverage is the primary reason that he earned the best Pro Football Focus grade (82.3) among long snappers. Hennessy lays a hard hit on this punt in New England, sharing the tackle with McClellan. Hennessy holds the shifty Darren Sproles to four yards on this return, pairing up with Trenton Cannon on the stop. Miles, who is still on the open market, has been one of the league's most active punt coverage men over his Jets tenure. Since 2015, he is tied for 10th in the league with 20 punt tackles, even though he has missed 27 games over that span. Miles gets down the field and holds Jaguars returner Tyler Ervin to just two yards on this play. Check out Hennessy as well, who is the first man down the field and forces Ervin to redirect straight into Miles. That play is a perfect segway into our next topic - high-quality coverage tackles and coverage assists. Just like on defense, not all tackles in kick coverage are created equal. Some are legitimately strong stops that limit the opponent to a small amount of yardage, like the one by Miles above. Others are cleanup plays after big yardage was already amassed, or chases out of bounds that require minimal effort or skill. Also similar to the defensive side of the ball, those who actually earn the tackle credit are not always the ones most responsible for making the tackle happen. Like Hennessy above, a player can make a positive impact by getting downfield quickly and redirecting the returner even if he does not finish the tackle. Our next chart focuses solely on the "successful" punt return stops by the Jets - which I defined as returns for six yards or less (the league average punt return in 2019 went for 7.6 yards) or returns that resulted in a net gain of at least 45 yards (for example, a 59-yard punt against the Raiders that was returned for 11 yards resulted in a 48-yard net, a great result for the Jets). The Jets had 16 of these stops. In addition, I gave credit to the players who assisted those stops with valuable redirection. Here are the results: All three of Canady's punt tackles - which came on a team-best 18.8 percent of his punt coverage snaps - were high-quality stops. Copeland tied Canady for the team lead. Neville Hewitt and Josh Bellamy were the biggest off-the-statsheet stars, assisting four high-quality stops apiece. Harvey Langi and Hennessy threw in three assists each. This play by Matthias Farley is an excellent example of an assisted stop. Farley beats a double-team down the field with extremely active hands, looking like a seasoned pass-rusher as he evades both blockers with swipes and swims. Although Farley missed the tackle, he forced Dede Westbrook to travel five yards backward and squeezed him against the sideline. Copeland ended up stopping Westbrook for a two-yard loss while forcing a fumble in the process (recovered by Jacksonville). Here is a roundup of the numbers we've seen so far. All players to make an impact in punt coverage are sorted by the percentage of their punt coverage snaps in which they recorded a tackle (regardless of quality) or assisted a high-quality tackle. In addition, you can see the percentage of snaps in which they were involved in a high-quality stop. Kickoff coverage Here is the leaderboard for total tackles made in kickoff coverage: Langi proves himself to be a legend in the kickoff game, adding a team-leading seven kickoff tackles to his team-best total of 10 blocking assists on kickoff returns. B.J. Bello, the Jets' most efficient producer of kickoff return assists on a per-snap basis (among players with a legitimate snap count), follows in Langi's footsteps as he ranks second with five kickoff tackles on a team-best 12.2 percent rate (again, among players with a legitimate snap count). Watch Langi toss this blocker aside with ease to create himself an easy opportunity for a stop short of the 25. Langi tosses another Jaguar to the wayside and gets in on a stop. Next, let's take a look at the leading producers on the Jets' "successful" kickoff return stops - which I quite simply defined as returns that were halted short of the 25-yard line. The Jets racked up a whopping 17 of these. Just like in the punt coverage section, I tallied assists for players who facilitated these high-quality stops with valuable redirection. Here are the results: Langi's dominance continues, as the majority of his tackles were indeed short of the 25 and he also adds in three assists. Ty Montgomery shines with a team-best four assists, while Brown and Farley contribute three apiece. On this kickoff against Pittsburgh, Langi (inside) and Montgomery (outside) create an opportunity for Frankie Luvu to make a stop. Langi makes another blocker look helpless, while Montgomery screams in off the backside to force the returner to redirect. Here is a roundup of the kickoff numbers. All players to make an impact in kickoff coverage are sorted by the percentage of their kickoff coverage snaps in which they recorded a tackle (regardless of quality) or assisted a high-quality tackle. In addition, you can see the percentage of snaps in which they were involved in a high-quality stop. Hopefully, this two-part series has helped you gain an increased appreciation for the overlooked players who quietly led the Jets to an elite level of performance in a few different facets of the game.