Arguably, the star of Friday night’s preseason opener for the New York Jets was undrafted cornerback Mory Bamba.
Bamba, 25, was flying around the field all night. He finished the game with a stellar 86.0 defensive grade from Pro Football Focus, the second-best on the team, while tallying four pass deflections and allowing just a 57.9 passer rating on the 10 throws in his direction.
While the Jets’ secondary is already very crowded and competitive for snaps, there is certainly a world where the UDFA out of BYU sticks around and cracks the squad’s 53-man roster.
Why Bamba could make the 53-man roster
Yes, it is just game one of the preseason, and he was playing against backups; however, Bamba is such a fascinating player.
Aside from his Friday night performance, which caught everyone’s eye, his overall athletic profile is very impressive.
Standing at 6-foot-2 and 193 pounds, he reportedly ran a 4.27-second 40-yard dash at BYU’s pro day, which would have been the best among cornerbacks at this year’s NFL Scouting Combine.
To boot, it would have been tied for the fourth-best in combine history among CBs.
Overall, he posted a highly impressive 9.53 RAS (Relative Athletic Score) that also featured an 11-foot-1 broad jump, which would have also led all CBs at the combine.
Similar to UDFA wide receiver Malik McClain, Bamba has all the athletic tools, but his production wasn’t good enough throughout his NCAA career to warrant a draft selection.
He also took a highly unique path to the league. While he turns 26 in November, he has only played four years of college football.
As a teenage track star, he began his collegiate athletics career as a track athlete at Wisconsin-Oshkosh before transferring to ASA College. He then landed at BYU in 2022 after last playing football in 2019 as a high schooler, which was also his first year playing cornerback.
In four seasons as a BYU Cougar, he played in 36 games but never earned more than a rotational role, starting only two games in 2025.
The biggest gripe regarding his game was his ball skills. Throughout his 36 games at BYU, he didn’t record an interception, which is rather surprising given his strong play on the ball to begin the preseason.
He also played well on special teams against Tampa Bay, earning a 77.5 PFF grade in that phase, which led the team. Bamba made an impressive tackle in punt coverage to hold the returner to no gain.
With two encouraging performances to close out the preseason, there is no reason Bamba can’t leapfrog someone like Qwan’tez Stiggers to make New York’s 53-man roster.
Stiggers is entering his third season in the league and has yet to prove that he is anything more than a special teamer. He has certainly provided a nice boost on special teams, where the Jets had a historic year last season, but he has yet to prove that he can be trusted in the secondary.
During the 2025 regular season, Stiggers earned a 47.1 PFF coverage grade, ranking 119th out of 127 qualified cornerbacks (min. 200 snaps), largely because he committed four penalties despite playing just 247 defensive snaps.
In what area does Stiggers provide more intrigue than Bamba? The latter offers a far more intriguing athletic profile, and he has the potential to perform just as well, if not better, on special teams, with the hope that he develops into a rotational piece in the cornerback room.
Why not try something new? As a fifth-round pick, Stiggers’ special teams contributions were worth it for two years, but his ceiling just isn’t there on defense, and if Bamba maintains this level of play, the Jets should not let someone like him walk out the door because of Stiggers.
Bamba also fits the mold of what Aaron Glenn looks for in his cornerbacks: long, physical, and athletic. Bamba checks all three of those boxes, while his height makes him a candidate to develop nicely in man coverage.
Friday night was just the start of the preseason, but Bamba has officially made this a roster battle worth watching. With two more performances like that, the Jets might have a decision on their hands.
