ESPN NFL Insider Jeremy Fowler released his 2025 top 10 rankings of the best pass rushers in the NFL on Wednesday, July 9.
New York Jets EDGE Will McDonald did not make the cut. As a matter of fact, he wasn’t one of the four players mentioned in the honorable mention section either.
Fowler put these rankings together based on votes from a group of scouts, coaches, and league execs. At the end of every column, he reveals all the players who received any votes during the process.
All in all, 21 players were either featured in the top 10, honorable mention section, or the “also receiving votes” category. McDonald was MIA in all of them.
The message is simple: coming off McDonald’s career year, do it again.
McDonald Showed a Ton of Star Power in 2024
The former Iowa State product finally showed why the Jets invested the No. 15 overall pick in the 2023 NFL draft into him in 2024.
McDonald, 26, had a career year recording 10.5 sacks, two forced fumbles, three pass deflections, 11 tackles for loss, and 24 quarterback hits.
There was certainly a lot to like, but there is also plenty to work on.
8 of McDonald’s 10.5 sacks came within the first seven weeks of the 2024 season. He only recorded 2.5 sacks across the final 10 games of the year.
Consistency is a great path to getting recognition from the national media. In McDonald’s rookie year, he only appeared in 19% of the defensive snaps. That wasn’t McDonald’s fault; the old coaching staff believed in that redshirt year philosophy for their pass rushers before letting them off their leash in years two and beyond.
However, that left a limited sample size for the ESPN panel to vote.
McDonald finished with 3 sacks, five quarterback hits, four tackles for loss, one forced fumble, and 14 total tackles.
The panel saw a few flashes in 2023, followed up by some significant production in 2024, and now they want to see it again in 2025.
The national media isn’t the only ones who want to see it; so do the Jets. Obviously, the green and white believe in McDonald. Actions speak louder than words. This offseason, the Jets had resources both in terms of cap space and draft picks, yet refused to dump any of the primary ones into the EDGE position.
The only logical explanation for that is the belief in Jermaine Johnson recovering from his blown Achilles and McDonald continuing to rise in year No. 3.
Being a More Complete Player Wouldn’t Hurt McDonald
There is no other way to put it, McDonald was a terrific pass rusher in 2024.
McDonald was tied for 12th in the league in sacks (10.5), per ESPN. Pro Football Focus gave him a 73.9 pass rush grade in 2024, good enough to rank 29th among 211 eligible defenders.
However, McDonald didn’t grade as favorably as a run defender.
The former Iowa State product finished with a 39.5 run defense grade. That ranked 205th out of 211 eligible defenders. Not good.
McDonald has worked on that part of his game this offseason by bulking up. Coming out of college, he weighed 239 pounds with a slender build.
“He has good strength for his size and plays with admirable contact balance against bigger players, but setting firm edges and holding his ground against a downhill running attack could be an issue,” NFL draft analyst Lance Zierlein pointed out ahead of the 2023 NFL draft.
“Lean through waist, hips, and thighs … Strong but lacking NFL mass at point of attack … Inconsistent to maintain positioning as run defender,” Zierlein wrote his criticisms of McDonald’s weaknesses ahead of the 2023 NFL draft.
Insider Challenges Jets Pass Rusher Will McDonald Ahead of 2025