Jowon Briggs: Everything you need to know

The Jets signed Briggs to a contract Monday, Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2 Houston reports. The Jets placed the exclusive rights tender on Briggs in early March, and the 2024 seventh-rounder will play on the league-minimum contract for the upcoming season. He saw his defensive snap count increase over the course of the 2025 regular season. Briggs played at least 65 percent of the Jets' defensive snaps in each of the final seven games of the regular season, and over that span he accumulated 25 tackles (11 solo), including 2.0 sacks. He'll likely work in a rotational role on the defensive line in 2026 behind T'Vondre Sweat and Harrison Phillips.

Briggs re-signed with the Jets on Thursday, Eric Allen of the team's official site reports. New York used its exclusive rights tender to bring back the defensive tackle, meaning Briggs either has to accept the one-year offer or sit out. Briggs grew into a rotational player for New York in 2025, playing 586 defensive snaps and recording 38 tackles (19 solo), including 4.0 sacks, and a forced fumble.

Briggs had 4.0 sacks among his 38 tackles (19 solo) in 2025. Briggs was a quiet success story for the Jets after being acquired in a preseason trade with the Browns. The 2024 seventh-round pick appeared in all 17 games for the Jets, starting the last eight after the team traded away Quinnen Williams. Even if the Jets bolster the interior of their defensive line in the offseason, Briggs showed enough ability to generate pressure from the inside to earn at least a rotational role in 2026.