The New York Jets made two moves at the cornerback position ahead of Tuesday’s NFL trade deadline.

One of them was a ho-hum move that received little media coverage. It involved the shipping of a two-time All-Pro cornerback to the AFC’s No. 1 seed for two first-rounders and a player recently picked in the second round.

No biggie.

It’s the Jets’ other cornerback move that set the New York media ablaze: the acquisition of Ja’Sir Taylor from the Los Angeles Chargers.

Jokes aside, the Jets quietly executed a second move at the cornerback position a few hours after the tectonic plate-shifting Sauce Gardner deal. It wasn’t announced until after the deadline passed, which expanded the degree to which it was overshadowed.

New York sent a conditional 2028 seventh-round pick to Los Angeles for Taylor, a 2022 sixth-round pick who has appeared in 57 of the Chargers’ 60 games since he was drafted. The conditions are yet to be announced.

The Gardner trade left New York with only four cornerbacks on their active roster: Brandon Stephens, Azareye’h Thomas, Jarvis Brownlee, and Qwan’tez Stiggers. Thomas will step into the starting spot vacated by Gardner, but Taylor will assume the fifth cornerback spot that opened up.

Who is Taylor, and what type of impact can he make for the Jets?

Get to know Jets CB Ja’Sir Taylor

The trade represents a homecoming for Taylor, who was born one hour south of MetLife Stadium in Asbury Park, N.J. He starred at nearby Brick Township High School, where he was ranked as a three-star recruit and committed to Wake Forest.

After a five-year run at Wake Forest, Los Angeles chose Taylor with a sixth-round pick (214th overall) in the 2022 draft.

Taylor was undersized, standing at 5-foot-11 and 188 pounds with short arms (30⅞ inches), but he offered an impressive athletic profile. Taylor posted a Relative Athletic Score of 8.29 (out of a maximum 10), highlighted by a 4.47 forty time, 1.54 ten-yard split, 125-inch broad jump, and 6.84 three-cone.

Across four years in Los Angeles, Taylor carved out a consistent role for the Chargers as a backup slot corner and core special teamer. In 57 games (missing only three games, each due to injury), he played 1,061 snaps on defense and 872 snaps on special teams.

Playing 79% of his defensive snaps in the slot, Taylor offered decent coverage production for a backup slot corner. He coughed up five touchdowns to one interception, but he excelled at playing the ball, racking up an impressive total of 14 passes defended.

Overall, Taylor allowed 60 catches on 92 targets for 785 yards. Coming across 729 coverage snaps, that’s 1.08 yards per cover snap, which is below-average but respectable; the 2025 league-average for cornerbacks is 1.00.

His six penalties on 1,061 snaps are also a relatively low number for a cornerback; that’s one penalty every 176.8 snaps, whereas the league-average cornerback in 2025 commits one penalty every 128.6 snaps.

Taylor’s primary issue was his tackling. He missed a whopping 15 tackles on defense, giving him a brutal missed tackle rate of 19.2% (2025 CB average: 13.3%). This issue hurt him in both the run and pass games.

The same issue has bitten Taylor on special teams, where he’s made 16 career tackles but missed 10. Taylor has also committed six penalties on special teams.

The Chargers’ special teams unit has been abysmal this year, ranking 29th in FTN’s special teams DVOA and 32nd in PFF’s special teams grade. Taylor is second on the unit in snaps.

That doesn’t mean Taylor is entirely responsible for the unit’s woes, but he has certainly played a large part in it. Taylor has committed a holding penalty, missed two tackles, and also fell down to allow this punt return touchdown against the Titans last week.

Takeaways

It’s hard to poke any holes in this pickup for the Jets. Not only is the cost minimal—a seventh-round pick that would not convey for another three years—but the Jets won’t even be on the hook for it unless Taylor meets certain conditions (which have yet to be reported). If Taylor struggles, the Jets won’t lose anything.

This is a zero-risk swing that Taylor can solidify himself as a useful backup slot cornerback who also contributes on special teams.

Taylor’s overall production in coverage suggests that he might be able to assert himself in that role over the next nine games. He’s racked up pass deflections at a high rate, prevented yardage at an acceptable rate for a backup, and is solid at minimizing penalties.

However, Taylor must clean up his tackling if he wants to stick around. The Jets have emphasized strengthening their tackling under the Aaron Glenn-Darren Mougey regime. Glenn introduced live tackling drills in training camp, while Mougey went out and made an in-season trade for the physical Jarvis Brownlee to shore up the Jets’ tackling in the secondary.

If Taylor continues to struggle as a tackler, the Jets aren’t going to want him playing any snaps defensively, even as a backup.

The same applies on special teams. New York has set a high standard on special teams this year; the Jets currently rank third-best in special teams DVOA and fifth-best in PFF’s special teams grade. The unit is physical, but also finishes tackles efficiently. A reckless tackler won’t fit in.

Going into Week 10, Taylor slots into the Jets’ depth chart as the backup slot corner behind Jarvis Brownlee. There will also be available snaps for him to fill on special teams, since Azareye’h Thomas, who ranks eighth on the team with 93 special teams snaps, will likely vacate his role as he steps into Sauce Gardner’s starting cornerback spot.

Over the next nine games, Taylor’s goal is to stake his claim as a backup slot corner and core special teamer. If he impresses, the Jets will gladly keep him around into 2026 for the price of a measly 2028 seventh-round pick. If he flops, the Jets don’t lose anything.

It’s a no-risk deal. These are the types of experiments that 1-7 teams should be taking on.

Darren Mougey continues to show a savvy feel for the trade market. His hauls for Gardner and Quinnen Williams will be best remembered in the long run, but Mougey has been particularly adept when it comes to cleverly using late-round picks (via pick swaps or conditional picks) to take low-risk swings on players who have already shown promising signs in the NFL.