The NY Jets 2021 initial 53-man roster settles on Tuesday
Training camp is over, the preseason is finished, and there’s only one more major event before week 1: cut day.
Many spots on the New York Jets roster are already set in stone, but questions remain among the last few openings. For the first time in years, the Jets roster is talented enough that quality players will likely be let go.
One of those quality players will be a wide receiver since the Jets simply have too much talent to keep everyone. The Jets are likely to keep six or seven wideouts, meaning Braxton Berrios, Vyncint Smith, and Jeff Smith were fighting for one, maybe two roles. Now that Smith is the odd-man-out, the question comes down to six or seven.
Similar to the wideouts, the Jets have five running backs on the current roster but aren’t expected to keep more than four.
Tevin Coleman, Michael Carter, and Ty Johnson all have their roles secured. That left La’Mical Perine and Josh Adams in a battle for the final job. Adams has already been waived with a likely eye on the practice squad.
There’s still a chance they keep just three backs, however.
Perine had a great training camp, but a quiet preseason overall. Meanwhile, Adams had been quiet throughout most of the offseason until he burst back on the scene with a stellar game against the Philadelphia Eagles. Both players are capable of succeeding, and who gets the job may ultimately come down to coaches’ preference.
Proving his due diligence isn’t in bad faith, general Joe Douglas addressed the sudden pass rush need by trading for Houston Texans’ edge Shaq Lawson on Sunday.
The Jets sent a sixth-round pick to Houston for Lawson—a pick they acquired last year by trading another edge, Jordan Willis, to San Francisco. As part of the deal, Houston will take on Lawson’s $5.3 million in dead money (if cut in 2022). In turn, Douglas can use 2021 as Lawson’s try-out year and safely move forward in 2022 if it doesn’t work out.
This week on the Oklahoma Drill Podcast, the crew breaks down all the biggest storylines ahead of cut-day. Tune in for analysis of the Shaq Lawson trade, the receiver depth chart, players we hope to keep, and more.
