When people talk about Jets needs this off-season, you often hear about things like edge-rusher, shutdown corner. and maybe a quarterback.
But another need that isn’t brought up enough, is for an elite coverage linebacker. The pass coverage of the Jets’ linebackers was pedestrian in 2020.
The last game of the season, a loss to New England, was a perfect example, when we saw two running backs wide open for TD passes – James White for a 7-yarder, and then Sony Michel for a 31-yard TD.
The bottom line is there were too many running backs and tight ends wide open against the Jets last season, so new head coach Robert Saleh, a defensive guru, needs to fix this.
And one thing Saleh had in San Francisco were pretty good coverage linebackers, who covered a lot of ground, so expect him, along with Joe Douglas, to add some guys like this for Gang Green.
Jets defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich had one of the NFL’s best coverage linebackers, Deion Jones, while coaching in Atlanta.
So Saleh and Ulbrich know what it looks like.
Some coverage linebackers the Jets could consider in the draft are North Carolina’s Chazz Surratt, Missouri’s Nick Bolton and Notre Dame’s Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah.
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