The 2024 NFL season was a rough year for the New York Jets, even more than the 2023 season. In 2023, at least you could point to the immediate season-ending injury to Aaron Rodgers as an excuse for poor play. But the future Hall of Fame quarterback played every game in 2024 and the team still massively underperformed expectations, leading to the firing of former head coach Robert Saleh.
The defensive regression was especially concerning, particularly when even Quinnen Williams, the heart and soul of the Jets defense, didn’t have a great year. Make no mistake, Williams was still good, but he was not nearly as dominant as he’d been in the two previous seasons.
His slight regression landed Williams on Pro Football Focus’ ranking of 10 players with the most to prove in 2025. Of Williams, Zoltan Buday wrote: “Across 2022 and 2023, he earned a 91.5 PFF overall grade, which ranked fourth in the NFL over that period, behind only Dexter Lawrence, Chris Jones and Aaron Donald. In 2024, his 69.6 PFF overall grade ranked only 28th among interior defenders. While he won 19.1% of his pass-rush snaps in 2023, his clip dipped to 14.2% in 2024.”
At this point in his career, Williams has earned the benefit of the doubt. None of this is to suggest that Jets fans should press the panic button. However, it remains fair to say that Williams needs to prove he’s still The Guy for the Jets’ defensive line, especially with new head coach Aaron Glenn running the show.
Coming from Detroit, where he ran a feared defensive unit, Glenn was one of the hottest head coaching candidates this offseason, and the Jets were lucky to get him. The hope is now he’ll bring the same ferocity to New York that he cultivated in Detroit, of which Williams should be one of the main beneficiaries.
If Williams gets back to his 2022 and 2023 form, and if the offense finally has a quarterback that can consistently score, the Jets should now live up to those Super Bowl expectations the media had for them before last season.