Not moving needle much, but what the Jets need

These two signings didn’t cost the Jets a lot, and didn’t excite many fans, but could turn out to be two of their most important.

Talking about the Jets signing two massive run-stuffing defensive tackles – Javon Kinlaw and Leki Foku.

Kinlaw, who is 6-5, 319, was the 2020 first-round pick of the San Francisco 49ers, selected 14th overall. Foku, who is 6-5, 335, was a 2020 fourth-round pick of the Arizona Cardinals. So the Jets are getting two of the better defensive tackles from the 2020 draft, now four years into the development.

And considering how raw both were entering the league, that point shouldn’t be taken lightly. They are now getting two guys who needed a lot of work on technique and pad level entering the league, four years into NFL position coaches working like crazy with both of them on these things.

If both can stay healthy, they could fix the Jets’ big problem up the middle of having undersized defensive tackles getting engulfed by much bigger interior offensive linemen opening big holes for opposing running backs.

Both guys are actually over 6-5, and should also make it hard for opposing quarterbacks to see the middle of the field when they put their arms up.

They both signed one-year deals, which is also a plus, because with big guys, you always want to keep them motivated for the next contract. I’m not saying either one of these guys lacks a motor, just saying in general, it’s always good to keep dangling the carrot for the next contract in front of massive linemen.

As you can imagine, running around carrying 330 pounds, isn’t easy. So you need to keep pushing a lot of these guys, so the Jets’ fiery defensive line coach, Aaron Whitecotton, should work well with both of these guys.

Look, I’m not putting either one of these guys in Canton, I’m just talking about how important it is that Joe Douglas went out and addressed a bigger need than most people realize, early in free agency, and didn’t even have to spend a lot of money.

So many people keep talking about how great the Jets defense was last year, but was it?

There is no doubt the pass rush was very good, and the three corners were terrific – Sauce Garder, D.J. Reed and Michael Carter.

But the run defense was not good. Why so many people are glossing over that, I have no idea.

A big problem was smallish defensive linemen getting enveloped, and it wasn’t just the interior defensive tackles, but some of the ends.

This smaller quicker lineman thing works great if you beat offensive linemen into gaps off the snap, but if you don’t, and they get their mitts on men they outweigh significantly, you’ve got trouble.

Also, because a lot of the small Jets defensive linemen were too often easily handled by one blocker, too often offensive linemen were able to pull to the second level, and take out 5-11, 225-pound linebacker Quincy Williams.

Williams still made a lot of tackles, but on some big runs, he was taken out by pulling linemen.

Can you imagine how many tackles Williams could make with defensive linemen taking up double teams, allowing him to flow to the ball more? This cat could get like 160 tackles.

So it’s smart for Douglas, Robert Saleh and Jeff Ulbrich to make a concerted effort to get bigger on the interior, and not just with one 36-year-old nose tackle at the end of his career, but with two beefy studs in their mid-20s.

March 13, 2023

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