New York Jets Star Jamien Sherwood Says Locker Room Tight Amid Losing

Jamien Sherwood is having the best season of his four-year NFL career at the perfect time.

The New York Jets linebacker is set to be a free agent after the season, just like a large number of his teammates that can test the market.

He’s doing it at a time in which the injuries to starter C.J. Mosley have opened up a huge opportunity for him and he’s taken advantage. He leads New York (3-10) with 125 tackles, including 78 solo shots. That puts him well ahead of Quincy Williams, who has 89.

The Jets selected him in the fifth round out of Auburn and it’s taken him time to work his way up the ladder. After all, he had just 15 tackles his rookie season.

It’s taken him time to get to know his teammates, too.

Jamien Sherwood has had a really nice season on the field for the #Jets. The linebacker has also been excellent speaking to reporters during a tough season.

Here’s Sherwood talking about how this will likely be the final 4 games together for a lot of guys: pic.twitter.com/YViiL0IyZb
— Dennis Waszak Jr. (@DWAZ73) December 9, 2024

“I wasn’t as open to people as I am now,” he said on Monday. “I had to take time to get closer, get more comfortable around people because you don’t know where other people come from.”

Since that rookie season, he’s become steadily more productive. In 2022 he played in every game for the first time and finished with only 16 tackles.

Last season he made a big jump as he finished with 46 tackles.

He said the continuity on defense has helped his development as a player. Many of the players in his position group, including Mosley and Williams, have been instrumental in getting him where is now.

It’s part of the reason, he said, that he’s not packing it in with four games to go and the potential for a big contract in free agency after the season.

“I feel like I’ve been here and the core guys have been here, so for me, that’s why I’m definitely going to play my heart out these last four games because we’ve built these bonds that will last a lifetime,” he said. “I’ll do anything for my brother, just like I would my real ones.”

He said that the locker room is tighter that many might imagine, given the Jets have lost nine of their last 10 games after a 2-1 start. Many of them hang out after practice and during the week.

It’s part of what makes the losses so frustrating, he says. He believes the team is putting in the effort during the week but it’s just not translating into victories.

“We prepare so hard and all we want to do is win at the end of the day,” Sherwood said. “So that's how we're able to just rally and just be amongst each other through all this adversity.”