The New York Jets’ preseason-opening win over the Washington Commanders featured a boatload of positive takeaways.
Nearly every member of the team’s 2024 draft class displayed the potential that prompted New York to select them. Quarterbacks Andrew Peasley and Adrian Martinez both made convincing bids for the QB3 role. Bubble players across the roster notched huge plays to strengthen their cases for a roster spot.
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Amidst it all, one player clearly stood out to me as the Jets’ best player on the day: second-year cornerback Jarrick Bernard-Converse.
“JBC” was chosen by New York in the sixth round of the 2023 draft. He was a college cornerback for LSU and Oklahoma State, but the Jets planned to convert him to safety after he was drafted.
Unfortunately, a foot injury caused JBC to miss all of training camp, the entire preseason, and the first nine games of the regular season. JBC returned to play the Jets’ final eight games, but he only logged four defensive snaps, spending most of his time on special teams.
Coming into 2024, head coach Robert Saleh stated that JBC had been moved back to cornerback. And in his first outing of the season at his old position, JBC more than looked the part.
Starting at left cornerback and playing the entire first half, JBC consistently had tight coverage on both downfield and short passes. He also provided strong support as a tackler around the line of scrimmage.
Many players stood out for the Jets on Saturday, but none jumped out to me more frequently than JBC. Every time the ball came his way, he was ready to make a play.
Here are JBC’s best plays from an excellent preseason debut.
Jarrick Bernard-Converse film vs. Commanders
Ironically enough, JBC’s standout performance began with him allowing a 42-yard catch to Dyami Brown.
I don’t care about the end result here, and I would wager that the coaches don’t, either. What matters is that JBC’s coverage was phenomenal on this rep. The only way he could be beaten was with a perfect throw, and that’s exactly what Jayden Daniels provided. Tip your cap to Daniels and Brown, and give JBC credit for making their jobs about as difficult as he could.
JBC is playing zone coverage and has his eyes locked on the QB, so he is able to quickly identify this screen pass to his side. He is breaking downhill before Daniels even releases the ball.
Instead of immediately pursuing the ball, JBC does the right thing by taking on his blocker to close off the outside lane and force the receiver inside toward the traffic. While taking on the block, you have to love the aggression JBC shows. He plows Jahan Dotson back and then sheds the block to make the stop on Terry McLaurin.
It’s tough to know exactly what happens without the All-22 angle, but we can see that JBC does a great job of breaking on this comeback route along the sideline. He shoots his right hand to jar the ball loose for an incompletion.
Even if JBC didn’t knock the ball out, he had the receiver squeezed tightly enough against the sideline to the point where he probably wouldn’t have gotten his feet in-bounds anyway.
JBC gives a five-yard cushion and uses a bail technique, which puts him in an ideal position to defend this vertical route from Olamide Zaccheaus.
We can’t see most of the matchup, but at the catch point, we can see that JBC does an excellent job of tracking the football. He gets his head turned back to the ball very early and keeps his eyes on it. All the while, he maintains two hands on the receiver to feel out his movements (without holding him). Zaccheaus ends up slipping as he attempts to shake free of the tight coverage, and JBC easily rises up for the deflection.
Playing the flat zone, JBC shows good recognition and zone coverage skills.
JBC quickly diagnoses that the wide receiver is running vertical, so he passes off the WR (presumably, the off-screen safety is there over the top to pick him up) and turns his attention to the backfield to scan for other threats entering his area. On the pass-off, you like that JBC gets hands-on to slow up the WR and squeeze him toward the sideline, helping to deter the QB from targeting him.
When he turns his head into the backfield, JBC recognizes the RB leaking into his zone, and he immediately turns his attention to covering the RB. JBC squats on top of the RB’s route, eliminating him as an option and forcing the QB to throw the ball away.
Great run support from JBC, and it stems from outstanding recognition both pre- and post-snap.
First of all, JBC read his keys amazingly well. Given how he instantly fires toward the line with no hesitation, you can tell that he knows this is an RPO with no threat of a pass coming to his side, allowing him to play the run aggressively. So, his quick recognition is the first part of how he makes this play.
Post-snap, JBC shows impressive recognition once again by reading the block of the WR. He recognizes that the WR is attempting to crack block him (pin him inside), which signals that the run is probably going outside. Noticing this, JBC gears down and shoves the WR toward the inside, freeing himself up to get outside. Pushing off the WR, JBC explodes outside and beats the RB to the edge, bringing him down for the TFL.
One aspect of JBC’s profile that stood out throughout Saturday’s game was his length. At 6-foot-1 with 32.25-inch arms (78th percentile among CB), he has an ideal build to be disruptive at the catch point, and we see it on this play.
JBC is step-for-step with the receiver on this vertical route. A few yards ahead of the goal line, he turns his head back to look for the ball, and while doing so, he realizes that the throw is too high and too far for him to make a play on it. At this moment, many corners would lose the receiver by keeping their eyes glued to the ball. But JBC, knowing he can’t get to the ball, changes his focus to playing the receiver.
He turns his head back to his man and plays through the hands (shooting his right hand in between the WR’s hands), making it difficult for the WR to track and secure the ball. The pass is catchable, but JBC’s tight coverage and ideal hand placement contribute to forcing the incompletion.
You also like how JBC didn’t panic in this situation and grab the WR. He stayed poised, remaining focused on playing through the hands and making the catch as difficult as possible without committing a penalty.
Even if this were caught, JBC had the WR tight against the sideline and likely would have knocked him out of bounds before he could get two feet in. Awesome stuff all-around.
A key step forward for one of the Jets’ most unknown young prospects
One impressive preseason game does not guarantee you will be a star. The takeaway from Bernard-Converse’s performance is not that the Jets might have themselves a future All-Pro.
What matters is that Bernard-Converse needed a performance like this to put himself on the map. Before Saturday, he had played four career defensive snaps in live games as a professional – including both the preseason and the regular season. He had not even played in a joint practice before last Thursday.
JBC was the Jets’ bogeyman. Yes, the team sees him in practice every day, but they had essentially zero knowledge of what he looks like in an actual NFL game. Now, they have some real film on him to evaluate, and boy, is that film good.
I was impressed with Bernard-Converse’s length, recognition, and aggressive tackling in this game. Moving him back to corner seems like a smart move so far. If he can stack performances like this one, he should have a strong chance of not only making the Jets’ roster, but potentially positioning himself as a candidate to compete for a starting spot in 2025 (with D.J. Reed’s future up in the air).
