Defensive Playmaker Is New York Jets Biggest X-Factor in 2024

Heading into the 2024 regular season, many people would say that quarterback Aaron Rodgers is the biggest X-factor for the New York Jets.

They would have a strong argument. He is certainly the most important player on the team, evidenced by how everything crumbled in the 2023 campaign after he was injured on the team’s fourth offensive snap of the season.

If the Jets can receive even average quarterback play from Rodgers, their offensive production is going to skyrocket.

Keeping him protected is of the utmost importance. Maybe left tackle Tyron Smith, who has been unable to consistently stay on the field, would be considered the team’s biggest X-factor.

If Smith, who signed a one-year deal with New York in free agency after spending 13 seasons with the Dallas Cowboys, gets injured it will be rookie first-round pick Olu Fashanu out of Penn State taking his spot in the lineup.

Alas, it isn’t on the offensive side of the ball where the team’s biggest X-factor lies. In the opinion of Ben Solak of ESPN, the Jets’ x-factor is star edge rusher Haason Reddick.

Unlike Rodgers and Smith, Reddick has yet to show up after New York acquired him from the Philadelphia Eagles in an offseason trade. He is seeking a new contract and has dug his feet in, refusing to show up without one.

That in itself is enough to warrant him claiming the X-factor title.

“He was always going to be the X factor for the Jets. If he’s a 12-sack guy and Jermaine Johnson is a 10-sack guy (which he looked like he could be down the stretch last season), this pass rush will be just fine. But Reddick is now a super-duper X factor because we don’t really know when he’s going to show up and start playing for the Jets — if at all,” Solak wrote.

The possibility exists that the Jets will have the best pass-rushing tandem in the NFL if Reddick reports. He and Jermaine Johnson can both be elite rushers off the end.

Alas, that is why Reddick is the X-factor. On the opposite end of the spectrum is the possibility that he doesn’t show, leaving New York in a tough spot.

In 2023, part of their success defensively was the depth they had on the edge getting after the quarterback. To make room for Reddick, some of that depth was sacrificed.

Bryce Huff signed with the Eagles in free agency and John Franklin-Myers was traded to the Denver Broncos. That puts a lot of pressure on 2023 first-round pick Will McDonald IV, who is an X-factor in his own right.