The New York Jets are 1-3, and their already fleeting playoff hopes will be on the brink when they host the Cleveland Browns on Sunday.

It would be a stretch to label New York’s 1-3 record as “surprising”. After all, the team had a 5.5 win total coming into the season.

Still, the Jets invested plenty of draft capital and cap space to improve their roster this offseason, and they were still unable to win more than one of their first four games, despite dodging a plethora of injured stars on opposing rosters. Surely, there are some underperformers responsible.

Here are the top five Jets who need to step their games up.

5. EDGE Joseph Ossai

Second-overall pick David Bailey was a contender for this spot, but Bailey has at least made some positive contributions to the defense, even if his pass rushing must be significantly better for a player of his draft status (even as a rookie).

Joseph Ossai, however, has yet to contribute anything positive to the Jets.

After missing the first two games with a foot injury, Ossai returned in Week 3, and he has been a liability through two appearances.

Ossai has yet to record a pressure over 34 pass-rush snaps. Against the run, he has as many missed tackles (2) as stops (2), with his most notable moment being a brutal rep of back-side edge-contain against Jahmyr Gibbs in Week 3, yielding a touchdown on what should have been a tackle for loss.

Some grace is warranted due to Ossai’s injury, which plagued him throughout the summer, but the Jets need far more out of a $34.5 million player.

4. TE Mason Taylor

The Jets are hurting badly on offense. Wide receiver Adonai Mitchell, running back Breece Hall, and left guard Dylan Parham will all miss their second straight game on Sunday, while wide receiver Omar Cooper Jr. will miss his fourth straight game.

New York needs more offensive firepower wherever they can get it, and one of the best potential sources is their 2025 second-round pick, Mason Taylor.

The LSU product is set to return against the Browns after missing two consecutive games. Before his injury, Taylor was off to an ice-cold start. He caught just two passes for -3 yards, committed a crucial false start penalty ahead of a third-and-1 attempt, and was lucky to get away with what looked like a lost fumble.

Taylor, though, is a talented all-around tight end with plenty of untapped potential at 22 years old. He is a capable blocker and has a high ceiling in contested-catch situations; he caught 11 of 14 contested targets in 2025, giving him the second-best contested-catch rate (78.6%) among tight ends, trailing only George Kittle.

The Jets have been mediocre in the red zone, ranking 18th with a 54.5% touchdown conversion rate (6 of 11). Taylor can help in that area.

3. LB Jamien Sherwood

This is the second consecutive season that Jamien Sherwood has been frequently highlighted as a Jets player who needs to step his game up, which is not a good sign.

Since signing a three-year, $45 million contract ahead of the 2025 season, Sherwood has hardly looked like a starter, let alone a player worth $15 million per year. The 2026 season has been no different.

Sherwood has already given up 166 yards on throws into his coverage, the 12th-most among linebackers, despite playing just 110 coverage snaps, the 40th-most. His 1.51 yards allowed per coverage snap is the sixth-worst mark among 68 qualified linebackers.

This was supposed to be an ideal situation for Sherwood to bounce back. Veteran leader Demario Davis took over green-dot responsibilities, taking communicative pressure off Sherwood’s shoulders. Seemingly, that would be ideal for a smaller linebacker like Sherwood, allowing him to freely fly around and make plays, but little has changed.

2. EDGE Will McDonald

I have advocated for Will McDonald to receive more playing time, and in Week 4, he got just that, albeit mainly due to Kingsley Enagbare’s injury. McDonald played 71% of the defensive snaps, more than double his 34% rate from Week 3.

However, McDonald did not deliver in the expanded role. Across 26 pass-rush snaps, he failed to record a sack or hit. McDonald had three pressures, but none were particularly valuable. They were also his first pressures since Week 1. Over the last three games, McDonald has three pressures on 51 pass-rush snaps.

In the past, McDonald has typically played better when given more playing time. Going into Week 4, McDonald had been averaging 14.0 sacks per 1,000 defensive snaps in games where he played at least 50% of the snaps, compared to 11.3 sacks per 1,000 snaps when he played less than half of the snaps.

But at Soldier Field, McDonald failed to make a meaningful pass-rush impact despite getting plenty of chances to do so. Now, playing time can no longer be used as an excuse for his cold streak.

It’s make-or-break time for McDonald as the Jets approach a decision on his future, either in the offseason or ahead of this year’s trade deadline.

1. LT Olu Fashanu

As the 11th overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft, Olu Fashanu is the largest investment on this list, even if he was drafted by the Jets’ previous regime. Therefore, he carries some of the highest expectations of any player on the roster, especially considering the value of the position he plays.

Fashanu has not been meeting those expectations in 2026. Through Week 4, he leads all NFL offensive linemen with five sacks allowed, per Pro Football Focus. The picture isn’t much prettier if you expand to include all forms of pressure, as his 11 total pressures allowed are the seventh-most among left tackles.

In addition, Fashanu is one of the culprits in the Jets’ chronic run-blocking woes over their three-game losing streak. The Jets usually avoid running toward Fashanu, logging just 12 carries into the left-side B or C gap over four games, and the results show why: they average just 3.2 yards per carry on those attempts.

While Fashanu seems to be at least a competent starter at the minimum, he has yet to definitively establish himself as the Jets’ long-term answer at left tackle. New York needs him to start playing at that level if they want to salvage their 2026 season.

Drive-killing sacks have occurred at the worst times in each of the Jets’ losses over this three-game losing streak, and Fashanu has been the most common culprit for them. It will be extremely hard for the Jets to win close games if their left tackle continues to be counted on for at least one momentum-crushing sack per game.