The Jets may not need to wait long to figure out what they want to do at the trade deadline. Will McDonald’s name is already floating in the conversation, and the next three games could end up telling the whole story for New York.
Daniel Popper of The Athletic listed McDonald at No. 20 on his 2026 NFL trade deadline big board of the 50 most likely trade targets. That kind of buzz is nothing new for the Jets edge rusher.
A year ago, when New York ripped into a trade-deadline fire sale, plenty of people thought McDonald might be on the move. Instead, the team kept him and later picked up his fifth-year option, which has him under contract with the Jets through 2026 and 2027.
Now the question is whether Darren Mougey views McDonald as part of the future or as a player who could be used to reset the roster again. On paper, the edge rusher’s season has been solid but far from eye-opening. He’s played 47 percent of the snaps, has two sacks, 13 pressures, and an 8.5-pressure percentage.
That production alone doesn’t make the decision easy. The real hinge point may be the Jets’ record when November 10 arrives.
New York is 2-4 now, and the stretch ahead is clear: home against the Miami Dolphins, home against the Las Vegas Raiders, then on the road against the Kansas City Chiefs. If the Jets drop all three and sit at 2-7 by the deadline, moving McDonald would make plenty of sense.
But if they come through that run at 4-5, the math changes. A season that looked shaky could still be alive, and one of the team’s better pass rushers suddenly becomes a lot harder to part with.
There’s also the Aaron Glenn factor. If the Jets are sitting at 4-5, they could be persuaded there’s a path to 6-6 before the bye week. Glenn may want to keep McDonald around in that scenario if it gives him a better shot to win games and protect his job for 2027.
At 2-7, though, the picture gets much darker. In that case, Glenn would know exactly where things are headed, and the Jets might be more willing to sell what they can and stockpile draft capital for 2027 under a new coach and a new direction.
So this isn’t just about whether McDonald is a building block. For the Jets, it may come down to a simpler question: is this season still worth fighting for, or is it already headed for the scrap heap?
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For New York, the fit is obvious in the abstract and tricky in the details. The Jets could use another high-end piece in front of their quarterback, but any pursuit would have to balance draft capital against the reality of Nelsons contract situation, which adds another layer of uncertainty to an already expensive decision. It is the kind of conversation that can get loud quickly, even if the path from interest to actual movement is far from simple. [Read more 🡒]