Jets’ Jermaine Johnson Opens up About Rehab, NFL Return

New York Jets pass rusher Jermaine Johnson opened up about his torn Achilles that cost him the 2024 season.

“I feel great, I really do. It’s not just a PR response, I mean, I’ve had faith throughout my whole journey, which was a long journey to get to where I am, so it’d be wrong for me to not have faith through this. I trust God wanted me to go through what I went through, and to be honest, I’ve gained more confidence. I have never been seriously injured, so when I see guys get seriously injured, I’d be like, man, I don’t know if I’m strong enough to go through that, and it turns out I am. So I feel really good, I gained a lot of confidence,” Johnson told Jets team reporter Caroline Hendershot.

Former Florida State Product Talks About Regime Change

Head coach Robert Saleh was fired after Week 5. General manager Joe Douglas was let go after the team dropped to 3-8 on the year.

Johnson revealed to Hendershot that he reached out to all of those who were let go.

“Obviously I have texted as much staff as I could from the last regime, and I thanked them for everything and stuff like that,” Johnson revealed.

The Jets went through a very thorough process to find their next head coach and general manager. Johnson is impressed with what he has seen so far.

“The guys that we have in the building now seem to be, you know, amazing, and they’re doing a good job. I mean, the good thing about football is you get to show it, you get to do it, and we all get to prove ourselves. I am just one of 93 plus the staff that get to do that this year, so I’m excited,” Johnson added.

The former Florida State product hasn’t spent a bunch of time with this new staff, but he has made an impression on them as well.

Gang Green didn’t make any significant additions at defensive end. That must mean the team believes Johnson is going to come back stronger than ever. Plus, a more direct sign of their faith is the front office picking up the $13.92 million fifth-year team option on his contract in May.

Johnson Is Keeping Tabs on the Haters, Special Connection With Aaron Glenn

“Intense. Played the game before. Like for me, I’ve always been like this, this is no shot at anybody, when he [Glenn] says something, I just pick it up in a different way because I know he has done it. I know exactly what he is talking about because it is coming from the place of a player. That is just a plus having AG as the head guy,” Johnson explained.

Glenn played 15 years at the NFL level. The first eight of which were spent with the Jets after being selected in the first round of the 1994 NFL draft.

There are a lot of questions outside of the building about what version of Johnson the Jets are getting in 2025. Johnson is seeing the noise.

“Yeah, I mean, I see all the noise. Oh, it usually takes a year [and] he is not going to feel like himself for a while. I like to feel, how I like to feel, and I don’t have any ceiling on myself, I never do. So I feel like I need to pick up exactly where I left off, and I need to come out swinging. There is no excuse; I don’t have one. I’m going to pick up where I left off,” Johnson boldly said.

#Jets pass rusher Jermaine Johnson told @cghendy that he has been seeing the noise about his injury… 😳

‘Yeah I mean I see all the noise. Oh it usually takes a year [and] he’s not going to feel like himself for a while. I like to feel how I like to feel and I don’t have any… pic.twitter.com/2mhWNW1UbH

— Paul Andrew Esden Jr (@BoyGreen25) July 12, 2025

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