Jets Facing Hard Choices Before Cutdown Day
With the Jets preseason mercifully concluded following Saturday's 32-24 victory over the Giants, things are about to get real. By Tuesday, the organization will have sent pink slips to more than a third of their training camp roster to get down to the league-mandated 53 players.
Not that such a list will be final—all NFL rosters are fluid given injuries and personnel changes. With New York, which opens a much-hyped regular season slate on September 11 against rival Buffalo, hoping to qualify for its first playoff berth in 13 years, General Manager Joe Douglas should be in win-now mode when it comes to roster decisions. His new 39-year old quarterback Aaron Rodgers—not to mention tortured Jets fans--don’t have the patience for the continuation of a slow process towards competitiveness.
Douglas’ record (13-37) since he took over after the 2019 offseason may be odious, but it is inarguable that during this tenure he has been fortifying the bottom of the roster with NFL-level prospects, making for some hard decisions on cut-down days.
Some of Tuesday’s numbers game losses could end up being regrettable, such as when Gang Green axed safety Jason Pinnock a year ago—he was one of seven ex-Jets claimed on waivers, the most any team has lost to claims since 2014. Pinnock quickly latched on to become a serviceable member across the MetLife Stadium hall with the Giants. So you can’t merely assume that the Jets will be able to hide some of this season’s cuts from waiver claims for the purpose of placing them on their practice squad.
With that in mind, here are the four most intriguing conundrums facing Douglas, Head Coach Robert Saleh and the Jets’ football operations staff:
1) Three’s a crowd in the QB room
As I’ve noted previously, the new league rule change that allows a team to dress an emergency quarterback outside of the 45-man game-day active list is applicable to rostered players only. That means that New York’s QB3 Tim Boyle will have to occupy a slot that should be reserved for a more useful player at another position.
If Boyle had ever shown any competence in his four prior seasons, his case might be debatable. Except he was 0-3 as a starter for the 2021 Lions and went 2-for-8 in mop-up duty in his sole 2022 appearance during the Bears’ season finale. He’s also 2-for-8 in his career on passes that travelled further than 20 yards downfield, per ProFootballFocus.com.
But Boyle is allegedly close with Rodgers from their three seasons together in Green Bay. And though this also shouldn’t mean anything, Boyle did complete an up-and-down preseason with a two-touchdown effort on Saturday.
Should that be enough for Boyle to jump through the hoop as the emergency QB? Not in my book.
2) The Corey Davis effect
Davis’ sudden (to the public) retirement last week opened up a can of worms for Nathaniel Hackett’s offense. With one social media post, the Jets’ wide receiver depth went from adequate to somewhat sketchy. There’s Garrett Wilson, Allen Lazard, Mecole Hardman, Randall Cobb…and then who?
Oh, there’s some prospects in the room that have showcased glimpses of potential, but thanks to shoddy offensive line play, none of them have really stood out in terms of consistency in practice and the exhibition games. According to Rodgers, undrafted free agent Xavier Gipson “helped himself” with his performance against the Giants with 7 receptions for 71 yards and a 20-yard punt return that was a toenail on the sideline away from something more explosive.
Hold your horses, though. You know how you always hear that in an ideal world, depth receivers must contribute on special teams? That means more than returning kicks. Only Gipson did not take part in any coverage snaps during New York’s first three preseason games. In addition, Gipson, listed at 5-foot 9, doesn’t have the size to replicate the physicality Davis used to bring to the offense.
That’s why I think Malik Taylor, another former Packer, might have an edge—provided he’s healthy (he’s missed the last two preseason games). He’s 6-foot 3, has experience on special teams, and the Jets know him from a brief stint on their practice squad last season.
It’s possible the Jets keep both at the start, but even then it would likely be temporary, for I would expect Douglas to scour the streets—either free agents or in trades—to eventually give Rodgers another big-bodied receiver.
3) TE competition is tighter than you might think
I do foresee that the Jets will keep four tight ends, even with fullback Nick Bawden surviving the cuts. Hackett employs two-TE personnel packages too often to go into games with just three of them. The question then, since Tyler Conklin, C.J. Uzomah, and Jeremy Ruckert should be locks, is who shall be fourth.
The unofficial depth chart on the Jets’ website lists Kenny Yeboah ahead of rookie seventh-round pick Zack Kuntz, but I’m not so sure that’s the pecking order. Yes, Kuntz is raw and he became the butt of jokes on HBO’s “Hard Knocks” for his performance in the Rookie Talent Show and then running the wrong route before catching a touchdown pass in Carolina two weeks ago. However, I’ve been told that analytics staffs around the league are intrigued by his potential given his rarefied size (6-foot 7 and 251 pounds) and athleticism (a perfect 10.0 on the NFL Scouting Combine’s Relative Athletic Score metric) combination. He just needs to learn how to take those tools and translate them into football production. As such, he’d be the perfect practice squad candidate.
Of course, such a plan comes with the risk that another team, perhaps one that is in more of a rebuilding mode, will snap Kuntz up off waivers. I believe that’s more likely than if Yeboah were exposed.
Still, I have to admit that Yeboah has his backers in the organization, with Saleh often extolling his work on special teams. I’m just saying that nothing will surprise me om Tuesday, including if the Jets decide to drop both of them and then cross their fingers.
4) Is Davis safe at safety?
I’ve been predicting Davis’ demise for three years now, and the Jets’ 2020 third-round pick keeps defying my logic. He may just do it again. He’s had a pretty solid preseason and his special teams aptitude has always been highly-regarded.
However, as well as Davis has played, undrafted free agent Trey Dean has been better, grabbing attention with his sure tackling. Obviously, training camp and preseason results have to be taken with a grain of salt. But for comparison purposes, it’s hard for anyone to claim that Davis is more deserving of the spot over Dean on merits.
Teams typically carry no more than four safeties on a roster. Although neither of the projected starters—Jordan Whitehead and Tony Adams—played a single snap this preseason, they are safe, as is Adrian Amos, whom Douglas pursued in free agency after Chick Clark was lost for the season with an ACL injury during OTAs.
My gut tells me that Douglas will stick with Davis, with Dean moving on with the potential to turn into this year’s Pinnock.