The New York Jets’ first training camp “battle” came to an end last week.
It was the long snapper competition between the team’s longest-tenured player, 32-year-old Thomas Hennessy, and rookie undrafted free agent Garrison Grimes.
Hennessy secured the job as the team waived Grimes last week.
While addressing the media on Friday, New York’s special teams coordinator, Chris Banjo, spoke about why the team elected to roll with the veteran instead of the rookie.
“Just his consistency; his consistency, his decisiveness,” said Banjo. “He’s almost like a pacifier for everybody else around him in regards to how consistent and how trustworthy he is in his job assignment, and he does a great job with that. His knowledge of the game, right? He’s almost made my job much easier in regard to getting ahead of how he sees things, so it’s easier for me to communicate with him and communicate with the guys around him.”
Grimes was viewed as a potential threat to snatch the role that Hennessy has held down for nearly a decade. The BYU product logged a perfect 10.0 Relative Athletic Score (RAS), the best mark among long snapper prospects in league history.
As for Hennessy, the 32-year-old has been the definition of reliability since signing with the team in 2017. Since then, he’s played in all of Gang Green’s 149 matchups while collecting 29 total tackles over that span.
In seven of his last eight seasons with the Jets, he posted a 70.0 or higher special teams grade from Pro Football Focus, which is a pretty impressive feat. His 70.5 mark from 2025 finished ninth among qualified long snappers.
Overall, Hennessy’s consistency made him hard to replace.
