The New York Jets defense doesn’t have many weaknesses. As a unit, you could argue it’s the best in the NFL. However, there are always ways for a team to improve, and there’s one position where the Jets might need it.
New York lost Jordan Whitehead to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after he recorded 65 tackles, four interceptions and nine pass deflections on the season. Whitehead posted a total score of 68.2, according to PFF.
The safety room has been a problem for most of the offseason and the Jets front office has continued to ignore it. They had the chance to sign a few safeties as free agents, but chose not to.
For this reason, they were urgently asked to hire someone for the campaign that starts in about two weeks.
Alex Ballentine of Bleacher Report believes they have the “weakest” safety room in the NFL.
“The Jets may have the weakest safety group in the league right now,” Ballentine wrote.
He added that Minnesota Vikings safety Lewis Cine could help them.
“Both the New York Jets and New York Giants have questionable depth at the safety position. Cine hasn’t proven himself enough to be anyone’s starter, but he’s a great athlete whose college film looked good enough to warrant a first-round pick.
“The Giants’ safety room took a massive hit when Xavier McKinney was not retained and the Jets lost Jordan Whitehead.”
Cine only played in 10 games in his two-year NFL career, but he wasn’t bad in that short time, earning an overall grade of 66.3 according to PFF, which was slightly above average for his position.
The Vikings have him listed third in their unofficial rankings, which could be a sign he will be traded or released on Tuesday. A former first-round pick, his 2022 career has not started as many expected.
However, there is talent there and since New York’s roster is lacking talent, it might be worth taking the risk.
This is the Jets’ most successful season in over 20 years, and if they don’t achieve what they hope to because of a safety issue, it would reflect poorly on management, especially when it’s such an obvious problem.
They still have time to take care of it, but they need to do it soon so all the players can get up to speed and familiarize themselves with their defense.
