The Jets spent their 2026 offseason loading up on defense, and the biggest name in the group may be the one that can change the mood the fastest.
Minkah Fitzpatrick is finally back in the mix after missing the last two games with a groin injury, and New York is counting on more than just steady play from its new safety. The Jets need impact.
They need the kind of defender who can tilt a game with one snap, one tip, one mistake forced out of a quarterback. Fitzpatrick has built his reputation on exactly that.
New York went hard after defensive help after a season in which it gave up 503 points and failed to record a single interception. The front office signed veterans like Demario Davis, David Onyemata, Joseph Ossai, and Kingsley Enagbare to eight-figure deals, traded for T’Vondre Sweat, and used the second overall pick on David Bailey before adding D’Angelo Ponds in the second round. But none of those moves came with the same kind of résumé Fitzpatrick brought in from the start.
The Old Bridge, N.J. native is a five-time Pro Bowler and a three-time first-team All-Pro. The Jets moved a 2026 seventh-round pick to Miami to get ahead of the market before the Dolphins released him, then locked him into a three-year, $40 million contract. By average annual value, he ranks 13th among NFL safeties, even with his 30th birthday coming in November.
That investment makes plenty of sense when you look at what Fitzpatrick still offered in 2025. Pro Football Focus ranked him sixth among safeties last season, and the Jets believe there is still plenty left in the tank.
The good news for New York is that the safety spot didn’t fall apart without him. Dane Belton and Andre Cisco handled the job well enough, with very few obvious errors.
Through three games, the pair allowed zero touchdowns in coverage, committed zero penalties, and missed three tackles. They were targeted 13 times and gave up 10 catches for 79 yards.
Belton, who won the starting job next to Fitzpatrick in Week 1, has looked especially steady. Though he has spent most of his career as a strong safety, the Jets have used him at free safety, and he has held up as a dependable last line of defense against both the run and the pass.
Cisco filled in as the strong safety and bounced around the defense in different roles, including some work as a blitzer. He contributed a few splash plays as a rusher and largely stayed out of trouble.
Still, there’s a difference between surviving and changing the game, and that’s where Fitzpatrick comes in. New York’s defense has been solid in stretches, helped by Aaron Glenn’s play-calling and balanced production across the roster, but it has lacked the kind of star power that bends a game in its favor.
That showed up in last week’s rough outing against a Detroit offense full of talent. It could show up again against better offenses, including Chicago’s, if the Jets don’t start creating more disruption.
Right now, New York has only forced one takeaway, and one of the team’s two takeaways came from special teams. The defense still hasn’t produced an interception.
Fitzpatrick is the type of player who can help fix that. His 21 career interceptions are tied for fourth among active safeties, and his 13 combined forced and recovered fumbles also rank tied for fourth among active safeties.
The interception numbers have slowed in recent seasons, with only two over the last three years, but that dropoff has been tied in part to role changes. Under Aaron Glenn, Fitzpatrick should get more chances to make plays on the ball, the same way Glenn helped Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph combine for 13 interceptions in 2024 with the Detroit Lions.
And even when Fitzpatrick doesn’t get the pick himself, he can still create the kind of pressure that leads to one. Opposing quarterbacks know what he can do, and that reputation alone can push throws toward other defenders or force late decisions that turn into mistakes.
He also remains a force in man coverage. In 2025, he broke up five of the 13 passes thrown his way in man coverage, a 38.5% forced incompletion rate that ranked second among safeties with at least 10 man coverage targets, behind only Talanoa Hufanga.
That kind of disruption matters even without interceptions. Quarterbacks may avoid him, hold the ball too long, or try to work elsewhere and end up making a worse throw. The ripple effect is real.
It could matter especially on Sunday against the Chicago Bears, who are expected to start backup quarterback Tyson Bagent in his first NFL start since 2023. Like most backups, Bagent will be drilled on ball security, and avoiding Fitzpatrick may be part of that plan. But overthinking the veteran safety could create another problem entirely.
Chicago could also choose to test him right away, which wouldn’t be a bad idea either. Fitzpatrick is coming back from injury, and the Bears may want to see how he looks in live action.
Either way, the Jets know what they’re getting back: one of the league’s best active playmakers at a position that can swing possession in a hurry. And after a season and a half that left New York starving for takeaways, that matters just about as much as anything else.
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