We’ve reached the quasi-halfway point of the New York Jets’ 2025 season.
Sporting a 1-7 record, it’s been a mostly underwhelming start for the retooling Jets, even compared to their modest expectations entering the season. However, some silver linings have emerged.
Let’s grade every key player and coach on the Jets entering their Week 9 bye. These grades will focus on players who are currently signed to New York’s 53-man roster or on injured reserve after playing a featured role.
WR Allen Lazard: C
Lazard has done fine in his role as a blocking receiver. He had some key blocks to spring the Jets’ big plays against Cincinnati.
WR Tyler Johnson: B+
Relative to expectations, Johnson has done a nice job. He’s been efficient in his complementary role, securing 10-of-15 targets for 187 yards (third on the team) and eight first downs (also third).
WR Garrett Wilson: A
Given his situation, it’s hard to ask for more out of Garrett Wilson. Routinely being let down by his quarterback for the umpteenth year in a row, Wilson’s 395 yards and four touchdowns in just six games are impressive in the league’s least prolific passing game.
WR Isaiah Williams: C-
Williams may have cost the Jets a potential win in Miami with his inexcusable return-game blunders. He gets some points back for his solid numbers since then, as well as some nice plays offensively in Cincinnati, but that Dolphins performance was crushing.
WR Arian Smith: B
Smith rates extremely well in separation metrics, which is backed up by the film. The Jets just have to throw him the ball so we can see where he’s at with his pass-catching development.
WR Josh Reynolds: C-
Reynolds has not delivered the complementary efficiency that he was known for in Detroit, catching just 11 of 21 targets for 101 yards, no touchdowns, and four first downs. He’s dropped a pass and secured only two of eight contested targets. Johnson has usurped Reynolds as the Jets’ efficient complementary receiver.
RB Breece Hall: B+
Hall hasn’t exactly lit the world on fire, but he’s been an above-average running back, averaging 5.0 yards per carry on significant volume (14.6 attempts per game) and adding 178 receiving yards. Hall does benefit from a solid offensive line, but that advantage is negated by the stacked boxes he faces, which makes his 5.0 YPC an above-expectations number.
The Jets’ challenge is determining how much Hall is worth over the long haul. He doesn’t seem to be the same game-breaker he was in his rookie year, but he’s a plus starter, albeit at a non-premium position. What is that worth to a retooling Jets team?
RB Braelon Allen: D
Allen was having a rough stretch before his knee injury. He averaged a decent 4.2 yards per carry, but he came up small in the power-running situations where he is supposed to thrive, coming up short on a key fourth-and-1 against the Bucs and losing a goal-line fumble in Miami.
RB Isaiah Davis: B+
Davis has been a quality third-down back for the Jets, providing solid pass protection while catching 14 of his 19 targets for 117 yards and six first downs (plus a critical two-point conversion). Davis is fifth on the team in receiving first downs; he has one fewer than Hall on 11 fewer targets.
Davis was mostly getting stuffed in the run game until his 50-yard run against the Bengals, but with only 17 carries, it’s hard to judge him too much.
RB Kene Nwangwu: B+
Nwangwu has been an excellent returner when healthy, but he’s only suited up for three games.
FB Andrew Beck: B+
Beck has done his job well as a blocker.
TE Mason Taylor: A-
Taylor’s stats aren’t flashy, but he’s caught the ball exceptionally well. On 42 targets (29 receptions), he’s only had one truly egregious drop and secured eight of 10 contested targets. Only Trey McBride has more contested catches among tight ends.
Taylor’s blocking has been rough at times, but he has shown progress recently.
TE Jeremy Ruckert: B
It seems that Ruckert has developed into a fine TE2. He’s been catching what’s thrown to him and doing a respectable job as a blocker. That’s all you can really ask for.
TE Stone Smartt: C
Smartt has only played one offensive snap. On special teams, he primarily works as a blocker for the kick and punt return units, where he’s been seen throwing some nice blocks.
OT Olu Fashanu: C-
Fashanu has been a disappointment in his second year, allowing far too many pressures. However, he’s just 22 and still very green in terms of NFL left tackle experience, and he’s trended up recently.
