Three on D: McDonald, Davis, Quinnen Williams

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:

McDon but not forgotten

The biggest (only?) bright spot of the season has to be the development of Will McDonald. Entering the season, some people felt he was heading towards bust territory as he didn't get on the field much as a rookie and there were concerns over his size and work ethic.

During training camp it soon became apparent that McDonald had worked on his body and came in prepared to work harder to take his game to the next stage and his 2023 film and production did offer some hope that he could make a jump in his second season.

On Sunday, McDonald had one of his best games of the season to put the finishing touches on an excellent sophomore campaign. He ended up with 10.5 sacks and played well enough against the run to be out there for over 750 snaps. For context, Bryce Huff never played 500 snaps in any season.

It was clear from early on in the season that McDonald was capable of generating pressure against even elite tackles, with opposing teams responding by double-teaming him regularly (something which rarely happens with edge rushers), even before the sacks started to pile up.

Another great example of this came on Sunday as McDonald. His get-off, bend and speed around the edge were too much for pro bowler Terron Armstead on this play:

That wasn't the only play McDonald made on Sunday, though. He drew a hold by beating Armstead cleanly again, batted down a pass and had a handful of pressures, including two where he displayed his relentless motor and insane closing speed to chase Tyler Huntley all the way across the field for a quarterback knockdown.

The book on McDonald is that his weakness has been his consistency against the run and that his lack of size has made him a liability in the trenches. This simply isn't true. His gap discipline is good, he gets upfield on the edge and his consistency has actually been very good since the opener. He doesn't make a lot of plays himself but when he is blocked out of plays, he's rarely the main reason for a big run.

His athleticism also gives him the upside to complete plays like this, which against a less athletic edge would have been a nice gainer off the edge, but against McDonald on this play was a nine-yard loss.

If there's one thing he needs to get better at, its finishing. He missed 11 tackles over the course of the season, nearly all of which were in the backfield. If he made half of those, he'd be a pro bowler.

The best case scenario for McDonald was that he'd make a Jermaine Johnson leap in year two. The pair will be reunited next year and as long as they can both avoid further injuries, will provide the defense with a potentially dominant element regardless of what the rest of the team looks like.

Rising from the Ashtyns

Ashtyn Davis had only played more than 25 snaps in one 2024 game entering Sunday's action, but got a chance to start with Jalen Mills, Chuck Clark and Deuce Carter all out (the latter of which rendered Isaiah Oliver a non-option at safety because he was needed at cornerback).

Should he ever have fallen behind these guys on the depth chart though? Davis was brought back after a 2023 season which saw him continuing to show that he's a ballhawk whenever he gets decent playing time. But, for whatever reason, he didn't get that time in 2024, even when guys ahead of him were banged up.

Considering how bad the Jets were at generating turnovers, surely Davis would have been an ideal fit this season? While it's fair to note that he has had issues with bad angles, missing tackles and coverage breakdowns in the past, he's also shown that when used in a regular role, he had overcome most of these issues which blighted him earlier on in his career.

Back in a starting role on Sunday, Davis intercepted two passes which were enough for him to end the season tied for the team lead. Both were just ranging over in centerfield and picking off mistakes, but nobody else has really done that this year, so maybe he should have been given more chances to do it.

His second pick was a fun play which, sadly, was correctly ruled to be an illegal lateral pass otherwise the Jets might have had time to tack on another score before the half.

Davis didn't just make the interceptions, though. He also had three stops near the line, including two tackles for loss. Two of these came against the run, but this was probably the best play he made.

To be fair, his impact after halftime was minimal. He had five more tackles but they were all at least eight yards downfield. He also was the nearest defender on a couple of first downs into zone coverage.

One other interesting aspect of Davis' season is that his special teams playing time (and, as a result, his production) was well down. Had this been because he was playing more of a role on defense that would be understandable, but maybe they were just intent on phasing him out.

The Jets should want to bring Davis back, having only re-signed him to a one-year deal. Unfortunately, he can be forgiven if he feels slighted after returning in expectation of a bigger role and then sitting behind veteran players whose performances frankly underwhelmed, so whether actually bringing him back is an option remains to be seen.

Doing what it takes to Quinn

Let's wrap up with a look at Quinnen Williams, who - due to a hamstring injury - was limited to just 15 snaps in this game. He didn't record a tackle but was credited with a quarterback hit.

Williams' best play saw him split a double team for this pressure, as he was still moving well and playing hard while he was out there.

While there's not much to reflect on from his final game of the season, we can still reflect on his season as a whole.

Williams ended up with six sacks, which was actually more than last year. He had six with six games to go but then, of course, was banged up down the stretch, missing one game and limited in most of the rest. So what could have been another double-digit season ended up with a more pedestrian number. His pass rush production didn't disappear altogether, though. He only had less than three pressures once in those last six weeks.

Against the run, he was less impactful than he was in 2023, but the Jets were weaker overall against the run, so maybe a part of that was just teams running away from him. His total number of run stops was down from 35 to 15 from last year though.

Clearly Williams is still capable of being dominant no matter who else is on the line with him. Hopefully he can stay healthy next year and get back to his best with more statistical production.

Three-on-O will follow tomorrow.