INDIANAPOLIS — Robert Saleh is back doing business with the Jets.
The new Titans coach swung a trade with his former team Thursday, agreeing to acquire edge rusher Jermaine Johnson from the Jets in exchange for nose tackle T’Vondre Sweat, a source confirmed.
The trade cannot be made official until the new league year starts March 11.
Saleh was the coach of the Jets when the team traded up to select Johnson in the first round in 2022. He had 7.5 sacks in 2023 but tore his Achilles in the second game of the 2024 season and missed the rest of the year. He returned last year but only recorded three sacks. The 27-year-old reunites with Saleh and defensive line coach Aaron Whitecotton.
Sweat was a second-round pick by Teneessee in 2024. He is a massive man at 6-foot-4 and 366 pounds. He gives Aaron Glenn a big nose tackle to play in three-man fronts. Glenn is taking over defensive play calling this season and wants to play multiple fronts. The Jets needed a run-stuffer in the middle of their defense. Sweat made 85 tackles and had three sacks in 29 games for the Titans. He suffered an ankle injury in the Titans’ season opener last year and missed five games.
This trade now makes it even more likely that the Jets draft an edge rusher with the No. 2 overall pick. Ohio State’s Arvell Reese, Texas Tech’s David Bailey and Miami’s Rueben Bain Jr. are all viewed as the top edge rushers in this draft.
The Jets also could add one in free agency because they are thin at the position after this trade. Will McDonald will be on one side but they need another starter and rotational players.
Johnson was in the final year of his contract and the Jets now save $13.4 million in salary cap space. Sweat will make $1.6 million this season and is under contract through 2027.
This continues a streak of trades for general manager Darren Mougey as he tries to reshape the roster. Johnson is the second member of the Jets’ celebrated 2022 draft class to be traded in recent months. Mougey traded Sauce Gardner to the Colts for a package that included two first-round picks at the trade deadline. Garrett Wilson is the last of the team’s three first-round picks from that season still on the team. Second-round pick Breece Hall is scheduled to be a free agent, but the Jets are planning on using a tag on him if they can’t sign him to an extension.
Saleh, when he was the 49ers defensive coordinator last season, tried to get Johnson at the trade deadline, but the Jets’ asking price was too much for San Francisco. There were rumblings at the time that Johnson wanted to leave the Jets.
Sweat will be in the middle of a revamped Jets defense this season. Glenn has hired a number of new assistant coaches. One of them is defensive line coach Karl Dunbar, who came from the Steelers, and has an extensive background with a 3-4 defense. The Jets now have Sweat, Harrison Phillips and Jowon Briggs to play on the interior of the line.
The Jets still need to make additions at edge rusher, linebacker and safety. The defense has undergone massive changes in the last year with the trades of Johnson, Gardner and defensive tackle Quinnen Williams.