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The Jets finally addressed their biggest organic need, run-stuffing defensive tackle, by signing a pair of them on Thursday – Byron Cowart and Jayleen “Jay” Tufele.
When I say “organic” I mean something that was needed whether they kept all their players at the position from last year or not.
The need for a QB wasn’t organic, because they got rid of an answer at the position in Aaron Rodgers, so this became a need of their own volition.
Defensive tackle was a huge need, even if they returned with the same exact room as last season.
So adding Cowart and Tufele was essential.
Now neither player is a game-wrecker, but they both have something at the position the Jets need – thick builds with brute strength at the point of attack to stack and shed.
A big problem for the Jets in recent years, in the old system, was undersized defensive tackles, getting velcroed to blocks, leading to big runs up the middle.
Neither Cowart and Tufele are elite, but they are powerful men who will not get engulfed as much as some in the past.
The reason neither is elite is because they don’t have elite instincts, which is more important on the defensive line than people realize.
The position isn’t just about rushing upfield like a madman and making plays.
You need instincts, to kick in real fast, while your in motion adjusting to what the offense is attempting to do once the ball is snapped.
Something that makes Nick Bosa and Maxx Crosby two of the best defensive linemen in the game is their ability to rush up field with ferocity and make amazing split second sight adjustments on the fly.
This is really hard.
Not many defensive linemen can do what they do.
The Jets had a defensive lineman on the team last year named Takk McKinley – a great guy who has overcome a lot in his life. He has an incredible motor and flashed in camp to make the team.
But then, during the season, he didn’t make a lot of plays.
Why? Positional instincts. He is playing with his hair on fire without a great feel for how the play is materializing.
An unnamed scout told NFL.com before the 2021 draft about Tufele, when he was coming out of USC:
“He’s really strong and really athletic, but you don’t want to ask him to do too much diagnosing because he’s not that kind of player.”
As for Cowart, the former 5-star high school recruit who flamed out at Auburn before landing at Maryland, isn’t loaded with the best positional instincts either, but has “Size, length and power at the point of attack.”
I’m not being negative about these signings just pointing out why they came cheap, and why Cowart is now on his sixth team and Tufele on his third.
You can’t teach instincts.
However, I have no issue with the Jets adding these two guys. They are powerful athletic 300-pounders who are not going to get attached to blocks as much as what we have seen recently from interior D-line in Florham Park.
Hey, they could turn out to be terrific rotational guys to spell Quinnen Williams and whoever lines up next to him, like if they are lucky enough to land Michigan DT Mason Graham at seven.
And you have to love the thickness and power of these two new additions – something the Jets need more of up the middle.
At the very least, if these guys can overwhelm interior linemen with power, they will allow the linebacker to flow to the ball unencumbered, which often wasn’t the case with the undersized DTs the old regime loved.
March 14, 2025
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