According to Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News, the Jets have placed wide receivers Jeff Smith and Vyncint Smith on injured reserve.
So, Jets have placed both WRs Jeff Smith (shoulder) and Vyncint Smith (core muscle surgery) on IR, per source.
Both are eligible to return to practice after three weeks.
— Manish Mehta (@MMehtaNYDN) September 7, 2020
Typically, placing players on injured reserve would leave them out of action for eight weeks, but in the 2020 season only, players placed on IR will only be out for three weeks.
Jeff Smith, 23, suffered a shoulder injury in practice about a week ago, initially estimated to hold him out for two weeks. Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network expects Smith to be good-to-go for the Jets’ Week 4 game against the Broncos, which would be Smith’s first opportunity to play once returning from IR.
The #Jets are putting WR Jeff Smith on injured reserve, source said. He suffered a shoulder sprain last month. Should be ready when eligible to return in three weeks.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) September 7, 2020
Vyncint Smith, 24, had surgery for a core injury on August 18 that was expected to keep him out of action for five-to-eight weeks from that point. That was nearly three weeks ago. Connor Hughes of The Athletic reports that Smith is expected to be ready for Denver in Week 4.
The #Jets are putting WR Vyncint Smith on the injured reserve, per source. Safer play. They expect him back for the Thursday night game against Denver.
— Connor Hughes (@Connor_J_Hughes) September 7, 2020
The Jets are thin at wide receiver for the time being, with only Jamison Crowder, Breshad Perriman, Denzel Mims, Chris Hogan, and Braxton Berrios healthy for Week 1.
Vyncint Smith showed promising WR3/WR4 potential in the latter portion of 2019, averaging 31.7 yards per game on 9.5 yards per target over the final six games of the season.
Vyncint also made noise on special teams, returning 10 kickoffs for 299 yards, a very efficient 29.9 yards per return (second-best among players with 10+ returns). Additionally, Adam Gase featured him as a gadget weapon on offense, utilizing him on flea-flickers, end-arounds, and screens.
Jeff Smith signed with the Jets as an undrafted free agent out of Boston College in 2019. A star quarterback in high school, Smith began his career at BC under center, but converted to wide receiver ahead of his sophomore year. He appeared in only one game during his 2019 rookie season, a Week 15 trip to Baltimore in which his most notable moment was a blown opportunity on a deep pass from Sam Darnold.
Jeff Smith slowing down results in the incompletion. I think it’s fair to say that this looks like excellent location by Darnold pic.twitter.com/HTMGiSylvT
— Michael Nania (@Michael_Nania) December 13, 2019
Yesterday, the Jets signed Josh Andrews, Daniel Brown, and Nate Hairston back to their 53-man roster, so three moves had to be made to create space for them. The sending of the Smiths to IR opens up two. One more player should be heading to IR soon.
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