Jets rising star has fatal flaw that threatens to derail his NFL career

The New York Jets have one of the most talented pass rushers in the NFL in Will McDonald. The 2023 first-round pick broke out with a 10.5-sack season in 2024, establishing himself as one of the league's best at getting after the opposing quarterback.

But despite his pass-rush brilliance, McDonald has a fatal flaw in his game that threatens to derail his entire NFL career if it's not fixed. He's not just a bad run-defender — he's downright unplayable.

The Jets tried to correct this issue in the offseason, with McDonald supposedly adding 15 pounds of muscle to better hold up against the run. Unfortunately, the results have been just as disastrous as last season.

McDonald is far and away Pro Football Focus' lowest-graded run-defending edge rusher in the NFL through two weeks. His horrific 29.2 PFF run-defense grade is over 10.0 points lower than any other edge defender in football.

He's not just a liability to this Jets defense — he's becoming a player who belongs exclusively on obvious passing downs. That level of run defense incompetence makes him virtually unplayable as a three-down starter.

Will McDonald is quietly a liability to the Jets' defense

There's no denying McDonald's effectiveness as a pass rusher. The Iowa State product finished tied for 13th among edge defenders with 61 pressures in 2024. His 16.3% pressure rate ranked sixth in the NFL ahead of stars like Nick Bosa, Brian Burns, and Josh Hines-Allen.

But for as productive and efficient as he is as a pass rusher, his woes in run defense are bordering on unacceptable. This isn't a new problem for McDonald, either.

The 26-year-old finished the 2024 season with a pathetic 39.5 PFF run-defense grade, once again ranking dead last among qualifiers. And just like this year, his performance was so bad that no other player came remotely close to his level of incompetence, with his grade sitting 6.0 full points lower than any other qualified edge defender.

The Jets don't need McDonald to become a good run defender. That aspect of his game will never be a strength, and it's not why the Jets invested a top-15 pick on him.

But it gets to a point where a player is so remarkably bad at one half of his job that it's difficult to justify playing him starter snaps. He's currently a situational pass-rush specialist being asked to play a three-down starter role.

The unfortunate reality for the Jets is that they don't have a solution. The team's defensive end room is already extremely thin — no one should be advocating for more Micheal Clemons or Braiden McGregor snaps.

McGregor is currently PFF's third-lowest graded run-defending edge rusher, Clemons is a complete zero in every department, and rookie fifth-round pick Tyler Baron probably shouldn't even be on the 53-man roster.

The Jets have no choice but to play McDonald for 60% of their defensive snaps right now, but if he can't improve even marginally as a run defender, paying him top dollar as a full-time starter becomes nearly impossible to justify.

The Bryce Huff comparisons are obvious, but even Huff wasn't this bad as a run defender. He was bad, sure, but he wasn't unplayable. McDonald is the worst run-defending edge in football — and it isn't particularly close.

The Jets will continue getting bullied in the run game by opposing offensive lines unless McDonald dramatically improves over the course of the season. If he doesn't, serious conversations will be had about his long-term future in New York.

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