Jets finally beef up defensive tackle room with Khalen Saunders signing

The NY Jets have accepted that they are not going to have a very deep defensive tackle room following the trade of Quinnen Williams, but their showing against the New England Patriots proved they don't have the interior pass rush they need to trouble some of the better offenses in the league.

Harrison Phillips and Jowon Briggs have proven to be two excellent run-stuffing defensive tackles, but both of them are below-average in terms of getting after the quarterback. Not wanting to lean on Payton Page or Jay Tufele to make an impact, the Jets decided to bring in a veteran for a brief test run.

The Jets have agreed to terms with defensive tackle Khalen Saunders, who made his name with the Kansas City Chiefs as a rotational player. Saunders is only available after he was granted a release from the Jacksonville Jaguars after getting buried on their depth chart.

The Jets need interior pass rush talent as badly as any team in the AFC, which could give Saunders a chance to either resurrect his value or cement himself as someone who could be a part of the New York defensive line rotation in the immediate future.

Jets sign DT Khalen Saunders after Jaguars release

Saunders hasn't played much in the 2025 season, as he fell out of favor behind a fairly deep Jaguars interior defensive line. The more accurate summation of his play will be 2024, when he was a semi-regular contributor for the New Orleans Saints.

Saunders has never been a particularly effective run defender when compared to other starters in the league, but he does have some very impressive short-area quickness. Getting after the quarterback is what earned him playing time in Kansas City and New Orleans, and it's why the Jets were able to bring him in over contenders like the Indianapolis Colts.

The Jets are a bad team, but Darren Mougey and Aaron Glenn seem to have found some diamonds in the rough with some of their individual defensive fliers. Saunders could be yet another player who improves in New York due to his energy and quickness up front. Hopefully he's better than Derrick Nnadi (not hard).