Entering the 2026 season, the New York Jets were looking for a significant bounce-back year from linebacker Jamien Sherwood.

After signing a three-year, $45 million extension, he struggled mightily in his first year on the new contract.

Now, though, he is starting to come into his own.

Sherwood’s recent success

Early in the year, Sherwood struggled mightily. His performance wasn’t merely rough; there was a reasonable case to be made that he should have been benched.

But recently, he has started to turn things around in a big way.

Over the past three weeks, Sherwood has logged a 79.1 defensive grade from Pro Football Focus, while recording 11 defensive stops. For context, PFF describes a stop as a tackle that constitutes a failure for the offense, so those are difference-making plays.

Take a look at this graph to see how he stacks up against the league’s other LBs since Week 5.

Among the 75 qualifying LBs, Sherwood sits comfortably above average in both categories, where you want to see him. His 79.1 defensive grade is well above the 62.0 average, and his 11 stops are well above the 6.6 average.

This is a really encouraging leap to see over the past few weeks. Perhaps Demario Davis’ presence has lifted some responsibility off his shoulders and allowed him to play more freely.

Here is another chart, per NFL analyst Judah Fortgang, showing how effective Sherwood has been in coverage, beyond just making plays on the ball.

The chart compares linebackers by percentile rankings in separation prevented and PFF’s on-ball grade, with qualifiers requiring at least 75 snaps. Keep in mind, unlike the prior graph, this is data from the whole season, not just the past three weeks.

Sherwood is right around the 90th percentile in separation prevented, which is excellent. Based on that, he’s been one of the better linebackers in coverage, in terms of not giving his opponent much room to operate.

He also ranks around the 69th percentile for on-ball grade, which is still above average, but it’s clear Sherwood’s best work in coverage comes with preventing separation.

Altogether, this is highly encouraging for a few reasons. First, this could be Sherwood changing the tide. We saw him perform at a very high level in 2024, and he might be returning to form. While the 2025 season was a complete fall-off, the team’s entire defense looked incompetent; which player on that unit exceeded expectations?

Furthermore, the Jets are still looking to identify defensive building blocks. Sherwood has clearly flashed the potential to be one of those pieces, hence his contract extension last offseason. If he can consistently play at this level, he is a more-than-capable starting linebacker for the team, provided he is alongside someone like Davis who can handle green-dot responsibilities.

If the Jets can keep getting this level of play from Sherwood, they will be in a nice spot moving forward. Players like Kingsley Enagbare, Dane Belton, Azareye’h Thomas, and T’Vondre Sweat have emerged as potential long-term pieces on defense.

If the past few weeks are any indication, Sherwood may be joining that list.