Three on D: Echols, Thomas, Reed

After each game, we'll be highlighting three defensive and three offensive players and looking in detail at their performance. We'll start today with the defense:

Always at your Ech and Call

Brandin Echols was back in the starting line-up this week due to Sauce Gardner's hamstring injury. While he wasn't able to add to his team-leading interception total (he has the only two for the entire team in 2024), he still held up not too badly.

The Jets' gameplan was obvious though. Echols played off, giving up slants and underneath routes but protecting against the deep ball. The result was that Miami were quite efficient when targeting him - completing seven passes on 11 targets for 76 yards.

21 of those came on the longest completion against him on the day, a 21-yard quick throw to Tyreek Hill down the seam on a three-stop drop.

Other than that play, Echols did give up four other first downs but generally did a reasonable job of limiting the damage after the catch as he had 10 tackles and only one missed tackle.

Echols did make a few positive contributions, including a third-down pass breakup against Hill, where his timing as he made a play on the ball was perfect.

He was also in on this run stop on the opening drive.

His best play, however, was this open field tackle short of the marker on Hill. Miami threw incomplete on the next play and then punted. A play like this from Echols - whose awareness has been lacking at times in the past - shows good growth.

Echols is a versatile cornerback who contributes on special teams so he's probably still going to have an NFL job after this season. Whether or not that will be with the Jets remains to be seen but he probably isn't viewed as full-time starter material here, despite having developed into a solid depth piece.

Solly for your loss

In his third season as a Jet, Solomon Thomas has been a useful member of the defensive rotation but has never displayed the kind of consistency that would warrant a starting role or a significantly increased workload.

Over the past month, though, he's been consistent against the run and Sunday was one of his better games of the season. In particular, he drew a hold, blew up a play with clean pressure and stuffed this run for a loss.

In all, he had three tackles, with one of the others seeing him diagnose a screen to stop it for a short gain after Will McDonald forced it back inside and one showing terrific hustle on pursuit across the field to make a downfield tackle.

Thomas hasn't started a game all year, but his production is equivalent to Javon Kinlaw's on a much lower snap count (they both have 2.5 sacks, three tackles for loss and four quarterback hits), so perhaps the Jets should experiment with giving him more starter reps or passing downs. That would also give him the benefit of playing with Quinnen Williams more.

If Leki Fotu is able to make it back, the Jets will have the option of moving Thomas back to the edge rotation, where he's arguably looked more consistent this season. However, this was one of his better games on the inside.

Reed from Desire

There may just be four more games left in the DJ Reed era, as his contract is about to expire and the team will need to decide what his value is and whether they can afford to bring him back with Deuce Carter already locked into a big-money deal and Gardner now also extension-eligible.

Reed has been frustrated with the officials this season and with good reason. He had his eighth and ninth penalties of the year on Sunday to surpass last year's career-high total. On one of these, he had no argument against Hill in the end zone as he obviously grabbed him. The other one, though, on a throw over the top to Malik Washington, saw Washington go down easily after extremely light contact from Reed and appeared to be either a slip or a flop.

Other than the penalties, Reed did hold up well, although he gave up first down catches of six and 14 yards.

Reed ended up with six tackles, all of which were downfield. He was also in position on two incompletions, including this one which he broke up with good timing.

It's so long since Gardner had an interception that it's gone under the radar how long it was since Reed last had one. His last one was over a year ago, as he's played in 16 games since his last pick. Unlike Gardner, though, his numbers for pass disruptions are stable, as he has 10 to lead the team.

Reed's future remains clouded but the Jets need him right now with Gardner hurt and Carter also banged-up. How he performs over the next month could significantly impact his asking price at the end of the year.

Three-on-O will follow tomorrow.