DL John Franklin-Myers Not Satisfied with Career Year

Even after a career-year in 2021, Jets defensive lineman John Franklin-Myers is not satisfied.

“Everybody wants to talk about how well I did and how I had a career year, but there’s so much meat left on the bone in the sense that I could’ve had 10 sacks,” he said. “I could have done more, and at the end of the day hindsight is 20/20 but it is just something I look forward to next season.”

Although JFM’s 6 sacks tied for the team high with DT Quinnen Williams, and his 43 QB pressures and 14 QB hits led the defense, he believes his pursuit and consistency must improve.

“Something I can get better at is running to the ball,” he said. “I can get better at playing consistent during that five-game stretch that I didn’t have a sack in. Those are things I beat myself up about in the offseason and I think it’s important to.”

Franklin-Myers started a career-high 16 games in the 2021 season, finishing with 35 tackles and 6 TFL. He received the highest grade from Pro Football Focus (80.3) of all Jets players, while leading the defense with 716 snaps, or 66% of the plays. Conditioning was his priority during the offseason.

“I worked on some lateral quickness in terms of sometimes I was able to get through freely and sometimes I missed those opportunities or wouldn’t change direction quick enough,” Franklin-Myers said. “My coach [Aaron Whitecotton] jokes about it all the time, he said last year I wasn’t running nearly as fast as this. He’s noticed, other coaches and the guys are talking about it, and we use it to compete with.”