The New York Jets announced six inactives for their Week 2 game against the Green Bay Packers, including a massive surprise.
- RB Kene Nwangwu
- CB D’Angelo Ponds
- S Minkah Fitzpatrick
- K Blake Grupe
- EDGE Joseph Ossai
- LB Trevin Wallace
Despite being taken off the injury report ahead of Sunday’s game, rookie cornerback D’Angelo Ponds is a healthy scratch.
Ponds, the 50th overall choice in this year’s draft, missed all of the preseason and most of training camp with a calf injury he suffered early in camp. That injury kept him out of the team’s Week 1 contest against the Tennessee Titans.
After being limited in practice on Wednesday, Ponds returned to practice in full capacity on Thursday and Friday. He was given no injury designation for today’s game on the final injury report.
Yet, Ponds will sit.
The reasons for Ponds’ absence have yet to be disclosed by the team. It is reasonable to expect, though, that the team did not want to rush the rookie into action after missing so much practice time throughout the past two months.
In Ponds’ place, Jarvis Brownlee Jr. had a standout game as the Jets’ starting slot cornerback in Week 1. Brownlee is expected to get the start once again in Week 2.
It isn’t surprising that Ponds won’t be starting today, but his complete absence is certainly a minor shock. It seemed that New York could ease Ponds in by using him in a subpackage role, or even merely having him present as a backup. He also could have played on special teams.
Instead, Jets fans will have to continue waiting to see the team’s 2026 second-round pick in action.
