Shortly after the darkest day of the year, a beacon of light shines forth.
The day after the MLB All-Star Game is a dark day for sports fans in the United States, indeed, as there is no sporting event from any of the four major American sports. But less than one full week later, on July 22, the New York Jets will report to training camp to re-start the football conversation and buzz.
Sure, the Jets have been on the map in recent weeks. They locked up Sauce Gardner and Garrett Wilson to long-term extensions. They got their last piece of business ironed out by inking second-round pick Mason Taylor to his rookie deal (which is not fully guaranteed, incidentally).
But now is the first time we’ll see the team in pads, playing real football. (Well, as real as football gets before the preseason, or really before Week 1, anyway.)
As usual, there will be countless narratives covered by well-intentioned but often misleading reporters on the sidelines of camp. Here are the most interesting storylines for Jets fans to follow, as well as one to give no credence whatsoever.
Camp battles
Amongst the noise of training camp, how the Jets split reps at various positions might be the most revealing nugget to watch out for. There are various camp battles to keep an eye on — some very obvious, some less so.
Defensive tackle
Many Jets fans might assume that Derrick Nnadi will be the second starting defensive tackle next to Quinnen Williams. That is the most natural conclusion considering that Nnadi is the only other player on the depth chart who has any starting experience.
However, Jets X-Factor’s Joe Blewett pointed out that Byron Cowart held up surprisingly well at one-technique (over the center’s shoulder) in limited reps for the Bears. Michael Nania noted that Cowart is a far more effective pass rusher than Nnadi, who is essentially the worst pass rusher at the position in the entire league.
Nnadi got slightly more guaranteed money than Cowart (although both have minuscule contracts), which would indicate that he will get the first shot at starting. But it’s possible that Cowart will get a lot more play than Jets fans think.
Jets X-Factor beat reporters Robby Sabo and Nick Faria will be covering training camp live, so fans can ask them regularly about this battle. It won’t be easy to identify who is playing better, but whoever gets more reps next to Williams will likely be the starter heading into the season.
TE2
The conventional wisdom seems to be that Mason Taylor and Jeremy Ruckert will be the Jets’ two starting tight ends. Most believe Taylor will be the outright starter from the get-go.
But what if a completely unheralded and almost totally forgotten player will emerge in the tight end conversation? Blewett exhorted Jets fans to keep a close eye on Darren Mougey’s first signing as the Jets’ general manager: fullback Andrew Beck.
While Beck is listed as a fullback, he played tight end at times for both Houston and Denver (and, in fact, he has been listed as a tight end at other points in his career). The Jets could use Beck as their fullback in 21 personnel and their second tight end in 12 personnel.
Beck is a rock-solid blocker from both positions and also has some upside as a receiver. The Jets would be wise to let him at least compete with Ruckert for snaps at tight end. It will be interesting to see if they do so.
Kicker and punter
Who cares?
Well, anyone who watched how the kicking game demolished the Jets in 2024. And, on the down low, the punting game detrimentally affected them quite a bit, too.
At kicker, the clear favorite in the room is the “Thiccer Kicker,” Harrison Mevis. He was the UFL’s best kicker in 2024 and an excellent college kicker before that. Undrafted rookie Caden Davis, who made fewer than 77% of his field goals in college, is a longshot.
Meanwhile, the Jets have two punters on their roster who excelled in college, Kai Kroeger and Austin McNamara. Kroeger’s biggest flaw is a lack of hangtime, while McNamara’s strong college resumé was not enough for the Cincinnati Bengals to keep him in 2024 or for any other team to sign him after his release.
Ideally, the Jets will have at least one candidate at both positions who has an excellent camp.
Safety
Presumably, the Jets’ two starters at safety will be free-agent signee Andre Cisco and incumbent re-signed restricted free agent Tony Adams. Cisco is coming off a down year but had been an effective free safety in coverage with a penchant for takeaways the prior two seasons. Despite an unceremonious benching possibly prompted by the owner in 2024, Adams has been mostly okay as a starting safety for the Jets.
However, the Jets also have fourth-round pick Malachi Moore, who was a captain in college and is considered somewhat of a jack-of-all-trades. Moore’s severe lack of athleticism likely precludes him from ever playing free safety, but he has an intriguing skill set in the box. There is a pre-Jets Chuck Clark element to his game (and even though that might scare some Jets fans, consider Clark’s rock-solid production with the Ravens before he tore his ACL with the Jets).
That means Moore might push Adams at strong safety sooner rather than later. I still believe Adams is the more useful player because of his coverage ability in the slot as a former cornerback. But Adams also misses far more tackles than Moore and struggles with angles in the run game.
Will the Jets give Moore an opportunity to take first-team reps? They certainly aren’t committed to Adams financially, as his right-of-first-refusal tender costs just $3.26 million in 2025. But Moore is also a fourth-round pick, which means he may need to wait his turn at the position.
RB
Aaron Glenn made waves when he stated that the Jets plan to use all three running backs. But how will they use them?
