Fine… I’ll do it myself.
Quinnen Williams had to channel Thanos during the New York Jets’ 2024 season. The all-world defensive tackle was forced to single-handedly carry a Jets interior defensive line that featured no other league-average players.
Williams’ partner in the starting lineup was Javon Kinlaw, who placed 72nd out of 106 defensive tackles (min. 300 snaps) on Pro Football Focus’ rankings. The No. 3 player on the depth chart was Solomon Thomas, who placed 90th on the same leaderboard.
Going into the 2025 season, Williams is poised to face a challenge that is somehow even more daunting. If sacks were infinity stones, Williams might have to collect every single one of them himself.
There are eight defensive tackles on the Jets’ roster. They have combined for 49.5 career sacks.
Williams is responsible for 39 of those. That’s 79%.
If you narrow it down to the past three seasons, Williams has 23.5 sacks in 49 games, while his teammates combined for 5.5 sacks in 150 games.
For those keeping score at home, since 2022, Williams has more than four times as many sacks as his teammates in about a third of the games. He produces 13 times as many sacks per game (0.480 vs. 0.037).
This extends to the run game. The eight defensive tackles on the Jets’ roster have combined for 76 career tackles for loss.
Williams is responsible for 52 of them: 68%.
In both phases, Williams is the only defensive tackle on the Jets’ roster who can be relied upon for any degree of production. The rest of the depth chart mainly comprises veterans who have done little to nothing in recent seasons.
To make matters worse, the unit lacks youth and upside. The Jets did not select any defensive tackles in this year’s draft, marking the third consecutive year this happened. They did sign two undrafted free agents, and they found a solid UDFA in Leonard Taylor III last season, but the overall upside is undoubtedly low compared to most teams.
Here is New York’s complete defensive tackle unit as of May 8:
- Quinnen Williams
- Derrick Nnadi
- Byron Cowart
- Jay Tufele
- Phidarian Mathis
- Leonard Taylor III
- Payton Page (UDFA)
- Fatorma Mulbah (UDFA)
Williams was already attracting a plethora of double teams in 2024. Just imagine how teams are going to handle him with this lineup.
It is a terrifying situation for New York. Williams is one of the best players on the team – if not the best. As the data proves, he is about as unstoppable as it gets when he draws a one-on-one matchup.
But if Williams’ teammates cannot make teams pay for leaving them one-on-one, the Jets’ opponents will double-team him all day long with no repercussions. Erasing the Jets’ superstar defensive tackle will be an easy task.
It all begs the question: Where on Earth will the Jets get any production from this unit beyond Williams?
Let’s run through the other seven players in New York’s defensive tackle unit and see if there is any sort of hidden upside that the Jets might believe they can tap into.
Derrick Nnadi
In terms of pass rushing, you can forget about Nnadi (6-foot-1, 317 pounds) bringing anything to the table.
Across 115 career games, Nnadi has five sacks, eight quarterback hits, and 66 total pressures. He’s dwindled to 15 pressures in 51 games over the past three seasons. So, if he pressures the quarterback once every two games, the Jets would be thrilled. If he sacks the quarterback once in a season, it is a minor miracle.
Nnadi’s impact revolves entirely around the run game. He generated dominant numbers in this phase over his first three NFL seasons, but has not been productive for a while now. After posting an average PFF run defense grade of 76.8 from 2018-20, he dropped to 43.2 from 2021-24.
The Jets are hoping that Nnadi can rediscover his early-career run defense. Considering his relatively minuscule $417.5K guarantee, they are not banking on it.
If Nnadi can just give the Jets some league-average run defense on a 20-30% snap count while solely playing in run situations, it would be nice. New York should not count on anything more.
Byron Cowart
Cowart (6-foot-3, 300 pounds) will turn 29 in May, but he provides some of the best upside on this unit. In a small role for Chicago last season, he provided above-average efficiency in both phases.
