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“New” Jets linebacker Demario Davis made the same point a couple of times in a press conference last Thursday.
“The first thing for a good defense, foundationally, is you have to stop the run,” Davis said early in his presser.
Then he circled back later.
“You have to stop the run to be an effective defense and you need guys who can do it,” Davis said.
A guy “who can do it” is defensive tackle David Onyemata, who the Jets signed in the off-season, a former New Orleans Saints teammate of Davis.
They were teammates in New Orleans from 2018-22. The first three years together, they were part of a high-level defense, on teams that went 13-3, 13-3, and 12-4, respectively.
Davis had a front row seat to watch Onyemata as the inside linebacker playing right behind the defensive tackle.
And Davis feels Onyemata is one of the best run defenders he’s ever played with.
“I’ve played with a lot of guys, but he’s easily one of the top five run defenders I’ve ever played with,” Davis said.
The Saints had one of the league’s better defenses during that three-year playof run, and Onyemata’s run defense was a big reason for that.
“On short yardage downs when teams tried to run the ball downhill, he can play on the backside, the frontside of the play, and commands double teams,” Davis said.
Aside from playing with great technique, Davis feels a key to Onyemata’s success is that he’s “a dawg.”
“When they snap the ball, it’s just [you] and the guy in front of [you], and you need that (dawg) mindset – he’s one of those guys that has it,” Davis said.
“Dawg” is a slang term for somebody who is “resilient, relentless, highly competitive and never gives up.”
So the additions of Onyemata and 6-4, 366-pound defensive tackle T’Vondre Sweat should help spearhead a vast improvement in the Jets’ run defense, which was substandard last year.
Davis, a tackling machine, playing in the back of two excellent run defenders in Onyemata and Sweat, should make it much more challenging for opponents to run up the middle on the Jets in 2026.
It looks like Jamien Sherwood is going to be the linebacker lining up next to Davis. Some consider him a tackling machine as well. The Auburn product led the Jets with 154 tackles last year.
But sometimes linebacker tackle totals can be misleading. You always need to consider where the tackles are taking place.
Too often last year, it seemed like teams were gaining five or six yards on first down, setting up favorable second down scenarios for opponents.
So the point is, yes Sherwood had a lot of tackles last year, but where did they take place?
To be fair, the Jets’ run game issues last year, and myriad big chunk runs on first down, were far from just Sherwood’s issue. He had plenty of company, and some of the reasons he was making too many of those tackles after nice gains, was the fault of others.
Like for instance, the Jets’ defensive line had a bad season (why do you think they might all new starters upfront this year), so what would often happen is the defensive linemen didn’t command double teams, so offensive linemen were often pulling to the second level and enveloping the Jets linebackers.
Another issue was Sherwood’s partner at linebacker last year, running around blogs, instead of taking them on, creating big gaps. Having Davis next to him should help. Davis is not going to guess gaps and run around blocks as much as Sherwood’s old partner.
Also, it stands to reason that with what looks like a much-improved defensive line, opposing offensive lines will have to double-team certain cats, and this will help Sherwood flow to the ball less encumbered than last year, which should help him make tackles after short gains, not 5-6 yard gains.
With the additions of Onyemata and Sweat, along with better edge-setters on the edge in ends Kingsley Enagbare and Joseph Ossai, it would be shocking if the Jets’ run defense doens’t improve significantly in 2026.
June 1, 2026
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