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Today is cut down, but I don’t feel the need to get too much into that today, because most of it is chalk.
Aside from perhaps two or three positions, you basically know that the roster is going to look like before camp opens, unless there are injuries, of course. You, or I could have said what the roster and depth chart would look like after camp, before camp began.
With NFL teams, there is a lot of self-fulfilling prophecies and confirmation bias at work when it comes to roster spots.
Because even if a long shot has better camp than a draft pick (a pick of a current regime, not an inherited pick), NFL teams will tell you, “Well, the draft pick has more of an upside.”
It is what it is.
Baseball has a much better system for player development and for roster decisions than football. You are in the minors, you work your way up through merit, regardless of how you acquired. In the NFL, there is too much anointing oil.
I will get into the Jets cuts tomorrow, but today, I want to focus on the Jets trade for defensive tackle Harrison Phillips from the Minnesota Vikings.
The trade for Phillips is significant because it points to the fact that they still feel they need to fix the issue that has plagued them the last couple of years – interior run defense.
The Vikings added defensive tackles Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave in the off-season, so they decided to move on from Phillips, to clear up $7.4 million in salary cap space for the 2025 NFL season. They have cap issues, and that is too big a number for a #3 defensive tackle.
This is a very important move for the Jets whose interior run defense the last couple of years was a horror show.
While this issue was ignored by many, perhaps because it has nothing to do with fantasy football, it was a huge problem the last couple of years.
Phillips is a very good interior run defender.
It’s funny, I read a newspaper article about Phillips after the trade, and the account stated: “Phillips did not have his most productive defensive season one year ago with 56 combined tackles and two sacks in 17 games.”
My first reaction after reading that was, “Wait a minute, 56 tackles for a defensive tackle – that is pretty good.”
Quinnen Williams had 37 tackles last year.
That isn’t meant as a shot at Williams, but just to point out, interior defensive tackles don’t amass nearly as many tackles as linebackers.
So the Jets would sign up for 56 tackles from Phillips.
And the sack part. Look, Phillips has never been considered a great pass rusher, but more a guy that does the dirty work, stopping the run, and tying up blockers so other players can make plays.
He’s also a fantastic locker room guy and one of the most charitable players in the NFL through his foundation. His character is through the roof.
So this is a smart move by the Jets.
The signing of DT Derrick Nnadi didn’t work out, Byron Cowart is hurt, Phidarian Mathis was inherited from the old regime, so they had no equity in him, so they need Phillips (and Jay Tufele) to help complement Williams as a big-bodied run stuffer.
As for the other defensive tackle they traded for, Jowon Briggs, he was likely to be cut by Cleveland, so that was a move to beat the waiver wire.
I have no idea if he can help the Jets right now, and he could end up on the practice squad at some point after the roster gymnastics we often see over the next few weeks this time of year.
August 26, 2025
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