Sunday was not pretty by any means for the New York Jets in their 27-12 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. Some of you may feel you’ll need to shield your eyes from seeing some of these Pro Football Focus grades. But some of them aren’t all that bad. Decide for yourself as we take a look at the top five and bottom five grades for the Jets on offense and defense from Week 3.
Top 5 Offensive Grades
Garrett Wilson – 77.4
Tyler Conklin – 74.3
Max Mitchell – 69.8
Breece Hall – 69.4
Alijah Vera-Tucker – 68.0
Is it really a surprise at this point that Wilson continues to be near the top of the list? He came up just behind Joe Flacco against the Browns, but…well, we’ll get to Flacco in a minute.
Wilson continues to shine and give Jets fans hope for when Zach Wilson returns for what this offense can be like with a healthy Zach throwing to Garrett.
While the offensive line has gotten some (deserved) criticism, Vera-Tucker continues to be one of the best guards in the NFL this season. He got a 70.4 run-blocking grade, but it should also be noted that his pass-blocking grade was 58.3. All that said, AJT is currently the No. 8-ranked guard on PFF.
Also notice how the top offensive linemen are on the right side. Like Flacco, we’ll get to that in a minute. But let’s give some credit to Mitchell for holding his own through three games so far after being thrust into action as a rookie thanks to the injury to Duane Brown and the Jets shifting George Fant back to left tackle. He hasn’t been perfect by any means, but for a fourth-round rookie making spot starts, he’s at least been serviceable.
Among the starting offensive linemen, Mitchell gave up the fewest pressures, per PFF. He and center Connor McGovern only allowed two pressures.
Bottom Five Offensive Grades
Joe Flacco – 27.1
George Fant – 41.7
Conor McDermott – 45.6
Laken Tomlinson – 45.8
C.J. Uzomah – 47.4
We said we’d get to Flacco and the left side of the offensive line and here we are. Yes, it was that bad. There really is anything much left to say about Flacco. Fans are praying Zach Wilson can start Sunday.
Of course, the left tackles didn’t help either. Fant was poor before his knee injury and McDermott didn’t make matters any betters. In fact, he arguably made them worse. His 20.6 pass-blocking grade was the lowest among the offensive linemen. Fant was at 27.2.
Through three weeks, the free-agent signing of Tomlinson has not panned out very well. Tomlinson is currently the 66th-ranked guard on PFF out of 73. It’s been that bad.
Top Five Defensive Grades
Jermaine Johnson – 86.4
Kwon Alexander – 78.9
Micheal Clemons – 78.7
Sheldon Rankins – 76.9
Marcell Harris – 76.7
The rookies have shown out so far for the Jets. And Sauce Gardner isn’t even on this list. (For those wondering, Gardner was eighth out of 20 with a 71.6 grade)
You can make the argument Johnson and perhaps even Clemons both deserve more playing time. Let’s see what they can do with more of a role instead of being capped by the rotation the Jets like to use with their front four.
Credit Marcell Harris too for good work after coming in cold for the injured Quincy Williams.
Bottom Five Defensive Grades
Michael Carter II – 45.6
Solomon Thomas – 48.6
Lamarcus Joyner – 50.6
Carl Lawson – 51.3
Will Parks – 60.0
We’ll note quick that Parks only played one snap and the next player down, Brandin Echols, only played two snaps. Next on the list from there would be Nathan Shepherd at 63.2 to get to another player that played meaningful snaps.
You may be surprised to see Joyner’s coverage grade was 49.4. Some may feel it could have been lower, but he did have that nice play early in the game on the trick play. His tackling grade was also a very nice 83.3.
And by the way, yes, Jordan Whitehead’s tackling grade was very poor. A whopping 30.0. His overall grade, however? 71.2, good for 9th, right behind Gardner. That may certainly be surprising to some.