On 176 run defense snaps, Cowart recorded 14 run stops. That is a run-stop rate of 8.0%, which placed 30th out of 145 qualified defensive tackles (min. 200 defensive snaps).
Cowart offers the flexibility to kick inside and play some snaps at 1-technique.
As a pass rusher, Cowart racked up 12 pressures on 156 pass-rush snaps, a 7.7% pressure rate that placed 53rd of 145. He also had 2.5 sacks.
Cowart must prove this wasn’t just a fluky bit of small-sample production at 28 years old. Before 2024, his career pressure rate was 4.1%, and he had one sack in 36 games.
With a guarantee of just $167.5K, the Jets are not counting on Cowart to even make the roster. But if he can prove to the coaching staff that he is capable of sustaining his 2024 production, he might end up being the Jets’ best choice to start alongside Williams.
Jay Tufele
A 2021 fourth-round pick of the Jaguars, Tufele (6-foot-3, 305 pounds) will be only 26 this season. However, he has shown very little in the NFL to suggest he has any real upside.
In 34 career games (529 snaps), Tufele has a half-sack, three tackles for loss, and four quarterback hits. His career pressure rate is a dismal 4.2%, and his PFF run defense grade has been sub-50.0 in four consecutive seasons.
Even Tufele’s athleticism is uninspiring. He recorded a 6.46 Relative Athletic Score coming out of the 2021 draft.
Tufele’s contract includes zero guarantees. It would be surprising if he made the Jets’ roster.
Phidarian Mathis
Mathis (6-foot-4, 312 pounds) was a second-round pick of the Commanders just three years ago. Aside from that, though, his resume could hardly be less inspiring.
Mathis battled injuries in Washington and was a complete non-factor when on the field. Across 23 games (462 snaps) in three seasons, he had zero sacks, one quarterback hit, and two tackles for loss. His career pressure rate is 4.5%, and his PFF run defense grade was below 35.0 in each of the past two seasons.
To boot, Mathis came into the league as a 24-year-old rookie, so he is already 27 years old despite this being his fourth season.
Mathis did not register a complete testing profile in the 2022 pre-draft process, but there were extremely concerning signs that emerged from the drills he participated in. He posted a 24-inch vertical (4th percentile all-time among DT) and a 4.91-second shuttle time (7th percentile).
Like Tufele, Mathis’ contract is non-guaranteed. Based on his resume, it would be shocking if he turned into a useful player for the Jets.
Leonard Taylor III
From the moment they signed him, Taylor (6-foot-3, 305 pounds) was considered the steal of the Jets’ 2024 UDFA class.
Taylor was viewed as a potential first-round pick entering the 2023 college football season. Even after a disappointing season and pre-draft process, he was still viewed as a potential fourth-rounder entering the 2024 draft. Taylor slipped out of the draft, and the Jets scooped him up.
Taylor made the Jets’ 53-man roster and played 14 games (261 snaps) in his rookie season. In a small sample size, he displayed a knack for playmaking in both phases.
As a pass rusher, Taylor collected 1.5 sacks and nine total pressures on just 114 pass-rush snaps, earning a solid 7.9% pressure rate. In the run game, he led the Jets’ defensive tackles with a 6.5% run-stop rate.
An explosive player off the line, Taylor must learn to harness his aggressiveness. While he made splashy plays at a good rate, he also gave some plays back by overshooting. Still, the potential he displayed was promising for a rookie.
Taylor’s age is concerning; he will already be 26 this season. This raises the question of how much growth he has left in the tank.
Nonetheless, in a defensive tackle unit like this, Taylor’s rookie season was enough to make him one of the group’s most intriguing players. Although his overall game needs development, he still showed the ability to generate a good number of impact plays relative to his snap count, and he did it in both phases.
Expect Cowart and Taylor to be the top competitors for the starting spot next to Williams. They are the only two players in this group who have flashed the potential to be league-average in both phases.
