One in a series of articles that will also appear in the New York Jets 2026 Yearbook, which will be published this summer.
In free agency and the NFL Draft, the Jets zeroed in on reinforcing a defensive line that labored last season against opponents' ground games.
The makeover began with the hiring of Brian Duker as the team's defensive coordinator. Then the Jets re-signed Jowon Briggs (6-1, 313), who had four sacks in his first season with the team. Before the start of free agency, GM Darren Mougey engineered a trade with Tennessee that brought massive T'Vondre Sweat (6-4, 366) to the Jets.
And the Green & White were ready at the get-go of free agency, bringing on board D-line veterans Joseph Ossai (6-4, 253), David Onyemata (6-3, 300) and Kingsley Enagbare (6-4, 258).
The new additions join a group that includes veteran Harrison Phillips (6-3, 307), Will McDonald IV (6-4, 245), second-year man Tyler Baron (6-4, 258), Mazi Smith (6-3, 337) and Eric Watts (6-5, 277).
The icing on the cake came at the end of April when the Jets made edge David Bailey (6-3, 251), who had 14.5 sacks for Texas Tech last season, the No. 2 overall selection in the draft.
"I think every player on this team knows we're building competition, and they want that because it only makes them better," said HC Aaron Glenn, who will call defensive plays in the coming season. "So I don't think there's a need to tell each player, 'Oh, we drafted a guy.' Listen, those guys know we're going to do whatever we have to do to get this to be a better team."
There's a lot to build on after allowing the opposition nearly 140 rush yards a game and having the second-fewest sacks in the NFL.
"Mouge has done a great job of building the front seven to the point now that we have a lot of guys that are very good players that can do a number of things," Duker said. "The challenge for us as a defensive staff is to always get the best 11 out there, and then we have so many guys that can do different things that give us the ability to be creative and put guys in different positions.
"So I think we've got a lot of good players up front. There will be really good competition up there and that's exciting."
