Now that we are at the end of the season, it\u2019s time to update you on former Jets players. how they fared during the 2025 season and their contractual status heading into next year. We will cover this in five parts, looking at offensive and defensive players from AFC teams this week, then NFC teams next week before closing with a look at special teamers. We continue today with a review of ex-Jets defensive players who were on AFC teams in 2025.<\/p>\n
As ever, this list is intended to be exhaustive, but if we missed anyone, let us know in the comments.<\/p>\n
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Bills:<\/p>\n
Cornerback\u00a0Brandon Codrington\u00a0only played 10 defensive snaps before being released to the practice squad and hasn\u2019t been retained.<\/p>\n
Linebacker\u00a0Jimmy Ciarlo\u00a0played on special teams in his one appearance but signed a futures deal having ended the season on the practice squad.<\/p>\n
Defensive tackle\u00a0Phidarian Mathis\u00a0had 13 tackles in six games as a rotational lineman but is now out of contract.<\/p>\n
Dolphins:<\/p>\n
Safety\u00a0Ashtyn Davis\u00a0started 12 games and had a career-high 65 tackles. He also broke up four passes and had a forced fumble and an interception.<\/p>\n
Defensive back\u00a0Elijah Campbell\u00a0played in 10 games but was only on the field for 16 defensive snaps.<\/p>\n
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Another defensive back,\u00a0Kendall Sheffield, was elevated twice from the practice squad and made two appearances, with one tackle. He has not been retained.<\/p>\n
Patriots:<\/p>\n
Defensive tackle\u00a0Leonard Taylor III\u00a0has played in six games, including three (so far) in the playoffs. He had eight tackles and a quarterback hit in a reserve role.<\/p>\n
Browns:<\/p>\n
Defensive tackle\u00a0Shelby Harris\u00a0played every game but started just five times as he had 32 tackles, four pass breakups and a sack.<\/p>\n
Defensive back\u00a0Jarrick Bernard-Converse\u00a0ended up with the Giants having failed to generate any stats in five appearances that saw him mostly on special teams.<\/p>\n
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Also: Linebacker Mark Robinson was on the practice squad for a week in December but did not play.<\/p>\n
Steelers:<\/p>\n
Cornerback\u00a0Brandin Echols\u00a0and safety\u00a0Chuck Clark\u00a0both contributed on defense for the Steelers. Echols had some big plays despite just starting three games as he ended up with 48 tackles, six pass breakups, a sack, two interceptions, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. He intercepted another pass in the playoffs.<\/p>\n
Clark played in 15 games, starting five. He had 51 tackles and three pass breakups along with another six tackles and a pass breakup in the postseason. He is a free agent but Echols remains under contract for 2026.<\/p>\n
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Robinson\u00a0also spent time with the Steelers before ending up in Cleveland. He played two games, solely on special teams.<\/p>\n
Also: Defensive lineman Domenique Davis was eventually released from injured reserve.<\/p>\n
Bengals:<\/p>\n
Defensive tackle\u00a0Mike Pennel\u00a0ended up in Kansas City but did first play in eight games with Cincinnati, recording 15 tackles.<\/p>\n
Ravens:<\/p>\n
The Ravens added defensive end\u00a0Carl Lawson\u00a0to their practice squad, and he played in one game, recording one tackle. He was not retained.<\/p>\n
Titans:<\/p>\n
The Titans haven\u2019t had any ex-Jets on defense all year.<\/p>\n
Colts:<\/p>\n
The Colts traded for\u00a0Sauce Gardner\u00a0but he played just four times for them, missing the rest of the games with a calf issue. He had 16 tackles and three pass breakups but Indianapolis won just one of the four games.<\/p>\n
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Texans:<\/p>\n
Folorunso Fatukasi\u00a0and\u00a0Sheldon Rankins\u00a0were reunited on the defensive interior in Houston although Fatukasi was limited to one start in four total appearances. He had eight tackles and 1.5 sacks.<\/p>\n
Rankins started every game and had 35 tackles, three sacks, nine quarterback hits and a huge fumble return for a touchdown. Both he and Fatukasi are now out of contract.<\/p>\n
With Fatukasi out, the Texans brought in\u00a0Leki Fotu\u00a0as reinforcements and he had three tackles in two games off the practice squad but wasn\u2019t retained.<\/p>\n
