New York Jets: Biggest storyline to watch in 2018
Sam Darnold will get most of the headlines for the New York Jets, but there’s one storyline to watch this season. Can they generate pressure up the middle?
When you look at the all-time list of NFL sack leaders plenty of edge rushers who got plenty of notoriety in their playing days are on there. Names like Lawrence Taylor, Kevin Greene, Bruce Smith, and Julius Peppers are among the plethora of guys who were either linebackers or defensive ends who got after the quarterback and made offensive coordinators lose sleep.
There’s one name in the top 10 that isn’t an edge rusher, and a man the New York Jets can look to as someone who was dominant in the middle and one who opposing coaches had to game plan for.
In the 1990 NFL Draft, 331 names were called, but one man who was signed as a free agent that year became the 16th undrafted free agent elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. John Randle played in 16 games as a rookie, but didn’t start.
However, for the next 11 seasons, he proved to the NFL why the Vikings signed him as an undrafted free agent. He had no fewer than eight sacks in those 11 seasons and had nine seasons with at least 10.
When the Jets drafted Nathan Shepherd instead of a desperately needed pass rusher, people legitimately questioned the pick. It has become abundantly clear as to why they did so. They want to create pressure up the middle rather than the edge.
Even though it was just one player — Aaron Donald — there was a player who had more than 9.5 sacks from the interior. It would be nice if Leonard Williams could develop into a double-digit sack guy from the interior, but it’s not necessarily about double digit sacks from one guy. If they tandem of Williams and Shepherd become a dangerous duo, then the Jets would have exactly what they want.
2015 was the best this defense played under Todd Bowles and Kacy Rodgers. That year they generated the pass rush in the middle of the field and their defensive backs made plays on 106 passes — 31 interceptions and 75 passes defended.
It’s amazing to see a special player come off the edge while the interior is eating up blocks. However, if the Jets can get pressure up the middle and have their backfield cover, then they have something special.
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As ESPN’s Rich Cimini pointed out, we should expect a lot of double-teams coming to Williams. However, if Shepherd can show something early, then that will take pressure off Williams, and then they can be the formidable duo of the league.
Sure the development of Darnold is a big storyline, but in this defense, the storyline is the duo of Shepherd and Williams. Time will tell what their impact will be, but if Shepherd develops quickly, this defense will be a force to be reckoned with.