The New York Jets’ waiver claims are in.
According to NFL insider Tom Pelissero, the Jets have claimed kicker Blake Grupe off waivers from the Indianapolis Colts and linebacker Trevin Wallace from the Carolina Panthers.
After Jason Sanders’ shaky preseason finale, the Jets have added Grupe. He recently lost the Colts’ kicking competition in the preseason to Spencer Schrader.
Throughout the preseason, Grupe nailed both of his extra point attempts but went two of four on field goal tries. He missed a 36-yard attempt, along with a 61-yard attempt.
In his three-year NFL career, Grupe has played in 50 games, converting 86 of 105 field-goal attempts (81.9%) and 96 of 98 extra-point attempts (98%). He owns a career-long of 60 yards and hit seven 50+ yard field goals in 2025, the ninth-most among kickers, although he missed five attempts from under 50 yards.
The addition of Grupe shows that the Jets were not satisfied with Sanders. At the very least, Grupe is a backup plan. It remains unknown who the Jets’ Week 1 kicker will be as of now.
Wallace was a third-round pick by the Carolina Panthers in 2024 out of Kentucky. In 25 career games (20 starts), Wallace has generated 125 total tackles (72 solo, 7.0 for loss) along with 3.0 sacks, four pass deflections, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery.
As we broke down, linebacker is a spot that the Jets needed to address following the initial 53-man roster release, especially after the season-ending injury to Mykal Walker.
Wallace has a chance to play a key role in the team’s LB room. Behind Jamien Sherwood and Demario Davis, Kiko Mauigoa and Marcelino McCrary-Ball are the two backups.
Mauigoa, a fifth-round pick from 2025, is largely unproven, while McCrary-Ball has shown that he is a strong special-teamer but has limitations defensively. Given that, the road to LB3 is wide open for Wallace to run away with.
With the claims of Grupe and Wallace, the Jets addressed two areas of uncertainty.
