Several NY Jets players performed far below preseason expectations this season
In a season full of disappointments for the New York Jets, many individual players contributed to the malaise. Although Aaron Rodgers’ injury ensured the season would not live up to expectations, how far the team fell adds insult to injury.
As we review the top five most disappointing players of 2023, not included are players whose poor play Jet X analysts predicted. Therefore, as poorly as Dalvin Cook played before his recent release, he does not rate in the top five. Nor does C.J. Uzomah despite his benching.
Tony Adams
The Jets’ second-year safety was hyped up in training camp as the team’s next defensive star. NFL.com listed Tony Adams as the No. 9 potential breakout star for 2023. Robert Saleh said with resignation that the “cat is out of the bag” regarding Adams.
However, the first-time starter has shown the growing pains of being an undrafted free agent. His statistics do not fully encapsulate how poorly he has played this season. His 15.5% missed tackle rate ranks 53rd out of 64 qualified safeties (min. 550 snaps). His 13.3 yards per reception allowed ranks 43rd, and his 72% completion percentage against is 47th. Although the longest reception against him is just 23 yards (the sixth-best among safeties), the catches against him have been consistently impactful.
As a run defender, Adams has mixed results. His 6.1% stop rate ranks seventh among safeties, and his 6.1 average depth of tackle ranks 16th. Still, many of the longest rushes the Jets allowed were the result of Adams taking poor tackling angles or getting caught up in the play rather than scraping over the top and staying disciplined. The same applies in the passing game, where Adams’ poor angles allowed YAC even if he was not charged with the reception.
Adams’ play should make the Jets question whether they need a backup to push him for the starting role. This season, the team went all-in on him in training camp without bringing in a free safety to challenge him, with mixed results. While the growing pains are somewhat expected for such a player, Adams’ season was a disappointment relative to the preseason expectations heaped upon him.
Carl Lawson
Some Jets fans will claim that they thought Carl Lawson would never amount to anything this season. Before training camp, though, there was significant optimism that he could regain something close to his Cincinnati form in his second season post-Achilles tear. He appeared fit and muscular when he reported for camp. At the very least, even a repeat of his 2022 performance would have been decent for this Jets team.
Instead, after hurting his back in camp, Lawson has done nothing whatsoever this season. The Jets kept him on the bench as long as the other five edge defenders could play. Lawson has played just 101 defensive snaps the entire season and posted just two pressures (3.4% rate).
The Jets could have released Lawson with no dead cap this offseason, saving $15 million. Instead, they restructured his contract, cutting his salary to $9 million but also leaving a $6.3 million dead cap charge in 2024. That extra dead cap is now a tough pill to swallow after Lawson’s subpar season.
Laken Tomlinson
Calling Laken Tomlinson disappointing after his atrocious 2022 season is strange, but somehow, he dwarfed that performance in 2023. There was optimism around the team that he would bounce back to his San Francisco form in 2023. Instead, he has once again played like his Detroit self.
Tomlinson’s 50 pressures allowed are the most among 66 qualified guards (min. 450 block snaps), while his 7% pressure rate is the eighth-worst. His seven sacks allowed are the second-most, and his 0.98% sack rate is the seventh-worst. He has also allowed the second-most quarterback hits with 10, making his 2.39% sack-plus-hit rate the fifth-worst. Meanwhile, his 46.7 Pro Football Focus run-blocking grade is also the ninth-worst among guards.
Given these numbers, Tomlinson has played as a bottom-five guard in the NFL this season. Even a pessimistic fan could not have believed that he would sink from his 2022 lows, but he managed it.
Allen Lazard
The Jets expected that they were getting a decent No. 3 receiver in Allen Lazard. Instead, they got a receiver whom they phased out of the offense and benched at one point.
Lazard’s 47.9% catch rate is the lowest among 83 receivers (min. 45 targets), as are his 0.68 yards per route run and 17.9% drop rate. His 23.5% contested catch rate (4-for-17) is the seventh-worst, and his 67.3 targeted passer rating is the sixth-worst even though he’s had just one interception thrown his way. His 2.5 YAC per reception is the eighth-worst.
In every metric, the Jets have received bottom-10 production from Lazard on an $11 million-per-year salary. While some of that is attributable to Rodgers’ absence, Lazard’s deficiencies became amplified considerably in his first year with the Jets. A slow, lumbering target who cannot catch contested balls has little value as a receiver.
Mekhi Becton
It’s hard to say how much of a disappointment Mekhi Becton is. Although fans and analysts looked back at his rookie year with fondness, it was easy to predict that he might not be his old self after two catastrophic knee injuries. Still, how bad he has been was difficult to imagine. He seemed to have a baseline strength that would keep him below average at the minimum rather than at the bottom of the league.
It is not an exaggeration to say that Becton has been one of the league’s worst offensive linemen this season, regardless of position. His 12 sacks allowed tie for the most among all offensive linemen, while his 16 penalties are the second-most. His 50 pressures allowed tie with Tomlinson for the fourth-most. His 8% pressure rate ranks 154th among 174 qualified offensive linemen (min. 450 block snaps), and his 1.93% sack rate is the third-worst. Although his 54.5 run-blocking grade ranks “only” 135th, his film exposes that grade as overrated compared to his poor play.
Relative to the expectations set by his rookie season, Becton has been the most disappointing Jets player this year. It was hard to envision him playing this poorly in a season where he has been the healthiest of his career.