Defensive back\u00a0Jalen Mills\u00a0was brought back and made four appearances with one start before ending up in Detroit. He had four tackles and an interception.<\/p>\n
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Jaguars:<\/p>\n
The Jaguars are the only other AFC team that didn\u2019t have any ex-Jets on defense this season.<\/p>\n
Broncos:<\/p>\n
John Franklin-Myers\u00a0heads to free agency after another solid year that saw him record 7.5 sacks and 15 quarterback hits. He ended up starting 15 games and recording 25 tackles.<\/p>\n
Also: Defensive back Tanner McCalister spent time on the practice squad but wasn\u2019t retained.<\/p>\n
Raiders:<\/p>\n
Before ending up in Houston,\u00a0Fotu\u00a0played in six games with the Raiders, four of which were starts. He had eight tackles and a sack.<\/p>\n
Jamal Adams\u00a0revived his career to an extent by taking on a linebacker role, although he is now a free agent. He started four of 17 games and had 45 tackles, five tackles for loss, a sack and a forced fumble.<\/p>\n
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Linebacker\u00a0Jamin Davis\u00a0was signed to the practice squad and inked a futures deal after the season. He had three tackles in two games off the practice squad, one of which he started.<\/p>\n
Chiefs:<\/p>\n
After being acquired from the Jets, defensive tackle\u00a0Derrick Nnadi\u00a0played a significant role with 15 appearances including 11 starts. He had 16 tackles.<\/p>\n
Pennel\u00a0was also brought back after leaving the Bengals and he made eight appearances with two starts and had 11 tackles. Both Nnadi and Pennel are now free agents.<\/p>\n
Chargers:<\/p>\n
Linebacker\u00a0Del\u2019Shawn Phillips\u00a0mostly contributed on special teams but did start one game and had 37 tackles despite playing just 82 defensive snaps. He added a sack and a fumble recovery and also saw action on defense in the wild card game. He is now a free agent.<\/p>\n
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Finally, safety\u00a0Marcus Maye\u00a0was brought in and made a late-season appearance in which he was credited with five tackles. He was not retained.<\/p>\n
Check back here next week when we\u2019ll be covering ex-Jets special teamers and how they\u2019ve performed on their current teams\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Now that we are at the end of the season, it\u2019s time to update you on former Jets…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":734098,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2051],"tags":[30190,17362,17003,228,12009,26611,4133,32148,9036,227,85,2793,21126,146,22694,31813,8252,7,6193,221,392,125,35295,9275,28188,226,2318,118,15704,12835,37062,4860,25311,1917,255,2321,2097,6,21542,6770,7536,14403,18781,2948,426,3880,222],"class_list":{"0":"post-734097","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-jets","8":"tag-afc-teams","9":"tag-appearances","10":"tag-ashtyn-davis","11":"tag-bengals","12":"tag-brandin-echols","13":"tag-brandon-codrington","14":"tag-brian-thomas-jr","15":"tag-carl-lawson","16":"tag-chuck-clark","17":"tag-cincinnati","18":"tag-cleveland","19":"tag-defensive-tackle","20":"tag-derrick-nnadi","21":"tag-detroit","22":"tag-domenique-davis","23":"tag-elijah-campbell","24":"tag-folorunso-fatukasi","25":"tag-football","26":"tag-forced-fumble","27":"tag-houston","28":"tag-indianapolis-colts","29":"tag-jacksonville-jaguars","30":"tag-jalen-mills","31":"tag-jamal-adams","32":"tag-jamin-davis","33":"tag-jets","34":"tag-john-franklin-myers","35":"tag-kansas-city","36":"tag-kendall-sheffield","37":"tag-leki-fotu","38":"tag-leonard-taylor","39":"tag-marcus-maye","40":"tag-mike-pennel","41":"tag-new-york","42":"tag-new-york-jets","43":"tag-newyork","44":"tag-newyorkjets","45":"tag-nfl","46":"tag-phidarian-mathis","47":"tag-practice-squad","48":"tag-sauce-gardner","49":"tag-shelby-harris","50":"tag-sheldon-rankins","51":"tag-special-teams","52":"tag-steelers","53":"tag-tanner-mccalister","54":"tag-texans"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/734097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=734097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/734097\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/734098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=734097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=734097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=734097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}