Big Q and Who?
That has been the title of the New York Jets’ defensive tackle room throughout the 2024 offseason. Not only did the Jets fail to sign an interior defensive lineman to a contract larger than the league minimum, but they also doubled down on that disregard in the draft.
Come six days before cutdown day, general manager Darren Mougey made a pair of moves to bolster the position.
First, he acquired Browns 2024 seventh-round pick Jowon Briggs, exchanging a sixth-round pick for a seventh. He followed that up by bringing in the Vikings’ Harrison Phillips, sending a 2026 sixth-rounder and a seventh-round pick swap while picking up $3.7 million of Phillips’ $7.4 million salary.
Trading for two players at the same position before roster cutdowns reshapes one of the Jets’ thinnest positions. How does the defensive tackle room shake out after these moves?
Who’s the second starter?
Quinnen Williams is one of the two best players on the Jets. But it’s still not clear who the starter will be beside him.
Entering training camp, it appeared that Derrick Nnadi was slated to be the second defensive tackle on early downs. He’s in the league for his run defense, and although that has declined tremendously over the last few seasons, it was what the Jets signed him for.
However, all reports coming out of training camp indicated that this is not the case. Nnadi’s name has never been mentioned, and defensive coordinator Steve Wilks has praised Byron Cowart multiple times, including lauding his ability to defeat double-teams.
Therefore, the base assumption has been that Cowart would be the starter next to Williams.
The advantage of Cowart over Nnadi, Leonard Taylor, Jay Tufele, Phidarian Mathis, and Payton Page (the other defensive tackles on the roster at the time) is that he’s far more balanced. He’s held up surprisingly well as a nose tackle despite playing at 300 pounds, and he’s also an adequate pass rusher.
Taylor is a promising pass rusher who has also flashed in the run game, but he can’t play nose tackle and also has too many lapses in awareness against the run. The others have never shown any pass-rushing ability in the NFL.
There’s one problem, though: Cowart has been battling an ankle injury and has missed several weeks. He returned to practice on Friday before the Giants preseason game but has not been seen since.
The two trades Mougey executed seemingly suggest that Cowart’s injury may be serious. Although the Jets’ defensive tackle room was thin at the top, they did not seem to need two new players.
Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that Cowart may go on injured reserve to begin the season. Wilks didn’t seem to give that indication in his most recent press conference, but this is the most straightforward way to understand the need for both trades.
Phillips and Briggs both profile as run-first defensive tackles. Phillips has been a terrible pass rusher over the last few seasons, posting sub-5% pressure rates (the positional average is usually around 7.5-8%). Briggs played more than half his snaps against the run in 2024 and is also not a pass rusher, although he is a strong run defender.
Phillips is listed at 6-foot-3 and 307 pounds, while Briggs is 6-foot-1 and 313. Phillips has played more traditional nose tackle, though, while Briggs has played primarily three-technique, both in college and with the Browns in 2024. The only year in which Briggs played real snaps at nose tackle was in college in 2022 with Cincinnati.
Therefore, if Cowart does miss time, it seems most likely that Phillips will play next to Williams on early downs.
However, calling Phillips the “starter” likely isn’t entirely accurate. When the Jets had Al Woods in 2023, he may have technically started many games opposite Williams, but he played just 32% of the Jets’ defensive snaps over eight games. His role was that of an early-down run-stuffer.
The Jets could end up going with a rotation next to Williams depending on the down and distance.
Roster or cut?
The Jets suddenly have a bunch of names to choose from at defensive tackle. Outside of Williams, they’re choosing between Phillips, Briggs, Nnadi, Tufele, Taylor III, Mathis, and Page.
The first question is how many defensive tackles the Jets will carry altogether. They went with four to start 2023 and 2024, but that was because John Franklin-Myers kicked inside on third down (2023) and Leki Fotu began the year on injured reserve (2024).
These two trades seem to make it more likely that the Jets will carry at least five defensive tackles, unless they truly want to replace most of their room. That’s not guaranteed, though.
The question is whether they will carry four, five, or six defensive tackles, and who they will be.
Williams and Phillips are roster locks. Briggs seems likely to be a lock, as well, since it wouldn’t have been worthwhile to trade a pick swap, even such a late one, for a player the Jets planned on waiving. The Jets seem to really like Cowart, which means his spot is likely safe.
Due to the trades, it makes sense that the Jets will carry at least five interior defensive linemen. Therefore, Nnadi, Tufele, Taylor, Mathis, and Page are either all on the outs or battling for one or two roster spots.
Page may have had an outside shot to make the roster prior to these moves, but he’s virtually guaranteed to be on the outs. With Phillips and Briggs coming in, Nnadi’s role was wiped out, making him a likely cut. Mathis seemed cut out for the same role, which also sends him packing.
Assuming Cowart ends up on injured reserve, there will be at least one, if not two spots remaining. The room will come down to Tufele vs. Taylor and how many players the Jets plan to carry.
Taylor has a more polished pedigree than Tufele, having shown promise in his rookie season as a pass rusher and run defender. However, all indications from training camp have been that Tufele is ahead of Taylor on the depth chart. That led some to speculate that Tufele’s roster spot is safe, while Taylor is on the bubble.
In my opinion, it would be a massive mistake for the Jets to even consider carrying Tufele over Taylor. Tufele has never posted a Pro Football Focus run defense grade higher than 47.2, and his career pressure rate is 4.2%. Other than one highly impressive game against the Packers in the preseason, there is absolutely nothing on his profile that suggests he’s a roster-worthy player.
Meanwhile, Taylor had a 7.9% pressure rate in 2024, which is around the average for starting defensive tackles. He also had a 56.9 PFF run defense grade while flashing significant run-stuffing ability when his play recognition holds up.
Jets-Giants All-22 film review: Is there hope for pass game?There is no comparison between the two players. However, Aaron Glenn commented in one press conference that Taylor knows what he needs to work on. NFL coaches have a habit of making moves that are incomprehensible to outsiders, and not always are they correct (even in hindsight).
Taylor went undrafted largely due to a reputation for being lazy. Perhaps that has translated onto the practice field, even though it has never shown up in a game.
If Tufele is ahead of Taylor in training camp, then when it comes to roster cutdowns, the baseline expectation should be that Tufele’s roster spot is safer than Taylor’s.
The Jets must be aware that it is highly unlikely they will be able to sneak Taylor onto their practice squad. He was a projected fourth-round pick at one point, and he has shown ample promise every time he has seen the field, both in the preseason and the regular season. The question is if they value him that way.
What the Jets will do
At this point, my guess is that the Jets will put Cowart on injured reserve on cutdown day and carry five defensive tackles on their active roster: Williams, Phillips, Briggs, Tufele, and Taylor.
The NFL changed the rules in 2024 to allow for two players to be placed on short-term injured reserve on cutdown day prior to final cuts. Therefore, the Jets don’t need to carry Cowart through to the 53-man roster. They can simply keep the other five players. When Cowart is ready to return, they’ll have a decision to make.
However, if Cowart doesn’t need to start the season on IR, there will be some serious questions. Would the Jets carry six defensive tackles on the active roster? Would they cut Taylor in favor of Tufele despite the clear differences in talent and performance?
With cutdown day rapidly approaching and the Jets’ training camp officially complete, the final preseason game against the Eagles could be make-or-break for those two defensive tackles.