NFL analyst says Jets pulled off a heist with the Jarvis Brownlee trade

The New York Jets have had a rocky start to the season, to say the least, and there isn't one singular reason. The offense has struggled. Special teams have struggled. The defense has struggled. It's hard to pinpoint any segment or unit that hasn't underperformed.

However, it's been abundantly clear that the secondary is very high on that list. Sauce Gardner hasn't been the player he needs to be, but it's not just him.

The coverage has been putrid. The new addition, Brandon Stephens, has been a failure thus far. So the Jets did something about it, as they traded a 2026 sixth-round draft pick for young emerging cornerback Jarvis Brownlee.

Fans and media alike were surprised. Titans fans were apaplectic. If their reaction to the move wasn't enough to tell you that the Jets absolutely dominated this deal, then ESPN's Seth Walder is here to give you the numbers to back it up.

The Jets haven't won a game, but they won the Jarvis Brownlee trade

Stephens wasn't a popular signing in the offseason, unless you were a Baltimore Ravens fan, and he has done nothing to prove his naysayers wrong. If the Jets decided to stick with Stephens in such a heightened capacity all season long, quarterbacks would be licking their chops each week before lining up against them.

Making a swift move to alleviate that concern is aggressive and brilliant. To Jets fans, Brandon Stephens represents everything you don’t want in a cornerback — overpaid, overrated, underperforming. To Titans fans, Jarvis Brownlee was the opposite — underpaid, underrated, overdelivering.

He's a late-round pick who has become a legitimate player in the league, despite some overzealous risk-taking and a bit of tactical defiance. Whatever the Jets select with that sixth-round pick, I would hope it turns into a Jarvis Brownlee anyway.

The aforementioned Walder concurs, giving the Titans a 'C' grade and the Jets an 'A-.' He correctly points out that Stephens has allowed 1.5 yards per coverage snap, lagging behind the league average of 1.1.

Thus far in his career, Brownlee has allowed 1.0, an excellent accomplishment for a fifth-round pick. Walder also points to his solid overall Pro Football Focus run-stopping numbers, something the Jets could sorely use to offset Gardner's tackling drawbacks.

With so many years of team control at a low number left, it doesn't seem to make much sense that the Titans would do this. It is true that, as stated, he is a risk-taker and draws a lot of penalties as a result.

He also showed little to no desire to change those ways when pushed to by Tennessee, so he isn't perfect. But a fifth-round pick rarely is, and his value is well above what he returned. Walder states this explicitly, also.

"With his experience and nearly three cheap years remaining on his rookie contract, I'm surprised the Jets got him for so little... I don't get why the Titans would want to deal Brownlee for so little right now... He is a young starting corner who netted very, very little in return."

Seth Walder

You think Walder said "little" enough? Seems like he might not love the move for Tennessee.

You hope that Aaron Glenn is the perfect coach to work with Brownlee. He wasn't keen on the Titans' coaching, but Glenn has played in his shoes before. Then again, I also thought that Glenn was the perfect coach to ring every ounce of sweat from the Stephens rag, and that has clearly not happened. Every player is different, though.

The worst-case scenario is that he doesn't work out as well as we would hope. Even then, he provides depth. Unless the sixth-round pick that was traded becomes Darrelle Revis, it's safe to say that the Jets won this one in a landslide.

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