The Jets have question marks at plenty of positions heading into the 2025 season. Linebacker is not one of them. On paper the team has a top notch duo leading the way.
The Contract Year
Quincy Williams
The timing of a career year can mean everything. If a player has his best season in a year where his contract is expiring, it can mean tens of millions of dollars. For Quincy Williams it went the other day.
The Jets signed him to a three year, $18 million contract in 2023. At the time he signed it, the deal was a reasonable value for the Jets. It wasn’t an exorbitant price for a player who had developed into a functional linebacker. Williams proceeded to improve by leaps and bounds. He earned a First Team All Pro nod in the first year of the deal. Suddenly a decent contract turned into one of the best contracts in football.
Quincy is now entering the final year of that three year deal. We can presume it is likely that he will command far more than $18 million on his next contract.
Will the Jets be the team to give the soon to be 29 year old that contract? It depends in no small measure on the quality of his play in a new defensive system. Quincy covers a lot of ground from the linebacker spot with his blazing speed. Aaron Glenn likes to blitz his linebackers a lot. It isn’t hard to envision Williams firing off the edge with a speed rush on passing downs and compiling 4-6 sacks along with his solid play elsewhere.
If Williams plays to his potential, the Jets will have a problem on their hands this offseason, but it will be a good problem to have. They will need to pay a top notch player.
The New Leader
Jamien Sherwood
The Jets got mocked plenty on the final day of the 2021 NFL Draft. The team selected not one but two college safeties with the intent to convert them to linebacker. One was Hamsah Nasirildeen. Say what you will about him, but at least Nasirildeen was on track to potentially becoming a first round pick before suffering a serious injury at the end of his college career. The other was Sherwood, which was a pick many people found tough to defend.
A funny thing happened along the way. Sherwood started showing steady improvement. By the end of his third year, he was a quality part-time player. Then came year four. The venerable CJ Mosley had a difficult time staying on the field at his advanced age. Sherwood stepped into the starting lineup and suddenly looked like a legitimate starter. He led the league with 98 solo tackles from the linebacker position and was voted as the Jets’ most valuable player by his teammates.
Unlike Williams, Sherwood had a breakout year at the right time. 2024 was the final year of his rookie contract. Hours before he was about to hit the market, the Jets and Sherwood agreed to terms on a three year contract to keep him in green and white.
Sherwood’s role isn’t just about his own production. He will need to fill Mosley’s shoes as the leader of the defense, ensuring everybody is lined up correctly and calls are communicated effectively. He has a role as an extension of the coaching staff in making sure the new defense is effectively implemented.
Rising Depth?
Marcelino McCrary-Ball
There aren’t many people who could tell you a whole lot about McCrary-Ball. He has been with the Jets for two years, first on the practice squad and then on the active roster. He got 200 snaps on special teams in 2024. It sounds like he is developing fairly well and has impressed the new coaching staff. It’s possible he could have one of the primary depth roles at linebacker. He has played 3 defensive snaps in his career so it’s anybody’s guess how well it will go. One thing I will say is teams need to find contributors from under the radar. Perhaps McCrary-Ball can be one for the Jets.
The Day Three Sleeper
Francisco Mauigoa
The Jets drafted Mauigoa from Miami in the fifth round of this year’s NFL Draft. He is undersized for the linebacker position and has pedestrian athletic testing numbers. This could resign him to career backup status. Linebacker is one of those positions, though, where athleticism only matters so much. Good instincts and a nose for the football can go a long way towards neutralizing athletic shortcomings. These things don’t always translate from college, but Maiugoa showed instincts and a nose for the football in spades during his college career. It isn’t inconceivable that he could turn into a good NFL player. At the very least, he should have a chance at becoming a core special teamer.
The Reclamation Project
Jamin Davis
Davis is a former first round pick who has been part of three previous NFL organizations. The Jets claimed him off waivers during the brief Phil Savage interim GM era. Darren Mougey saw fit to give him a contract to come to training camp. Insert cliches about how he must have talent somewhere if he was a first round pick all you want. It’s probably best to keep expectations low here.
Long Shots
Zaire Barnes
Jackson Simon
Boog Smith
Of these three names, Barnes is likely the one most familiar to Jets fans since he was a late round pick two years ago. In any event, all three of these players face a long path to playing any role on this team in 2025.
