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New York Jets News & Rumors

Jets HC Robert Saleh Endorses Zach Wilson As Starting QB

September 24th, 2023 at 6:27pm CST by Adam La Rose

The Jets’ offense endured another underwhelming performance on Sunday, but a change under center does not appear to be forthcoming. Head coach Robert Saleh confirmed in his post-game press conference that he is committed to Zach Wilson as the team’s starting quarterback.

[RELATED: Jets Turned Down Interest From Wentz, Ryan]

Saleh said, via NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo, Wilson is the passer “who gives us the best chance to win.” That remark comes after the team publicly endorsed Wilson as their QB1 following Aaron Rodgers‘ season-ending Achilles injury. The Jets have been in contact with a small number of veteran passers, but no additions have been made at this point.

Wilson went 18-of-36 for 157 yards as the Jets lost 15-10 to the Patriots in Week 3. New York’s offense converted just two of 14 third downs, adding to the major struggles the unit has endured with the former No. 2 pick at the controls. Wilson’s poor showings led to his benching midway through the 2022 campaign, and they were a driving factor in the Jets’ pursuit of an upgrade at the QB position this offseason. Calls for another switch will intensify in the wake of another forgettable outing.

Tension on the Jets’ sideline was visible during Sunday’s contest, and many have pointed to the possibility of the team’s locker room fracturing given the struggles of the offense relative to the defense. SNY’s Connor Hughes speculates a shake-up in the form of offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett losing play-calling duties to Todd Downing could be on the horizon if things continue as they have early in the year.

“I feel like I’m in a really good spot as far as my ability and I don’t feel like I’ve been able to put that on display,” reigning Offensive Rookie of the Year Garrett Wilson said after the game, via ESPN’s Rich Cimini. “And that’s for multiple reasons. I don’t know what it may be, but I just know I’m ready.”

Indeed, increased production in the passing game will be required for the Jets to rebound from their lackluster offensive start to 2023. Better health and play along the offensive line – a unit which is without left tackle Duane Brown for the foreseeable future – would no doubt go a long way in helping Wilson or a new face under center moving forward. In any case, the status quo can be expected as the Jets prepare to face the Chiefs in Week 4.

Jets Place LT Duane Brown On IR

September 24th, 2023 at 10:37am CST by Adam La Rose

SEPTEMBER 24: Saleh’s comment about Becton’s position switch notwithstanding, SNY’s Connor Hughes reports it will be Becton taking over at left tackle. Right guard Alijah Vera-Tucker is shifting back to right tackle — a rumored move during training camp — and second-round pick Joe Tippmann is moving into the starting lineup at right guard.

The Jets had preferred to keep Vera-Tucker at guard, but the team’s long-running tackle problems will bring the 2021 first-rounder back to tackle. Becton spent the offseason insisting he would return to left tackle, his position as a rookie back in 2020. Becton criticized the Jets shifting him to right tackle last year but has been back at that post since midway through camp. This will be Becton’s first regular-season left tackle work since Week 1 of the 2021 season.

SEPTEMBER 23: Zach Wilson‘s second start in 2023 will come without the Jets’ starting blindside blocker in place. Left tackle Duane Brown has been ruled out for Week 3, per a team announcement.

The Jets have since placed Brown on IR, meaning he will miss at least the next four weeks. New York’s plan at the blindside will become increasingly important with Brown’s replacement(s) now tasked with filling in on a medium-term basis.

Brown has been dealing with hip a injury, and the ailment kept him out of practice this week. In spite of that, head coach Robert Saleh had expressed optimism Brown would be able to suit up on Sunday against the Patriots. Now that the team will be shorthanded up front, questions have been raised regarding who will fill in at the left tackle spot, with Mekhi Becton representing an option.

Pointing toward a right-to-left tackle switch being unlikely, however, Saleh said “[Becton’s] been practicing a certain way this entire week, so to move him at the last second would be irresponsible on our part” (h/t ESPN’s Rich Cimini).

