How are the New York Jets edge rushers faring in 2023? Examining win and double team rate

Are the Jets pass rushers all they’re cracked up to be?

The New York Jets have clearly prioritized edge rushers during the Robert Saleh head coach era. Perhaps the most sign of this is that they spent first round picks in each of the last two years on edge rushers in Jermaine Johnson and Will McDonald even though both were essentially red shirted in year one.

However, investing in edge rushers is one thing. Investing in good ones is another. So how are the edge rushers on the New York Jets faring in 2023?

Based on this analysis from Seth Walder of PFF, the answer seems to be “pretty good.” What Walder did was plot double team rate on the X axis (horizontal) and pass rush win rate on the y axis (vertical). Through this, Walder accounts for how regularly a player wins and how often the offense devotes extra resources to stop them; both of these can be signs of a player succeeding as a pass rusher. Of note, this chart does not account for run defense performance.

On this chart you will find three New York Jets players in Jermaine Johnson, John Franklin-Myers, and Bryce Huff, who we can evaluate based on these plot.

Regarding Jermaine Johnson, he has seen an above average amount of double teams. This shows that teams are respecting his ability, which is a strong sign for the second year player. While he’s been double teamed, he has been below average from a win-rate perspective, which is a potential area of improvement for the encouraging second year player.

Regarding John Franklin-Myers, he’s receiving roughly a league average amount of double teams while having a slightly below average win-rate. In the case of Franklin-Myers, this suggests that he could stand to improve his pass rushing performance.

Regarding Bryce Huff, he has been double teamed less than the average player. Why? I’m not sure because he’s winning at a clearly above average rate. In fact, his numbers look very similar to Pittsburgh Steelers edge rusher TJ Watt who is considered among the league’s best. If I’m Bryce Huff’s agent, that data is really exciting as my client approaches free agency.