The New York Jets’ defense has been extremely shaky through two weeks. A boneheaded Will Levis turnover may have saved them from a second consecutive defeat spearheaded by defensive ineptitude.
The Jets’ lack of a quality edge rush has been the main topic of discussion. Less emphasized are some of the pass rush struggles in the interior defensive line. Quinnen Williams has not played to his usual standard through two weeks. Per Pro Football Focus, he ranks in the 44th percentile in pressure rate (7.0%) and 47th percentile in pass rush win rate (7.5%).
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Picking up the slack in the middle is, surprisingly, Javon Kinlaw. Boasting 5 pressures on 44 pass-rush snaps, the free agent pickup has an 11.4% pressure rate, ranking in the 78th percentile among interior defensive linemen. His 17.1% pass rush win rate ranks in the 92nd percentile.
Those wins are showing up on film, too. He may not have any sacks yet, but he is affecting the quarterback all the same.
Kinlaw still hasn’t performed well in the run game, posting a 43.7 PFF run defense grade through two games. That certainly reduces his value. But, at the very worst, Kinlaw is replicating Quinton Jefferson’s pass-rushing success in the early going.
Javon Kinlaw film
Kinlaw wears No. 54.
49ers center Jake Brendel comes off the snap with wide hands and poor balance. After getting an initial jolt with his left hand, Kinlaw uses one arm to push Brendel aside and nearly gets a hit on Purdy.
Kinlaw uses a stab here to throw the center aside and push the pocket. Although the center recovers enough to prevent him from getting to the quarterback, the initial push could have made the throw more difficult had Brock Purdy not released the ball quickly.
Titans right guard Dillon Radunz isn’t very good, and Kinlaw takes his open chest when he tries a punch. He bull rushes Radunz straight back into Will Levis.
Kinlaw and Jermaine Johnson run a stunt here. Radunz engages Kinlaw too long, giving Johnson a lane in the A-gap. Kinlaw then also bull rushed right tackle Nicholas Petit-Frere, muddying Levis’ pocket.
Kinlaw is initially double-teamed here and doesn’t put in much effort, standing straight up. When Radunz peels off the double-team to try to stop Solomon Thomas at the last second, Kinlaw then jerks Petit-Frere out of the way and hits Levis.
Kinlaw isn’t known for actually taking down the quarterback, though. Jefferson had six sacks and five quarterback hits on 240 pass rush snaps in 2023, giving him a 37.9% impactful pressure rate (percentage of pressures resulting in a sack or hit). Kinlaw had just 3.5 sacks and two QB hits in 2023 for a 17.7% impactful pressure rate. One of his five pressures this year was a quarterback hit (20%). That’s an element of Jefferson’s game the Jets miss.
Although Kinlaw has produced pressure through two weeks, any two-game sample size can provide some outlier results. Perhaps Kinlaw will come back down to earth. After all, he started hot in 2023, as well, with 10 pressures and a 16.2% pressure rate in the first three weeks. Over the remaining 13 games, his pressure rate was sliced in half (8.1%). His overall pressure rate for the season ended up at 9.6%.
However, Kinlaw faces another favorable matchup in Week 3. Patriots right guard Layden Robinson has allowed eight pressures on 62 pass-blocking snaps so far (12.9%), the worst mark among 64 qualified guards. Center David Andrews is in the middle of the pack (3.2%, 15th of 33).
The Jets have yet to face any above-average or even average pass-blocking units, making the team’s pressure numbers even more suspect. Still, after a miserable showing against San Francisco, the Jets did a better job of pressuring Will Levis (even if not taking him down). Their pass-rush unit must take advantage of the poor matchups in front of them. Rarely does an offensive line have no weak links.
Kinlaw is a big part of that. When a team has a struggling right guard and/or center, the Jets need their big men to bring pressure straight up the middle. Jacoby Brissett has been pressured on 44.3% of his dropbacks this year, the second-worst rate among quarterbacks. Still, his 14.8% pressure-to-sack ratio is the eighth-best, which means they’ll need to do a better job of taking the quarterback down — but in the Jets’ defense, when the pocket is pushed, that is usually the edge defenders’ job.
Regardless of the matchup, the Jets need Kinlaw to keep producing to have a chance of defensive success.