Becton was moved to right tackle on a permanent basis this offseason after tensions over his usage last year came to a (rather public) head. After dealing with a litany of injury issues, the former first-rounder has been able to play every snap so far, though, an accomplishment in its own regard considering the missed time which has dominated his Jets tenure. Given Saleh’s expectation Brown would play tomorrow, it would indeed come as a surprise if the team elected to shift Becton to the blindside (where he was originally drafted to play) on short notice.

Presuming the Jets keep Becton at the RT spot, Billy Turner could find himself in the starting lineup tomorrow. The latter has 75 starts to his name, including seven last year with the Broncos. One of several players with ties to quarterback Aaron Rodgers and offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, Turner was brought in on a one-year deal to provide experienced tackle depth given the team’s uncertainty up front.

Turner last saw time at left tackle in 2020, though, so an adjustment period would be needed if he were to be called upon to man the blindside tomorrow. Likewise, swingman Max Mitchell‘s only time last season came at right tackle, so using him at the LT spot would mark a new endeavor for him. In any event, it will interesting to see how the Jets proceed along the O-line as they look to protect Wilson during his time at the helm.

Minor NFL Transactions: 9/23/23

September 23rd, 2023 at 7:55pm CST by Adam La Rose

Here are the various practice squad elevations and other minor moves from around the league:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kansas City Chiefs

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Chargers

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New Orleans Saints

New York Jets

  • Signed to active roster: LB Sam Eguaveon
  • Elevated: OL Chris Glaser

Pittsburgh Steelers

Seattle Seahawks

Tennessee Titans

Washington Commanders

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 9/22/23

September 22nd, 2023 at 7:02pm CST by Ely Allen

The league’s practice squad transactions heading into the weekend:

Arizona Cardinals

  • Released from practice squad IR with injury settlement: S Jovante Moffatt

Carolina Panthers

Cincinnati Bengals

  • Signed: QB Reid Sinnett

Miami Dolphins

New York Jets

With starting quarterback Joe Burrow still nursing a calf injury that has hampered him throughout the first two weeks of the season, the signing of Sinnett becomes significant. Burrow’s status is reportedly still up in the air for this Sunday, and with practice squad quarterback Will Grier getting signed away to the Patriots’ active roster yesterday, Sinnett would now serve as QB2 to Jake Browning if Burrow can’t go.

Jets Bring Back T Cedric Ogbuehi

September 21st, 2023 at 11:33am CST by Sam Robinson

For the second time this year and the third time since September 2022, the Jets reached an agreement with Cedric Ogbuehi. The veteran tackle is back with the team on a practice squad deal.

A former first-round pick who settled into a reserve role years ago, Ogbeuhi re-signed with the Jets in April but found himself cut less than a month after the contract came to pass. The Jets dropped Ogbuehi in May, shortly after signing Billy Turner. Four months later, the journeyman blocker is back in New York. To make room on their 16-man practice squad, the Jets released offensive lineman Ryan Swoboda.

The Jets initially signed Ogbuehi off the Texans’ practice squad nearly a year ago. With Duane Brown beginning last season on IR and then-starter George Fant suffering a knee injury — events that followed Mekhi Becton‘s second major knee injury — the Jets were busy adding veteran O-linemen. Mike Remmers and Laurent Duvernay-Tardif joined the team, which later lost Max Mitchell for the season. Brown, Becton and Mitchell are back in the mix, with Turner residing as a backup. Ogbuehi will be positioned behind this quartet upon coming back to the Big Apple.

Brown and Becton remain on the Jets’ injury report, with the blockers’ maladies that required extensive offseason rehab time — Becton’s knee, Brown’s shoulder — part of this week’s injury equation. Both have started each of the team’s first two games, however. Fourth-round rookie tackle Carter Warren is also on short-term IR. The Jets worked out a host of tackles last week; Ogbuehi, 31, was not among them.

Ogbuehi, who spent most of this offseason with the Dolphins before failing to make their 53-man roster, started five games for the injury-riddled Jets front last season. That marked the ex-Bengal first-rounder’s most starts in a season since 2017, his last year as a regular first-stringer.

