Jets Keep Will McDonald IV After Trade Request, Draw F+ in Deadline Review

Will McDonald IV wanted more playing time, and he asked the New York Jets to trade him. A day after the deadline, he was still a Jet. He spoke with reporters at his locker Wednesday.

“I just want to clear everything up, you know,” McDonald said, according to The Associated Press. “There’s no hard feelings with the coaches and staff or anybody here. I just want to play and I just want to help the team win.”

Asked why he requested the trade, McDonald said it came down to not playing.

McDonald played 66% of New York's defensive snaps in each of the past two seasons. This year, he's at 46% through nine games, the team's website noted Wednesday. He has three sacks after getting 10.5 in 2024 and eight last year.

The Jets switched to a 3-4 defense this season. They signed Joseph Ossai and Kingsley Enagbare in free agency and drafted David Bailey second overall. Ossai is injured. McDonald played 23 snaps in Sunday's 35-12 loss at Kansas City.

The frustration had been building for weeks, and McDonald had been telling the coaching staff, a source told ESPN. The request became public Monday.

“It is quite frustrating, but you know, it is what it is,” McDonald said Wednesday.

There was interest from other teams before Tuesday’s 4 p.m. ET deadline, sources told ESPN. The Jets kept him anyway. He is signed through 2027.

Jets coach Aaron Glenn met with McDonald for an hour on Saturday. On Wednesday, the coach said McDonald had “earned” a bigger role, ESPN reported.

Glenn also repeated what he said Monday, when he told reporters the Jets would “stand pat” at the deadline.

“I was very on point when I said, ‘Listen, we’re not trading Will,’” Glenn said, per the team’s website. “Will’s a huge part of what we’re doing. It’s my job to make sure that I continue to put him in positions to help this team be successful. Obviously, there’s some things he needs to improve on.”

Jets X-Factor’s Michael Nania graded the deadline Wednesday, and keeping McDonald got an F+. Nania’s grade stands even if the offers for McDonald were smaller. He saved his harshest verdict, an F, for the scenario the New York Post reported: a second-round pick offered for McDonald and turned down. That offer has not been confirmed.

ESPN’s pre-deadline estimate of McDonald’s value was a fourth- or fifth-round pick.

The one trade the Jets did make got a B+ from Nania. On Monday, they sent safety Andre Cisco to the Detroit Lions for a sixth-round pick. Initial reports, including ESPN’s Adam Schefter’s, listed the pick as a 2028 selection. Nania has it in 2029.

Cisco, 26, was in the last year of his contract and had been benched in Sunday’s 35-12 loss at Kansas City, Jets Wire reported. Detroit was 6-2. Jets Roundtable had the trade Monday.

Nania gave the Jets an A for keeping quarterback Geno Smith. Minnesota reportedly called about Smith before the Vikings sent a 2027 third-round pick to the Las Vegas Raiders for Kirk Cousins.

Nothing else happened. Running back Breece Hall and receiver Garrett Wilson stayed, and The Jet Press reported that nothing came together for cornerback Nahshon Wright.

Glenn is 5-21 as head coach. The 2-7 Jets host the Buffalo Bills, who are 7-1, on Sunday.