Sabo believes the Jets will use Hall as a chess piece, perhaps moving him around the formation and targeting him as a receiver. He has posited that Braelon Allen may have more carries than Hall in 2025.
Meanwhile, Isaiah Davis gets little recognition from Jets fans, but he was quietly one of the most efficient running backs in the league in 2024 in a very small sample size. Will the Jets use Davis more than fans think?
One thing to keep a close eye on: will Glenn learn from the mistakes of the last regime and finally use Allen consistently in short yardage? At this point, Hall has convincingly proven that he struggles in that area, whereas Allen (11-for-12 in 3rd and 4th-and-1 situations) consistently makes the first tackler miss and will often bail out his blocking in those situations.
LB3
I haven’t heard a single Jets reporter even mention this at all. The Jets have one of the best linebacker tandems in the NFL with Jamien Sherwood and Quincy Williams. But who, exactly, is their third linebacker?
Even though nickel packages have become the most commonly used defensive subpackage to counter offenses’ majority usage of 11 personnel, most 4-3 defenses still play with three linebackers to counter 12 personnel or heavier offensive packages. Sherwood came into the 2024 season as the third linebacker, and C.J. Mosley’s injuries forced Chazz Surratt into the LB3 role.
But now, the only linebackers the Jets have at the position are long-time practice squad member Marcelino McCrary-Ball, 2023 sixth-round pick Zaire Barnes, and rookie fifth-round pick Francisco Mauigoa. They have a handful of former undrafted free agents who have previously been on their practice squad, but there is no indication that any of them are more than camp bodies.
McCrary-Ball appears to have the edge, as he took Williams’ spot at times during OTAs. Barnes is uber-athletic and gave off some Williams vibes coming out of college, but he has been unable to stay healthy and was relegated to special teams even when he made it on the field.
Jets X-Factor’s Connor Long has called for the team to sign former Patriots linebacker Ja’Whaun Bentley because of the complete lack of experience or talent at LB3. But absent another signing, who will take that spot?
WR2
This is perhaps the most highly touted roster battle on the Jets, but to me, it’s the least interesting. Josh Reynolds took the WR2 spot in OTAs, and every single statistical and film measurement possible indicates this is the only move the Jets can make.
Reynolds is better than Allen Lazard in every imaginable area, from receiving to blocking to surehandedness to contested catches to avoiding penalties. Additionally, the last time Lazard played without Aaron Rodgers, the results were unbearably ugly.
However, it’s a battle Jets fans will undoubtedly want to know about, so I included it on this list.
Embattled players
Besides the roster battles, the Jets have several players who have come under fire from the fan base in recent months. Those players will be fighting for their jobs, which means their performance in camp will be under scrutiny.
While it’s difficult to evaluate whether a player is having a “great” camp, you’ll know if a player has a poor training camp. This applies particularly at receiver and cornerback, which are the most visible matchups besides the quarterback. In some ways, they are also the easiest to evaluate, especially in a one-on-one situation.
WRs
Malachi Corley and Arian Smith have a lot to prove in this camp. Corley may be competing for his job this offseason, and he needs to show Aaron Glenn, offensive coordinator Tanner Engstrand, and receivers coach Shawn Jefferson that he can learn the playbook and run his routes the right way.
Meanwhile, Smith has an opportunity to beat Corley outright for the gadget role in the offense due to his vastly superior speed. However, Smith will need to show the coaching staff that he can catch the ball, and he also has a lot of technical work to do.
Unfortunately, Smith will begin camp on the non-football injury (NFI) list with an undisclosed ailment which kept him out of most of OTAs after a hot start. That may already give Corley a leg up. Glenn did not sound optimistic about Corley when he was asked about the former third-round pick during OTAs, though.
CB2
Perhaps the most puzzling Jets signing this offseason was cornerback Brandon Stephens. Inexplicably, Darren Mougey gave Stephens a three-year, $36 million contract with $22.98 million guaranteed. Stephens was one of the worst cornerbacks in the league in 2024 and is already 27 years old.
The Jets are counting on Glenn’s ability to unlock Stephens’ on-ball skills, which are the primary reason for his struggles (specifically due to his approach against vertical routes). He has the size, speed, and physicality necessary to play cornerback at a high level, and his coverage is generally pretty tight. However, he is terrible at playing the ball, routinely resulting in contested catches and last-second separation from receivers.
Fans’ eyes will be on Stephens’ performance in training camp. He will undoubtedly find himself going against Garrett Wilson at times, which will be a difficult test due to Wilson’s suddenness.
Furthermore, fans will watch third-round pick Azareye’h Thomas in relation to Stephens. Thomas had an excellent spring and was considered a major draft steal. His college film screamed first-round pick, but a poor 40-yard dash time tanked his stock. Thomas has the same length and physicality as Stephens, but his track record at playing the ball is vastly superior. He may fit what the Jets are trying to do better than Stephens.
If Stephens struggles and Thomas looks good during camp, expect calls for Thomas to be the Week 1 starter opposite Sauce Gardner.
