The New York Jets haven’t been doing a lot of winning over the last 15 years.
That changed when ESPN’s Mike Clay crowned the Jets as having the best “off-ball-linebackers” in the NFL heading into 2026.
“The 37-year-old Demario Davis is back after ranking 10th in the NFL with 143 tackles last season. He has now cleared 100 in nine consecutive seasons, totaling 36.5 sacks during that span. The future Hall of Famer will team up with Jamien Sherwood, whose 308 tackles over the past two seasons ranked second in the NFL,” Clay wrote.
Clay ranked the best and worst positional units for every team in the NFL on both offense and defense.
All a Matter of Perspective
On the latest episode of “Jets Final Drive”, Zack Rosenblatt of The Athletic said the off-ball-linebacker position is a “2” on a 1 through 3 worry scale.
“Yeah, I mean it’s depth related; that’s where I go [with a] two [on the worry scale]. If you lose Sherwood or Davis, they have nobody,” Rosenblatt explained.
Purely on a starting standpoint, Davis and Sherwood are a fine pairing at linebacker, but they certainly aren’t perfect.
Davis is 37 years of age and Father Time is undefeated. He is still playing at a high level, but it’s fair to start wondering how much gas he has left in the tank. Remarkably, throughout his 14-year career, Davis has only missed one game due to injury. Can that impressive ironman streak continue in 2026? We will see.
Sherwood is among the top-seven highest paid off ball linebackers in football, per Over The Cap. When he signed his three-year $45 million contract last offseason, he was among the top-five highest paid at his position.
When he originally signed that deal, the Jets were praised for keeping one of their own. ESPN NFL Insider Jeremy Fowler joined me on “Boy Green Daily” and told me that Sherwood would have had an entire group of teams drooling to sign him on the open market.
However, the league-wide opinion on Sherwood has soured after an off-year in 2025.
This Group Has a Lot to Prove
There are questions about both starting linebackers, and there is a massive hole on the depth chart at LB3.
The leading men to fill that role are Kiko Mauigoa, Marcelino McCrary Ball, and Mykal Walker.
“It wouldn’t shock me if backup linebacker Mykal Walker starts the year on the PUP list if his preseason injury doesn’t heal in time for Week 1,” beat reporter Nick Faria of the Jets on SI team wrote.
If that transpired, Walker would be forced to miss at least the first four games of the 2026 season.
That would leave the Jets with second-year linebacker Kiko Mauigoa and McCrary-Ball, who has been primarily a special teams player. Not ideal.
It’s hard to embrace the Jets having the best off-ball-linebacker group in the NFL when they’re one devastating injury away from being one of the worst groups in the league.
Sherwood thrived when C.J. Mosley was on the team, helping his development. As soon as Mosley left last offseason, Sherwood struggled. The thought from the Jets’ brass is Davis will serve in that Mosley role for Sherwood in 2026.
That sounds great on paper, but if Davis gets hurt, Sherwood will be right back to where he was in 2025.
ESPN Analyst Raises Eyebrows With Controversial Jets Take