Jets 2023 Make or Break: Can Jordan Whitehead play with consistency in his contract year?

NFL training camp starts towards the end of July, which means players around the league are getting their last bits of offseason work in before the real work of trying to make the roster begins.

For certain players, this season is what some may call “Make or Break,” meaning they need to put together a productive year or they could be looking for employment elsewhere at the end of the 2023-24 campaign.

We’ll highlight those players for the Jets, continuing today with safety Jordan Whitehead.

2022 Stats

- 17 games (all starts)

- 89 tackles, four tackles for loss

- Eight pass breakups, two interceptions

Why Make or Break?

Whitehead signed with the Jets last season and had a productive campaign with 89 tackles, eight pass breakups and two interceptions. His fellow starting safety, Lamarcus Joyner, was not retained and so the Jets will be relying on him to be even more of a leader in the secondary.

The crucial thing to note about Whitehead is that he only signed a two-year deal, so his contract is up at the end of the season. As he is about to enter his prime at just 26 years old, Whitehead will be determined to have an excellent season to earn himself a big money deal at the end of the year, whether or not that turns out to be with the Jets.

What will break it?

One concern about the Jets’ defense is that they lack a pure deep safety to pair with Whitehead, who is considered to be at his best when playing in the box. They brought in Chuck Clark and then replaced him with Adrian Amos when Clark suffered a season-ending knee injury, but neither of these are the type of pure coverage safety that Joyner was.

Whitehead contributed well against the run last year and his coverage numbers were solid for the most part, but where he let himself down at times was with his tackling. 

He was tied with Quincy Williams for total missed tackles but, perhaps more importantly, he had a few particularly costly ones. These included a play against the Bengals that led to a long Tyler Boyd touchdown that turned out to be decisive and one against New England where he let Rhamondre Stevenson break away from a long gain that proved to be a momentum-changer.

Something else he needs to work on is his hands. Whitehead intercepted two passes last year but could have led the team as he dropped a couple more opportunities for picks. Some extra work with the JUGS machine would not go amiss if he wants to avoid this happening in the future.

What will make it?

Whitehead’s contractual status puts him in a position where if he has a career year, the next contract he signs could be a huge multiple-year deal that takes him into his thirties. In many respects, the two-year deal he signed with the Jets was akin to a prove-it deal. He’ll definitely be motivated to cut out the mistakes and make as many impact plays as possible.

The addition of Aaron Rodgers to the Jets’ offense is being relied upon to make the Jets much more potent this year, so they won’t be expecting to be playing from behind as often and could end up in some shootouts. While this will mean opposing offenses will be compelled to attack more down the field, this should also create more opportunities for players like Whitehead to create some more turnovers.

Although there are concerns about the fit of Amos and Whitehead together, they both have plenty of experience of playing in coverage and the Jets may also be high on Tony Adams, who saw action in a coverage role as a rookie last year. 

This could allow the Jets to exploit the versatility of Whitehead and put him in a position to make more impact plays than he did last year.