The advent of the NFL Scouting Combine brought about not only the second opportunity for the New York Jets’ new leaders to speak publicly, but also a flurry of trade rumors that could be intriguing to New York.
Two defensive linemen with Pro Bowl pedigrees are on the trade block. On Tuesday, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported that the Washington Commanders have had trade conversations regarding defensive tackle Jonathan Allen. The following morning, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that the Tennessee Titans have granted edge rusher Harold Landry permission to seek a trade.
Both players could be of interest to first-year general manager Darren Mougey, as the Jets’ defensive line needs reinforcements in both phases.
New York’s pass rush only had two players ranked in the top 100 of quarterback hits last season, Will McDonald (24, 7th) and Quinnen Williams (18, 33rd). The run defense ranked 20th in DVOA, per FTN Fantasy. Jermaine Johnson’s return will be a major boost in both areas, but it remains to be seen how he will look after an Achilles tear, and the unit is all but devoid of upside beyond those three players.
With all of that in mind, should Mougey look to make his first trade as the Jets’ GM by acquiring Allen or Landry?
Let’s unpack both options.
Commanders DT Jonathan Allen
Now 30 years old and entering his ninth NFL season, Allen’s production has been on the downswing for a few years now. His overall Pro Football Focus grade, pressure rate, and sack total have declined in three consecutive seasons since he peaked with a phenomenal year in 2021.
- 2021 (17 games): 84.9 PFF grade, 13.7% pressure rate, 9.0 sacks (10 total)
- 2022 (16 games): 80.1 PFF grade, 9.8% pressure rate, 7.5 sacks (8 total)
- 2023 (16 games): 59.7 PFF grade, 9.1% pressure rate, 5.5 sacks (6 total)
- 2024 (8 games): 54.6 PFF grade, 8.9% pressure rate, 3.0 sacks (3 total)
In 2024, Allen missed nine games in the middle of the season with a torn pec, returning for the stretch run and Washington’s three playoff games. When on the field, Allen was underwhelming by his standards, finishing with 16 total pressures and three sacks. His 8.9% pressure rate was his worst since 2019, while his 54.6 overall PFF grade was a career-low.
Allen delivered a vintage performance in Washington’s divisional upset over Detroit, recording seven pressures on 24 pass-rush snaps (29.2% pressure rate). However, he only had three pressures on 45 pass-rush snaps across the team’s other two playoff games.
Stopping the run has never been Allen’s forte, but he has regressed to putrid levels in that phase. He finished with a 41.3 PFF run defense grade in 2024 and a 37.9 in 2023. Outside of a rookie year where he played minimal snaps against the run, his yearly average run defense grade since 2018 is 55.2. He would not solve the Jets’ lack of run-stuffing skills next to Quinnen Williams.
Overall, Allen seems like a player who is well into his decline. Projecting as an average pass rusher and poor run defender in 2025, he is nowhere close to being worth his $15.5 million base salary.
Allen’s new team will likely rework his contract to bring his cap number down. However, given that Washington wants to do right by Allen and is allowing his camp to help him land in the right spot, he likely prefers to land with a contender, which the Jets are obviously not. The Jets’ only path to lure Allen to New York instead of a contender would be to offer more money, and considering his downward career trajectory, that is not a smart idea.
The Jets should look elsewhere for defensive tackle help, particularly in a draft where the defensive tackle class is considered excellent.
Titans EDGE Harold Landry
Landry, who turns 29 in June, is entering his eighth NFL season.
Like Allen, Landry’s peak is already a few years behind him; both players reached the height of their powers in 2021. However, the post-peak portion of Landry’s career has featured a much less drastic downswing. He remains a consistently productive player.
After his 2021 breakout year (12.0 sacks), Landry missed the entire 2022 season with an ACL injury. Despite this, he returned to play 17 games in each of the next two seasons, recording 10.5 sacks in 2023 and 9.0 sacks in 2024. Over the past two seasons, Landry is tied with Nick Bosa and Nnamdi Madubuike for 14th among all players in sacks (19.5).
While Landry remains an excellent sack artist, his consistency as a pass rusher has dwindled since his ACL tear:
- 2021: 64 total pressures on 529 pass-rush snaps (12.1%)
- 2023: 47 total pressures on 435 pass-rush snaps (10.8%)
- 2024: 30 total pressures on 423 pass-rush snaps (7.1%)
In 2024, Landry’s 7.1% pressure rate ranked 88th out of the 92 edge rushers with at least 200 pass-rush snaps. The position average was 10.7%.
