David Harris has started 121 consecutive games for the New York Jets dating back till 2008. He’s in danger of ending that streak on Monday.
Without question, the leader of this New York Jets defense is David Harris. He’s in charge of aligning the defense pre-snap as well as being the vocal leader of the unit. If he is unable to go due to his nagging hamstring injury, his presence will be missed.
Harris is a tackling machine. He’s had 67 tackles last year, and just by watching you see that he is always around the ball making a play in stopping the ball carrier.
Despite being such a dominant tackler and run stopper, Harris is not the perfect linebacker. He struggles heavily in the passing game, he can’t cover a running back or a tight end (it’s an issue for all Jets linebackers).
At this point in his career, he is no longer an every down linebacker and that’s okay, but his presence on the field will still be sorely missed if he is unable to go on Monday.
Who else do you trust in that linebacking core? The rest of the LBs are inexperienced and it exposes the lack of depth at the position.
Someone on the defensive line can step up and be a leader, but the middle linebacker is essentially the quarterback of the defense and who will step into that role?
Darron Lee has shown flashes of talented but is way too inexperienced to step up into that position. That puts the Jets in a tough spot on Monday night.
The Jets defense has been bad as is, not having Harris out there leading it can only make it worse. Get ready for a long night for that Jets D, if Harris is in shorts on the sideline.