I'm seeing a lot of early enthusiasm for the Jets Defense; as in, top-10 kind of interest. I have some interest in fantasy leagues, but I'm not willing to go that high. They've got some nice pieces, but I'm not sure they're there yet.
They've got some pass rush now; I'll give them that. After finishing outside the top 15 in six straight years, they racked up 45 sacks a year ago (7th). Quinnen Williams, a returning-from-injury Carl Lawson and first-rounder Jermaine Johnson give them a nice group to work with.
And they've got the rookie defender of the year in shutdown corner Sauce Gardner (pictured). With him in the secondary, they ranked 2nd against the pass and had a top-5 overall defense in both yards and points allowed. It's a good NFL defense.
But they've got some work to do in terms of opportunism; translating that pass rush and stingy secondary into takeaways. In that regard, they need to show they can do it.
In each of the last two seasons, New York has been a lesser group in interceptions and fumble recoveries, the lifeblood of fantasy scoring systems. Nobody has fallen on fewer loose footballs than the Jets the last two seasons, and only the Raiders have fewer interceptions and fewer total takeaways.
Table shows team fumble recoveries, interceptions and takeaways the last two seasons, sorted by total takeaways.
| TEAM TAKEAWAYS, 2021-2022 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | FR21 | Int21 | Tk21 | FR22 | Int22 | Tk22 | Int | FR | Take |
| Dallas | 8 | 26 | 34 | 17 | 16 | 33 | 42 | 25 | 67 |
| New England | 7 | 23 | 30 | 11 | 19 | 30 | 42 | 18 | 60 |
| Buffalo | 11 | 19 | 30 | 10 | 17 | 27 | 36 | 21 | 57 |
| Indianapolis | 14 | 19 | 33 | 11 | 10 | 21 | 29 | 25 | 54 |
| Houston | 8 | 17 | 25 | 11 | 16 | 27 | 33 | 19 | 52 |
| Green Bay | 8 | 18 | 26 | 7 | 17 | 24 | 35 | 15 | 50 |
| San Francisco | 11 | 9 | 20 | 10 | 20 | 30 | 29 | 21 | 50 |
| Minnesota | 8 | 16 | 24 | 10 | 15 | 25 | 31 | 18 | 49 |
| Tampa Bay | 12 | 17 | 29 | 10 | 10 | 20 | 27 | 22 | 49 |
| Kansas City | 14 | 15 | 29 | 9 | 11 | 20 | 26 | 23 | 49 |
| LA Rams | 6 | 19 | 25 | 6 | 16 | 22 | 35 | 12 | 47 |
| Arizona | 14 | 13 | 27 | 9 | 11 | 20 | 24 | 23 | 47 |
| Pittsburgh | 9 | 13 | 22 | 3 | 20 | 23 | 33 | 12 | 45 |
| Cincinnati | 8 | 13 | 21 | 11 | 13 | 24 | 26 | 19 | 45 |
| LA Chargers | 10 | 11 | 21 | 10 | 14 | 24 | 25 | 20 | 45 |
| Philadelphia | 4 | 12 | 16 | 10 | 17 | 27 | 29 | 14 | 43 |
| Seattle | 7 | 11 | 18 | 11 | 14 | 25 | 25 | 18 | 43 |
| Tennessee | 6 | 16 | 22 | 6 | 14 | 20 | 30 | 12 | 42 |
| Denver | 6 | 13 | 19 | 8 | 15 | 23 | 28 | 14 | 42 |
| Detroit | 8 | 11 | 19 | 10 | 12 | 22 | 23 | 18 | 41 |
| NY Giants | 7 | 15 | 22 | 13 | 6 | 19 | 21 | 20 | 41 |
| Baltimore | 6 | 9 | 15 | 11 | 14 | 25 | 23 | 17 | 40 |
| Miami | 12 | 14 | 26 | 6 | 8 | 14 | 22 | 18 | 40 |
| New Orleans | 7 | 18 | 25 | 7 | 7 | 14 | 25 | 14 | 39 |
| Cleveland | 6 | 13 | 19 | 9 | 11 | 20 | 24 | 15 | 39 |
| Chicago | 8 | 8 | 16 | 9 | 14 | 23 | 22 | 17 | 39 |
| Atlanta | 8 | 12 | 20 | 7 | 10 | 17 | 22 | 15 | 37 |
| Washington | 8 | 11 | 19 | 9 | 9 | 18 | 20 | 17 | 37 |
| Jacksonville | 2 | 7 | 9 | 13 | 14 | 27 | 21 | 15 | 36 |
| Carolina | 7 | 9 | 16 | 7 | 10 | 17 | 19 | 14 | 33 |
| NY Jets | 7 | 7 | 14 | 4 | 12 | 16 | 19 | 11 | 30 |
| Las Vegas | 9 | 6 | 15 | 7 | 6 | 13 | 12 | 16 | 28 |
With the young talent and the pass rush, plus the idea that the overall team will win more games (with Aaron Rodgers at quarterback), the Jets should have an improved fantasy defense. Right now, they're in my top 15. But that's about as high as I'm willing to go until they show a little more in the takeaway department.
--Andy Richardson