Welcome to summer football, the time when text on a screen is most important.

Fantasy football players partake in this ritual, as do general NFL fans. Shoot, even players, coaches, and executives — within the league — cannot avoid the same exercise.

The act of finding the appropriate team page, locating the correct position, and locating the information on the depth chart is the reference of the moment.

Hey, everybody does it. The only question is as follows: Are you maintaining the proper perspective while downloading depth chart information into your brain?

For the New York Jets defense, in particular, it’s not even close to as simple as rattling off depth chart names when analyzing how the unit will play this season.

For instance, Demario Davis is only one name that appears on the depth chart. Yet his importance extends well beyond a mere name on a screen generated by HTML tables. The intangibles Davis produces for this franchise — let alone one defensive unit — are immeasurable.

The same can be said for Joseph Ossai’s absence from Aaron Glenn’s New York Jets defense, with a bit of a twist.

Ossai’s absence skews the balance

Glenn knew precisely what he was doing during this past free-agent period. He committed to a history of violence.

The Jets head coach understood that his defense needed more physical, react-attack defenders who could do their jobs in a 1-of-11 fashion. It’s this mentality that allows a defensive unit to stop the run.

Trading for T’Vondre Sweat, and signing Demario Davis, David Onyemata, Kingsley Enagbare, and Joseph Ossai all honed in on a particular way to play the game. The world instantly knew Glenn wanted to field an odd-front team that looked to two-gap things much more often.

Granted, Ossai isn’t a world-beater against the run. Still, at the very least, his game absolutely falls in line with the three-down group.

Fast-forward to the NFL draft, and suddenly, Glenn and general manager Darren Mougey felt the freedom to draft Texas Tech edge defender David Bailey. It was at that point when the Jets felt their edge room was quite balanced.

On one side of the room, Enagbare and Ossai commiserated as the more balanced edge defenders who played stout in straight-up situations, whereas the other side of the room saw Bailey and Will McDonald, a couple of defenders who play much differently.

Point-of-attack gaming

It’s pretty easy to spot Glenn’s defensive strategy: Get ready for some edge games.

As loud as the hype was during training camp, rookie David Bailey still has a long road to travel. His balanced-down instincts are nowhere where they need to be, and his point-of-attack play is anything but satisfactory.

Hey, that’s just the reality of the situation, and a reminder that he still is, indeed, a rookie. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that.)

Pair that with Will McDonald’s suspect point-of-attack play, and suddenly, a defensive architect has a major problem on his hands. How does one construct a defense that hides these guys adequately enough on early downs — if both are on the field at the same time?

Just a quick glance at the preseason tape makes it crystal clear that replacing either Bailey or McDonald is one of the ways. The very first defensive play of the preseason saw Glenn blitz Minkah Fitzpatrick off Bailey’s edge, while asking the rookie to use his quickness inside (an inside slant).

That’s the ticket. Unfortunately, that cannot be done on every play (higher risk, higher reward), and it cannot be done on both sides.

Expect to see Braiden McGregor

One of the noisiest topics surrounding the Jets’ 53-man roster was the inclusion of veteran Braiden McGregor in favor of the practice-squad-bound Nate Lynn.

Based on splash plays, Lynn was favored to make the roster. Unfortunately for Lynn, splash plays still, indeed, count only as a single play — despite the added hype each generates.

Keeping Lynn would have resulted in rostering an insanely heavy pass-rush edge room. Bailey, McDonald, and Lynn would have represented pass-rush edge players, mainly, whereas Enagbare would have been the lone balanced player.

Because Ossai is still on the active roster, Glenn only had four spots to use. Therefore, McGregor, who’s a much more balanced player in terms of keys, reads, and instincts, made the cut.

McGregor has absolutely no pass-rushing juice, but he can hold the point of attack when the defense needs that stoutness, which can be projected as “early and often.”

Expect heavy 12-personnel from Tennessee

The other factor stars the Tennessee Titans’ offensive strategy. Offensive coordinator Brian Daboll is mainly known to use 11 personnel, but he’ll absolutely use multiple tight ends when necessary.

Week 1 against the Jets might just be that “when necessary” for him. Interestingly, it’ll have more to do with forcing Glenn into a certain look — in an effort to open up the run game — rather than featuring his own tight ends.

What we’ve currently seen from Glenn, in terms of personnel matching, is as follows:

  • 3-4 base against 21 personnel (or any fullback/H-back usage)
  • Nickel (3 cornerbacks) against 11 personnel
  • Big Nickel (3 safeties) against 12 personnel

Of course, Glenn will also utilize 3-4 base against 12- and/or 13-personnel looks, but if the pattern holds, he prefers to trot Big Nickel out there when the offense fields 12 personnel. It makes sense.

Much of the NFL has gone to this strategy. Using a third safety who can run and tackle — instead of an extra linebacker — potentially squashes the matchup issues that athletic tight ends create. It’s especially important to use against teams that possess extremely explosive tight ends who aren’t the best blockers.

In essence, the Jets will never use a 4-3 defense (if this pattern holds into the start of the regular season). At no point in time will Jets fans see three second-level linebackers on the field at the same time.

However, if the Jets use Big Nickel against the Titans’ two-tight-end looks, it would mean using a four-down front. Unless Glenn has some sort of 3-3-5 Big Nickel look in his back pocket, New York’s defense will have to stop the run out of a four-down front.

This is much more difficult than when stopping the run out of a 3-4, which, in essence, is a five-down look. More specifically, it places more pressure on the edge defenders against the run.

Final thoughts

Ossai’s absence means Aaron Glenn has to rely on a couple of players more often on early-down situations — David Bailey and Will McDonald — whose pass-rush mentality is apparent. That is, unless Braiden McGregor plays more than anybody believes is possible, or wishes to witness.

How often the Jets’ defense is forced to stop the run out of the four-down front looms large. Perhaps that answer comes down to how stout the interior three are when the 3-4 stars on early downs.

Either way, without Ossai, all eyes are on the New York Jets’ pass-rushing predators. Well, at least those who pay attention to the nitty-gritty will be firmly zeroed in on the topic.

If the New York Jets’ defense can force plenty of second and/or third-and-long situations, the suspect balanced-down nature of Will McDonald and David Bailey will turn into a celebratory feeling on third-and-long.

Stop the run on early downs, and reap the rewards on passing downs. Do the dirty work that allows the pass-rush predators to hunt.

Without Joseph Ossai, however, how much more difficult does that task become?