The New York Jets will head west to play their second of three preseason games on Friday night against the Pittsburgh Steelers (7 p.m. EST).

While this isn’t a big night for the organization as a whole, it will certainly be a big night for plenty of individuals within the organization. Starting spots, backup roles, roster spots, and even careers are on the line.

Here are three Jets players in need of a bounce-back performance after struggling in the team’s preseason opener.

C Xavier Newman

As things stand, Xavier Newman is slated to be the Jets’ backup center. He took the second-team snaps behind starter Josh Myers in the opener.

That was already a major concern going into the preseason, given that Newman has only started five NFL games and struggled mightily in those. After Newman’s performance against the Bucs, that concern has intensified.

Across 12 pass-blocking snaps against Tampa Bay’s second and third-string defenders, Newman was bullied, earning a 33.3 pass-blocking grade from Pro Football Focus. It’s the fourth-worst pass-blocking grade in the NFL this preseason among centers with at least 10 pass-blocking snaps.

Most alarmingly, this aligns almost perfectly with Newman’s regular-season production, where he has a career pass-blocking grade of 32.8.

The silver lining for New York is that the dominant preseason-opening performance of sixth-round rookie guard Anez Cooper could open up a path for the Jets to avoid counting on Newman as the next man up if Myers goes down. If Cooper builds on that performance and New York’s coaches trust him to be the primary backup on the interior, the Jets could opt to insert Cooper at right guard and slide Joe Tippmann to center in the event of a Myers injury, rather than inserting Newman at center.

Newman has the inside track to a backup center job in the NFL, which is a prime position in the grand scheme of the football world. Only 64 guys get to be a starting or backup NFL center. Newman would be one injury away from getting a chance to prove his worth as a starter and earn some big-time long-term money. For that reason, it’s crucial that he bounces back on Friday night to tighten his grip on the role.

If Newman continues struggling, not only may he be downgraded to essentially the third center spot (behind Tippmann, provided that Cooper continues to excel), but the Jets may feel compelled to look for outside help at the backup center spot, potentially costing Newman his roster spot.

QB Bailey Zappe

Fourth-round rookie Cade Klubnik has had the inside track to the Jets’ backup quarterback job since he was drafted. He has a natural advantage over his competitor, Bailey Zappe, due to the front office’s investment in him, his youth and upside, and the fact that New York would prefer to save a roster spot by keeping him as the backup rather than stashing him as a third quarterback.

So far in training camp, the Jets have given Klubnik every opportunity to earn the backup job, as he’s taken most of the second-team reps. The preseason is slated to be the big test, and in Week 1, Klubnik passed it, creating even more separation from Zappe.

Called upon last-minute as the starter in place of Geno Smith, Klubnik looked comfortable with the first-team offense, completing 5 of 7 passes for 56 yards as he led the Jets to points on both of his drives.

Zappe, meanwhile, was a trainwreck with the second-team offense, completing 6 of 10 passes for 55 yards, no touchdowns, and two interceptions, one of those being a pick-six. To be fair, one of the interceptions was a drop by Arian Smith, but Zappe still struggled overall.

At this point, Klubnik is the heavy favorite to win the Jets’ backup quarterback job. Unless Klubnik looks completely lost over the next two games and Zappe thrives, the Jets would not have much incentive to choose Zappe, who has thrown more interceptions (14) than touchdowns (12) in the regular season, over Klubnik, given the roster-construction factor.

Zappe may be on his last leg in the NFL. He spent the back half of the 2025 season on the practice squad of the Cleveland Browns, who had the worst quarterback situation in football, and he is currently the third-stringer for a Jets team that also has one of the weakest quarterback rooms in the league. He has not finished a regular season start with more touchdowns than interceptions since 2023, and is in the midst of getting beat out by a fourth-round rookie from a weak quarterback class.

If Zappe does not show something over the next two weeks, his NFL career will be on the ropes.

DT Darrell Jackson Jr.

Fourth-round rookie defensive tackle Darrell Jackson Jr. will enjoy the luxury of being surrounded by plenty of accomplished veterans in the Jets’ defensive line room. From Harrison Phillips to David Onyemata to T’Vondre Sweat, Jackson Jr. is in a fantastic place to soak up knowledge and develop his game.

The downside of this situation is that Jackson will be hard-pressed to find snaps. Phillips, Onyemata, Sweat, and Jowon Briggs are all ahead of him on New York’s interior defensive line depth chart.

New York won’t be itching to carve out snaps for Jackson if he continues playing as he did in the preseason opener. Coming in with the backup defense, Jackson played 28 defensive snaps and struggled. He finished with just one tackle while failing to record any pressures on 18 pass-rush snaps. He was also pushed around at times in the run game, causing him to post a 31.8 run defense grade at PFF, the worst among Jets defenders.

The Jets need to see more flashes of potential from their fourth-round pick. From Jackson’s perspective, he needs to give the coaching staff a reason to squeeze him in for some playing time over reliable veterans.