Andrew Beck was one of the New York Jets’ best players in 2025.

Yes, you read that correctly.

Despite that, his roster spot for the 2026 season is far from locked up.

Andrew Beck’s 2025 campaign

For a team that won only three games, the fullback/special teamer was indeed one of the most positively impactful players on New York’s roster. Beck helped the Jets in a plethora of ways.

Playing a team-high 315 special teams snaps, Beck was a standout in multiple areas for the NFL’s best special teams unit. He threw key blocks on many of the team’s biggest returns, and he also tied for second on the team with eight special teams tackles. Plus, while handling the biggest workload of any special teamer on the roster, he committed zero penalties.

All of that resulted in an 84.1 special teams grade from Pro Football Focus, best on the team among the top 18 players in snaps.

The tight end-turned-fullback contributed on offense, too. Logging 110 snaps across 17 games (11%), Beck caught six of his nine targets for 45 yards and two touchdowns, tying him for the second-most on the team.

More importantly, Beck was valuable as a blocker. In his recent film review of running back Isaiah Davis, Jets X-Factor film analyst Joe Blewett called Beck the Jets’ “best player as a blocker in space right now.”

The Jets deployed Beck all over the formation, including as a fullback, H-back, in-line tight end, and even standing up. His dual-threat experience as a tight end and fullback allows him to be used as a blocker in a multitude of ways.

With all of his positive contributions—blocking for the return team, covering for the punt/kickoff units, pass-catching, and versatile blocking on offense—Beck seems like a player who should be a no-brainer to make any NFL roster.

But that may not be the case for the Jets.

New York’s Beck dilemma

The Jets created a roster predicament when they decided to select Oregon’s Kenyon Sadiq with the 16th overall pick.

With Sadiq in the fray, the Jets essentially have six tight ends and running backs who are already locks to make the roster:

  • TE: Kenyon Sadiq, Mason Taylor, Jeremy Ruckert
  • RB: Breece Hall, Braelon Allen, Isaiah Davis

Add in kick returner Kene Nwangwu, who is listed as a running back, and that would bring the total to seven. Given Nwangwu’s historic success as a kick returner and that the Jets gave him $1 million guaranteed as part of a contract above the league minimum (one year, $2 million), he is probably a lock.

So… where does Beck fit in?

As a player who qualifies as a hybrid fullback/tight end, this is essentially the unit Becks fits into as it pertains to roster construction.

Will the Jets keep a total of eight tight ends and running backs? That could stretch them thin at another position in greater need of depth than these two, which are both among the Jets’ deepest units, with or without Beck.

It would not be shocking if the Jets made this call. In fact, they did it last year. This was the Jets’ initial 53-man roster in 2025:

  • RB: Breece Hall, Braelon Allen, Isaiah Davis, Kene Nwangwu
  • TE: Mason Taylor, Jeremy Ruckert, Stone Smartt
  • FB: Andrew Beck

The only difference was that the Jets had Stone Smartt instead of Sadiq.

However, with the likes of Smartt being swapped for a top-16 draft pick, the Jets have substantially more capital invested in the tight end position than they did last year. This could prompt them to view it as a roster imbalance to keep Beck instead of, say, a backup offensive or defensive lineman.

Considering how valuable Beck is to the team in multiple roles, though, keeping him around would be a necessity if the goal is to retain the best 53 players. A third-string guard or nose tackle won’t help the team on a weekly basis as much as a blocking-scheme chess piece who doubles as a special teams ace.

Keep an eye on Beck’s performance and deployment throughout training camp and the preseason. The Jets may have forced themselves into making a difficult call on one of their most dependable players.