Tippmann’s snaps
While there is no evidence an actual Joe Tippmann-Josh Myers center competition will materialize, fans have largely forgotten about an issue that persisted throughout the 2024 season: Tippmann’s snap accuracy.
In training camp, there was a stretch where Tippmann’s yips were one of the biggest storylines out of Florham Park. While he settled down a bit in the regular season, he did not completely fix the issue. Aaron Rodgers frequently had to jump or reach out in all sorts of directions to field Tippmann’s snaps. Fans forgot about it because it didn’t result in any botched snaps, but such an issue is playing with fire.
That’s why I believe Mougey and Glenn gave Tippmann the Myers nudge. Snap accuracy is the most fundamental aspect of playing center, and they consider it enough of an issue to push Tippmann about it.
Don’t forget about this issue. It’s still present for the third consecutive training camp.
Justin Fields: staying in structure and target hierarchy
The most important facets of Justin Fields’ game will be to see if he can stay within the structure of the play, read the concept out properly, and execute the correct throw accurately.
Everyone knows Fields is an elite rusher. Considering how strongly the Jets pursued him, they clearly plan to build their offense around his rushing ability. Therefore, his highlights as a rusher matter very little, particularly in a no-tackle environment.
However, hearing that Fields ran backwards on a play, or held the ball too long and would have been sacked, or escaped a clean pocket, or dumped the ball off when a throw was available should be red flags for fans.
Furthermore, because of the uncertainty in the Jets’ receiving game, it’s important to note how he fares when he targets anyone other than Garrett Wilson.
What to ignore: Fields “wow” throws to Wilson
Much has been made of the renewed Fields-Wilson connection after their original two-year stint together at Ohio State. However, given Fields’ history, that is by far the least important thing he will do this offseason.
In each of his four professional seasons, Fields has had significant success throwing to his No. 1 receiver. That was most prominent in 2023 with D.J. Moore, with whom he shared the most efficient and explosive connection in the entire NFL that season. However, Darnell Mooney also had strong numbers with Fields, as did George Pickens in 2024. It was when he targeted anyone other than his No. 1 receiver that things went downhill.
As Jets X-Factor’s Michael Nania pointed out, Fields has historically looked like Joe Burrow when targeting his No. 1 receiver and Daniel Jones when targeting anyone else.
Therefore, I think the Fields-Wilson connection will be noteworthy only if it does not go well. If you see clips of Fields and Wilson arguing like Wilson did with Aaron Rodgers in 2024, that should set alarm bells blaring. But absent any significant issues, I think this will draw fans’ eyes in a way it shouldn’t. Everyone else besides Wilson is the far bigger story.
Similarly, it doesn’t make much sense to pay attention to Fields’ highlights as a rusher. We know he’s special in that area. We also know that’s not enough for him to succeed as an NFL quarterback. It’s just not all that relevant in training camp.
Also ignore: Offensive line and edge rusher narratives
I wanted to put Jermaine Johnson and Will McDonald as players to spotlight in training camp. However, there is simply very little to glean from defensive line play during camp. Players highlighted as “wow” performers in camp are often little more than beneficiaries of extended play timing or the practice setting.
Therefore, although Johnson’s overall performance (once he is removed from the PUP list) and McDonald’s run defense are critical storylines for the Jets, I don’t think we’ll learn that much about them until the season starts.
While we can learn about snap counts and situational usage (such as with the Cowart-Nnadi camp battle), there is not so much to glean from actual performance.
Meanwhile, I don’t place too much stock in hearing that any particular offensive lineman is having a “great” camp, for much of the same reasons. I will be somewhat concerned if Olu Fashanu or Armand Membou struggles mightily at the tackle position, a la what came out of Hard Knocks about Max Mitchell and Billy Turner in 2023.
However, the main thing I want to hear from them is not to hear from them much at all.
What I would love to hear but probably won’t
Without tooting our own horn too much, this one will be acknowledged by any Jets fan who has followed training camp narratives for the last five years: Robby Sabo is the best reporter to follow on X during camp. He provides the most accurate, meaningful, and interesting reporting and commentary on the proceedings.
However, given the gag order the Jets essentially place on all reporters (and rightly so; the tightening of restrictions during OTAs and minicamp was a welcome change), Sabo can never give details about formations or scheme.
With a new coaching staff, this would be the most interesting thing to hear from camp. How is Tanner Engstrand scheming the offense? Is he doing a good job making Fields’ reads clear and taking away extensive thinking from the position, as Sabo has stated the Jets will do from the minute they signed Fields? Are the Jets playing more man or zone defensively, and are they blitzing as much as we suspect they will? If so, who is blitzing the most? Are they disguising their coverages or playing more vanilla?
Obviously, a lot of this won’t be all that visible in camp, as teams don’t show their hand completely. But the tenor of the team on both sides will be notable—and we probably won’t know enough about it until the Jets take the field in Week 1 against the Steelers.