McGregor's Torn Pectoral Puts Another Name on a List That Keeps Growing

Braiden McGregor is out, the injury listed as a torn pectoral. He was the No. 2 defensive end on the depth chart behind Will McDonald, and now Jowon Briggs moves into that spot — which is not where Aaron Glenn's staff wanted to be on the edge this early in the season.

The timing stings because the defensive line was supposed to be one of the more stable pieces of this reset. Kingsley Enagbare is already out. David Onyemata is on injured reserve. McGregor going down means three of the Jets' top front-four contributors are unavailable at the same time, leaving T'Vondre Sweat and Nate Lynn as the interior depth and Briggs as the primary edge complement to McDonald. That's a thin margin for a unit that was already being rebuilt from scratch.

The broader pattern here is hard to ignore. I've been tracking this injury avalanche since the preseason — Sadiq, Bailey, Stiggers, Trayanum, then Hall, Taylor, Onyemata in sequence — and McGregor is just the latest entry. The Jets entered 2026 with a roster designed to be leaner and more cohesive than the 2025 group that went 3–14. The cohesion part is still theoretical. The lean part is becoming a problem.