New York Jets Had Second-Worst Defensive Line in Week 1

The New York Jets had one of the most highly-regarded defensive lines heading into the season, but they fell flat against the San Francisco 49ers.

Sep 9, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers running back Jordan Mason (24) avoids the grasp of New York Jets safety Tony Adams (22) in the second quarter at Levi's Stadium. / David Gonzales-Imagn Images

There were a lot of disappointing things about the New York Jets during their first game of the season against the San Francisco 49ers, but the defensive line might have been the biggest letdown of all.

Stopping the run against the 49ers will always be hard, even when it's an undrafted free agent who did not surpass 100 snaps played over his first two games.

That does not excuse how poorly the Jets defensive front played, though.

Pro Football Focus released their updated defensive line rankings and New York finished second-to-last among all of the NFL.

The only team that finished below them was the Houston Texans.

"Our top-ranked unit heading into the season, the Jets' defensive line faced a harsh reality against the 49ers' rushing attack, earning the second-worst run defense grade of the week. However, expect this unit to bounce back in the coming games," said PFF writer John Kosko. "The one bright spot was Javon Kinlaw against his former team, as he put up an 18.2% pass-rush win rate and 79.1 pass-rush grade."

While it may not be time to panic, the Jets' coaching staff and players will need to go back to square one and figure out what went wrong in preparation for the rest of the season.

Kinlaw was indeed a bright spot, looking like a fantastic value just one game into his tenure. He played in just over half of the defensive snaps, but look for that share to increase in the coming weeks.

Jermaine Johnson may have been the most disappointing individual player, given the hype that was surrounding him entering the year.

He finished with just one tackle and missed two. As a pass rusher, he did generate three QB hurries but was unable to bring Brock Purdy down.

With the Haason Reddick situation still in chaos mode, Johnson has become a massive part of New York's plans. He needs to be a bit more productive and finish his tackles in the future.

A lot of different players ended up being thrown at the San Francisco offensive line, and few made much of an impact.

The only lineman to grab a sack was third-year player Micheal Clemons

Luckily for the Jets, their next game will be against the Tennessee Titans.

The Titans finished as one of the worst offensive lines in football last week and don't figure to be much better moving forward.