What Landry still does at an extremely high level is convert his pressures into sacks. With 9 of his 30 total pressures being sacks, Landry had a pressure-to-sack rate of 30%, tied with Jonah Elliss for the best rate among qualified edge rushers. The position average was 16.4%.
While Landry’s 30% mark was a career-high, it continues his recent trend of excelling at finishing sacks even if his pressure consistency is not elite. He had a 22.5% pressure-to-sack rate across 2021 and 2023.
As a run defender, Landry has an unorthodox career arc. He has always been consistently solid in this phase, although not elite; from 2019-23, his yearly average run defense grade was an above-average 65.9. But in 2024, despite signs of significant decline as a pass rusher, Landry had the best year of his career as a run defender.
Landry’s 82.2 run defense grade was a career-high and ranked fifth-best among edge rushers to play at least 200 snaps against the run. He set a career-high with 15 tackles for loss and placed sixth at the position with 26 run stops. Perhaps most notably, Landry only missed two tackles against the run. He joined Danielle Hunter, Rashan Gary, and Yaya Diaby as the only edge rushers with 20+ run stops and fewer than three missed tackles.
Going into 2025, Landry projects as a respectable two-way player on the edge. His low pressure rate is a major concern. However, his elite ability to finish sacks helps to make up for it. In the run game, it seems unlikely Landry will maintain his 2024 production, which is currently an outlier, but he has been consistently solid in that phase throughout his career.
Additionally, Landry is very durable outside of a freak ACL injury in practice. He has only missed one game outside of the 2022 season, which was the first game of his rookie year. To boot, he is widely viewed as a leader in the locker room.
Landry has two years remaining on his five-year, $87.5 million contract, including base salaries of $17.5 million in each of the next two seasons. This is a number that will undoubtedly be reworked by Landry’s new team.
Similar to Allen, Landry is a respected figure in his current organization and will likely have an opportunity to nudge his way toward a contending team. If the Titans allow him to choose between multiple options offering an identical trade package, the Jets will probably have to offer more money (i.e. a lesser reduction of his base salary) to reel him in.
If the trade and contract cost goes too high, the Jets should steer clear. But unlike Allen, who just doesn’t seem like a very appealing player to add regardless of cost, there is certainly a price where Landry is an enticing option for New York.
The Jets badly lack depth behind McDonald and Johnson; there might not be an NFL team with a worse cast of edge rushers beyond the top two on the depth chart. In fact, even those two players are relatively unreliable in their respective roles. One is coming off an Achilles tear, and the other is one-dimensional.
Mougey needs to give Aaron Glenn as much edge help as he can find. Landry is experienced, durable, and remains a respectable player who offers plus traits in both phases. His positive reputation in the locker room is a necessity for a retooling Jets team that is looking to establish a new culture.
Landry’s consistency as a pass rusher has stooped too low for him to be viewed as a starter, but that’s fine for the Jets, who would use him in a rotational role. The Jets could maximize his run defense by deploying him primarily in running situations, which would help to hide his lack of consistency as a pass rusher. In the meantime, he’d still provide a healthy chunk of sacks.
Landry is an ideal fit for the “situational run-stuffing edge rusher” role in the Jets’ defense. Think about the profile of the player who previously held that role: Micheal Clemons. While Clemons had an immense frame, he had poor awareness and brutal agility, which made him extremely susceptible against the quarterback runs that are becoming increasingly commonplace in the NFL. Teams targeted Clemons with option plays all the way from the first preseason game, and they enjoyed great success on a routine basis.
Landry is a good run defender, but he does not sacrifice mobility to do it; he’s 6-foot-2 and 252 pounds with a 9.47 Relative Athletic Score. Those testing numbers were recorded a long time ago and pre-ACL tear, but he remains an athletic player, as evidenced by his tremendous sack finishing and high total of TFLs in 2024. He is an ideal edge setter in today’s NFL, providing enough skill and strength to avoid being a liability in the trenches while having the speed and range to chase down quarterbacks on the outside.
Mougey would be wise to give Tennessee a call and take the temperature on Landry. If Landry can be had for a late Day 3 pick and is open to a pay cut that slices his base salary down to seven figures, it would raise the floor of the Jets’ defensive line for a reasonable price.
