3 Jets players with high stakes on the line vs. Falcons

While New York Jets fans might not be overly invested in Sunday’s outcome against the Atlanta Falcons (unless they’re rooting for the tank, even if Aaron Glenn despises the concept), it will be a massive Sunday for numerous players on the roster.

Only six games remain for New York’s players to strengthen their resumes ahead of an offseason that will be filled with changes. How these “bubble” players perform over the next six weeks could shape how the Jets’ roster looks in 2026 as they look to snap their soon-to-be 15-year playoff drought.

These three players, in particular, are facing high stakes on Sunday as the Falcons march into MetLife Stadium.

TE Jeremy Ruckert

Following the Jets’ Week 11 loss to the New England Patriots, we evaluated Jeremy Ruckert’s performance over the first 10 games of the season. The conclusion was that Ruckert has enjoyed a significantly improved year, solidifying him as a respectable TE2, but hasn’t necessarily stood out enough to secure his role for the 2026 season.

Ruckert performed so poorly in 2024 that his merely decent production in 2025 (as both a receiver and blocker) is enough to represent a massive jump. In reality, though, he’s a player that the Jets can significantly improve upon in the offseason with their mountain of assets, especially as they seek to upgrade a bottom-feeding offense in any way possible.

The bad news for Ruckert is that he is starting to trend back down toward his 2024 performance. After executing efficiently as a receiver and blocker through the first couple of months, he’s been making more mistakes recently.

In the Jets’ Week 10 loss to New England, Ruckert failed to secure a well-thrown fourth-down pass in the fourth quarter that would have given the Jets first-and-goal as they attempted to cut the Patriots’ lead to one score. A defender punched the ball out of Ruckert’s grasp, ending the Jets’ chances of a comeback.

In a Week 11 loss to Baltimore, Ruckert whiffed badly on multiple run blocks.

These two rough games against quality opponents continued an extended stretch of shaky play from Ruckert. At this point, his improved production in 2025 mostly comes from the first six games of the season. The last five games have resembled his 2024 season.

Through Week 6, Ruckert earned an overall grade of 66.2 at Pro Football Focus, good enough for 23rd out of 83 qualified tight ends. It seemed like he was turning a corner. Ruckert caught all eight targets thrown his way and appeared to be an average blocker.

Since Week 7, though, Ruckert’s grade has dropped to 54.9, placing 63rd out of 86 tight ends. The decline has occurred due to a couple of critical receiving mistakes (specifically the botched catch vs. New England and a drop vs. Carolina) and a dip in his blocking consistency.

As an impending free agent who was drafted by the previous regime, Ruckert is squarely on the 2026 roster bubble. He must shine over the next six weeks if he wants to return in a key offensive role. Otherwise, the Jets will likely pursue a more dynamic option to place beside Mason Taylor.

Ruckert has improved into a usable offensive player, and it is also worth noting that he has performed well on special teams this season, so there is a place for him on the Jets’ roster in 2026. As a TE2, though, the viability of Ruckert’s performance this year should not be exaggerated just because his previous standards were so low. The Jets can do better, and they should try to do better unless Ruckert turns a corner over the final stretch of 2025.

Right now, Ruckert is on track to return to New York as a player expected to compete for TE3 duties and a special teams role. That’s an upgrade compared to a year ago, when he didn’t even seem rosterable. But if he wants to keep his role as the TE2 on a team that will have ample assets to find someone more impressive, he needs to take another step forward from “respectable” to “good”.

LG John Simpson

After the 2024 season, John Simpson seemed like he was on track to earn a lucrative long-term contract in New York. Inked to a two-year, $12 million deal, he vastly outperformed his pay grade in his debut season as a Jet, ranking as PFF’s fourth-best left guard with a 77.3 overall grade.

In 2025, though, Simpson’s production has dipped back down to the level that you would expect from a player on his type of contract. Simpson’s 54.4 overall grade ranks 24th out of 33 qualified left guards. The film backs up the grade, as Simpson has clearly been more mistake-prone than he was in 2024.

If Simpson replicated his 2024 season, he would currently be on track to earn a substantial pay raise on the 2026 free agent market. However, at 28 years old, NFL teams will not be eager to sign Simpson to a long-term deal into his thirties with the type of production he generated through the first 11 games of this season. To this point, he has lost tens of millions of dollars through his play in 2025.

There is still enough time for Simpson to get back on the trajectory he found himself on after the 2024 season. A dominant six-game stretch could raise his season-long numbers back up to their 2024 levels.