Payton Page
Coming out of Clemson as a true senior, Page (6-foot-3, 290 pounds) is an undersized player for the interior. He was ranked No. 342 on NFL Mock Draft Database’s consensus big board, making him a prototype UDFA candidate.
Page was an extremely limited pass rusher at Clemson, finishing his career with just a half-sack and three quarterback hits on 639 pass-rush snaps. He was best known for his performance against the run. However, he will have to bulk up to maintain that as an interior defender in the NFL, unless the Jets use him as a defensive end.
For a 290-pound defensive tackle, Page’s 5.13 time in the 40-yard dash was underwhelming. However, he flashed elite explosiveness with his 33-inch vertical (88th percentile all-time among DT) and 116-inch broad jump (95th percentile).
Fatorma Mulbah
Mulbah (6-foot-3, 309 pounds) does not appear among 712 players on the consensus big board. He was not invited to the combine.
The West Virginia product comes out of college as a fifth-year senior after redshirting his freshman year. He spent his first three seasons at Penn State.
Like Page, Mulbah offers little pass-rushing upside after collecting a measly 1.5 sacks and three quarterback hits on 421 career pass-rush snaps. He is another player whose appeal comes in the run game. In 2024, Mulbah ranked fifth among FBS defensive tackles with 26 run stops.
Mulbah impressed at the Big 12 pro day, earning a 9.06 RAS. His 5.07 forty time does not jump out, but his 1.67 ten-yard split, 32.5-inch vertical, and 110-inch broad jump suggest he has elite explosiveness.
Page and Mulbah are similar prospects. Both should not be expected to produce in the passing game, but could make an impact in the run game through their explosiveness (more so than sheer power). There is a size difference, as Page is undersized while Mulbah has a more traditional frame.
Can the Jets trust anyone?
No.
There is not a single player in this unit beyond Williams who can be considered a reliable bet to perform at a league-average level in either phase this season. The best the Jets can do is Cowart and Taylor, who flashed average-ish efficiency in small samples last season.
That’s it.
Nnadi has not been effective in at least three seasons. Tufele and Mathis have shown next to nothing in the league. The other two players are undrafted rookies.
The Jets are banking heavily on Cowart and Taylor to replicate the production they displayed in 2024. Not only do they need to replicate it, but they must maintain it on larger snap counts. One of these players could be starting, while the other might be the Jets’ No. 3 defensive tackle.
With a porous roster, a shaky cap situation, and no pressure to compete immediately, the Jets were never going to plug every roster hole in the first offseason of this new regime. At least one position had to be skimped on. Defensive tackle ended up being the primary victim.
Perhaps it is a reasonable choice, considering that one of the Jets’ two best players resides at the position. Maybe Quinnen Williams can do enough on his own to make this a respectable unit despite the lack of help.
But the opposite effect also rings true. How can Williams be the best version of himself when opponents have no other threats to worry about?
Williams dominates one-on-ones at a level that only Chris Jones can rival. That ability is negated if he draws consistent double-teams.
This strategy is not supposed to come without consequences, though. The risk of allocating extra resources to stop a superstar (whether it’s a defensive lineman or an offensive weapon) is supposed to be that the star’s teammates are given favorable opportunities to eat.
If the star’s teammates can maximize the chances presented to them, they can force the opponent to stop double-teaming, once again leaving them vulnerable to the star’s maximum powers. It creates an unsolvable dilemma for the opponent.
Will the Jets be able to create this dilemma with their current defensive tackle unit?
Going into Week 1, if I were an offensive coordinator game-planning for the Jets, I would double-team Williams on every play and dare the likes of Cowart, Taylor, and Nnadi to do whatever they please with their one-on-one matchups. Until one of them consistently exploits their one-on-one matchups, there would be no reason to stop.
If the Jets miss the playoffs once again in 2025, the defensive tackle position will likely be one of the primary reasons. This unit’s complete lack of depth will minimize the impact of New York’s best defensive lineman, causing widespread issues against both the pass and the run.
