Sunday Night Whispers – This is the biggest problem . . .

The Jets’ defense had its fifth poor performance of the season in the team’s 37-22 loss to Dallas.

The cookbook answer to fixing the defense, and you hear this narrative a lot, is that Aaron Glenn should get more involved in the defense, and perhaps even take over play-calling.

I don’t think that would help.

First of all, Glenn is very involved in the defense, and while perhaps, at times, Steve Wilks’ play-calling could be better, the issue on that side of the ball isn’t just X’s and O’s related.

They have significant personnel issues on defense. Some mistakes were made with the construction of the 2025 roster and depth chart, and those issues have reared their head over and over again during the 0-5 start.

The Jets have a defensive end rotation now that wasn’t well thought out.

Tyler Baron and Braiden McGregor are practice-squad types who are playing a ton, and Michael Clemons is in the wrong system – he’s a 3-4 end playing in a 4-3 defense. Will McDonald has some juice as a pass rusher, but is more of a situational pass rusher than a full-time end. I have nothing against any of these players, they give you all they’ve got, but this Jets defensive end situation is far from ideal.

You could say, “Well Jermaine Johnson is hurt.” True, but remember, the Jets rotate their ends a lot, and they were spelling McDonald and Johnson with Clemons and McGregor/Baron quite a bit, even before the injury.

This beat generally doesn’t like to bring up names a lot in questions unless it’s related to stars (there wasn’t one name mentioned in any questions in Aaron Glenn’s post-game press conference – not one), but prefers to ask mushy philosophical questions.

I was going to ask a question, and bring up names in Glenn’s post-game, but I could not get a question in. The press conference is not very long, some people ask more than one question (sitting front center), not allowing others in back of them to jump on. For instance, one of America’s best sportswriters, The Athletic’s Ian O’Connor, tried to jump in unsuccessfully.

After the injury to Quincy Williams in Tampa Bay, they have started Kiko Mauigoa at linebacker the last two games. He was not ready. He’s a warrior, tough as bootleather, but is a liability in pass coverage, like on the Cowboys TD pass late in the first half to TE Jake Ferguson, when Mauigoa was late getting over.

Here is the deal with Mauigoa and Baron. When you take a flyer on prospects like this in the fifth round, they should not be the first ones off the bench for backups. Neither one is ready for that. They both needed NFL red-shirt years. You should have veteran backups in these “one-injury-away” slots.

At defensive tackle, the free agent addition of Jay Tufele and the trade for Jawan Briggs, are not really helping the run defense that much.

With all due respect to Mr. Briggs, who is an impressive guy from UVA (I certainly couldn’t get in there), do you think Cleveland is trading a DT who they think is a difference-maker?

As for Tufele, he plays was an unreal motor, but his instincts seem a little off, and that is why he’s on his third team.

Look, I’m not going to go down the whole list of Jets defensive problems, but some mistakes were made.

Paying Jamien Sherwood big money, when he struggled in coverage last year, was an eclectic move, and this year, he has no picks and one PD on the season, and that PD was not in coverage; it was a blocked pass on the line in Miami. Great kid. Happy for him and his family that he got paid.

Look, I hate doing this. Do you think I enjoy calling people out? No way, and all these guys are giving it the best they’ve got, but the Jets’ defensive roster and depth chart have some major issues.

And the problem is, once you are in the season, it’s hard to fix much. Street free agents at this point aren’t going to change much.

So fixing this defense, for the most part, is an off-season project.

They need a major defensive personnel overhaul with as many as 6-7 new starters, along with acquiring better depth.

So, I’m telling you right now, Glenn taking over the defense from Wilks, would not make much of a difference.

While Wilks isn’t Buddy Ryan, this team has deep-seated defensive personnel issues.

October 5, 2025

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