The 2025 Jets stunk. That isn’t lost on anyone right now. But the stat that emphasized their ineptitude more than any other was the fact that their defense failed to record a single interception.
The Jets defense was truly one of the worst units in the league last year. No one who watched them can possibly deny it, and just about every statistical measure backs that up. That being said, what if I said there’s a ton of evidence that the Jets defense should improve this year by simply blind luck regardless if they hadn’t completely overhauled the defensive roster.
Looking historically, we can examine the five worst teams in terms of season interception totals: the 2018 49ers, 2020 Texans, 2008 Lions, 2024 Browns and 2024 Giants. On average, all five defenses meaningfully increased their interception totals the following season. They averaged an increase of eight interceptions, while the two teams with the fewest interceptions averaged a 12-interception increase.
Now, listen, I don’t want to suggest that the Jets’ interception drought last year was entirely bad luck. Even when you account for turnovers and omit garbage time, the Jets were consistently a bottom-5 to bottom-10 statistical unit by most measures.
One stat I found surprising when looking through the Jets defense in 2025 was that they actually weren’t all that bad in pass breakups. According to FTN Fantasy, the Jets actually got their hands on the ball in pass coverage at roughly an average rate for an NFL defense in 2025. Normally, teams that generate that many opportunities don’t underachieve to the extent that the Jets did when it came to actually creating turnovers. Now that’s not to say that the Jets defense was potentially incapable of turning pass breakups into turnovers. Turnovers are certainly influenced by luck, but they also require an element of skill and playmaking ability. The Jets simply weren’t making those plays, but even then it was at a level that is unprecedented historically. Even from a fumble-recovery perspective, the Jets recovered just 35.5% of available fumbles, which ranked 31st in the league.
Put all of that together, and it’s difficult to imagine a scenario in which the Jets experience the same level of turnover misfortune again. They don’t need to suddenly become a good defense for their turnover numbers to improve. They just need to stop being historically bad at turning defensive opportunities into actual takeaways. With eight potential new starters and legitimately 10-11 new bodies who should see significant snaps, there’s a lot of opportunity for that to happen.
If the Jets defense doesn’t show meaningful improvement in the turnover department this year, that would be a massive disappointment. At that point, given the amount of roster turnover and investment on that side of the ball … let’s just say Aaron Glenn likely won’t have a job come January.