Jets 53-man roster: Asking and answering 6 key questions

Plenty of questions about the Jets’ 53-man roster remain entering the regular season.

The Jets trimmed their roster to 53 players and filled out their practice squad earlier this week, but New York’s post-preseason personnel moves do not come without questions.

Whether it’s who starts where or what the depth at a certain position looks like, plenty of talking points remain ahead of the regular season. The Jets have a roster littered with youth and unproven players, which prompts more questions than arguably any other team in the NFL.

With that being said, let’s take a look at six of the biggest questions surrounding New York’s current 53-man roster before Week 1 and how those questions could be answered.

The Jets’ 4 most surprising roster keeps

Some of the players the Jets decided to keep on roster cutdown day came as a surprise.

The Jets set their initial 53-man roster Tuesday after spending the afternoon trimming down from the 80 players they had in the building at the end of the preseason.

The roster New York unveiled is likely to change, as Joe Douglas will work the waiver wire, and potentially the trade market, to give Robert Saleh the best possible team to take with him to Carolina in Week 1.

Roster cutdown day featured a healthy dose of unexpected moves coming out of One Jets Drive. Here are four of Gang Green’s most surprising keeps.

Predicting the Jets’ 16-man practice squad

The Jets will have a 16-man practice squad filled out soon. Here is our crack at predicting the group.

The Jets began their roster purge on Monday afternoon, making multiple cuts to begin the process of trimming down from 80 to 53 players by Tuesday at 4 p.m.

Joe Douglas and Robert Saleh are going to have to make some excruciatingly tough decisions on Tuesday, but not all of the players they cut are necessarily done with the Jets. New York still has a 16-man practice squad to fill out and while some of its young talent isn’t ready to be part of the active roster, there is still a place for players to develop and potentially contribute down the road.

Here is Jets Wire’s crack at predicting which 16 players will land on the Jets’ practice squad, which will start to take shape Wednesday afternoon.

The 5 hardest cuts from Jets Wire’s preseason Week 1 roster prediction

After releasing a 53-man roster prediction following Week 1 of the preseason, we at Jets Wire explained our toughest cuts.

Training camp and the preseason is the time for players to establish themselves as contributors and lock down roster spots.

It is also the place where NFL dreams sometimes go to die.

The Jets can only carry 53 players once the beginning of the regular season arrives — a far cry from the 90 they currently have in the building with training camp now two weeks in. New York would likely prefer to keep more than 53 players around considering the talent it has at One Jets Drive, but that is not how things work in professional football.

Joe Douglas and Robert Saleh are going to have some excruciating decisions to make at the end of August. Which players did just enough to make the 53-man squad? Which players fell just short and will now have to seek a new opportunity elsewhere? Those questions will be answered after countless hours of watching film and deliberating.

We at Jets Wire took a crack at projecting the 53-man roster after Saturday’s preseason opener against the Giants. All of the cuts predicted in that piece can be seen directly below, followed by explanations for the toughest severances.

QB: Josh Johnson, James Morgan
RB: Josh Adams, Austin Walter
WR: Manasseh Bailey, Braxton Berrios, Lawrence Cager, Josh Malone, D.J. Montgomery, Jeff Smith
TE: Daniel Brown, Kenny Yeboah
OL: Tristen Hoge, Corey Levin, Jimmy Murray, David Moore
DL: Ronald Blair, Michael Dwumfour, Kyle Phillips, Hamilcar Rashed Jr., Tanzel Smart
LB: Noah Dawkins, Camilo Eifler, Del’Shawn Phillips, Edmond Robinson, Brendon White
CB: Corey Ballentine, Elijah Campbell, Lamar Jackson, Zane Lewis
S: Bennett Jackson, J.T. Hassell
K: Chris Naggar (released Monday)

Jets place 5 on IR to make room for Josh Andrews, Daniel Brown, Matthias Farley and Nate Hairston

The Jets placed five players on injured reserve to make room for Josh Andrews, Daniel Brown, Nate Hairston and Matthias Farley.

One day after releasing them in order to get their roster down to 53 players, the Jets signed offensive lineman Josh Andrews, tight end Daniel Brown, safety Matthias Farley, cornerback Nate Hairston and back to the team’s active roster on Monday.

In order to make room for Andrews, Brown, Farley and Hairston, New York placed offensive lineman Cameron Clark (shoulder/knee), linebacker Patrick Onwuasor (knee), wide receivers Jeff Smith (shoulder) and Vyncint Smith (core muscle surgery), and defensive lineman/outside linebacker Jabari Zuniga (quad) on injured reserve.

With the new injured reserve rules in place, players are allowed to return to practice after three weeks of being on the shelf, which would make them eligible for a Week 4 return. Getting back some reinforcements at wide receiver in Week 4 could be a crucial boost for the Jets as they have a short week with a Thursday Night Football matchup against the Broncos.

Both Smith’s showed flashes of promise throughout training camp, but also fell victim to the barrage of injuries that decimated the wide receiver room. Between injuries to both Breshad Perriman and Denzel Mims and both Braxton Berrios and Jamison Crowder banged up, New York may have to rely on both undrafted free agent wideouts to play some significant snaps early in the year.

Onwuasor sustained a non-contact knee injury in training camp, but doesn’t have any ligament damage. He’s out 4-5 weeks and for the time being, leaves the Jets thin at inside linebacker with only three players — Avery Williamson, Blake Cahsman and Neville Hewittt — that remain healthy. Zuniga, New York’s third-round pick out of Florida missed the majority of training camp dealing with a quad injury. Clark, a fourth-round pick out of Charlotte, has been banged up with a shoulder and knee injury.

The new rules allow Gang Green to demonstrate some roster flexibility before the start of the season. By placing five players on injured reserve and adding just four, New York has one remaining roster spot to add another depth piece prior to Sunday’s game against the Bills.

Updated Jets depth chart following roster cuts

Jets Wire evaluates the Jets’ projected depth chart after cutting their roster down to 53.

With training camp and the 2020 offseason now in the books, the Jets’ depth chart has somewhat of a new look to it.

New York parted ways with 27 players on Saturday in order to cut its roster down to 53. Some of those players reverted back to the practice squad and have a chance to begin the year on the active roster, while others are now seeking greener pastures elsewhere.

Let’s take a look at how the Jets’ depth chart reads after cut day and some potential changes that could be in store before Week 1.

Note: There are more than 53 players listed below, as the Jets have yet to determine who is going on injured reserve.

Quarterback

Starter: Sam Darnold

Backups: Joe Flacco, James Morgan

Flacco is on the 53-man roster, but will miss New York’s first couple of games as he works his way back from offseason neck surgery. James Morgan is not ready to serve as Sam Darnold’s backup, which leaves practice squad signal-callers David Fales and Mike White duking it out for the No. 2 spot to begin 2020. Fales has the advantage here.

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