Jets' Jermaine Johnson never satisfied despite strong season

Jermaine Johnson had his first NFL interception, touchdown return and fumble recovery in his last game, but that night he was “mad.”

He feels that way often, whether it’s because the Jets lost or he believes he could have done more.

Johnson thinks he’s shown that he’s “a dominant player” in his second NFL season, but he’s not satisfied. He never is. Ever.

“It’s a blessing and a curse because sometimes I’m just like mad,” Johnson told Newsday. “I kind of sit down and I’m like, ‘Nah.’ I’m never really satisfied.”

The Jets (6-10) will close out the season Sunday in New England, looking to snap a 15-game losing streak against the Patriots in what could be Bill Belichick’s final game as their coach.

The Jets’ defense wants to end the right way after allowing Joe Flacco to pass for 309 yards and three scores in a 34-20 loss in Cleveland on Dec. 28.

Johnson had a good game, though.

He deflected a Flacco pass into the air, picked it off and ran 37 yards for a touchdown. Later, he scooped up a fumble and took it in for the TD, but the play was ruled dead.

Johnson called the pick “cool,” but he was hot.

“I was mad,” he said. “It was a good play. It was a cool play. It was probably one of the best I’ve made. We didn’t win. I still didn’t feel like I had enough of a presence in the game.”

After playing 312 snaps as a rookie, Johnson has established himself as a disruptive piece who could play alongside All-Pro tackle Quinnen Williams for a long time.

Johnson’s 714 snaps this year are second on the line to Williams. Johnson is second on the Jets with 6.5 sacks and has seven passes defended.

“He’s having an amazing year,” Williams said. “Just to see the growth from last year to this year . . . You can see the game-changing plays that he makes week in and week out. Not just last week, but this whole season.

“I’m super-excited to be able to play with him in the future for years to come. We definitely can be one of the best dynamic duos in the league for years to come.”

The Jets envisioned Johnson being a foundation player when they traded up to grab him with the 26th pick in 2022. He spent last year in the shadows of some of the Jets’ other picks: Sauce Gardner, Garrett Wilson and Breece Hall.

Johnson stayed hungry, worked hard on his body and game in the offseason and proved he’s just as important to the Jets.

“Jermaine has been awesome, and I feel bad for him because he kind of gets lost in the shuffle of the [three] picks that we had that get celebrated,” Jets coach Robert Saleh said. “But Jermaine is playing at a Pro Bowl level. He’s disruptive. He changes games. He gets after the quarterback. He’s awesome in the run game, playing through so much pain right now.

“It’s so cool just to watch a young man who put in the work that he needed to in the offseason to reap the rewards of his labor. He’s doing a great job, grossly underrated in my opinion, but he’s going to be good for a long time.”

The defensive coaches believe in letting a rookie watch and learn and then unleashing him when he’s better acclimated. They expect edge rusher Will McDonald, their first-round pick this year who has played only 167 snaps, to follow a similar path.

Defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich noted Johnson’s “huge jump” and said it’s “the same jump I anticipate Will taking next year.”

Ulbrich said Johnson “is rare” because he can do so much from being “a violent edge-setter” to having “great speed and bend and an arsenal of moves — and that is his superpower.”

Johnson also has shown he’s good against the run.

After Johnson’s rookie season, he watched a lot of film of himself and said he didn’t recognize that person. That fueled his offseason work. He said he recognizes himself when he watches tape now — but, you know.

“I’m still not satisfied, just never really satisfied,” Johnson said. “The tape looks pretty good. I like to win. I like to be an undisputable dominant force and a great teammate. I’m just looking to bring that into the next year and making sure that that’s true.”

Johnson doesn’t know what it will take for him to truly be satisfied.

“I have no idea,” he said. “I just know that when I hit the peak of one mountain, it always ends up to be the base of another. That’s how I’ve always been wired. I can’t tell you what will change that.”

The only thing Johnson knows is that he’ll never stop wanting more.

“My thing is hard work must get done,” he said. “Hard work mixed with the talent that God gives me and mixed with the great teammates and people I have around me should be a recipe for good things.”

Al Iannazzone covers the Jets for Newsday after spending nearly two decades on the NBA beat with Knicks and Nets.