The Jets are on track to get back a major presence on the back end of their defense, and that alone changes the conversation around a unit that has spent the first three weeks searching for answers.
Minkah Fitzpatrick has been out since he injured his groin on the Tennessee Titans’ first offensive drive in Week 1, and he has missed the Jets’ last two games. His possible return is the kind of news that can steady a secondary in a hurry. But it arrives alongside a longer list of problems that have not gone away: a defense that still has not intercepted a pass this season, a pass rush that has been criticized as a roster-construction issue, and a team that is already 1-2 after Sunday’s loss to the Lions.
That is the tension around Fitzpatrick’s return. It is real help, but it is not a cure-all.
The turnover drought is the clearest reminder of how much the Jets still have to fix. Under Glenn, the defense has yet to record an interception this season, and it did not pick off a pass at all last year either. The Jets have never intercepted a pass under Glenn, which makes the current stretch less a slump than a pattern that has followed them into another season.
The pass rush has its own separate problem. The Jets’ defensive tackle room lacks a disruptor who can generate pressure on passing downs, and even Sunday’s two sacks of Jared Goff came with a caveat: they were tied to specific schemes rather than the kind of consistent pressure that changes a game snap after snap. That matters because Fitzpatrick’s return can help the back end, but it does not solve what happens when the front four cannot force quarterbacks into mistakes.
There is also the odd Nahshon Wright situation in the secondary. Wright was a healthy scratch against the Lions, and he has played zero defensive snaps over the first two weeks. There is no indication that he is hurt, which only sharpens the question of where he fits. The Jets guaranteed him $3.5 million this past spring, so his reduced role is not a small detail; it is part of the larger picture of how the roster is being sorted out in real time.
The timing is awkward, but it also makes the Fitzpatrick news more important. If he is back, the Jets can at least restore a major presence on the back end and let teammates settle into more natural roles. That is the immediate benefit. The broader test is whether the defense can do more than merely look healthier on paper.
Because the pressure around this team is not limited to one injured safety or one shaky secondary spot. The Jets are 1-2, and the loss to the Lions only added to the sense that improvement has to show up in the standings, not just in the film room. Coverage around the team has already pointed to the pass rush, the secondary, and the coaching staff as connected parts of the same problem.
There is still a long season ahead, and the Jets’ need for a long-term quarterback will be front and center over the next few months. But for now, the more immediate question is simpler: does Fitzpatrick’s return actually change what this defense is, or does it just make the flaws easier to see?
The answer will not come from one player alone.