After each game, we typically highlight three defensive and three offensive players and look in detail at their performance. We’ll start today with the defense:
Hell hath no fury like a Womack scorned
The Jets trotted out a bizarre secondary unit for Sunday’s game. Malachi Moore was starting at safety as usual but the rest of the starters were unconventional to say the least.
Ja’Sir Taylor, who had been backing up in the slot, was the only other starter to have previously seen more than a few snaps of action on defense as he started on the outside. The other three, Samuel Womack on the other side, Tre Brown in the slot and Keidron Smith at safety, had only recently been signed.
The rookie Moore being kept in the lineup to gain more experience while the healthy rookies Dean Clark and Jordan Clark were removed for Brown and Smith was perhaps telling and a sign that the coaching staff has soured on the Clarks.
Womack had already started 10 games in his career, so he settled in quite well and was one of the Jets’ more consistent performers in a poor defensive effort on Sunday.
His best highlight was definitely this end zone pass breakup, which was superbly executed:
Womack only gave up one first down all day, on an 18-yard pass where Gabe Davis got a step on him on a crossing route.
He ended up with seven tackles and one pass defensed and would also have had a fumble recovery had the replay booth not overturned a play where the runner was down.
He did make a couple more nice plays as he came up in run support to assist on a stop near the line of scrimmage and stayed tight to his man to stop him short of the marker on a 3rd down pass underneath.
Womack was only elevated from the practice squad for the game, his first as a Jet, but his performance was obviously well-received as he has already signed a futures deal for next year. At 26, he might have more potential than some of the other returning defensive backs.
Keidron component
Smith played the entire game as safety and certainly had an active performance as he racked up a team-high 15 tackles. Unlike Womack, this was his first career start as he had only played 16 defensive snaps in his previous 11 NFL appearances, so he made the most of his chance to put some good moments on film.
A deep safety with 15 tackles is not necessarily always a good thing and that’s the case here as 10 of his tackles were at least 12 yards downfield. In fact, Smith was the tackler on five of the six biggest plays of the day for the Bills.
Still, he did have some positive moments, coming up into the box to make three run stops close to the line of scrimmage. The most impressive of these saw him stop the runner in his tracks and drive him back with good technique.
Smith didn’t give up too much in coverage, although he gave up an 18-yard catch to Dalton Kincaid in zone coverage. He did have two missed tackles, though, including this one for a touchdown. That would have been a great play if he made the tackle.
Smith was signed to a contract that means he is under contract for next year and is 26 like Womack. The fact they gave him an extended look suggests the Jets will let him compete for a role next season but the safety position is one where you can expect the Jets to bring in another starter assuming they don’t re-sign Andre Cisco.
All hail the Kingsley!
Kingsley Jonathan also made his Jets debut as he played 17 snaps in a rotational edge role. His inclusion, having basically been 8th or 9th on the depth chart in camp and not even having been retained on the practice squad, underscores the lack of depth the Jets ended up with at the defensive end position.
That lack of depth contributed to the fact that they only had two pressures and no quarterback hits in Sunday’s game, with both pressures coming from defensive tackles.
Kingsley didn’t make much of an impact and did have one missed tackle but at least deserves credit for making one play where he did a great job of shedding the tight end’s block to get in on a tackle.
Jonathan, who has never started an NFL game but did have over 250 snaps of regular season experience before Sunday, will be 28 at training camp next season. He was similarly signed to a deal that keeps him on the team for 2026. Perhaps he’ll get a longer look but it seems likely he’ll be lost in the shuffle again.
Three-on-O will follow tomorrow.