The New York Jets will announce their initial 53-man roster later tonight, as the NFL’s roster cutdown deadline is at 6 p.m. EST.

However, the team’s actual 53-man roster going into Week 1 will probably look slightly different. With plenty of depth issues across the back end of their roster, the Jets are likely to add multiple players who were waived or released by other teams.

Here are three players expected to be waived or released who the Jets should consider targeting.

Chargers C Andre James

The Jets need experience within their second-string interior offensive line. Xavier Newman’s five starts in 2023 are the only career regular-season starts from the entire backup unit. Newman struggled in those games and was shaky throughout this year’s preseason.

Andre James, 29, is a veteran center with starting experience who should be available on the free agent market. Currently listed as the Los Angeles Chargers’ third-string center, James is likely to be released today, and since he is a vested veteran, he would become a free agent if released.

James has started 61 of his 106 career games across seven NFL seasons, most of those coming with the Oakland/Las Vegas Raiders from 2019-24. From 2021-24, he started 59 of the Raiders’ 68 games.

James joined the Chargers as a backup last season. This year, he re-signed on a non-guaranteed one-year deal.

Of course, James is no stalwart; otherwise, he wouldn’t have fallen from a starter to a player likely to be released on cutdown day. Still, he has something that none of the Jets’ other backup interior linemen have: experience. That alone makes him a worthy addition to the Jets’ roster.

Cowboys G Trevor Keegan

The Jets lost sixth-round rookie guard Anez Cooper to a shoulder injury in the preseason. It remains unknown how long he will be sidelined.

If Cooper is out for an extended period, the Jets will have lost their only young player with upside on the back end of their offensive line depth chart. That’s a void they can fill to a certain extent with Dallas Cowboys guard Trevor Keegan, who is a candidate to be released in a crowded offensive line room.

A 2024 fifth-round pick of the Philadelphia Eagles, Keegan was waived as part of final roster cuts in 2025 and claimed by the Cowboys. He played in two games before a neck injury ended his season.

This year, Keegan had one of the most impressive preseasons of any offensive lineman in the NFL. His 85.6 overall grade from PFF ranked fourth-best among the 73 guards to play at least 100 snaps. He allowed no sacks, no hits, and one hurry across 84 pass-blocking snaps, while earning an 83.9 run-blocking grade and committing no penalties on 158 total offensive snaps.

Keegan mostly played left guard (126 snaps), but also dabbled at center (32 snaps).

Still only 26 years old, the former fifth-round pick might have the upside to develop into a solid backup. The Jets are hoping Cooper can be that piece for them, but if he misses time, Keegan is worth the flier to fill Cooper’s shoes for the time being.

Giants K Ben Sauls

The Jets have a kicking crisis on their hands—yet again.

New York named Jason Sanders the winner of their kicking competition last week, beating out Cade York, who was released. Immediately after being pronounced the winner, though, Sanders missed an extra point and came up short on a 54-yard attempt in the team’s preseason finale.

This came only a few days after Sanders had a 2-for-5 field goal session in front of the media at practice.

Sanders has a solid career resume, making 84.6% of his field goal attempts across 116 games. However, he missed the entire 2025 season with a hip injury. We don’t know yet whether Sanders will be the same player after that injury, especially given how directly the hip is involved with field goal kicking.

While Sanders was expected to beat out York and did precisely that, reports out of practice have not indicated that Sanders won the battle as much as York lost it. Friday’s preseason finale supported that idea.

If the Jets are even slightly concerned about Sanders’ capabilities coming off the hip injury, they should evaluate him based on what he showed in this year’s practices and preseason games, not his career resume, as his production in those games would be irrelevant compared to his production after a serious injury with lingering implications. Should this be the case, then Sanders is someone the Jets should try to find an upgrade over before the season begins.

Giants kicker Ben Sauls is a fascinating option. Sauls lost the Giants’ kicking competition to Dominic Zvada, an undrafted rookie, but it was a tight battle. Sauls made all three of his field goals and his lone extra point in the preseason. Across two preseasons for the Giants, the 2025 UDFA is 8 for 9 on field goals and 7 for 7 on extra points.

In the 2025 regular season, Sauls kicked in the Giants’ final three games and went 8 for 8 on field goals and 7 for 7 on extra points. That brings him to 16 for 17 on field goals and 14 for 14 on extra points across all of his NFL appearances.

The Jets have been cycling through kickers on a near-annual basis for the past decade. Sauls is a young kicker with the potential to be the long-term answer New York has long searched for.

What makes him particularly appealing is that, compared to the Jets’ current alternative, it’s not as if choosing the young guy is the riskier move. Sauls also has enough in-game consistency to provide comparable reliability to Sanders, who, despite having a much larger sample of regular-season attempts, has seen his stock drop to a low point after a serious injury and ensuing struggles this summer.

New York’s kicking decision may not be settled after all.