Per the New York Jets’ Friday injury report, three players will miss Sunday’s game against Buffalo, including one in each phase: RB/KR Kene Nwangwu (hamstring), WR Josh Reynolds (hamstring), and DT Jay Tufele (illness).
The loss of Tufele likely means we will see the 2025 debut of one of the Jets’ most underrated young players: Leonard Taylor III.
Promising and underrated Jet set to debut
Tufele’s absence vacates a decent chunk of snaps. He was the Jets’ No. 3 defensive tackle in the season opener against Pittsburgh, logging 30% of the snaps (17 total).
Jowon Briggs was the Jets’ No. 4 defensive tackle at 21% of the snaps (12 total), although he is known as a run-game specialist, so the Jets may elect to keep him in his specialized role. Taylor, who was a healthy scratch, is the next man up to fill Tufele’s shoes as the primary backup 3-tech.
Taylor signed with the Jets as an undrafted free agent out of Miami in 2024. Following the 2023 college football season, he was ranked as a top-40 prospect on the consensus big board at NFL Mock Draft Database, but the former five-star recruit saw his stock plummet throughout the draft process, landing him in New York as a UDFA.
After a strong training camp and preseason, Taylor made the Jets’ 53-man roster and finished with rookie season with 14 appearances. He showed promising flashes over his 261 defensive snaps, logging 24 tackles, nine total pressures, four quarterback hits, four tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, and a pass deflection.
It was a small sample, but from an efficiency standpoint, Taylor was above-average in both phases during his rookie year. Among 125 defensive tackles who played 250+ snaps, Taylor ranked 42nd in pressure rate (7.9%) and 55th in run stop rate (6.1%).
Jets’ puzzling valuation of Taylor
For whatever reason, the Jets’ new regime has not displayed much fondness for Taylor despite the potential he showed as a 22-year-old rookie.
Taylor was buried behind Tufele on the depth chart throughout training camp and the preseason, which carried over into Week 1. In fact, if not for Byron Cowart’s season-ending injury, Taylor likely would not have even made the 53-man roster.
It is a strange case, especially considering Taylor played quite well in the preseason. In three games, Taylor had a strip-sack, four total stops, and three total pressures, all without missing any tackles.
Tufele had one dominant game in the preseason opener, but he responded with a silent game in Week 2. Then, he was held out of the Week 3 “Bubble Bowl,” essentially confirming his roster spot was safe.
While Tufele reportedly looked strong in training camp, a sentiment echoed by the Jets’ coaches, his career body of work is weak, especially compared to Taylor’s. In 31 career games (546 snaps), Tufele has a half-sack, 47 total tackles, 10 total pressures, four quarterback hits, four tackles for loss, and one pass deflection; comparable numbers to Taylor in more than twice the games and snaps.
In terms of efficiency, Tufele has a 4.1% pressure rate (vs. Taylor’s 7.9%) and a 4.7% run stop rate (vs. Taylor’s 6.1%).
The Jets’ logic is challenging to fathom. Tufele is three years older than Taylor (26 vs. 23) and significantly less productive. Assuming Taylor continues to progress after his rookie year, while Tufele is likely to stagnate since he is already in his prime years, the gap between them should only continue to grow.
Jets sorely missed Taylor in season opener
Tufele was a liability in the Jets’ season opener. Across his 17 snaps, Tufele had zero pressures on nine pass-rush snaps and earned a 44.6 run defense grade from Pro Football Focus across eight run-defense snaps. Tufele also had a penalty for too many men on the field, as Aaron Rodgers got a snap off before Tufele could escape the field of play.
The veteran’s struggles were most palpable in the run game. Tufele was moved off the ball a few times, and this translated to improved rushing efficiency for Pittsburgh. The Steelers’ running backs averaged 3.9 yards per carry with Tufele on the field compared to 2.1 with him off.
Tufele’s woes were at the crux of a unit-wide issue for the Jets’ defense: The lack of impact from the second-string defensive line.
Will McDonald, Quinnen Williams, and Jermaine Johnson were the only Jets defensive linemen to record pressures against Pittsburgh. The rest of New York’s defensive linemen combined for no pressures on 57 pass-rush snaps.
The Jets got solid run-stopping contributions from Harrison Phillips and Jowon Briggs, but it was very noticeable how much the pass rush dropped off whenever one of the Jets’ stars came off the field. Not to mention, the run defense could be even better with someone other than Tufele in the DT3 spot, considering Tufele has never graded close to average as a run defender in five NFL seasons.
Enter Taylor.
If Taylor suits up on Sunday, he will immediately become the Jets’ fourth-best pass rusher, including their second-best on the interior. His run defense, while not up to the caliber of Phillips or Briggs, would still be an upgrade over Tufele.
Why is Taylor being undervalued?
One possible explanation for why the Jets’ new coaching staff does not love Taylor is his downhill playstyle.
Taylor is an explosive athlete who can get off the line and shoot through gaps in a hurry. It made him a great fit in the Jets’ one-gapping scheme under Robert Saleh and Jeff Ulbrich. He was able to fire off the line of scrimmage and make some big tackles for loss in the backfield.
Conversely, the Aaron Glenn-Steve Wilks scheme is predicated upon holding ground at the line of scrimmage. They don’t want their defensive linemen taking the risk of running themselves out of plays, which, for Taylor, was an occasional consequence of his explosive approach.
This is why New York added a pair of sturdy two-gapping specialists in Phillips and Briggs. It is particularly notable that the Jets went out of their way to make those two deals at such a late stage of the summer, indicating that maybe the coaches were not pleased with what Taylor was showing them in that specific aspect of the position.
Taylor’s fit in the Jets’ scheme is a reasonable concern. However, it should be negated when the alternative is Tufele, who has consistently gotten moved off the ball throughout his career.
Playing Tufele over Taylor would make more sense if Tufele were a better scheme fit than Taylor, but Tufele is a finesse-based defensive tackle who will frequently get plowed off the line of scrimmage. This leaves us with very little discernible evidence as to why New York believes he is a better option than Taylor.
A chance for Leonard Taylor to stake his claim
Why Tufele played over Taylor in Week 1, we will probably never know. All that matters now is the opportunity that lies in front of Taylor.
Nothing is confirmed yet, but most likely, Taylor will be active on Sunday. This is his chance to show the coaching staff why he deserves to be in the Jets’ defensive line rotation on a weekly basis.
This is a good week for Taylor to debut, too. He has a favorable opportunity to make some pass-rush noise against a Buffalo interior that had a rough season opener. The Bills’ interior offensive linemen allowed a pressure rate of 5.6%, which ranked 27th out of 32 teams in Week 1.
Against Pittsburgh, Tufele played the majority of his snaps (61%) at left defensive tackle. If Taylor assumes the same role, his primary matchup on Sunday will be Bills right guard O’Cyrus Torrence, the weak link of Buffalo’s offensive line.
In 2024, Torrence’s 54.9 overall PFF grade was the worst among Buffalo’s starting linemen and ranked 59th out of 66 qualified guards. Last week, Torrence placed 52nd out of 62 guards with a 48.2 overall grade, last among Buffalo’s starters once again.
Watch out for No. 96 in green to have a big Sunday, setting him up for more productive Sundays throughout the 2025 season.