OT Armand Membou: A
Nobody could have expected this type of start from Membou, who ranks as PFF’s 10th-best right tackle at just 21 years old. He is also PFF’s highest-graded rookie offensive lineman.
The film matches the numbers. Membou is already a solid starter in both phases, and there’s nowhere to go but up.
G John Simpson: C
Simpson has not been quite as consistent as he was in his 2024 breakout season. He’s been more prone to penalties and critical mistakes in pass protection. However, he still brings much-needed nastiness to the unit, and his run blocking has been solid.
G Joe Tippmann: B
Tippmann hasn’t improved as much at right guard compared to center as many expected, but he’s still been a solid starter in both phases. Tippmann’s highs are high; he needs to be more consistent from week to week.
C Josh Myers: B+
Relative to expectations, Myers has had one of the Jets’ best starts to the season. He’s been a perfectly average starting center, not doing much to stand out positively or negatively in either phase.
OT Max Mitchell: B
Mitchell has done a decent job as a sixth lineman. The Jets have achieved positive results when he’s on the field.
QB Justin Fields: D
Despite a pair of standout games against Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, Fields is still on track for his worst NFL season relative to expectations. He’s averaging a career-low 4.9 net yards per pass attempt, while his 37.7 QBR is his worst since his rookie year. Many of his other stats would also be career lows after removing his garbage time stat-padding.
Nobody expected Fields to suddenly become a megastar in 2025, but he has taken a noticeable step back from where he was in Pittsburgh last season, when he played like a competent game manager. That was the bare minimum expected from Fields, especially given the situation he was walking into. This was supposed to be the most ideal setup of his career, featuring his best offensive line, arguably his best wideout, solid talent at running back and tight end, and a scheme built around him. He’s dropped the ball thus far.
The Jets’ coaches and front office also deserve some blame for Fields’ underperformance. Despite targeting him in free agency, they haven’t done a perfect job of building the scheme around his strengths and weaknesses. For weeks, the Jets went away from Fields in the designed run game for some strange reason. It is also fair to criticize the front office for neglecting the wide receiver position in the offseason.
Still, most of Fields’ struggles have come in areas fully within his control. There’s nobody to blame but Fields for many of the sacks he’s taken and open receivers he’s failed to target. Overall, Fields has underperformed relative to expectations, even with those expectations already being quite low. Passing for under 50 yards in three of seven starts is stunningly bad, even by the Jets’ standards.
QB Tyrod Taylor: D
Taylor has not looked like the steady backup he was expected to be.
In Week 3 against Tampa Bay, Taylor did a decent enough job taking checkdowns against a soft fourth-quarter defense to work the Jets back into the game, but he couldn’t put a touchdown on the board for three quarters, and his putrid pick-six in the second quarter ended up costing the Jets a win.
After relieving Fields in the second half of the Jets’ Week 7 game, Taylor badly misfired on multiple open deep shots for potential touchdowns. He tossed two interceptions and couldn’t lead the Jets to the one touchdown that was necessary to extend the game.
DT Quinnen Williams: A-
Williams has been the best interior run defender in the NFL without much of a debate, leading defensive tackles in most run-game categories, often by a wide margin.
As a pass rusher, it’s been a very underwhelming start in the sack column (1.0). He is doing much better in terms of metrics like pressures and pass-rush wins, although even there, he has fallen from his previous standards.
In fairness to Williams, he has perhaps the worst pass-rush help around him in his career. Couple that with weak coverage at linebacker, allowing teams to get the ball out quickly, and it is not an ideal situation for him to stockpile pass-rush numbers. Plus, his pass-rush production is still significantly better than most players who are close to equaling his run-game impact; his two-way impact remains unique.
Nonetheless, you’d like to see more splash plays in the pass game from a player of Williams’ pay grade and talent level.
DT Jowon Briggs: A
Briggs has given the Jets everything they could have hoped for when they acquired him for a measly pick swap. He’s a quality interior run defender and has done a bit more as a pass rusher than the Jets probably expected.