G Laurent Duvernay-Tardif Retires

September 21st, 2023 at 10:55am CST by Sam Robinson

After pausing his football career at multiple junctures, Laurent Duvernay-Tardif is stepping away from the gridiron permanently. The former Chiefs and Jets guard announced his retirement (via Instagram) Thursday morning.

Famous for his blocker/doctor duality, Duvernay-Tardif played eight NFL seasons. Although the Chiefs drafted the Canadian guard in the 2014 sixth round, he did not play as a rookie. Duvernay-Tardif, 32, also passed on playing in 2020, becoming the first player to opt out during the COVID-19 pandemic. But the unique O-line presence returned to the game in 2021, finishing his career with two Jets seasons.

The McGill University alum secured a Chiefs extension back in 2017 and played a starting role on their Super Bowl LIV-winning squad two years later. Duvernay-Tardif returned from a fractured fibula during the 2018 season, being activated ahead of the Chiefs’ playoff run that year. But he did not suit up for the team in one of its postseason contests. He was back in his starting right guard role in 2019, starting 14 regular-season games and all three Kansas City playoff contests.

Duvernay-Tardif’s extension — a five-year, $42.4MM accord — came a year after the Chiefs had extended Eric Fisher and signed Mitchell Schwartz. This trio became the team’s O-line foundation for Patrick Mahomes, who made his starter debut in Duvernay-Tardif’s fifth season. Duvernay-Tardif spent more seasons blocking for Alex Smith (three) than Mahomes (two), but the Chiefs’ O-line unraveled at the end of the medical professional’s opt-out campaign. When the Chiefs surveyed the damage from Super Bowl LV, they moved on from Fisher, Schwartz and Duvernay-Tardif — none of whom were available during the Buccaneers’ blowout win — and remade their O-line in 2021.

Cutting Fisher and Schwartz in March 2021, the Chiefs held onto Duvernay-Tardif until training camp. The team, which had signed Joe Thuney and drafted promising guard Trey Smith in Round 6 in 2021, traded Duvernay-Tardif to the Jets midway through camp. The St. Hilaire, Quebec, native started eight games as a Jet, re-signing with the team during the 2022 season as injuries mounted. He played in five Jets games last season, closing out his higher-profile career.

Duvernay-Tardif will likely be best remembered for managing two careers and pausing his more glamourous craft to venture back to Canada during the initial months of the pandemic. Last year, he enrolled in a residency program at a hospital near Montreal. Duvernay-Tardif closes his NFL career with 65 career starts and more than $25MM in earnings.

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 9/20/23

September 20th, 2023 at 7:55pm CST by Ely Allen

Wednesday’s practice squad transactions:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

  • Signed: RB Carlos Washington Jr.

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Detroit Lions

New Orleans Saints

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Jets Have Contacted Only Chad Henne, Colt McCoy; Latest On Aaron Rodgers’ Recovery

September 17th, 2023 at 10:06pm CST by Rory Parks

The Jets are 1-1 and reeling from Aaron Rodgers‘ Achilles injury, which ended the future Hall of Famer’s season after four snaps and thrust Zach Wilson back into the starting lineup. We heard in the immediate aftermath of the Rodgers news that New York was exploring the free agent market for veteran passers and had inquired on retired QB Chad Henne.

Dianna Russini of The Athletic (subscription required) confirms that the Jets have indeed reached out to Henne, who has rebuffed their overtures. “The timing doesn’t work,” Henne said.

Gang Green has also contacted Colt McCoy, who was released by the Cardinals on cutdown day and who was mentioned as a possible Jets target several days ago. McCoy, 37, indicated that he has several offers in hand and expects to sign with a club shortly. He had been dealing with an elbow injury, though he should be ready to play this week.

The Jets told both Henne and McCoy that if they were to sign with the team, they would be doing so with the understanding that Wilson is the starter. As a team source told Russini, “[w]e have Zach. Zach Wilson is our best option.” 

Offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett was pleased with what Wilson was able to do when he was forced to enter the team’s Week 1 contest against the Bills in relief of Rodgers, and Hackett was also impressed by the progress Wilson made throughout the spring and summer. Wilson appears to have earned the trust of the locker room, with another team source telling Russini that Wilson’s character is “off the charts.” The team has changed “about half of the game plan” to play to Wilson’s strengths, including an overall simplification of the offense.

