Mired in an underwhelming season with time running out to rebound, Will McDonald’s Week 13 game against the Atlanta Falcons was precisely what the third-year edge rusher needed.

McDonald racked up five total pressures, including four quarterback hits, all coming against Falcons left tackle Jake Matthews, one of the best pass protectors in the NFL. It was the first time all year that McDonald stepped up with a big game against a high-quality opponent, and the result was a Jets victory.

After a performance like that, the only question was how McDonald would respond. His ceiling has never been in doubt—the dominant performance against Matthews only served as the latest example. The concern for McDonald has always been consistency.

His encore performance further affirmed his struggles in that department.

Will McDonald flops in sequel

McDonald was among the chief reasons for New York’s atrocious defensive performance in a 34-10 blowout loss to the Miami Dolphins. The Iowa State product had one of his worst games as a professional.

Across 16 pass-rush snaps, McDonald did not register any pressures. It was his first game with zero pressures since the Jets elevated him to a primary role in 2024.

McDonald also missed two tackles against the run while making just one tackle in that phase across 29 run-defense snaps. He contributed significantly to the Jets’ horrendous run defense, which coughed up 239 rushing yards.

The run stopping woes are expected. That’s just part of the deal with McDonald, one of the lankiest defensive linemen in the NFL. However, he’s supposed to outweigh his struggles against the run with elite-level pass rushing. He has failed to do that this year, save for a handful of games.

In fairness to McDonald, 16 pass-rush snaps is a small sample; the Dolphins rarely threw the ball since they took a quick 21-0 lead and were never threatened by the Jets’ offense.

That doesn’t explain away zero pressures, though. Teammate Jowon Briggs had three pressures on 17 pass-rush snaps from the interior, while fellow edge rusher Jermaine Johnson had two pressures on 21 pass-rush snaps. Even the much-maligned Micheal Clemons had two pressures on 12 pass-rush snaps.

As McDonald faces a pivotal offseason, during which the Jets will decide on his fifth-year option for the 2027 season, games like this one highlight why he is such a difficult player for New York to trust moving forward. While his ceiling is tantalizing, he only displays it once in a blue moon. More often than not in 2025, he has been a net-negative to the Jets’ chances of winning.

With only four games left in a 17-game sample, time is running out for McDonald to turn his 2025 season into a strong encore to his breakout 2024 season. Entering Week 15, he is tied for 38th among edge rushers with 33 total pressures. Last year, he finished 16th with 61 total pressures.

This Jets regime did not draft McDonald, so they won’t be partial to him. It is also critical to note that McDonald, who was 24 years old in his rookie year, is already 26, so he should be coming into his own by now. It’s not as if he is a 23-year-old third-year player, who still might be a couple of years from his peak despite having multiple years of experience.

McDonald continues to be an enigma for the Jets. One week, he can beat one of the game’s top blindside protectors for four quarterback hits to facilitate a Jets win, and the next week, he goes radio silent.

Unless McDonald’s performance changes drastically over the next four weeks, the Jets’ new regime will have to decide where they want to fit this type of player into their long-term plans. Is McDonald’s ceiling high enough to justify valuing him as a core building-block despite the inconsistency? Or will his ceiling be outweighed by his inconsistency, prompting them to downgrade him into a situational role or even consider trading him?

We won’t know those answers for a few months, but for now, one thing is for certain: Will McDonald is nothing if not inconsistent.