Fourth-year linebacker Jamien Sherwood has been named the 2024 Jets Curtis Martin Team MVP.
"That's crazy because you got Aaron Rodgers, Davante Adams, C.J. [Mosley], Quincy [Williams], Garrett [Wilson], Quinnen [Wiliams]," Sherwood said of the team-voted honor. "To be voted by guys like that means the world to me. I'd say it wasn't just my on-the-field presence, but off the field as well, in the locker room, in the cafeteria, in the meeting rooms.
"Obviously this season hasn't gone the way we wanted to, but finding some type of positivity when we walk into this building just so that we can have a good day, so that we can look forward to Sunday to being one of the better days of this year."
Sherwood, in his first year as a starter, ranks third in the NFL with 152 tackles and leads the league with 95 solo tackles. A college safety drafted out of Auburn in the fifth round in 2021, he started 7 games over his first three seasons in the NFL before taking over at the team's Mike linebacker this season for the injured C.J. Mosley. Sherwood has started 15 games, co-leads the team with 10 tackles for loss, has 3 pass defenses and 2 sacks.
He's the third linebacker to win team MVP in the last four years. Quincy Williams won the award last season and Mosley in 2021, two of the players Sherwood credits his success to.
"Confidence is the main thing," he said. "I say once a man finds his confidence, he's hard to stop. All that stuff that I studied from down-and-distance to formation, recognition to just learning and understanding the game, all I needed was the confidence. Trusting my preparation, trusting my technique and just going out there and doing it."
Sherwood spent the first three seasons in the league predominantly as a special teams player and took 810 snaps on special teams compared to 358 on defense. This season, Sherwood ranks second on the Green & White with 996 defensive snaps, but his 1,105 total snaps (109 on ST) are the most on the team.
"Those three years prior I was sitting on the bench, watching C.J., I studied so hard because you never knew when your moment was going to come," Sherwood said. "My second year, I probably got 20 snaps in total the whole year. Again, I was always ready for that moment just because I studied so hard. Same thing in '23, never knowing when my opportunity was going to come, but when Coach told me to get in there, I was always ready for that moment because I never thought that I wouldn't get the chance. I prayed for the opportunity, so I knew it was going to come at some point and I wanted to be ready for it every time."
This season is the 10th time a ' 'backer has been named Curtis Martin Team MVP, the most at to one defensive position. It's the seventh consecutive year the award has been given to a defensive player since QB Josh McCown won in 2017.
Sherwood is the second Jets MVP to wear No. 44 — Pro Football Hall of Fame RB John Riggins won the award in 1972 and '75.
Six other team awards were also announced Thursday:
Morgan Moses – Dennis Byrd/Most Inspirational
Morgan Moses returned to the Jets in 2024 via trade after he spent the last two seasons with the Ravens. He has started 14 games at right tackle while battling injuries including a knee ailment he sustained in Week 3 that forced him to miss 2 games.
"Man, it's never comfortable playing, but you look to your left and you look to your right, and you just want to be out there,'' Moses said. "That's just the love and regard and that we talk about every week for your brothers. You just want to be out there involved.''
Linebacker Quincy Williams said: "The crazy thing is he never complained about it, not one time. He's just a hard worker. Guys like that don't really complain or talk about all the stuff they got going on. They just step out there on the field and give us their all on Sundays or Mondays or whenever we need them."
Moses is the first offensive linemen to win this award. Eleven of the last 14 winners were defensive players and QB Aaron Rodgers won it in 2023.
Tyrod Taylor – Kyle Clifton/Good Guy
Despite appearing in just 2 games this season and playing a handful of snaps, Tyrod Taylor has been a leader on and off the field.
"Tyrod was really someone, along with a few other guys that I really leaned on this year," rookie RB Braelon Allen said. "He is always one of the first guys in the building and I really tried to just copy his routine and ask him a ton of questions. Really grateful for him."
Taylor made an impact in his limited play time completing 17-of-22 passes for 119 yards, 3 touchdowns and no interceptions. Taylor is the seventh different QB to win the Kyle Clifton Good Guy Award and the first QB to win it since Josh McCown in 2017.
Quincy Williams – Marty Lyons/Community Service
Jets All-Pro LB Quincy Williams did more than deliver big hits in 2024. He delivered in the community, participating and contributing to several of the Jets' biggest charity events including the Dicks Sporting Goods holiday shopping spree and going aboard to the U.K. to promote Jets youth girls' flag football. In addition, he was recognized as the Green & White's recipient of the United Way of New York's Hometown Hero Award at the 31st Anniversary Gridiron Gala.
Off the field, Williams had a passion for helping and inspiring those afflicted by all forms of cancer. He wears a necklace that belonged to his late mother, Marquischa Henderson Williams, after she passed away from breast cancer. He serves as an ambassador for the American Cancer Society.
Williams, last year's Team MVP, wins Marty Lyons Community Service Award for the first time. On the field this season, he has racked up 107 tackles, 2 sacks and 3 pass defenses over 16 games.
Alijah Vera-Tucker – Ed Block/Most Courageous Player
Jets RG Alijah Vera-Tucker overcame consecutive season-ending injuries in each of the last two years (torn triceps in '22 and a torn Achilles tendon in '23) and has started 14 games for the Green & White this season. That was enough to make him the recipient of the Ed Block Most Courageous Player Award.
Vera-Tucker is the first O-lineman to win this award since Brandon Moore in 2011. He won the Kyle Clifton Award last season.
Olu Fashanu – Bill Hampton/Rookie Who Acts Like a Pro
Jets rookie LT Olu Fashanu's season ended abruptly with a foot injury that landed him on injured reserve in Week 17 after playing in 15 games and starting 7. Even though he started 5 games at left tackle, the position he played at Penn State, his first NFL start came at right tackle in Week 4 and took snaps at guard in Week 9.
Fashanu is fifth consecutive offensive player to win the Bill Hampton aAward and the first O-lineman since Dakota Dozier in 2014.
John Simpson – Selfless Warrior
In his first season after signing with the Jets in free agency, LG John Simpson started all 16 games ahead of the season finale and is the Green & White's highest-rated (78.6) offensive lineman by Pro Football Focus.
A recently created award that began in 2022, Simpson is the third winner, joining T Duane Brown and Jets captain and LB C.J. Mosley as the only recipients.
