The New York Jets were back on the practice field Thursday morning, and fans were in attendance. Thanks to a brutal Tuesday morning session, the theme revolved around a potential offensive bounceback.
What fans received, though, was more of the same. New York’s offensive unit struggled throughout the day—despite some small wins—and will head into Friday’s practice having lost the last few days to their defense.
Fortunately, that wasn’t the only takeaway from Florham Park, NJ, on this day. It’s time to break down all the latest things that happened at 1 Jets Drive on Thursday.
Jets’ takeaways from a Thursday practice
Thursday was the third padded practice for New York after an off-day on Wednesday. The day saw plenty of big plays, some massive hits, and some interesting position battle updates.
Justin Fields, first-team offense struggles again
Another day results in another stretch of struggles for New York’s passing offense.
Dropped passes, late reads, and broken plays left the Jets offense stymied for another day of practice. Justin Fields continues to learn the offense at his rate, but was wildly inconsistent.
Some plays saw him step up in the pocket to deliver a timely ball. Other times, Fields would airmail a pass, which was almost intercepted.
Whatever the reason, New York needs a lot better from its starting quarterback.
There is some good news, though: Joe Tippmann and the Jets’ offensive line dominated on the ground and would have created multiple long runs for touchdowns in an actual game setting. This will be a run-first team, so it’s a great sign that the roster is capable of doing what they will need to win.
Brandon Stephens shines
No player stood out more during Thursday’s practice than Brandon Stephens. He won multiple battles against Garrett Wilson and had excellent coverage throughout the day.
More importantly, he wasn’t flagged for any penalties.
Some Jets fans won’t be pleased with Stephens because of his contract, and he’s coming off a very bad season in 2024. If he plays anywhere close to how he has over the last few practices, though, he will be more than worth the $12 million per year that the Jets are paying him.
Underrated victors
There were plenty of underrated players who stood out throughout practice. One of the biggest ones came via former undrafted free agents Leonard Taylor III and Eric Watts.
Taylor recorded multiple sacks during Thursday’s practice and was unblockable at times in team. Watts, meanwhile, had a bone-crushing hit on Breece Hall that forced a fumble on the play. Both players have been steadily rising in production over the last few practices.
Stone Smartt, an underrated free agent pickup by the team this offseason, also had a strong practice and has been more productive than the likes of Jeremy Ruckert at this point.
It will be interesting to see if these standouts can build off that success going into the later portion of the week.
The return of a hero
Could the Jets’ kicker competition already be solved? Nick Folk certainly performed like it was on Thursday morning. The 40-year-old kicker made all six field goal attempts, with two coming from over 50 yards away.
Harrison Mevis went just 4-6 and had both kicks miss off the uprights.
It’s a safe bet to assume that Folk is now the clear front-runner for the job after Thursday’s practice.
Also of note, Austin McNamara, New York’s new punter, has looked incredibly strong to this point and seems to be running away with the job now that he isn’t really competing with anyone anymore.
Injury update
There were two major injury updates from Thursday’s practice. First, running back Braelon Allen did not participate throughout the day with an apparent knee injury. The complete diagnosis is not yet known, but head coach Aaron Glenn didn’t seem concerned when he spoke on Tuesday.
Then there’s Quinnen Williams. According to the organization, the All-Pro tweaked his calf and left practice early.
He did not return and will now be nursing the injury moving forward. There doesn’t appear to be any long-term concern at this time.