This New York Jets training camp story is a non-issue

Those around the New York Jets love to panic.

Especially about dumb offseason stories.

First, it was Aaron Rodgers missing mandatory minicamp. Then, it was (and is) Haason Reddick’s holdout. Now, it’s Reddick’s current replacement.

In the first two training camp practices, Reddick’s replacement in the first-team defense was Micheal Clemons. That has some Jets fans panicking about Will McDonald’s role.

Somehow, McDonald faces mountains of doubt this offseason without getting the opportunity to show what he can do. When the Jets traded for Reddick, the narrative was that the Jets didn’t trust McDonald. Now, it’s that Clemons is ahead of him on the depth chart.

The reason Clemons is playing first-team reps is simple: he’ll be playing the reps in the Jets’ base defense when Reddick is off the field. That applies especially on first and second down. McDonald will see more third-down reps and snaps in obvious passing situations.

Yes, Clemons is technically Jermaine Johnson’s backup, while McDonald is Reddick’s. But it’s more accurate to say that Clemons is the primary backup defensive end in the Jets’ base defense. (At this point, their base is nickel rather than a true 4-3.)

I still think there’s a lot of reason to be optimistic about McDonald. He showed strong flashes of potential in limited snaps as a rookie while posting a top-tier pass rush win rate. He’s the bendiest edge rusher the Jets have had in decades.

Robert Saleh said that although McDonald is at a similar weight as he was last year, he got stronger this offseason. He specifically pointed to McDonald as a player who can help the Jets replace the sacks they lost with the departures of Bryce Huff, John Franklin-Myers, and Quinton Jefferson.

If anything, the worrisome issue for me is how much the Jets trust Clemons. While he was a good run defender as a rookie, he underwhelmed in his second season. He brings almost nothing as a pass rusher, too (5.2% pressure rate in 2023). He played 29% of the Jets’ defensive snaps in 2022 and 35% in 2023. They can’t afford for him to go higher than that.

Interestingly, it does appear that Clemons lost the weight he had gained last offseason. Perhaps that means he can get back to his run defense dominance from 2022.

Clemons played at 272 pounds as a rookie. Watts is listed at 277, while McGregor is listed at 267.

Still, it seems to make more sense for the Jets to use McDonald in base and live with his run defense rather than using Clemons and living with his complete lack of pass rush.

If the Jets choose to split their reps this way, though, it’s not worth losing sleep over. McDonald will get his reps. Reddick will be there come Week 1, anyway.

Once again, R-E-L-A-X.