The lone bright spot in Jets’ Week 2 disaster could save a struggling DL

The New York Jets put forth one of the team's worst efforts in recent memory in their 30-10 demolition at the hands of the Buffalo Bills. The final score line doesn't do this game justice — this was as one-sided a beatdown as you're likely to see in the NFL this year.

Following a Week 1 performance with no shortage of positive moments, finding even one encouraging takeaway from Sunday's disaster proved nearly impossible. But buried beneath a mountain of disappointment, one player delivered a performance that should have Jets fans genuinely excited.

Defensive tackle Jowon Briggs was the Jets' best player in Sunday's loss to the Bills — and it wasn't particularly close. Briggs finished with a stellar 88.7 Pro Football Focus grade that ranked third-best among all qualified interior defensive linemen in the NFL this week.

The former Cleveland Browns draft pick recorded three pressures, a sack, and four run stops in 36 total defensive snaps. Briggs has a chance to carve out a regular role as both a short-term and potentially long-term piece of the Jets' defensive line rotation.

Jowon Briggs was the hidden silver lining of the Jets' Week 2 loss

A seventh-round pick of the Browns in the 2024 NFL Draft, Briggs showed flashes as a rookie in limited playing time. He posted an impressive 72.2 PFF grade, tallying four pressures and seven total run stops in just 133 defensive snaps.

Briggs was hoping to take on a larger role going into his second season, but Cleveland's incredibly deep defensive line room made that challenging. That's why the Browns opted to send Briggs to the Jets in exchange for a swap of 2026 sixth and seventh-round picks prior to roster cutdown day.

The Jets were desperate for defensive tackle help, with Byron Cowart injured and veterans like Derrick Nnadi underperforming, so general manager Darren Mougey made a pair of late August additions, trading for both Briggs and veteran Harrison Phillips.

Phillips was the bigger-name addition, but it's Briggs who has impressed the most so far. The Cincinnati product is currently PFF's sixth-highest graded interior defensive lineman in the NFL through two weeks, one spot behind Quinnen Williams.

This is a Jets team that badly needs defensive line depth. Players like Jay Tufele, Leonard Taylor III, Micheal Clemons, Braiden McGregor, and Tyler Baron are replacement-level contributors at best, and in some cases far worse.

Briggs has an opportunity to solidify himself as a fixture in the Jets' defensive line rotation, potentially as a long-term solution to the 1-tech defensive tackle position. The Jets have used him as both a backup 3-tech to Williams and as a rotational 1-tech behind Phillips through two weeks.

Week 2 was a catastrophe for the Jets in many ways, but Jowon Briggs' performance gave the team at least one positive takeaway from the wreckage. The Jets might have something here.

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