If it’s going to happen, he must start on Sunday by maximizing a favorable matchup against Atlanta.

The Falcons’ primary right-side defensive tackle is Ruke Orhorhoro. Simpson will see a bit of every Falcons defensive tackle, as Atlanta rotates its defensive linemen, but Orhorhoro leads the interior unit with 23.3 snaps per game on the right side (across from the left guard), so he will be Simpson’s primary matchup.

The 2024 second-round pick has not lived up to expectations so far. Orhorhoro is PFF’s lowest-ranked defensive tackle among 83 qualifiers with at least 300 defensive snaps (41.4 overall grade). He only has three quarterback hits in 11 games, while he has struggled immensely against the run.

At the moment, Simpson’s 2025 metrics are substantially below where they were in 2024. If he wants to make up that ground in just six games, he must be not only good, but outstanding. And he’s capable of it; after all, he was PFF’s fourth-ranked guard last year.

A matchup against one of the league’s least effective defensive tackles is just what the doctor ordered for Simpson. Let’s see if he can take advantage.

From the Jets’ perspective, Simpson is a fascinating evaluation. If he finishes the season strongly, they would probably love to keep him to retain the excellent continuity that the starting offensive line has built this year, even if his improved play raises his price on the open market.

If he doesn’t improve, the Jets will have an opportunity to use their assets to find an upgrade at left guard. Still, they could take advantage of Simpson’s struggles by retaining him on the cheap, allowing them to maintain offensive line continuity at a bargain and allocate their premium resources toward more valuable positions than guard.

Sunday’s matchup against Orhorhoro will tell us a lot about Simpson’s outlook going into 2026.

EDGE Will McDonald

We’ve written quite a bit about Will McDonald this week. First, we highlighted McDonald’s overall struggles throughout the season, and in response, we debunked one of the popular defenses of his underwhelming production.

People have all sorts of opinions on the Jets’ 2023 first-round pick. Here are the facts: His 2025 numbers are nowhere close to what they were in 2024, and they are not even at the level of a league-average starter. Put as much or as little blame on McDonald as you’d like, but that’s where we’re at.

Per PFF, McDonald finished the 2024 season with 61 total pressures, good for 13th among edge rushers. Through 11 games in 2025, he has just 28 pressures, ranking 40th.

McDonald’s pressure rate this season is 10.4%, placing 42nd among the 63 edge rushers with at least 200 pass-rush snaps. Essentially, his pass-rush efficiency has been that of a below-average starter. Couple that with his vulnerability against the run (even if he has been slightly better this year), and McDonald hasn’t been a plus starter by any measure.

Maybe you believe those numbers are an accurate representation of his talent and impact, maybe you do not. Given McDonald’s obvious talent via the eye test and his track record of high-level impact via the numbers, it is understandable to believe that extenuating factors could be to blame for his lack of impact in 2025. Nonetheless, the reality is that his production simply isn’t where it needs to be.

After the 2024 season, McDonald seemed like an obvious long-term cornerstone for the Jets’ defense. In just his second season, he rushed the passer at a top-15 level for his position. The expectation was that he’d take another jump in 2025, establishing himself as one of the best edge pass rushers in the NFL.

Instead, McDonald has not only failed to take a jump, but he’s taken a significant step backward.

McDonald finds himself in a similar spot to Simpson. With over one-third of the season still in the future, McDonald has enough time to push his 2025 season-long numbers back up to their 2024 level if he finishes the year with a scorching hot run over the final six games. If he can do that, he can reclaim his status as the no-brainer building block that he appeared to be after 2024.

The problem for McDonald is that he could not have asked for a tougher matchup to kickstart this critical stretch of games. As a defensive end who plays most of his snaps on the right side, his matchup on Sunday will be the Falcons’ star left tackle, Jake Matthews. His 88.3 pass-blocking grade at PFF ranks second among all offensive linemen this year.

This is a fantastic opportunity for McDonald, though. As much as he would love to see a weak left tackle to pump up his numbers, it will send a louder message if he can produce against one of the league’s best pass protectors.

After all, proving he can beat star linemen is a box that McDonald has yet to check. Most of his production this year has come against mediocre or worse tackles. He has recorded six of his seven sacks in two games against the Steelers and Browns, whose left tackles were Broderick Jones (59.0 pass-blocking grade in 2025) and Cam Robinson (44.0).