DT Harrison Phillips: B+
Phillips deserves a lot of credit for facilitating Williams’ spike in run-stopping production. Phillips doesn’t make a ton of tackles on his own, but that’s because he focuses on holding his ground and eating blocks, freeing up room for his teammates to make plays. The vet is a quiet difference-maker in that phase.
However, Phillips is a major liability in the pass game. He’s fourth on the team with 149 pass-rush snaps, yet his 2.1% pass-rush win rate is the worst in the NFL among 91 defensive tackles with at least 100 pass-rush snaps.
When you have someone as non-threatening as Phillips starting next to Williams, it’s hardly surprising that teams have been able to focus their attention on preventing Williams from getting to the quarterback.
This is a roster construction issue more than anything. Phillips has never been a great pass rusher. On an ideal roster, Phillips would rotate out on third downs for an explosive defensive tackle who can get after the quarterback. Unfortunately, the Jets don’t have a second defensive tackle who can rush the passer, so Phillips is being overused beyond his capabilities.
DT Jay Tufele: C-
Tufele hasn’t done much to prove that his preseason flashes were legitimate.
EDGE Will McDonald: B-
McDonald looks pretty good in some contextualized pass rushing metrics, but it hasn’t translated into many sacks, hits, or even pressures. He is significantly down in all three of those categories compared to last year.
McDonald deserves some slack for opponents getting the ball out quickly and the Jets’ coaches not giving him enough snaps, but it is still fair to say that McDonald is capable of producing more big-time plays than he has.
As a run defender, the numbers don’t look much different than they did in 2024, but I feel as if McDonald has slightly improved on film. He’s still subpar, as he will still get pushed around, but he is seemingly making more splash plays against the run than last year.
EDGE Jermaine Johnson: B+
Johnson is still looking to reclaim his past heights as a Pro Bowl-caliber playmaker, but for a player coming off an Achilles tear and battling more injuries, he’s made a strong impact. Johnson brings consistent pressure (although he does not get many high-quality, sack-caliber wins), sets the edge well in the run game, and has an excellent motor in pursuit of the play.
EDGE Micheal Clemons: D+
Clemons got off to a brutal start in which he committed multiple penalties, offered little to nothing as a pass rusher, and was routinely exploited in the outside run game.
To his credit, Clemons has turned it up recently, picking up eight pressures over the last three games, including a team-high four against Cincinnati and a drawn hold for a safety against Denver. Recency bias cannot cloud how much of a liability he was earlier in the season, though.
EDGE Braiden McGregor: F
Against both the pass and the run, McGregor looks like a liability whenever he is on the field. The Jets badly need to address their edge depth in the offseason.
EDGE Tyler Baron: F
Copy and paste the McGregor blurb here, although it is even more disappointing for Baron since he was a fifth-round pick. He has time to figure it out, but he’s struggled to the degree where he will likely be competing for his job next summer.
LB Jamien Sherwood: F
As a freshly minted team captain with the ink still drying on his $45 million extension, Sherwood’s performance has been inexcusable.
Sherwood routinely commits egregious blunders in coverage, has been spotted showing lackluster effort, and was even benched for a quarter in the Jets’ most recent game, suggesting a likely disciplinary reason (although Aaron Glenn declined to reveal the reasoning).
LB Quincy Williams: D
Williams hasn’t seemed to lose a step athletically, but he’s seemingly lost the discipline and fundamentals he developed under Robert Saleh, which allowed him to maximize his elite athleticism after he looked like a reckless player at the start of his career.
Williams has been a missed tackle machine this year, ranking third-worst among linebackers (min. 200 snaps) with a 23.1% missed tackle rate. He has also yielded two touchdowns and a 130.5 passer rating in coverage.
LB Francisco Mauigoa: B
Sherwood’s struggles and Williams’ injuries have thrust the fifth-round rookie into a larger role than expected to begin his career. There have been rookie bumps, as expected, but Mauigoa has shown plenty of upside that can be built upon moving forward.
CB Sauce Gardner: A
There might not be a Jet who draws more undeserved criticism than this guy, especially from Jets fans. He is a victim of his own success. Gardner is beaten so infrequently that it becomes a national headline whenever it happens, causing his mistakes to be far more memorable than those of cornerbacks who mess up more frequently.
