Two of the Jets’ earliest moves in free agency, perhaps didn’t excite a lot of fans, or make a lot of headlines, but they were two of the most important additions – signing defensive tackles Javon Kinlaw and Leki Fotu, two massive cats who make it hard to run up the middle.
These two guys, both around 6-5, 320, are SO needed for the Jets’ defense to take the next step.
There was all this talk about how great the Jets’ defense was last year, but it was almost like the people making those comments don’t value stopping the run.
Too often Jets’ undersized defensive tackles got velcroed to the blocks of much bigger interior offensive linemen, opening up big rushing lanes up the middle.
Also, their goalline and short-yardage defenses were substandard.
They did have behemoth Al Woods briefly last year, but he was 36, at the end of his career, and played sparingly, before suffering a season-ending injury. Kinlaw and Fotu are a decade younger and a little more flexible.
The Jets could probably use another one of these massive run-stoppers in the draft to help fix this significant issue. If LSU’s Jordan Jefferson slips to the third round he could be perfect.
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