Jets Predicted to Lose $18M All-Pro to Robert Saleh, Titans

The New York Jets’ defense is going to be under a microscope this offseason after a brutal 2025 season.

Steve Wilks was fired during the campaign. Overall, it wasn't the Jets' year on the defensive side of the ball and it certainly didn't help in the short term to trade Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams away. In the long run, this will help the franchise with the draft capital the team got back. But in 2025, the Jets' defense was already struggling and then got hit with two haymakers before Wilks was even fired.

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Overall, the Jets allowed the eighth-most total yards per game at 355.6 yards per game. The Jets struggled to stop the run and allowed the fourth-most rushing yards per game at 139.5 rushing yards per game. The secondary actually wasn't bad, even with Gardner gone. The Jets finished the season allowing the 16th-most passing yards per game at 216.1 yards per game, smack dab in the middle.

The Jets' defense could look different in 2026

New York Jets linebacker Quincy Williams (56) drops back on defense during an NFL Week 10 game between the New York Jets and the Cleveland Browns at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, Nov. 9, 2025. | Julian Leshay Guadalupe/NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Even with the struggles overall, one guy who showed he can make an impact is Quincy Williams. Despite a surprising start to the season and even a brief benching, Williams set a new career high with 3 1/2 sacks while also logging seven passes defended and 83 total tackles in just 13 games. Williams' future is up in the air right now, though, as his three-year, $18 million deal is set to expire, sending him to free agency. FOX Sports' Greg Auman ranked the top-100 pending free agents with predicted landing spots and Jets fans will not love his answer for Williams.

"No. 93. Quincy Williams, LB, Jets," Auman wrote. "Williams, 29, averaged 110 tackles a year in his five seasons with the Jets, having just finished a three-year, $18 million contract. Would a change of scenery help him? There are potential matches in the Titans, where former Jets coach Robert Saleh is now, and the Falcons, where his defensive coordinator, Jeff Ulbrich, returns. Both had him when he was a first-team All-Pro selection in 2023, so it makes sense, given the choice, that he could return to one of them. Prediction: Signs with Titans."

If Williams were to leave in general, the Jets would have some big shoes to fill in the linebacker room this offseason. That's not all, though. If he were to join the Titans, that would set up a reunion between him and former Jets head coach Robert Saleh, who was named as Tennessee's head coach this offseason.

In January, The Athletic's Zack Rosenblatt noted that the Jets are "likely" to lose Williams this offseason. This idea of Williams to Tennessee certainly would sting if it became reality and not just a prediction.

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