The organizational view on Wilson explains why, as Russini reports, the Jets have no plans to pursue a more accomplished signal-caller like Tom Brady, Philip Rivers, Ben Roethlisberger, or Joe Flacco (Blake Bortles is reportedly not under consideration either). As Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero of NFL.com report, Brady’s purchase of a stake in the Raiders is not yet finalized and is unlikely to be finalized until October at the earliest. Until then, Brady can techincally sign with any team he chooses, but as we noted previously, he continues to insist that he will remain retired.

Rich Cimini of ESPN.com suggests that the Jets, who have the league’s most difficult strength of schedule over the next five games, could reassess the situation over their Week 7 bye. If they are still in playoff position but feel Wilson is holding them back, they could expand their QB search at that time.

Rodgers, of course, has not closed the door on an in-season return. The reason for such optimism, as Rapoport and Pelissero explain in a separate piece, is that Rodgers underwent an innovative surgery to accelerate the rehabilitation process.

The NFL.com duo, building on an earlier report from Russini and The Athletic colleague Jourdan Rodrigue (subscription required), say that a type of internal brace called a “speed bridge” was placed on Rodgers’ torn Achilles. The procedure, which was performed by well-known orthopedic surgeon Dr. Neal ElAttrache, could allow Rodgers to be back on the field right around the time the postseason begins.

The procedure does involve risk, but Rodgers determined that the possibility of helping his new club make a playoff run this season was worth taking a chance. The 39-year-old (40 in December) could also receive platelet-rich plasma injections to move his recovery along.

Jets’ First- And Second-Round Picks In “Escrow”

September 16th, 2023 at 10:05pm CST by Ben Levine

The Packers are destined to eventually receive a second-round pick from the Jets following Aaron Rodgers‘ season-ending injury. However, thanks to some specific language in the trade agreement, New York’s first-round pick will likely be locked until the end of the 2023 season.

[RELATED: Aaron Rodgers Does Not Close Door On In-Season Return]

As sources explained to CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones, “conditions of the trade have not yet been met.” Specifically, the Packers sought and were granted terms that would protect them in the unlikely event that Rodgers was released or traded by New York. This condition technically can’t be determined until the end of the 2023 campaign, thus putting both the Jets’ 2024 first- and second-round picks in “escrow.”

The original trade terms required Rodgers to play in at least 65 percent of New York’s offensive snaps in order for the Packers to receive a 2024 first-round pick. The teams could have accounted for a season-ending injury in the trade terms, but the Packers were preparing for the Jets’ worst-case scenario.

As Jones observes, Green Bay’s request likely stems from the organization’s previous QB trade with the Jets. When the Packers traded Brett Favre to New York, the team thought they were also preventing the quarterback from eventually landing in the NFC North. Specifically, Green Bay included a clause that would have forced the Jets to give up three first-round picks if they dealt Favre to an NFC North team.

Favre briefly retired after only one season in New York, and the Jets ended up cutting him during the offseason. He was later scooped up by the Vikings, and since a free agent hypothetical wasn’t included in the trade terms, the Packers didn’t receive any compensation. As Jones notes, the NFL abolished these “poison pill” provisions in the 2011 CBA. The organization’s most-recent tactic fit under the league’s current rules, and while the terms would have done little to ultimately impact the compensation, the provision is still having an impact on New York’s trade ability.

The league doesn’t allow teams to trade future selections that aren’t under their full control. As Jones notes, the Jets could only trade their first-round selection if they add a condition on top of the current Packers’ restrictions. The Jets could also approach the Packers about revising the original terms of the deal.

Of course, considering how deep the Jets’ roster is, the only scenario where the Jets would even consider trading their 2024 first-round pick would be if a franchise-altering QB became available. The team sounds committed to Zach Wilson for the 2023 campaign, and Rodgers has left the door open for a 2024 comeback (or even a 2023 return). Still, it’s an important situation to watch when the trade market soon heats up.

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