When the New York Jets selected Florida State’s Darrell Jackson Jr. in the fourth round of the 2026 NFL draft, fans were excited to add a stout nose tackle to the team’s run defense.

But it seems like the Jets have different plans for the 103rd overall pick.

Speaking to the media on Friday ahead of New York’s rookie minicamp practice, head coach Aaron Glenn spoke about Jackson’s projected role in the defense.

“I actually see him playing, we call it the big end, so he will play a 5-technique, a 4-technique, he’ll be able to do that,” Glenn said of Jackson. “With his size and his length, he really fits that role to a T. Once we go to four-down, we’ll see exactly how he operates at the nose and at the 3-technique, and we’re going to continue to develop that player.

“Obviously, he has the size and everything. Now, it’s just understanding exactly how we want to do things, and that’s what he’s going to do all this week and going in with the vets.”

It’s a surprising, yet intriguing announcement from Glenn, considering Jackson’s physical profile and role at Florida State.

At the combine, Jackson weighed in at 315 pounds, and in 2025, for the Seminoles, Jackson was primarily known for his run-stopping production between the tackles. He had the eighth-most run stops among Power Four defensive tackles (23), but he only picked up one sack.

To hear Glenn reveal that Jackson will primarily play 5-technique (lining up over the tackle’s outside shoulder) and 4-technique (head-up over the tackle) is a mild shock. He’d be massive for the role at his current size, and it was not his primary position last season.

However, when we dig into Jackson’s history at Florida State, we can see why the Jets have arrived at this projection for him. Quietly, it’s a genius display of understanding a player’s entire resume rather than judging him on a surface-level view of his most recent season.

The evidence backing Jets’ Darrell Jackson Jr. projection

While Jackson was known as an interior run-stuffer in 2025, he played a much different role in 2024, with very different results.

Compare Jackson’s snap distribution over the last two seasons based on which offensive line position he lined up against, per Pro Football Focus:

  • 2025 (redshirt senior): 31% over center, 63% over guard, 7% over tackle
  • 2024 (redshirt junior): 11% over center, 81% over guard, 8% over tackle

Back in 2024, Jackson mostly played 3-technique for the Seminoles, with 81% of his snaps coming over the guard. He occasionally kicked inside for nose tackle reps, but only 11% of the time.

This past season, Florida State asked Jackson to focus much more heavily on interior run-stuffing duties. His snaps over the center nearly tripled.

The role change coincided with a boost to Jackson’s run stopping production, but a steep decline in his pass rushing production.

  • 2025 (redshirt senior): 81.3 PFF run defense grade, 24 run stops, 58.5 PFF pass rush grade, 14 total pressures, 1.0 sack
  • 2024 (redshirt junior): 68.0 PFF run defense grade, 17 run stops, 72.3 PFF pass rush grade, 30 total pressures, 3.5 sacks

It goes to show that Jackson shouldn’t be pigeonholed into a nose tackle projection based on his 2025 role. He played a much different role in 2024 and played it well, impacting games in a completely different way.

Of course, Jackson did not spend either of the past two seasons playing a significant chunk of time over the tackle, which is the role that Glenn projected for him on Friday. He lined up over the tackle on 8% of his snaps in 2024 and 7% in 2025.

So, if the Jets truly do ask Jackson to primarily play a “big end” role in which he logs most of his snaps across from the tackle, it will be uncharted territory for him. He’s lined up there before, but it’s never been his primary responsibility, or even his secondary one.

Still, Jackson’s history at Florida State shows why the Jets believe in his potential as a defensive end. When Jackson was spending less time lining up over the center, he was a capable pass rusher.

Combine that with his size and the run-stopping production he displayed in 2025, and the Jets probably see him as a player who could be immovable as an edge-setter while still being a competent pass rusher from that spot. Think John Franklin-Myers, but even bigger and longer.

Jackson’s 315-pound weight is not the only standout aspect of his build. He also has an 86-inch wingspan, which ranks in the 99th percentile among defensive linemen. Stick that out at 5-technique, and he’ll be landing first contact into the tackle’s chest on a high percentage of run plays, making it extremely difficult to run toward his edge.

The potential consequence of having this type of player at 5-technique is that he’d be a liability on pass plays, offering significantly less juice than your average 5-tech (in exchange for the uptick in size, power, and length against the run). But Jackson’s 2024 season provides evidence that he might have the potential to be a competent enough pass rusher from the 5-tech spot for his edge-setting to be worth it.

Perhaps the Jets still expect Jackson to drop some weight, because a 315-pound 5-technique would be quite ambitious. There are 300-plus pounders who line up in that spot every once in a while, but very few who call it their home the way Glenn seemed to indicate it will be for Jackson. It’s extremely difficult to create any sort of meaningful pressure from that position at that size.

It would not come out of the blue if New York is expecting Jackson to slim down. This past season at Florida State, he was listed at 337 pounds. He had already dropped 22 pounds from that weigh-in to the 2026 combine.

Whatever the Jets are planning for Jackson, it is clear that they view him as much more than a nose tackle. Glenn’s comments indicate that New York believes Jackson offers the capability to play all over the line of scrimmage, including the nose. It may be a surprising announcement compared to Jackson’s billing when the Jets initially drafted him, but his college resume shows why the Jets are so intrigued by his ability to play multiple spots.

Time will tell if the Jets’ vision of a 315-pound 5-technique comes to fruition. It’s a fascinating projection with some evidence to back it up, but it certainly would be unorthodox. Perhaps Jackson will indeed cut some more weight for that to be possible, or maybe the Jets will settle on keeping him inside of the tackles if there are no plans for him to slim down.

Either way, New York is excited about Jackson’s multi-faceted game and the high ceiling that comes with his remarkable combination of size and length.