Payton Page is walking into Jets camp in a tough spot, but not an unfamiliar one. He has already spent most of his first NFL season trying to stay in the picture, and now the former undrafted defensive tackle is back for year two with the kind of uphill climb that defines a lot of training-camp stories.
Page’s path has been a slow burn. He was mostly parked on the Jets’ practice squad last year before getting into four games late in the season.
That alone kept him from disappearing into the background, which is no small thing for an undrafted player trying to carve out a future. He’s not a headline name on this defensive line, and nobody is handing him a major 2026 role, but he has done enough to keep himself in the conversation.
At Clemson, Page was the kind of player who had to wait his turn. A four-star recruit out of high school, he picked the Tigers over Tennessee and North Carolina, then spent four years in a crowded defensive line room before finally locking down a full-time starting job as a senior in 2024.
The production was modest - 32 tackles, half a sack, and third-team All-ACC honors - but the tape and the competition level clearly mattered. A starting Clemson defensive tackle earning all-conference recognition is doing real work.
The Jets saw enough to bring him in as one of their more notable undrafted free agents last offseason. He impressed enough in camp to land on the practice squad, then got a look in four regular-season games.
Most of his work came late, with 56 of his 61 defensive snaps coming over the final two weeks. The stat line was light: four tackles, one run stop, and one pressure.
But late last season, the whole defense was hard to judge, and Page was part of that same messy evaluation.
What makes him interesting is that his profile goes beyond the numbers. He’s a 300-pound interior lineman with more athletic juice than the box score suggests.
Clemson saw that in 2024 when he picked off a pass and raced 57 yards for a touchdown. That kind of play helps explain why the Jets were willing to invest in him as a developmental piece.
He’s not polished, but he does fit the mold of a young defensive lineman teams like to keep around and see if the tools turn into something more.
The problem for Page is the math. The Jets’ interior line looks crowded, and the top five seem set with T'Vondre Sweat, Jowon Briggs, David Onyemata, Harrison Phillips, and rookie Darrell Jackson Jr. If New York only keeps five interior defensive linemen, there probably isn’t a path for Page.
A sixth spot would change things. Then he’d have a real shot to compete, with Mazi Smith among the names likely in that mix. If he doesn’t win one of those jobs, he could still be in the running for another practice-squad stint.
For Page, that would still count as progress. Not every undrafted free agent becomes a starter or a steady rotation player.
Another year in the Jets’ system - whether on the 53-man roster or the practice squad - would keep him in the organization and give him a chance to keep building. For a second-year UDFA defensive tackle with 0.5 career college sacks, that’s a solid outcome.
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