Do the Jets have the best defensive front going into the 2016 season?
Offseason. Players come and go. So which team has the best front seven for next year?
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Broncos, Raiders, Jets among NFL teams with best defensive fronts in 2016 – NFL.com Denver led the NFL in sacks last year. But after the departure of stud DT Malik Jackson, will the Broncos still have the best defensive front in 2016? If not, who will dethrone them? Let’s debate! |
| Source: www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000668746/article/broncos-raiders-jets-among-nfl-teams-with-best-defensive-fronts-in-2016 | |
Ike Taylor is wrong. He is biased since he played 12 years with the Pittsburgh Steelers as a cornerback. Of course he would mention his former team even though in 2015, they had one of the worst defenses in the NFL. Their pass defense couldn’t stop anybody so Ben Roethlesberger, L’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown had to constantly bring them back from deficits. “Jarvis Jones is in a contract year.”
This means that he hasn’t produced for them and the upcoming season will be a make or break year for him. 38 year old linebacker James Harrison is not the playmaker he was before and has reached the end of his career. There is no reason why Taylor, an obvious homer, should have listed this terrible defense.
Nate Burleson has had too many blows to the head as a receiver in the NFL. Defensive end J.J. Watt is the only pass rusher on the Houston Texans and does not constitute a defensive front. “If Jadeveon Clowney breaks out, Texans will be unstoppable”. Burleson is counting on an injury prone player who can’t even get on the field in his first 2 seasons. There was a stretch in October and November where teams neutralized Watt and the the rest of the Texans defense couldn’t respond, resulting in a losing streak for Houston. Burleson should never have mentioned this one man show of a defense for this ranking.
As for Gang Green, Shaun O’Hara hits it on the money when he considers their defensive front as the best in the league. The Jets have 3 dynamic playmakers in Muhammad Wilkerson, Sheldon Richardson and Leonard Williams. Wilkerson, with his unparalleled acceleration, breaks through offensive linemen to get to the quarterback and is also great at stopping running backs in their tracks.
Only Aaron Donald of the Los Angeles Rams is a better defensive tackle than Richardson in the NFL. Sheldon dominates the interior gaps as soon as the ball is snapped and immediately gets in the face of the QB. He also played as a linebacker last year, dropping into coverage and making plays downfield. His versatility as a DL and LB made him indispensable to the defense.
Even though Williams was a rookie in 2015, his natural ability quickly cemented him as a force to be reckoned with. By Week 4, teams were already double teamming him and leaving Muhammad and Sheldon to deal with single blockers. The Big Three were the reason why the defense were ranked top 5 against the pass and against the run.
The Jets are on par, if not better, than the defenses of the Oakland Raiders and Carolina Panthers. On the one hand, the Panthers have the best LBs in the NFL in Luke Kuechly and Thomas Davis but on the other hand, New York has a better DL than them. The Raiders have rising stars in DE Khalil Mack and LB Bruce Irvin but the Jets overall have a more complete front seven than them.
The only team that is superior than Gang Green are the Denver Broncos with All Pro LB Von Miller and savvy veteran LB DeMarcus Ware. These 2 players are the cornerstone of their scheme and are the reason why their defense carried the struggling offense to the playoffs and won the Super Bowl. Still, the Jets defensive front are in the top 3 in the league and their young nucleus will continue to develop and wreak havoc against offenses, making their future bright indeed.
