Why Jordan Whitehead Is Best Fit at Strong Safety For New York Jets
It has been long expected that the Jets will be active in the secondary market this free agency period, and we’re just a matter of days away from seeing their plans unfold on the transaction wire.
With a plethora of versatile corners and safeties available, we should see multiple signings at both positions, with an extra addition at each in the 2022 NFL Draft. After having a thin and injured backend last season, ensuring a deep secondary room is essential for New York moving forward.
The Jets have already made quick work on retaining some of their own free-agent defensive backs, with safeties Lamarcus Joyner and Will Parks returning on one-year deals. Parks was a late addition to the team last season and made two starts to finish the year, while Joyner’s 2021 season was cut short due to a triceps injury in Week 1.
Joyner now fills out the depth chart at the free safety position, a role in which he started at Week 1 just six months ago. There’s a chance they aren’t done at free safety just yet — especially given how underwhelming the Ashtyn Davis experience was in Year 2 — but at the very least this is a position that feels sturdy enough to put on the field next season. I’d expect the Jets to tackle that final free safety in the draft, allowing them to turn their focus on finding starters at other key positions.
The big question now becomes who plays alongside the likes of Joyner and Davis, as 2021 starter Marcus Maye is set to test the open market and call a new city home for the first time in his career. Failing to agree on a contract extension for over two years seems to translate to a fresh start for the 29-year-old captain and, while you can never say never on a possible reunion, it seems like a new name will be suiting up at the strong safety position.
Fortunately for New York, there are a fair amount of starting-caliber strong safeties. The top prize is New Orleans’ Marcus Williams, set to become one of the highest paid safeties in football, though he works best in two-high safety sets as a primarily free safety. There’s no harm having him start over Joyner next season if that’s a route they decide to pursue but doesn’t make the most financial sense seeing they’d still need to address strong safety afterward.
Tyrann Mathieu, former Kansas City Chief, is a versatile, do-it-all safety that would be an amazing culture fit for the Jets. Given his age and wishes to continue pursuing titles in the latter parts of his career, the Jets would need to be millions above his best offer in order to convince him to lace up in the green and white. Quandre Diggs, a free agent from Seattle, has ties to the defensive scheme but is also best fit as a free safety.
This brings us to what is, in my opinion, the best fit for the New York Jets at strong safety this offseason: Tampa Bay’s 24-year-old free agent Jordan Whitehead. This fiery, hard-hitting safety fits like a glove in head coach Robert Saleh’s defense and is a perfect culture fit for a defensive that needs to add an edge to itself.
When Whitehead is sitting at the linebacker level it was hard to find a more impactful safety making plays at the line of scrimmage the last two years. His run defense grade of 78.9 this past season 10th-best among safeties and was still a top-35 safety in his pass defense grade. Few safeties in this league play with less fear for their safety than Whitehead, who throws his body around in order to make a play.
That reckless abandonment can be worrisome for a safety that’s only 5-foot-11 and 200 pounds, but Whitehead’s done a great job being available throughout his career and has only missed six of a total 65 regular season games. He also won’t let injuries hold him back from the biggest moments, playing a solid game in Super Bowl 55 with a torn labrum in his shoulder.
While I’m not saying every player needs to go out on the field and play hurt, Whitehead’s commitment to his team and demeanor is an attitude that needs to be spread throughout the locker room. There were games in the 2021 season where the Jets were just flat for 60 minutes on the defensive end, and Whitehead can bring the juice to help mature this unit — both physically and mentally.
A move to New York also means Whitehead will be able to spend more time doing what he does best, staying close to the line of scrimmage and coming down on the football. The Buccaneers started to trend to more two-high safeties, something we saw a lot of defenses do last season to limit deep pass concepts, but the Jets are committed to this Cover-3 base and Whitehead’s skillset is a perfect match for this scheme.
Safeties like Williams, Mathieu and Diggs are all looking at deals with an AAV of $10 million or above. Even if the Jets do end up in a bidding war for Whitehead’s services, it’d be shocking for a safety of his style to get close to that number, with a projection of $8 million AAV being the realistic high end of the spectrum. Even if you’re wary over his longevity, $8 million a year for an impact safety who’s only 24 fits the Jets timeline like a glove.
Should the Jets follow through on the rumblings about beefing their secondary, Whitehead is the ideal combination of cost, fit and character to provide some juice on defense.
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