John Franklin-Myers reminded the Jets of exactly what they’re missing.
Facing the Jets for the first time since they traded him to Denver in the offseason, the defensive end delivered a disruptive performance against an Aaron Rodgers-led offense that struggled on a rainy Sunday afternoon at MetLife Stadium.
Franklin-Myers, 28, recorded a sack, two quarterback hits, four tackles and a tackle for loss in the Jets’ 10-9 loss to the Broncos and made multiple plays that limited the damage on the Jets’ rare scoring drives.
On the first play of the second quarter, with the Jets facing third and goal from the 1, Rodgers lined up under center with defensive tackle Solomon Thomas at fullback and Braelon Allen at tailback.
Rodgers faked a handoff to Allen and rolled to his right to pass, but Franklin-Myers wasn’t fooled. His pressure on Rodgers prompted the quarterback to throw the ball away, and after guard John Simpson’s false start before the next snap backed the Jets up, they settled for a 23-yard field goal to go up 3-0.
Then, with 16 seconds before halftime and the Jets at the Denver 13, Franklin-Myers sacked Rodgers for a seven-yard loss, this time leading to a 35-yard field goal that put the Jets up, 6-0.
It was the second sack of the season for Franklin-Myers.
Franklin-Myers’ performance loomed large in a game in which the Jets failed to score a touchdown on offense or record a sack on defense.
Originally a 2018 fourth-round pick by the Rams, Franklin-Myers spent the last four seasons with the Jets and totaled 17.5 sacks and 21 quarterback hits during his tenure. He started all 17 games for the Jets last season, recording 3.5 sacks as part of a potent defensive-line rotation that’s since lost much of its depth.
“He attacked every single day, and he turned into a big part of our defense, a genuine leader, and someone we looked to as a guy who was basically the ambassador of violence for our defense,” Jets head coach Robert Saleh said last week of Franklin-Myers.
The Jets traded Franklin-Myers, who had two years and $29 million remaining on his contract, to the Broncos in April for a 2026 sixth-round pick, shortly after they acquired Pro Bowl pass rusher Haason Reddick from the Eagles.
Franklin-Myers has said the Jets granted him permission to seek a trade after they added Reddick. A few days before his return to the Meadowlands, Franklin-Myers downplayed facing his former team as “another week.”
“You play in this league long enough [and] one thing’s for sure: You’ll get to know just about everybody you play against,” Franklin-Myers said. “It’s no different. These guys are good friends of mine, but there’s no friends in this business.”
Reddick, 29, continues to hold out for a new contract, leaving a massive void in a Jets front seven that also lost 2023 sack leader Bryce Huff to Philadelphia in free agency and that lost 2023 Pro Bowl linebacker Jermaine Johnson to a season-ending Achilles tear in Week 2. Middle linebacker C.J. Mosley missed his second game in a row Sunday with a toe injury.
The Jets also struggled to generate consistent pressure during the season’s first two weeks. They had seven sacks and 15 quarterback hits in their 24-3 win over the Patriots in Week 3.
Will McDonald IV, the Jets’ 2023 first-round pick, entered Sunday with a team-high five sacks.
“A lot of love for JFM, and big shoes to fill, and I think our guys have done a great job,” Saleh said last week of Franklin-Myers.
“The D-line — and to his credit, he was a part of it — created a standard and an expectation for everybody in that room, regardless of who’s in there, and I think the things he helped establish in his first couple years has definitely carried on to the rest of the group.”
