AFC East pass rush ranked from worst to best in 2023

The AFC East has some of the best quarterbacks in the NFL with Josh Allen and the Jets' offseason addition of Aaron Rodgers. The Dolphins also have a quarterback, when on the field, certainly can play at a high level in Tua Tagovailoa while the Patriots are hoping that Mac Jones can turn the corner in his third season.

With this said the defenses in the AFC East are going to have to be very effective at putting pressure on the quarterback if they hope to have success this upcoming season. Since defensive fronts are different between the teams, I ranked each pass rush based on their Top 4 pass rushers.

AFC East pass rush ranked from worst to best in 2023

4. New York Jets

Quinnen Williams, Carl Lawson, John Franklin-Myers, Jermaine Johnson

The margin between each pass rush is very small and it wouldn't be surprising by the end of the season to see a team like the New York Jets be the best at rushing the passer.

When playing the Jets, the focus is on slowing down the interior of the defensive line in Quinnen Williams, who is one of the best defensive tackles in the NFL. He finished last season with 12 sacks, which is a notable jump as he had only 15.5 sacks in his first three seasons.

However, the reason that the Jets are fourth is the drop is pretty notable after Williams with Carl Lawson and John Franklin-Myers at defensive end. Both are good and effective but are not at the same level as some of the other team's in the AFC East.

The wild card, and the one player who likely impacts these rankings the most for the Jets, is Jermaine Johnson. He was one of the Jets' first round picks last season but didn't make much of an impact after playing only about 34% of the snaps. He has a breakout season this year, and the Jets get that top tier second option, offensive lines are going to struggle with this group.