This Was a STEAL For The New York Jets...

This has been a steal for the New York Jets. Dane Belton was one of the more under-the-radar pickups by Darren Muge and this Jets front office in the past offseason, but he has turned into one of the most valuable pieces and assets in turning around Aaron Glenn's defense in 2026. What's going on guys? I'm Josh Byrne. You're tuned into Jets Digest. Guys, thank you so much for all the support through the first four weeks of the season and even going back into training camp and everywhere in between for me and Chris Gallagher's daily updates. It is greatly appreciated. Now, it's a little interesting noticing the dilemma that Jets fans are in because a lot of people really like Darren Muge and obviously the record hasn't been there. He's been with the organization as long as Aaron Glenn has, but people are ice cold on Aaron Glenn right now because of the same record that Darren Muge has, which is 4-17. But one of the reasons why is because for the things that Darren Muge can control, which is roster construction and free agent moves and trades, he's done, to me, a terrific job. And Dane Belton is one of those moves. And I didn't even see it coming because to me, this was a guy that was depth piece at best and a guy who, frankly, when the Minka Fitzpatrick injury occurred, I was concerned that the Jets were losing Minka and we were going to have to see more of Dane Belton. And obviously, Minka's back now and he had an interception. That's great. But now, after watching Dane Belton get more reps early this season, I want to see more of him because he's been awesome. And Sleeper Jets pointed this out a couple days ago on X that Dane Belton on Pro Football Focus, according to Pro Football Focus, is 1st in tackles, in 3rd with 9 run stops, has the 7th highest grade on run defense, and a 78 overall defense grade, which puts him firmly in top 10. This is confirmed by Pro Football Focus itself. And this is one of the main reasons why, despite the poor outing last week, the Jets have the number 6 passing defense in the league. So, when I go on Calshie and I'm looking at this over-under for this Jets-Browns game this week, I'm trading $25 on the Browns not scoring over 19.5 points. The Browns are flying high right now and the Jets are flying real, real low. But isn't that always the time when things change in the NFL? Maybe not for the Jets, we just seemingly dig ourselves even lower, but look, I mean, the Browns, to me, deserve a lot of credit. At the same time, I don't think that they have the talent to sustain the kind of season that they're having. That being said, their offense does have a lot of good young pieces. You look at Casey Concepcion, you look at Judkins, you look at Denzel Boston, Harold Fannin, they're all very good players in their own right, no doubt about it. But Dane Belton and this Jets defense, especially their secondary, has actually been one of the better units in the league. So guys, go on Calshie today and remember that Calshie is not your average sportsbook. Because unlike the traditional sportsbooks, you're actually buying yes or no on contracts on the outcomes of not just events such as the Jets Browns game, but also non-sporting events. So you can trade on politics or even the weather. So if you're interested in trying out Calshie, you can use the link in the description and pinned comment and code DigestNFL to get $55 added to your account instantly when you trade your first $25. And as you saw, I traded $25 on the Browns under 19.5. The market is showing that currently people trading on this are trading yes on them, scoring more than 19.5 points at a 52% clip. So I am optimistic about the Jets defense this week. They're at home. It's actually looking like it's going to be a pretty bad weather game. Nothing new for the Jets in New Jersey and basically in New Jersey in general. You think back to the games that MetLife has hosted this entire season, and most of them haven't been good weather games. And so for the Jets and Aaron Glenn's defense, they are going to have to take advantage of that and use that to their advantage, which I do believe they will. And Dane Belton should be, and I believe will be, a focal point of that. If you look throughout Dane Belton's career, it's a little bit impressive. I as you can see, 26 starts in 70 games. He did not have a history of being a week in, week out starter. He was seen as a depth guy. He was brought in to be a depth guy, but he made some plays for the Giants over the past four years. There's no doubt about it. You know, he puts up AV rates of three and two. He accumulates six interceptions across four years. Not bad numbers for a guy that again, is not getting all the reps, not getting the highest snap counts. And also threw in some sacks. I mean, last year he had two sacks. So this is a guy who's also capable in the box, coming in on the blitz. And certainly the Jets have been hard pressed to get any pressure on anybody. So maybe Aaron Glenn can mix things up and perhaps utilize Dane Belton, who's shown in the past that he's able to get a, after the quarterback, at least a little bit. And what's really great to see and why I believe this has been a steal for Darren Mugee is look at the contract that Darren Mugee gave to Dane Belton. He's getting paid $4 million this year. And for the kind of production that he's giving, which is currently a top 10 starting safety in the league, that is a steal. There is no two ways about it. That is a hundred percent of steal. And you combine that with Minka Fitzpatrick and what he is giving you, which admittedly has not been much, but not his fault, obviously not due to merit. It's just because of the injury. And when he has been on the field, I think he's looked very good. And you put him together with Dane Belton and all of a sudden, the Jets easily have one of the better safety duos in the league. 100%. Absolutely, positively 100%. And Minka, of course, after the Jets traded for him this past offseason, they gave him somewhat of a bag. They gave him a three-year $40 million contract. So he's covered. He is locked in. But then you look at Andre Sisco, who's another guy in the safety room. And Andre Sisco, guys, his numbers, his grades aren't quite as high as Dane Belton, but they're pretty darn respectable in their own right. And so when you look at the secondary and you look at the metrics and the turnover year over year, and you ask, well, why are the Jets so much better in their secondary now from a grade perspective than they were a year ago? Well, I would have to say one of the key indicators is the play of safety. Because if you remember last year, guys, and I understand that Andre Sisco was on the team last year, obviously Minka Fitzpatrick and Dane Belton weren't. But if you look at last year, guys, the Jets were getting just awful play from the safety position. They weren't getting good play from the cornerback position either or the linebacker position for what it's worth. And obviously all those positions go hand in hand, but safety has been a real strength for the Jets. And Andre Sisco this year has been certainly part of that as well. He is signed this year for $2.2 million. So again, it's interesting to note that both Sisco and Dane Belton are eligible to be extended. And to me, the priority is going to have to be, I would say Dane Belton, because he has been one, not just one of the best safeties on this team. I mean, really the best safety on this team. He's been one of the best players on this team, period. And Aaron Glenn, if he does make it to the off season, which is an open question at this point, given the way that the season has begun at one and three. But if he does, that's a guy he's going to want to keep around. And I have this funny suspicion, and I'm sure I'll put out videos in the future talking more in depth about it, that there is a solid chance that we see Darren Mugee continue past this season, but not Aaron Glenn. We saw that happen with one GM staying and one, or one head coach staying and one GM going when Rex Ryan was kept around and Mike Tannenbaum was let go, and then they brought in John Enzik. Obviously that ended horribly, but I could see this happening again, just the roles reversed where the GM is staying and the head coach is going. Obviously it's still a little too early to really digest all that, no pun intended, but this is a guy in Dane Belton that I believe the Jets should absolutely begin the conversation of an extension with, because he has been an absolute steal. Let me know what you guys think about Dane Belton, about this Jets defense so far. What are you expecting him, now that we've seen some really good play, and how do you think the Jets safety room compares to the rest of the NFL? Comment below, let me know, and as always guys, let's go Jets!