Feb. 27, 2026, 11:35 a.m. ET

The Tennessee Titans and New York Jets kicked off the trading season when they announced that the Titans would send T’Vondre Sweat to the Jets in exchange for Jermaine Johnson. The trade can’t actually take place until the league year starts on March 11, but it is a done deal waiting for signatures.

The trade wasn’t a huge surprise to many, despite Robert Saleh’s comments on Sweat at the 2026 NFL Combine. Saleh runs a 4-3 defensive scheme, a change from the 3-4 that Dennard Wilson ran, which essentially eliminates Sweat’s position as nose tackle. In the process, the Titans gained some much-needed help on the edge with Johnson, who was drafted by Saleh when he was the head coach of the Jets.

There are always opinions on player movement and team activity, so let’s take a look at how some of the major outlets graded the Jets and Titans player swap.

Moving on from Johnson, also a former first-rounder, may leave a sour taste in Jets fans’ mouths, but the reality is the 27-year-old has failed to live up to the hype. Sure, he was selected to the Pro Bowl in 2023 after putting together a 7.5-sack season. But, after tearing his Achilles in ’24, he returned this season and, over 14 games, tallied 43 tackles and only three sacks with a 9.3% pressure rate.

As for the Titans, they’re moving on from a promising young defender in Sweat to bring in Johnson (who will play 2026 on the fifth-year option of his rookie contract) as a reclamation project—despite them, too, entering the season in rebuild mode after a 3–14 campaign.

The bottom line: The Jets won this one. They’re getting younger, and ideally better, across the defensive line while opening up their rebuild options for another offseason.

Jets: A-Titans: C

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Titans: B-Perhaps we should have seen this coming when, Tuesday, Saleh said, “[Sweat’s] a big man, and he has much faster feet that people realize. Is it going to be easy for him? It’s not, it’s a lot of work and it is physically demanding to play d-line in our system.”

The Titans desperately needed pass rush help. After Simmons’ 11 sacks, the team’s sack leaders were Jihad Ward’s (five) and Dre’Mont Jones and Jaylen Harrell’s (4.5). Ward is entering free agency, and Jones was traded midseason to the Ravens.

Whether Johnson can provide that pass-rushing boost is another question. Johnson’s 2023 — under Saleh — was outstanding, but he tore his Achilles early in 2024, and he wasn’t nearly the same in 2025. His 9.5% pressure rate was 110th out of 184 players who rushed the passer at least 200 times. It’d be foolish to write off a player one year after he came back from injury, but it’d also be foolish to write off the injury altogether.

The fact that Johnson is going into the fifth-year option of his rookie deal and Sweat still has two more years on his rookie deal does hurt Tennessee’s grade a touch.

Seth Walder, ESPN

Sweat, a 2024 second-round pick, has been a solid starting nose tackle for Tennessee. He should help the Jets’ run defense and provide some pass rush from the nose. While his 6.5% pass rush win rate at defensive tackle is below average for the position, it’s not bad considering where he lines up. He’ll join a Jets interior group that includes Harrison Phillips and Jowon Briggs.

As for Johnson, the Titans need help at edge. But that need doesn’t make it worth the cost.

Johnson is playing on his fifth-year option and will cost Tennessee $13.4 million, per OverTheCap. By contrast, Sweat has two years left on his rookie deal and will cost the Jets just $1.6 and $2.1 million in each of those years, respectively. Sweat is also younger and, in my view, has a better chance to be a plus contributor than Johnson. That makes this deal well worth it for New York, especially considering the Jets will get a player with another year of team control for less money.

Jets grade: A-Titans grade: C-

Titans trade gradeIf Sweat wasn’t going to be a fit, then getting back a defensive end with some pass-rush potential seems like a really good idea. Johnson only notched three sacks in 14 games last season, but he’s played for Saleh — in that Pro Bowl 2023 season! — who might know how to get more out of Johnson.

In short, it’s a pretty good return on a player that the Titans might not have wanted. No guarantee it totally pays off. GRADE: B

I absolutely understand that the Titans need pass rush as well, but the top of the 2026 class is very 3-4 heavy with Bain being iffy when placed in a 4-3 role, then a profound drop off all the way to Keldric Faulk before you find a DE that’s easy to project.

Nevertheless, there’s a significant talent delta between Johnson and Sweat, even if the deal makes sense on paper. Yes, they didn’t need Sweat in a 4-3, but it feels like the Titans undervalued him as a result. Jermaine Johnson is solid, but unremarkable. He’s a better run defender off the edge than a pure pass rusher, which is typified by the fact that he was pulled off the field on many third-down pass rush situations in 2025. Layer in the fact that Johnson had a season-ending injury in 2024, and he’s the older player — man, I don’t know, it just feels like the Titans could have put the screws to the Jets a little more and gotten a third round pick out of this deal as well.

On the plus side this opens up the draft for them a lot. That is the saving grace of this deal. If the Titans roll the dice on Bain projecting to a 4-3 end they have their starters set at the position. They could dangle the No. 4 pick in a trade to move back, potentially landing someone like Faulk at a spot that makes more sense or go deeper down for DT Peter Woods, who would fit their 4-3 front while adding significant draft capital in the process.

The Titans have a lot of options, but they still should have been able to wrestle a pick away from the Jets in this deal.

Grade: B-