Against quality pass protectors, McDonald has gone silent. He’s played five games against left tackles who currently have a pass-blocking grade of 75.0 or better in 2025 (good enough for top-15 among qualifiers):

Tampa Bay’s Tristan Wirfs (78.2)
Buffalo’s Dion Dawkins (79.3)
Miami’s Patrick Paul (75.0)
Denver’s Garett Bolles (88.3)
New England’s Will Campbell (76.1)

In those five games, McDonald had zero sacks, two quarterback hits, 11 total pressures (2.2 per game), and a paltry 10% pressure rate. He had twice as many missed tackles in those games (four) as quarterback hits.

McDonald has shrunk against quality competition this year. If he wants the Jets’ new regime to treat him like a long-term building block, he has to start proving he can rise to the occasion against great left tackles.

Building blocks are supposed to help you win playoff games, and you’re never going to win many playoff games if your top edge rusher can’t beat the league’s best pass protectors. The playoff field rarely features many sieves at the tackle positions; it’s hard to get that far with a liability protecting the blind side.

For that reason, Jake Matthews is precisely the matchup McDonald needs at this crucial juncture of his career. If McDonald beats up Matthews on Sunday, and it jump-starts an impressive run to close the season, the Jets can start to take him seriously again as a potential core piece of their future.

If not, the Jets will likely seek to replace him in the 2026 starting lineup. Perhaps that involves trading him, perhaps it involves reducing him to a situational role, but either way, McDonald cannot be viewed as a part of the Jets’ nucleus if he keeps disappearing against good left tackles.

Jets Lose Braelon Allen for 2025 — and His Injury Just Flipped the Entire Future of New York’s Backfield

We won’t be seeing Braelon Allen strap up again for the New York Jets in 2025.

Head coach Aaron Glenn confirmed the news when he spoke to the media on Friday, November 28.

“More than likely, he is done for the season and getting himself ready for next season,” coach Glenn explained.

The former Wisconsin product was injured during the Week 4 road game against the Miami Dolphins. NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport shared on September 30 that Allen suffered a “MCL sprain.”

Coach Glenn said Allen’s recovery timeline would be in the 8-12 weeks range. That initial rehab projection put Allen in line to potentially return this week against the Atlanta Falcons.

Allen Opted for Surgery

On October 21, Allen took to his Instagram, posting a photo of his knee with what appeared to be surgical scars via ESPN’s Rich Cimini.

“Day by day,” Allen wrote in a text caption with the picture.

“There are two different ways he can go about it,” Coach Glenn said in October via CBS Sports. “He could actually rehab this or he could have surgery and get it cleaned up. The rehab time would be exactly the same. That’ll be a decision he and his agent have to make, and I’m not making that decision for him.”

The Future of the Jets Running Back Position

Allen, 21, has two years remaining on his $4.5 million rookie contract through the 2027 season.

The talented running back entered the league as the No. 134 overall pick in the fourth round of the 2024 NFL draft.

He has appeared in 21 games and has made two starts. With those opportunities, Allen has toted the rock 110 times for 410 rushing yards, has averaged 3.7 rushing yards per attempt, and has scored three times on the ground.

Through the air, Allen has caught 21 receptions for 165 receiving yards and has scored one receiving touchdown.

Allen’s Injury Changed the Jets’ Plans at the NFL Trade Deadline

NFL Insider Connor Hughes said on “Jets Final Drive” in August that “everyone likes to talk about Breece Hall because there was so much hype for him earlier in his career, I think Braelon Allen might be the Jets’ best running back. I really think he [Allen] is that good.”

Hall was the subject of some heavy rumors ahead of the NFL trade deadline. However, according to ESPN’s Rich Cimini, Allen’s knee injury complicated matters for the team regarding whether they could move Hall.

It’s fair to wonder, if Allen never got hurt, would Hall still be a member of the team? That topic is likely better suited for the N “if” L rather than the reality of the situation. The trade deadline came and went — Hall remains under contract with the team through the rest of this season.

According to Hughes, the team has changed its stance on Hall’s future.

“It is insane how this has changed over the course of a month. I would have bet my mortgage on Breece Hall not being with this team in 2026 and probably half my mortgage on Breece Hall not being on the Jets after the trade deadline. They were fielding offers for him. He seemed pretty uninterested in being with the team long term. The Jets weren’t willing to invest in that position,” Hughes explained on “Jets Mailbag.”

“The Jets have the money to pay Hall and basically feel no ramifications from that at all. So it’s getting to the point where, why not bring him back … I mean, it’s crazy, I really didn’t think there was any chance of him returning next year. Now he could not only be with the Jets in 2026 but 2027 and 2028 as well,” Hughes continued.

Sport