The Jets’ first trip to Nashville this season comes with a familiar twist: they’ll be facing not just former head coach Robert Saleh, but a cluster of former players too, especially on defense.
Five defenders on Tennessee’s 53-man roster previously played for Saleh in New York. The two names that matter most for the Jets’ offense are edge rushers Jermaine Johnson and Jacob Martin.
That’s where the opportunity starts. Both Johnson and Martin are projected to be key pieces for the Titans in Sunday’s season opener, and both are listed as starting defensive ends on Tennessee’s unofficial depth chart. For New York, that points to one obvious answer: get outside with the run game.
The middle of the matchup looks far less inviting. Jeffery Simmons is the kind of interior force who can blow up a game plan on his own.
The three-time All-Pro tied for 10th among his position with 27 run stops last season and ranked third with 34 in 2024. If he gets matched up with center Josh Myers, the Jets are walking straight into their weak spot.
That’s not a bet worth making.
So the smarter move is to work around the edges, where the Titans’ former Jets are more vulnerable.
Johnson is the bigger name, of course. New York traded up to draft him in the first round in 2022, and the Florida State product gave the team two productive seasons, including a Pro Bowl selection in 2023, before his third year ended with an Achilles injury in Week 2.
That injury came in Nashville, which adds a strange layer to this reunion. Johnson was healthy again in 2025, but he didn’t quite look like himself, and after the season the Jets sent him to Tennessee for defensive tackle T’Vondre Sweat.
Martin’s path was far less prominent. He spent half a season in New York in 2022 as a situational pass rusher, appearing in eight games and putting up 1.5 sacks, eight tackles and one forced fumble before the Jets moved him to the Broncos in a pick-swap deal.
That move turned out to matter. The draft capital New York got back eventually helped land offensive tackle Morgan Moses and running back Braelon Allen.
Now both players are back in the Jets’ path, and both come with run-defense questions. Johnson’s 2025 season produced a 58.4 run-defense grade at Pro Football Focus, good for 63rd out of 85 qualified edge rushers.
His 4.1% run-stop rate ranked 70th, and he finished with just 11 run stops in 14 games. He was once considered a strong edge setter, but after the Achilles tear, he still has something to prove.
Martin’s profile is even shakier. He has always been the more obvious pass-rush piece, not the guy you want holding up against the run. His career PFF run-defense grade sits at 57.1, and his missed tackle rate is a brutal 27.9%, far above the 2025 league average for edge rushers of 16.0%.
The Jets should also like how the outside matchups line up by side. In the preseason, Johnson played on the right side of the defense - across from the left tackle - on 92% of his snaps.
Martin was mostly on the left side, lining up there on 65% of his snaps. If that carries over to Sunday, Martin would be the one most often dealing with Jets right tackle Armand Membou, who is the highest-ceiling run-blocker on the offensive line.
On the other side, Johnson against Olu Fashanu is a more interesting test. Fashanu has built more of a reputation as a pass protector than a run blocker, but if Johnson is still the same run defender he was in 2025, this is a matchup Fashanu should handle in Year 3 as he tries to live up to being the 11th overall pick.
The broader picture still points the same way: New York’s better run-game chances are on the perimeter, not between the tackles. Saleh’s defense tends to play spread out, with simpler reads and more freedom for athletes to attack.
That can help create pressure, but it can also leave the run defense exposed, especially on the edge. The 2025 49ers under Saleh showed that teams could move the ball outside on that kind of structure.
Add Johnson and Martin’s individual issues, and the path for the Jets gets clearer. Breece Hall is the runner best built to cash in.
When he gets to build speed on outside runs, he can turn them into explosive plays. Since entering the league in 2022, Hall has six rushes for 30 or more yards on carries aimed at the “left end” or “right end,” tying Saquon Barkley and Justin Fields for fourth-most in the league.
If the Jets want the cleanest route to success on the ground, the formula is right there: keep attacking the edges, make Johnson prove he’s back, and force Martin to tackle.
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