The 26-year-old has played for the Jacksonville Jaguars, Cincinnati Bengals and the New York Jets since 2021. He played 12 games, starting two for Aaron Glenn’s Jets last season. Tufele has only 0.5 sacks through 46 career games, serving more as the run-clogging variety on the defensive line.
The 6-foot-3, 305-pounder has played 596 of his 758 career snaps aligned over the B-gap, per Pro Football Focus. Tufele, who was a teammate of Amon-Ra St. Brown’s at USC, posting 7.5 sacks and 11 tackles for loss in two seasons for the Trojans.
Jay Tufele is an interior defensive lineman for the New York Jets who earned a 51.0 overall PFF defensive grade in the 2025 season, 94th among 134 qualified interior defensive linemen. His PFF pass-rush grade of 51.1 ranked 126th among 134 qualified interior defensive linemen. His run-defense grade of 55.8 ranked 61st at the position.
He generated 6 total pressures as a pass rusher. That total included 0 sacks, 6 hurries, 0 hits. Against the run, he recorded 11 solo tackles.