Since the beginning of the Darren Mougey-Aaron Glenn era, the New York Jets have emphasized getting younger and building a new core for the future.

In 2025, the Jets allocated 18.6% of their total snaps to rookies, the second-highest rate in the NFL.

That number figures to drop slightly in 2026, as the Jets added plenty of new veteran starters through free agency and the trade market. However, New York should still be near the top after selecting four players in the top 50 of the 2026 NFL draft.

Exactly how much should we expect to see each Jets rookie this season?

Let’s project their roles and snap counts.

EDGE David Bailey

As a second overall pick, David Bailey will undoubtedly play a role for the Jets right away. The question is how big that role is.

The Jets’ defensive line is crowded after a plethora of offseason additions. Joseph Ossai, Kingsley Enagbare, and Will McDonald will all be competing with Bailey for snaps.

Unlike last season, the Jets actually have some competent NFL edge rushers to rely on in their rotation. Ossai and Enagbare do not raise the Jets’ overall ceiling, but they are decent all-around players who can be trusted in most situations. In particular, they might be more trustworthy run defenders than Bailey at this stage of his career, pending his development over the course of the summer.

Where Bailey slots into the Jets’ edge rotation will depend on what he shows the Jets’ coaches as a run defender throughout training camp. If they believe his edge-setting and discipline are at least competent, then his pass-rush ceiling will put him over the top as the Jets’ best all-around edge rusher from Day 1. In that case, he will probably start and play at least 60-65% of the snaps.

But if the Jets have reservations about Bailey’s ability to hold up on the early downs, his role might be a bit smaller to start. That is not to say the Jets would go as far as to play him solely in obvious passing situations, but they could decide to limit his reps until as he develops his all-around game.

The bar for Bailey to clear lies somewhere just below the run-stopping ability of Ossai and Enagbare. Both players are decent-to-solid run defenders, but not world beaters, and they are each no better than average as pass rushers. We know that Bailey has an elite pass-rush ceiling. So, if Bailey can just prove himself to be a decent run defender, the Jets won’t hesitate to make him their most-used edge rusher from Week 1.

I anticipate that happening. Expect Bailey to be heavily featured when the Jets open the season.

Prediction: EDGE1, 65% snap count

TE Kenyon Sadiq

Kenyon Sadiq’s role is difficult to project. While he is listed as a tight end, he will often be lined up in the slot, as was the case at Oregon.

Mason Taylor and Jeremy Ruckert might cut into Sadiq’s reps as an in-line tight end. But Sadiq could take snaps away from the Jets’ slot receivers.

In 2025, Taylor led the Jets’ tight ends with a 81% snap count. I expect Taylor to stay around that mark, as Sadiq shouldn’t eat into his reps too much. Sadiq will either line up in the slot, which wouldn’t impede Taylor, or he will line up in-line with Taylor in 12 personnel; you probably won’t see many packages with Sadiq and Jeremy Ruckert.

Using Taylor’s 62% mark as the benchmark for the Jets’ TE1, let’s put Sadiq around a 60% snap count to start out. As he develops his run blocking and in-line play, Sadiq’s role should be expected to lean toward passing downs, while Ruckert takes on a decent chunk of early-down reps alongside Taylor when the Jets put 12 personnel on the field.

Prediction: Slot-heavy TE2, 60% snap count

WR Omar Cooper Jr.

The Jets’ wide receiver competition is crowded. After Garrett Wilson, you have a bunch of unproven, fast, high-ceiling youngsters competing for snaps and targets.

Adonai Mitchell, Omar Cooper Jr., and Arian Smith are all bursting with speed and offer high ceilings as deep separators. The concern is that Mitchell and Smith have yet to be productive in the NFL, while Cooper is a rookie, so the Jets don’t know what he’ll be ready to offer just yet.

I expect that Mitchell’s experience should give him the nod over Cooper to start out, especially given how impressive Mitchell’s separation has been over the last two seasons, despite his lack of production. After that, though, there isn’t enough competition to prevent Cooper from dropping lower than the WR3 spot. However, Sadiq may eat into Cooper’s reps a bit.

For now, Cooper might be on track to serve as a situational third receiver in his rookie year, but there is plenty of room for him to soar past that if he earns it.

Prediction: WR3, 40% snap count

CB D’Angelo Ponds

While D’Angelo Ponds exclusively played outside in college, the slot is his likeliest home in the NFL, at least to start out. It makes the most sense for his frame, and it also offers him the quickest path to playing time in New York. He’d only have to beat out Jarvis Brownlee Jr., who struggled for the Jets last season.

As a starting slot corner, Ponds should be expected to play around 65-70% of the snaps.

Prediction: Starting slot CB, 65% snap count

DT Darrell Jackson Jr.

The Jets have a lot of mouths to feed on the interior, including T’Vondre Sweat, Jowon Briggs, David Onyemata, and Harrison Phillips.

As a fourth-round rookie, Darrell Jackson Jr. will likely start his career behind all of those veterans on the depth chart. His versatility should buy him some extra reps for certain packages, but we probably won’t see him much barring injuries.

Prediction: DT5, 15% snap count

QB Cade Klubnik

For a fourth-round rookie, Cade Klubnik has an unusually good shot at the Jets’ backup quarterback job, simply because his competitors are so weak. Brady Cook and Bailey Zappe have both thrown more interceptions than touchdowns in the NFL.

Geno Smith is a fairly durable player, starting 64 of 68 possible games over the last four seasons. But he did miss precisely two starts in two of the past four seasons, so if Klubnik wins the QB2 job, there is a good chance we will see him starting multiple games at some point.

Prediction: QB2, 10% snap count

G Anez Cooper

With the Jets’ interior offensive line depth being so thin, Anez Cooper has a unique chance to be New York’s primary backup guard from Day 1 despite being a sixth-round pick.

Dylan Parham and Joe Tippmann have both been durable players in their careers, but neither is invincible. Parham missed two games in each of the past two seasons. Tippmann has only missed one career game.

We may see Cooper at some point, although it seems unlikely.

Prediction: No. 2 backup guard, 1% snap count

S VJ Payne

The Jets have too much safety depth for VJ Payne to sniff any defensive snaps unless injuries run rampant. He will likely sit behind Minkah Fitzpatrick, Dane Belton, Malachi Moore, and Andre Cisco. But he could carve out a role on special teams.

Prediction: Special teamer, 40% snap count