In seven games, Gardner has allowed 10 catches on 22 targets. He’s coughed up a pair of touchdowns (one arguably being a missed OPI call on George Pickens), and he can improve on the four penalties. Still, the nitpicking for a player who routinely produces at an unmatched level is beyond my comprehension.
Gardner has also had a tremendous bounce-back year as a tackler after drawing (deserved) scrutiny for his tackling in 2024. He’s only missed two tackles and has consistently been seen making physical stops near the line of scrimmage in run support.
CB Brandon Stephens: A-
Stephens looked like his 2024 Ravens form through three games, but over the last five games, he has played up to the ceiling that New York projected when they signed him to a three-year, $36 million deal.
After the bye, Stephens’ goal is to keep the hot streak going and avoid reverting to his early-season form. Stephens will surely have some bad plays and down games, as no corner is perfect, but the challenge is to rebound quickly anytime things go south. Throughout his career, he has allowed things to snowball.
CB Jarvis Brownlee: A+
When it takes a player three games to steal the role of an accomplished veteran, deeming him expendable in the eyes of the front office, you know that he played incredibly well.
Providing tremendous physicality both in bump-and-run coverage and as a run defender, Brownlee seems like a keeper for the Jets’ defense.
CB Azareye’h Thomas: A
In limited playing time, Thomas has stepped up whenever called upon. In all three of the games where he played at least 10 snaps, Thomas recorded a pass breakup.
Thomas stepped up in relief of Gardner against Tampa Bay and Carolina. Then, as a starter against Cincinnati, he held his own against Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins for the most part. Higgins got him once for a 44-yard touchdown bomb, but outside of that, Thomas looked exceptionally stingy throughout the afternoon, helping to hold Chase and Higgins well below their usual numbers.
CB Qwan’tez Stiggers: C
Stiggers has yet to appear on defense. However, he is a critical piece of the Jets’ special teams unit, ranking second on the team with 157 snaps in that phase. Stiggers is tied for third on the Jets with five special teams tackles, although he’s also committed two penalties.
S Isaiah Oliver: D
Oliver has had some bad missed tackles and hasn’t made up for it in coverage.
S Tony Adams: F
Adams played his way to the bench with a plethora of missed tackles and coverage blunders.
S Andre Cisco: F
Signed to a one-year, $8 million deal, Cisco was expected to anchor the back end of the Jets’ defense, but he’s been a liability. He is tied for fifth among safeties in both touchdowns allowed (3) and missed tackles (9). Opponents have a 152.6 passer rating when targeting him, the second-worst among safeties to face at least 10 targets.
Ball-hawking was supposed to be a part of Cisco’s appeal, but he’s yet to record an interception and has just one pass breakup.
This signing has been a bust so far, but the good news is that Cisco is only inked for one year. This decision made sense from the start, as Cisco was a high-ceiling, low-floor free agent after an erratic career in Jacksonville. At least give Darren Mougey credit for recognizing that Cisco was too risky to ink long-term.
S Malachi Moore: C
At certain points throughout the year, PFF grades and stats have gushed over the Jets’ fourth-round rookie, but as Joe Blewett has displayed in breakdowns, Moore has been quite lucky so far. He’s been caught out of position on a number of plays in coverage, only to be bailed out.
As is always the case for a fourth-round rookie, Moore deserves time to develop his game. So far, though, the early returns have been about as expected. Moore could end up being a good starter or a career backup; he still hasn’t shown enough to suggest either possibility is more likely.
To his credit, Moore has been valuable on special teams, ranking second on the team with six tackles in that phase.
K Nick Folk: A+
Doesn’t get much better than 17 for 17 on field goals and nine for nine on extra points, does it?
P Austin McNamara: A+
McNamara leads all punters with a 4.77 average hang time. He is also first in punts downed (7), eighth in fair catches forced (10), sixth in fewest yards per punt return (6.3), and ninth in lowest return rate (38.7%). Thriving in all aspects of the position, McNamara looks like a long-term stud.
LS Thomas Hennessy: A
Hennessy’s name has not been mentioned on a broadcast this year, which means he’s doing his job.
