Jets Roster Shift Showing Out During OTAs: 'It's a Big Man's Game'

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. -- The Jets have gone through an identity crisis at some points over the last few years.

Under their previous regime, the Jets looked for smaller but more athletic individuals. The idea for them was that with the league as pass-happy as ever, New York would need to find a way to have the speed to keep up.

But that left the team susceptible to the run. The Jets' run defense has been a struggle in recent years. And that's something the current regime looked to fix over the last few months.

Now, the Jets look different at organized team activities (OTAs). The team has traded away some of the smaller, thinner players for bigger guys to solve their most pressing concerns.

Head coach Aaron Glenn is at the top of the list of people that endorsed the shift.

Jets' get bigger where it counts

For a former cornerback that was listed at just 5'8" and 185 pounds, Glenn's focus on getting bigger players is something of a unique experience. But that isn't to say it's the wrong focus.

"It's a big man's game, and will always be a big man's game," Glenn said on Wednesday. "For us to be able to have large men that have the ability and agility that those guys have, it only makes us better as a team."

Aaron Glenn said T'Vondre Sweat's weight is where the team wants it.

"It's a big man's game. To add large men with the agility they have, it only makes us better as a team."#Jets
— Nick “Mike Farrell” Faria (@Nick_Faria1720) June 10, 2026

The biggest player brought in to the team this offseason by New York was nose tackle T'Vondre Sweat. The Jets acquired the former Texas product in a trade with the Titans, now coached by Gang Green's former leader, Robert Saleh. As part of the deal, New York gave away edge rusher Jermaine Johnson to the Titans.

Other players acquired also fit New York's mold of getting bigger where it counts.

Defensive tackle David Onyemata is listed at close to 300 pounds. Demario Davis is just around 250 pounds, the same as edge rushers like Kingsley Enagbare and Joseph Ossai.

The Jets' goal of getting bigger in the trenches should help a unit that finished fourth-worst in the league against the run last season.

"That was a big emphasis for us," Glenn said. "Not only big men but big men that can move."

At times over the years, it has felt like the Jets have been pushed around on defense when it has mattered most. Cornerbacks struggled against physical receivers. Edge rushers couldn't set the edge against monster tackles, and even their defensive tackles were pushed back at alarming rates over the years.

Size, though, matters a lot when addressing those concerns. Sweat, for example, finished fifth among interior defensive linemen in Pro Football Focus grades. He was the fourth-best player in his role at stopping the run last season.

T'Vondre Sweat during Titans camp. — Jets fans are eager to see how T'Vondre Sweat's size will help impact the team's run defense. | Denny Simmons / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The hope for New York is that their size issue won't be a concern anymore: that they can match up physically with teams across the league. Sweat will be a big part of that, but other players will as well.

"I remember a coach telling me back in the day, 'big men are like pretty women,'" Jets defensive line coach Karl Dunbar said. "There's not a lot of them but everybody wants them...everyone wants big men wh can move around."

From David Bailey to Onyemata, Davis, and plenty of others, the Jets have shifted the look of their overall roster over the last few months.

It should only make them better where it counts.

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