Well I didn’t see that coming.
A pair of New York Jets defensive tackles, David Onyemata and Jowon Briggs, were recently singled out in an article by Pro Football Focus highlighting the best interior defenders in the National Football League.
Gordon McGuinness ranked Onyemata as the 25th best in one of the “deepest position groups in the NFL right now.”
“Despite being 33 years old, Onyemata hasn’t really shown any signs of slowing down and is coming off a strong season with the Atlanta Falcons in 2025. At his best against the run, he has earned PFF run-defense grades above 74.0 in four of the past six seasons,” McGuiness wrote.
Briggs just cracked the list at No. 32 in PFF’s rankings.
“Briggs broke out in his second season in the league with an 85.6 PFF pass-rush grade that was tied for fifth-best at the position. He racked up 38 pressures from 320 pass-rushing snaps, and has earned PFF grades of 72.2 and 73.6 in his first two seasons in the league. Briggs has played just 721 snaps in his career so far, but the flashes are there that make him an intriguing player to watch in 2026,” McGuiness said.
Some Interesting Notes From This List
There are only 32 teams in the NFL. If the Jets had two players ranked inside the top 32, that means at least one team was completely left off the list.
As a matter of fact, multiple teams were completely snubbed from the list. That is because a remarkable 10 teams had at least two players represented on this list:
- Seattle Seahawks
- Philadelphia Eagles
- Baltimore Ravens
- Los Angeles Rams
- Tennessee Titans
- Indianapolis Colts
- Dallas Cowboys
- New England Patriots
- Pittsburgh Steelers
- New York Jets
Before training camp began, I did a segment on “Boy Green Daily” highlighting the deepest positional units on the Jets. No. 1 on the list was defensive tackle. While this group lacks a Quinnen Williams-level talent, the combination of quality and quantity is featured. For context, Williams placed No. 2 overall in these IDL rankings from PFF.
Jets Will Need Others to Step up to the Plate
One of the most interesting players the Jets added this offseason was T’Vondre Sweat. He has been dealing with a hamstring injury this offseason. Sweat was placed on the NFI (Non-Football-Injury or Illness list) at the beginning of camp.
Head coach Aaron Glenn indicated that he would be out for at least this week, but that his return shouldn’t be too far away.
Antwan Staley of the New York Daily News is concerned what level of Sweat the Jets will get when he returns. Sweat is listed at 6-foot-4 and weighs 366 pounds on the Jets’ team website.
“To be honest with you, he looks a lot bigger than that; he looks closer to about 400 pounds. A guy who is not practicing and is already big as it is, he is only going to continue to probably gain more weight, too, especially with him not being actively out there. So you have to wonder what kind of shape he is going to be in, especially for somebody who has had issues with his weight,” Staley told Jake Asman on ESPN New York.
The Jets are going to need Briggs and Onyemata to be guys. Staley also shouted out rookie Darrell Jackson Jr during his conversation with Asman as a player to watch.
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