The New York Jets traded down in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft to land quarterback Aaron Rodgers and then used the 15th overall pick on edge rusher Will McDonald. It appears things aren’t going according to plan, for both Rodgers and McDonald.
Rodgers missed almost the entirety of the season with a torn Achilles, derailing the team’s hopes of competing for the Super Bowl. McDonald wasn’t expected to be a difference-maker as a rookie, but New York hoped he would really come on over time.
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- Will McDonald stats (Pro Football Reference): 5 quarterback hits, 4 tackles for loss, 3 sacks
While the 6-foot-3 edge defender played in 15 games, he saw the field on only 19 percent of the team’s defensive snaps last season. New York envisioned it being a development year for the first-round pick and he’d use the offseason to put his body in an even better position for a bigger role in 2024. However, it appears McDonald didn’t do that.
On the latest episode of the Inside Coverage podcast, Yahoo Sports senior NFL insider Charles Robinson noted that McDonald hasn’t
“Will McDonald did not develop physically this offseason the way they hoped. They think he would’ve added more bulk. He needs to be a bigger player to be more of an everydown player for them,, for them to open that opportunity to him. He reported very much at the same physique he had last season.”
Charles Robinson on New York Jets edge rusher Will McDonald
Robinson noted that while the team isn’t overly concerned about the lack of added bulk, it could prevent him from seeing the field as much as the coaching staff planned this upcoming season. It also comes at a time when Haason Reddick, who New York acquired to replace Bryce Huff, is threatening to hold out into the season.
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Failing to take a big step forward in 2024 would also be another blow to Jets general manager Joe Douglas. New York’s first-round picks in 2020 (Mekhi Becton) and 2021 (Zach Wilson) are already off the team. While two of the first-round picks from 2022 (Sauce Gardner and Garrett Wilson) have been excellent, Jermaine Johnson has just 10 career sacks in 31 games.
If McDonald isn’t ready for the role the Jets coaching staff had planned for him, it will be a blow for this defense and raise further questions about the current regime. It also adds to the pressure the entire team is under to perform this fall.
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