Geno Smith was solid, Kenyon Sadiq was sidelined, and the defense forced multiple turnovers. Those are the New York Jets training camp headlines most fans have seen by now.
The most attention-grabbing and bigger-named items will always lead the way. Hey, that’s just the way it is.
Yet there’s something bubbling beneath the surface that warrants careful consideration as Aaron Glenn’s defense continues to go about its business this August. It’s also a somewhat concerning one, even though camp is still only a handful of days old.
Jets’ gap integrity needs work
Granted, Tuesday morning’s session in Florham Park, N.J., may have merely been the team’s second full-gear day this offseason — following Monday’s introduction — but no defensive architect alive would wash away even the slightest concern about his unit’s gap integrity.
That’s where it all begins for a defense.
Fans and media members can obsess over interceptions all they want, while citing the historic goose egg put up last season. They can harp on the team’s 26 sacks, which placed them in the undesirable 31st spot of 32 NFL teams.
Neither of those concerns will move an inch if the team’s run-fit design doesn’t come correct. That’s all there is to it.
Time and again, Frank Reich’s offense enjoyed running room on several specific concepts during Tuesday morning’s practice. The rushing highlight of the day belonged to Breece Hall, who popped one for 40-plus yards on a design that was intended to take advantage of an over-aggressive defense.
Rookie David Bailey took an outside angle past right tackle Armand Membou, one that took him way too far downhill on the play. That allowed Hall entirely too much weak-side cutback room, which he took advantage of.
Bailey was far from the only culprit, however, as the backside interior of the line overextended down the line.
Third-and-2-to-6
Glenn informed the media that Tuesday’s emphasis was third-and-2-to-6 situations. Based on most of the looks and concepts run — on both sides of the ball — it makes sense.
“Today, the emphasis was third-and-2-to-6 (situations), Glenn revealed after the morning practice. “I thought our guys did a good job, and I’m looking forward to this off-day for the guys, so they can recover. Then, going into the next week, when we start doing our third-and-7-plus (situations).”
By no means should any fan be frantic over this callout. Remember, Glenn inherited a defense that lived by Robert Saleh’s attack-react system, in which traveling downhill was a badge of honor rather than a demerit.
Even if most of Glenn’s 2026 starters weren’t a part of the Saleh squads, this is a new defense, even when stacking it to the 2025 version Steve Wilks designed. Instead of more four-down-front looks in base, Glenn is leaning more on odd principles that live and die with the react-attack flow (as he even admitted was his intention this past spring).
For the most part, the Jets’ straightforward, quick-hitting in-between-the-tackles concepts didn’t hit notable daylight. At the same time, they also weren’t completely stifled on Tuesday.
But when considering T’Vondre Sweat’s presence, those three big fellas along the interior will undoubtedly make it difficult for opposing offenses to run it straight ahead. Some defensive fronts just make that a stone-cold reality from the outset, and this is one such example.
Therefore, this Jets defense has one clear goal, for which everything else is possible: maintain gap integrity and run fits against the concepts that leave them vulnerable.
Width and backside misdirection
While New York should be stout between the tackles (particularly A and B gaps), defending the wide concepts and back-side misdirection (junk) will be the challenge.
The wide stuff leaves them vulnerable for obvious reasons: Deploying three big heavies along the interior, instead of two, makes the east-west game tougher.
The misdirection to the weak side is critical due to the team’s weak-side edge (3-4 outside linebacker, either David Bailey or Will McDonald) and linebacker (Jamien Sherwood) not being the heaviest run-defender types. Not surprisingly, the aforementioned Breece rush to the house undoubtedly falls under the weak-side misdirection bucket.
Another example on this day featured Hall finding room off the left-side edge for an easy 10-plus yards. This one featured perimeter run fits and spacing that left a lot to be desired.
This is where the likes of Jamien Sherwood have to step up. His skill-set is uniquely correct to get sideline-to-sideline, whereas Demario Davis can fill/spill — with physicality — with the best of them.
Kingsley Enagbare sets a strong edge, as does the currently sidelined Joseph Ossai, but remember that Tuesday’s situation focused on balanced third-down scenarios. This means plenty of Bailey and Will McDonald, and plenty of situations for which the defensive coaching (and calls) have to decide whether or not they want to release the kraken — let their two edge rushers do their thing via sandlot style.
When that occurs, however, the defense’s overall integrity takes a major hit — even in true passing situations that call for responsible rush lanes and contain against a mobile threat like Josh Allen.
The defensive positives
Never (or rarely) is it all bad (or good) in a single practice. Even with some baseline concerns about the team’s run fits, it’s really early in the process, and some positive signs showed face.
For instance, on one go-around, Bailey remained responsible twice. He stayed home, flat, and read things in a promising way, closing down the line while getting in on gang tackles.
On one of those plays, McDonald used his quickness to squeeze the edge down in a way that forced Braelon Allen to hop to the backside with nowhere to go.
Also, after a nicely executed quick-designed passing play to Omar Cooper Jr. — for which Isaiah Williams deserves a shoutout for his perimeter blocking — sophomore Kiko Mauigoa took a pursuit angle, with hustle, that coaches dream of.
The forced fumble got the defense in an electric mood early in the morning.
Geno and the passing game
Geno Smith enjoyed a solid day. He continued his veteran-ish reads of the defense, while licking his chops whenever he reads middle-open.
Seriously, folks: When Geno sees middle-closed (single-high), he does not hesitate to attack the defense outside the numbers. It’s why the likes of AD Mitchell have been so active during the offseason.
Early in teams (11v11), Geno hit Mitchell on an intermediate out-breaker against Brandon Stephens. The timing was so insanely correct that Stephens’s only shot was to borrow mutant abilities from the X-Men.
Around the same time, he looked for Mitchell on a comeback-type route, but Stephens remained sticky throughout. It was an excellent break on the ball, helping Stephens continue his mini-rebound from a rough start to camp.
The Jets’ free-agent cornerback from a year ago was rewarded with a tipped interception on a well-covered attempt (Sherwood) to Mason Taylor.
Eventually, the boundary corners adjusted. Even in single-high looks, they began sitting on the intermediate stuff. It led to a couple of dicey throws by Geno, one of which was an AZ Thomas pass breakup against Garrett Wilson, and another was a Minkah Fitzpatrick pass breakup in 7v7.
Other news and notes
Rookie Cade Klubnik looked much better a day after his tricky Monday morning practice. He was more confident in his reads, as one vertical shot to Isaiah Williams nearly resulted in a beauty.
Speaking of that Williams guy, he came away with the catch of the day against Jarvis Brownlee Jr.:
While 7v7 was happening, pass-rush drills broke out. Armand Membou stole the show, stonewalling both Bailey and McDonald.
Bailey enjoyed a nice outside move against Olu Fashanu on one rep, but it was far from clean. A real-life play would have seen the quarterback step up with ease, as Fashanu would have guided Bailey further downfield.
On the Jets’ injury front, Glenn revealed that Kenyon Sadiq Jr. will be out for a bit. The rookie tight end suffered a setback from his offseason hernia surgery, yet the head coach isn’t concerned about his long-term availability.
The New York Jets will take an off day on Wednesday before getting back after it on Thursday morning.
