New York Jets Hidden Gems: 3 Secret Superstars on the 2025 roster

The New York Jets have struggled for eons to establish a winning culture. Here are three Secret Superstars who might help push things in the right direction.

When teams, coaches, and players talk about a culture of winning, it’s often easier to recognize such nebulous concepts in their absence than with their presence. The New York Jets, with their one winning season since 2015, no playoff trips since Rex Ryan got them to their second straight AFC Championship game in 2010, and a revolving door of coaches and executives and quarterbacks along the way, have struggled to generate any sort of said winning culture for a long time now.

Following a 5-12 2024 season that wasn’t impressive at all in most categories, the franchise made three big changes — hiring former Denver Broncos personnel man Darren Mougey to be their new general manager, hiring former Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn to be their new head coach, and releasing Aaron Rodgers to the four winds.

Glenn has made it clear that he knows how to establish that winning culture — he set the tone with his “We’re built for this (expletive)” opening press conference, and he proved with this particular franchise that he could bring it as a first-round cornerback in 1994, who amassed 24 interceptions and made two Pro Bowls over eight Jets seasons as a cornerback.

Still, it’s going to take more than a few old highlights from the Bill Parcells days, and more than a few well-chosen words, for those still devoted to this franchise to actually believe that better days are ahead.

After this long on the wrong side of things, even the best players on the roster have a hard time believing in yet another new way, no matter how credible the people presenting it. When Rodgers was released, defensive lineman Quinnen Williams had some tart things to say on social media regarding yet another rebuild (Williams has been with the team since 2019), and the veteran quickly walked that back.

“I understand the reaction of the players, but I would say this — every decision that me and Moug make is to win, and to win now, so I understand it,” Glenn said at the scouting combine. “But this is not going to be the last decision I make that’s going to upset people, and that’s okay, but as men we talk about it. We make sure we keep it in house, and that’s what we’re going to continue to do.”

Well, if Glenn is the man to put that culture in place, he’ll need help from everybody in the building — not just the most prominent names. In the continuation of our “Hidden Gems” series, we look at one underrated veteran, one underrated free-agent signing, and one underrated draft pick who may help bring that winning culture back to Gang Green.

Underrated Veteran: EDGE Will McDonald IV

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Linebacker Jamien Sherwood almost made the list here, as I loved his tape when I reviewed it at the dawn of free agency. But as the Jets re-signed Sherwood to a three-year, $45 million contract with $30 million guaranteed in March, it’s safe to say that Sherwood is no longer underrated — certainly not in a financial sense. Instead, I’ll go with edge-rusher Will McDonald IV, who was selected with the 15th overall pick in the 2023 draft out of Iowa State. McDonald found that draft position despite a 2022 season in which he had just six sacks and 25 total pressures — most likely because everyone in the NFL knew that it wasn’t a brilliant thing to line a pass-rusher up inside the tackles… 20% of the time… in three-man fronts.

How is a guy taken that high in a draft underrated? Well, it took a bit for everything to get going. McDonald had just four sacks and 12 total pressures in his rookie season — injuries limited his potential to a point, and the fact that he looked to put on extra weight after that season turned out to be of great benefit to McDonald and to the defense. McDonald played at 6’ 3⅝ and about 240 pounds in college, and the extra bulk showed up last season both in his ability to use power to get to the quarterback, and to help more as a run-stopper.

Now, he was a real force on the edge, where the Jets mercifully had him on 94% of his 756 snaps. With 11 sacks, 12 quarterback hits, 38 quarterback hurries, 13 solo tackles, 19 stops, and 10 tackles for loss, McDonald finally fulfilled the promise the Jets hoped he would deliver.

“Will is phenomenal,” new defensive coordinator Steve Wilks said in May. “He can get to the passer. Will is a lot more physical and stronger than what I anticipated and saw from afar as far as being able to be stout in the run game. There’s always that fluctuation with his weight, and that’s something that he has to control with the strength staff, [and] we have a tremendous group of guys there. But his effort, his approach each and every day, I’m on board with him. I’m excited about what he can do, and I’m looking forward to a great season from him.”

One more reason to be excited about McDonald’s future is that under defensive coordinator and interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich last season, the Jets blitzed on just 25.6% of their snaps, which was middle of the pack in the NFL. On the other hand, only the Minnesota Vikings (38.9%) blitzed at a higher rate than did Glenn’s Lions defense (34.6%). With more creative rush packages in the playbook, it’s easy to expect McDonald to further stake his claim as one of the NFL’s best young edge demons.

Underrated Free-Agent Signing: WR Josh Reynolds

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Josh Reynolds had his best NFL season for the Detroit Lions in 2023. He caught 48 passes on 75 targets for 740 yards and six touchdowns, and while he has never been a true No. 1 receiver in an X-iso sense, he was quite valuable to Jared Goff as an intermediate and deep target. Especially on passes of 10-19 air yards, where a lot of defenders are waiting to knock the crap out of you when you catch the ball, the 6’3, 194-pound veteran caught 25 passes on 37 targets for 464 yards and five touchdowns. And as the Lions under offensive coordinator (now Chicago Bears head coach) Ben Johnson tested the middle of the field on in-breaking routes as much as any team, Reynolds proved his toughness in those moments.

