With team on a three-game losing streak, grim skies are back in the cloudy land of New York Jets football.
Nonetheless, credit is due when the team does something right.
Despite New York’s historically inept performance against the Chicago Bears, one of their most significant offseason investments paid dividends: the trade and extension for safety Minkah Fitzpatrick.
The Minkah Fitzpatrick trade was an instant hit
Sunday essentially marked Fitzpatrick’s Jets debut. He played just six snaps in the season opener before going down with a groin injury, which cost him the next two days.
The 29-year-old returned in Week 4 to play 100% of the Jets’ defensive snaps, which turned out to be a shockingly hefty workload of 93 plays, given that New York’s defense was on the field for almost 43 minutes. Toss in the challenge of playing on the road against Ben Johnson, and it was a daunting situation for an aging defensive back in his return from an injury.
Fitzpatrick, the three-time All-Pro, was up to the test, showing that he still has plenty of gas left in the tank.
In the second quarter, Fitzpatrick snapped the Jets’ 20-game interception drought with a beauty of a break on a deep in-cut, coming from a deep-half alignment in Cover 2. He looked like the vintage version of himself on the play.
The interception was the highlight of the day (both for Fitzpatrick and the team), but it was part of a well-rounded performance for New York’s eldest DB. Fitzpatrick recorded a career-high 16 tackles, and, more importantly, was not credited with any missed tackles on that high volume.
While most of the Jets defense struggled against the run, Fitzpatrick was a valuable contributor in that phase, recording 10 tackles with no misses, including three stops.
In coverage, it was a shaky day for Fitzpatrick outside of the interception. He was credited with allowing 3-of-4 passing for 75 yards and an interception on throws in his direction.
On a key third-down play in the fourth quarter, Fitzpatrick and cornerback Brandon Stephens were matched up against two tight ends, with Fitzpatrick seemingly responsible for the first inside break and Stephens responsible for the outside break. Fitzpatrick was late to read the concept and allowed Colston Loveland to break open toward the inside on a slant, gaining 18 yards.
On the opening drive of the game, Fitzpatrick coughed up a 20-yard catch to wide receiver Luther Burden. Playing the deep half in Cover 2, Fitzpatrick made a solid break out in front of Burden’s in-cut (similar to the route that he broke on for an interception later, with a TE running the route instead of a WR), and he contested the pass well, but Burden secured a difficult catch.
The longest gain credited to Fitzpatrick was a 37-yard catch by wide receiver Rome Odunze. Fitzpatrick, playing the deep half in Cover 2, slid a little too far outside and allowed Odunze to break free on a post route over the middle.
New York certainly needs Fitzpatrick to cut down on the coverage mistakes, but he won’t be playing on the road against Ben Johnson’s genius route concepts every week. The Jets’ non-existent pass rush also deserves some blame for allowing deep route concepts to develop on a consistent basis.
Fitzpatrick’s interception, though, was impactful enough to cancel out the mistakes. That isn’t to say that the Jets would be okay with him allowing three 18+ yard gains every week if he continues racking up interceptions, but it’s safe to assume that Fitzpatrick will not allow anywhere close to 75 yards per game over the course of the season.
Overall, it was a solid return for Fitzpatrick. He instantly delivered the takeaway that he was acquired to deliver, and he had a supremely impressive game as a tackler. The hope, though, is that the coverage woes were a flash in the pan, rather than a sign of decline from the nearly 30-year-old safety.
The Jets signed Fitzpatrick to a three-year, $40 million deal this offseason, which runs through the 2028 season, so his play is important for the future of the organization, even though he is one of the team’s older players.
The deal includes $20.5 million guaranteed, which is made up of his 2026 base salary ($5.5 million), signing bonus ($7.5 million), and $7 million of his $13 million base salary in 2027, along with per-game active bonuses that can climb to a maximum of $500,000.
Barring a trade, New York will likely stick with Fitzpatrick through at least the 2027 season. If they release Fitzpatrick after this season, they would only save $2 million in cap space while eating $13 million in dead money; his cap hit next year is slated to be $15 million.
The Jets will have an escape route in the 2028 offseason, when they can release Fitzpatrick to save $10 million in cap space while eating just $4.5 million in dead money. However, Fitzpatrick’s cap hit will actually decline from $15 million in 2027 to $14.5 million in 2028, so, if he still looks like a good starter in 2027, they may elect to keep him around.
There is plenty of time left to evaluate where Fitzpatrick stands, but his quasi-Jets debut was mostly promising, although it also showed some warts that need to be cleaned up.