HC Aaron Glenn: D
A one-point win over the reeling Bengals momentarily saves Glenn from one-and-done talk, but it shouldn’t change how poor the Jets’ body of work looks entering the bye. Based on the Simple Rating System (point differential adjusted for strength of schedule), they’re the second-worst team in the NFL. That’s not a product that makes fans proud, which Glenn stated as his goal.
Glenn must display growth in areas that can be attributed to him, such as game management, game planning, in-game adjustments, and the team’s overall philosophy. Cincinnati was a step forward in all of those areas, but it’s one game. Glenn has to stack these games up to erase the mountain of concerns about his coaching chops that stockpiled over the first seven games.
OC Tanner Engsrand: C
Engstrand is dealt a tough hand with his quarterback situation. In multiple games (particularly the two one-score losses from Weeks 6-7), the quarterbacks were missing wide-open receivers all game long. That’s not the OC’s fault.
Still, Engstrand can improve in many areas, namely unpredictability. He progressed in that area against the Bengals, but now he’s got to do it on a weekly basis for the next nine games.
DC Steve Wilks: D
The Wilks chatter quieted down after two strong games against Bo Nix and Bryce Young, but the spotlight is back on the embattled DC after his unit allowed 38 points to Joseph Vincent Flacco. The Jets are back down to 29th in points per game allowed (27.6) while ranking last with one takeaway.
Wilks came to New York with a track record of leading defenses to significantly worse finishes than the year prior to his arrival, and that’s on pace to happen again. While the Jets have too many defensive holes to be anywhere near an elite defense, they also have too much talent to be as poor as they have under Wilks.
Numerous players are underperforming under Wilks’ watch. Whether that’s his fault or not is subjective (should he really be blamed for Sherwood seemingly forgetting how to execute simple zone coverage assignments?), but when the coach already has a prior history of overseeing defensive declines, it is hard to be too forgiving.
STC Chris Banjo: A
The Jets rank third-best in special teams DVOA. Their return units have been routinely efficient despite many different players taking the ball out, and the coverage units get the job done.
Report Card
Good Noodles
- CB Jarvis Brownlee (A+)
- K Nick Folk (A+)
- P Austin McNamara (A+)
- OT Armand Membou (A)
- WR Garrett Wilson (A)
- CB Sauce Gardner (A)
- DT Jowon Briggs (A)
- LS Thomas Hennessy (A)
- STC Chris Banjo (A)
- CB Azareye’h Thomas (A)
- TE Mason Taylor (A-)
- DT Quinnen Williams (A-)
- CB Brandon Stephens (A-)
A Pleasure To Have In Class
- EDGE Jermaine Johnson (B+)
- RB Kene Nwangwu (B+)
- RB Breece Hall (B+)
- RB Isaiah Davis (B+)
- FB Andrew Beck (B+)
- C Josh Myers (B+)
- DT Harrison Phillips (B+)
- WR Tyler Johnson (B+)
- WR Arian Smith (B)
- LB Francisco Mauigoa (B)
- OT Max Mitchell (B)
- G Joe Tippmann (B)
- TE Jeremy Ruckert (B)
The “Meh” Club
- EDGE Will McDonald (B-)
- OC Tanner Engstrand (C)
- S Malachi Moore (C)
- CB Qwan’tez Stiggers (C)
- G John Simpson (C)
- TE Stone Smartt (C)
- WR Allen Lazard (C)
- DT Jay Tufele (C-)
- OT Olu Fashanu (C-)
- WR Josh Reynolds (C-)
- WR Isaiah Williams (C-)
After-School Detention
- EDGE Micheal Clemons (D+)
- LB Quincy Williams (D)
- RB Braelon Allen (D)
- HC Aaron Glenn (D)
- DC Steve Wilks (D)
- QB Justin Fields (D)
- QB Tyrod Taylor (D)
- S Isaiah Oliver (D)
Summer School
- EDGE Braiden McGregor (F)
- EDGE Tyler Baron (F)
- S Tony Adams (F)
- S Andre Cisco (F)
- LB Jamien Sherwood (F)