He parlayed that great season into a two-year, $9 million contract with $4.245 million guaranteed with the Denver Broncos, but things did not go as expected. He played just five games for his new team before suffering a fractured finger, and he was waived by the Broncos in December after he was shot twice in a an October incident that left him with minor wounds in his left arm, and in the back of his head. The Jacksonville Jaguars signed Reynolds off waivers on December 4, and he caught a grand total of one pass for 11 yards for them.

Which then led to a reunion with Aaron Glenn, when the Jets signed Reynolds to a one-year, $2.75 million “prove it” deal with $2 million guaranteed. Now, it’s on Reynolds to regain what he had in 2023, and perhaps help Garrett Wilson to shake loose from all the inevitable double teams and brackets.

“All of our guys are going to have to step up,” Glenn said in early June regarding the rest of the receiver room. “It doesn’t matter which veteran it is, there could be a young guy that can step up. Listen, we have guys that can make plays for us and that’s at every level, every position we have; running backs, our tight ends, we have other receivers that are going to make plays. I’m expecting all of our guys that’s going to be here to step up and take the burden off of Garrett.

“Listen, Garrett is going to have his chance at one-on-ones. Is he going to get doubled? Yeah, he’s going to get doubled, he’s a good receiver. But, when you do that, that leaves somebody else in a one-on-one situation and I will take that with our guys all day.

Regarding his past history with Reynolds, Glenn discounted that as the primary tie-breaker. This is a meritocracy, after all.

“I care about good players. So, if he is a good player, I want him in the locker room. If I knew him or not, that doesn’t matter to me. The fact of the matter is he is a good player, and I think he has a lot left in the tank. I want him in the locker room. Plus, he’s a good person. It just so happens that he’s played in Detroit, and we happen to know each other. So, there are a lot of guys on this team that didn’t know me, but I am expecting a lot from them, too.”

As new Jets offensive coordinator Tanner Engstrand was the Lions’ passing game coordinator in 2023, there is more than a bit of familiarity there. So, this could be the perfect bounce-back place.

Underrated Draft Pick: Safety Malachi Moore

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If you want to know whether you’ve become one of the NFL’s undeniable assets, simply look around and see how many people are looking for the “next you.” In the case of Detroit Lions super-DB Brian Branch, that dude has had NFL teams looking for the next warrior from multiple positions anywhere they can find him. And that was after Branch’s slow 40 time at the 2023 combine (4.56 seconds) had him falling to the 46th overall pick in that draft despite a skill set that should have had him as a top-15 player overall.

Well, Aaron Glenn was all over that Branch pick, and it’s quite possible that he has his new version in the person of Malachi Moore, who basically became Branch’s replacement as the do-it-all man in the Crimson Tide’s defense. The Jets stole Moore with the 130th overall pick in the fourth round of the 2025 draft after Moore put together a 2024 season in which he lined up 4% of the time in the box, 8% as a field cornerback, 21% in the slot, 18% as a single-high safety, and 49% as a split safety.

In total, Moore allowed 13 catches on 30 targets for 132 yards, 19 yards after the catch, two touchdowns, two interceptions, seven pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 51.0. Moore also had a sack and five total pressures in 21 pass-rushing snaps, and he also totaled 51 solo tackles, 20 stops, two tackles for loss in the run game, and three forced fumbles. Moore isn’t quite as nifty as Branch in tight match coverage, but he brings an enforcer mentality that Glenn has always preferred.

Moreover, it was Branch who told Glenn that he might have the “next him” in Moore.

“Malachi was a guy that, I talked to Brian Branch before the draft, and he gave me some real insight on that player,” Glenn said in his post-draft press conference. “Actually, he was the starter right before Branch actually ended up getting the job, [but] he had an injury. Him being a captain that tells what he is, so he’s going to come in and have a chance to compete for a safety spot.

“What he did in college actually shows exactly what he’s going to be able to do in the NFL, and being able to have the versatility to play safety and also play nickel has always been great. Obviously, you see Brian Branch, he had the same thing. To be able to have a player that has that versatility is always good for defense, so now you can start to have defensive structures where you can have people in different spots.”

Branch gave Glenn intel on the player and the person, which helped that decision along.

“Oh, a little bit of both when you ask that because he’s been around him more than we have, so he understands who he is as a person and then as a player,” Glenn said of Branch’s final scouting report. “The first thing that came out of his mouth was, “Dog.” Listen, when you hear that, I mean shoot, that gets you excited about the player, and then having a chance to watch him on tape and see exactly how he operates, man, listen he fits us to a tee, so I’m excited to have that player. Again, he has some versatility, and I see him being utilized just like that.”

That’s a tall order of course, but if Brian Branch says that you can be the next Brian Branch, who would know better?

(All advanced metrics courtesy of Pro Football Focus and Sports Info Solutions).