Braiden McGregor somehow went from roster cut candidate to Week 1 star

As the preseason and training camp rolled along, New York Jets fans got really attached to pass rusher Nate Lynn, a former Lions defender who managed to record three sacks in two preseason games. There was hope that he would be able to stick around on the final 53-man roster.

All the while, there was another young defensive end carving out a role for himself out of the spotlight. Former undrafted free agent Braiden McGregor, who has been with the Jets since 2024, played himself into New York's edge rotation.

While Lynn was waived and later signed onto the Jets' practice squad, McGregor, somewhat shockingly, survived roster cuts. While it may not have made sense at the time, it makes a whole lot of sense after Week 1.

McGregor wound up being a key contributor for the Jets in their season-opening victory over the Tennessee Titans, and according to some of the advanced statistics, he may have even been their best defensive player.

Braiden McGregor turned out to be the New York Jets' best Week 1 defender

The Jet Press's own Justin Fried shared McGregor's Pro Football Focus numbers from his Week 1 outing in Tennessee, and the stats say that the former Michigan standout had himself a day.

"Under-the-radar shoutout to Braiden McGregor. His 75.1 PFF grade in Week 1 was the second-highest single-game grade of his NFL career," wrote Fried in a post on X. "Meanwhile, his 77.2 PFF run defense grade was the *highest* single-game grade of his NFL career."

Fried added that McGregor missed zero tackles and made one run stop. He only played 17 defensive snaps, but that was more than interior defensive tackles T'Vondre Sweat and Jowon Briggs.

It wasn't a lot, but if McGregor keeps playing like this, the Jets will have no choice but to continue giving him playing time.

New York Jets in need of edge depth as Joseph Ossai recovers

Thank goodness for McGregor, because the Jets were seriously in need of some help off the edge on Sunday. Their big-ticket free-agent addition, Joseph Ossai, was inactive as he recovers from injury, and his strength is run defense.

With both Will McDonald and David Bailey best served as pass-rush specialists, Kingsley Enagbare and McGregor became that much more important in Week 1 when it came to shutting down the Titans' run game.

They did just that, holding Tony Pollard to 35 yards on seven carries and Tyjae Spears to just 12 yards on three carries. It remains to be seen if Ossai will be active for Week 2, but if not, McGregor will surely have an expanded role once again.

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