At least one move is already paying off for the Jets.
With New York stuck in a three-game losing streak, there isn’t much bright news floating around the building. But Sunday’s ugly showing against the Chicago Bears still produced one clear win for the front office: the trade and extension for safety Minkah Fitzpatrick.
Fitzpatrick’s day doubled as a real introduction to Jets fans. He logged only six snaps in the opener before a groin injury knocked him out for the next two games.
Back in Week 4, the 29-year-old was thrown right into the fire and played every defensive snap for New York, a staggering 93 plays on a day when the Jets defense was stuck on the field for almost 43 minutes. Add in the road setting and the challenge of facing Ben Johnson’s offense, and it was a lot to ask from an aging defensive back returning from injury.
He answered it.
The three-time All-Pro snapped New York’s 20-game interception drought in the second quarter with a sharp break on a deep in-cut from a deep-half spot in Cover 2. It was the kind of play that looked like the old Minkah Fitzpatrick.
That interception was the loudest moment of his afternoon, but it wasn’t the whole story. Fitzpatrick finished with a career-high 16 tackles and was not charged with a missed tackle, even with that heavy workload. Against the run, he was one of the Jets’ steadier defenders, piling up 10 tackles without a miss and adding three stops.
The coverage work was more uneven.
Fitzpatrick was credited with allowing 3-of-4 passing for 75 yards and an interception when targeted. He and cornerback Brandon Stephens were also involved in a key fourth-quarter third-down snap against two tight ends, with Fitzpatrick appearing responsible for the inside break and Stephens for the outside. Fitzpatrick was slow to diagnose the route and gave up an 18-yard slant to Colston Loveland.
He also gave up a 20-yard catch to Luther Burden on the opening drive. From his deep-half position in Cover 2, Fitzpatrick broke well on the in-cut and contested the throw, but Burden still came down with the pass.
The biggest gain against him was a 37-yard completion to Rome Odunze. Fitzpatrick shaded a little too far outside from his deep-half spot, and Odunze slipped free on a post over the middle.
The Jets need the coverage to clean up, no question. But they also weren’t helped by a pass rush that struggled to disrupt Chicago long enough for those deeper concepts to fall apart.
Still, Fitzpatrick’s interception mattered enough to outweigh the mistakes. New York won’t want three 18-plus-yard gains showing up every week, even if the safety keeps finding the football.
For the Jets, the return was solid. Fitzpatrick delivered the takeaway they brought him in to provide, and he was outstanding as a tackler. The hope now is that the coverage issues were just a one-game blip and not the first sign of decline from a player nearing 30.
That matters because New York invested heavily. Fitzpatrick signed a three-year, $40 million deal this offseason that runs through the 2028 season. The contract includes $20.5 million guaranteed, made up of his 2026 base salary of $5.5 million, a $7.5 million signing bonus, and $7 million of his $13 million base salary in 2027, plus per-game active bonuses that can reach $500,000.
Barring a trade, the Jets are likely tied to him through at least the 2027 season. If they cut him after this year, they’d save only $2 million against the cap while taking on $13 million in dead money, and his cap hit next year is set at $15 million.
There is an exit ramp in the 2028 offseason, when New York could release Fitzpatrick to clear $10 million in cap space while carrying just $4.5 million in dead money. Even then, the cap hit actually drops from $15 million in 2027 to $14.5 million in 2028, so if he’s still playing like a starting-caliber safety in 2027, the Jets may decide to keep him anyway.
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