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In the off-season, the Jets gave defensive end Joseph Ossai one of the bigger contracts they doled out in free agency, a 3-year deal for $34.5 million with $22.5 million guaranteed.
They gave another free-agent end, Kingsley Engagbare, a 1-year deal for $10 million with $8.5 million guaranteed.
While the Jets wanted both players and signed them quickly in free agency, it’s clear based on the money that Ossai was the more prized target.
As the old saying in politics goes, “Follow the money.”
Ossai hasn’t had much of an impact.
His only big splash play might was in the second quarter in Detroit, in the second quarter, when he beat tight end Brock Wright to blow up a Jahmyr Gibbs off left tackle that lost two yards. Brandon Stephens got the tackle, but it was Ossai who destroyed the play and actually drew a hold on Wright, which was declined.
Aside from that, he has been very quiet, and I think there is a reason for that. I don’t think he’s healthy. During the Jets’ preseason finale against the Giants on August 28, 2026, he suffered a ruptured plantar fascia in his left foot. That is usually a 6-12 week recovery. After missing the first two games, he has played the last two weeks, so he returned after about a month.
And if you watch the replay of that great play he made against the Lions, he came up hobbling after the play and was flexing his foot.
It’s clear he’s fighting through this to help the team, perhaps taking a shot before the game to play, but there is a good chance it’s impacting his performance to a degree . . .
Sometimes when teams are struggling, some will point to injuries as the reason why.
Jets have some injury issues.
Former Jets QB Boomer Esiason doesn’t want to hear it.
“Every other team out there is fighting with injuries as well,” Esiason said on WFAN on Monday.
Fair point. So many teams are ravaged by injuries as well, so it’s not just a Jets issue.
The Carolina Panthers beat the Detroit Lions on Sunday night without both starting cornerbacks and offensive tackles.
The Jets had some injuries against the Lions, but lost a winnable game.
As Tony Dungy liked to say, “No excuses, no explanations.” . . .
Speaking of Esiason, who was very candid about how poorly the Jets played in Chicago, he made an important point people should take heed of when assessing this game.
“The Bears defense is not that good,” Esiason said.
Keep in mind, in their opening day over Carolina, Panthers QB Bryce Young threw for 361 yards and three touchdowns. He also ran for a score.
The last three weeks, they have been better, but they faced Minnesota in a rainstorm and knocked the Vikings’ starting QB out early in that game, and then against Philly and Jalen Hurts, that is an offense which is quite a dysfunctional mess right now. On Sunday, in a loss to the Los Angeles Rams, Hurts finished the game 12-of-27 for 93 pass yards.
Former Eagles QB Nick Foles said on his SZN podcast that Hurts is missing open receivers because he’s not going through progressions and is late with the throws.
But if you watch the first half of the Eagles-Bears game, Philly was moving the ball with relative ease. On a long first-half drive, while deep in Bear territory, backup QB Andy Dalton came in for Hurts for a few plays (an independent neurologist made Hurts go to the blue tent), and threw an awful pick in the middle of the end zone.
Yes, Dennis Allen is a terrific defensive coordinator who does a good job disguising his defensive looks. However, the Jets on Sunday made the ’26 Bears look like the ’85 Bears, and they are nowhere near that . . .
So how do the Jets turn around this oil tanker?
I’d lean heavily on Demario Davis.
He is not only the player leader, but was on a lot of winning teams in New Orleans. He is the quintessential alpha dog leader.
“Your player council has to turn the heat up on everybody,” Esiason said.
Davis is on that player council.
To be blunt, Davis, who is not afraid of blunt honesty with teammates, needs to read the riot act to the defensive tackles, whose run defense was atrocious the last two weeks.
Nobody asked Glenn about the run defense in his presser today after they gave up 223 yards to the Bears. Different times.
But usually when you ask coaches about a position that is struggling, they will say, “We all need to play better, it’s not just them.”
Fair enough, but you could make a strong argument that the run defense issues start with that position.
On too many plays, DTs are getting velcroed to blocks, opening up big holes up the middle . . .
After the Jets loss to Green Bay, SNY’s Connor Hughes tweeted, “I think Aaron Glenn has exceeded all expectations calling the defense. This is not a particularly talented unit and he has them playing really, really good ball.”
Tennessee’s a bad team with a QB who is over his skis, and Green Bay’s offense was ravaged by injuries. Facing two much better offenses the last two weeks, the Jets got dominated.
So you could argue that, even though Hughes is a rising star in the business, that tweet didn’t age that well.
October 5, 2026
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