3 NY Jets players who could be buried in Frank Reich’s scheme

We recently broke down three New York Jets players who could benefit from the offensive scheme of new coordinator Frank Reich.

Flipping to the other side of the coin, here are three Jets players who could be buried in Reich’s scheme, based on his career tendencies.

WR Adonai Mitchell

Reich prioritizes in-breaking routes in the short-to-intermediate part of the field. Across Reich’s three most recent seasons as a head coach (2021-23), the two route types that his teams targeted the most frequently relative to the NFL average were the dig route (+2.2%) and the drag route (+1.4%).

The emphasis on dig and drag routes comes at the cost of vertical shots. From 2021-23, the two route types that Reich’s teams targeted the least frequently relative to the NFL average were the go route (-1.4%) and the post route (-2.0%).

Here is a complete look at the target distribution of Reich’s teams from 2021-23.

This is not the type of chart that young deep threat Adonai Mitchell wants to see.

Mitchell’s greatest strength is threatening defenses vertically. With his precise route pacing and elite top-end speed, he excels at creating separation on go and post routes (and variations such as the out-and-up). His half-season stint with the Jets was littered with reps in which he opened himself up for a massive gain but received a poor pass.

The same thing happened to him frequently in Indianapolis.

Entering his third NFL season, Mitchell is desperate for a situation that allows him to fully unleash his true potential. The former second-round pick is not without his flaws, but it is mind-boggling how often he has been hung out to dry by poor quarterbacking in his short career.

Now, Mitchell may have to play in a scheme that devalues what he does best: taking the top of the defense.

It is another obstacle for a young player whose underwhelming box-score production belies the potential he has truly displayed.

TE Jeremy Ruckert

The fourth-year tight end handled a significant role for the Jets’ offense in 2025. He started 15 of his 17 games and played 47% of the team’s offensive snaps.

Ruckert showed enough progress as a blocker to earn a two-year, $10 million contract extension. However, he may have a smaller role in Reich’s offense.

In all six of his seasons as a head coach, Reich’s team used 11 personnel (1 RB/1 TE/3 WR) at a rate above the league average. His average rate across those six seasons was 72%, and he never went lower than 62% (for perspective, the 2025 league average was 56%).

If this holds, the Jets will run fewer multi-tight-end packages, likely indicating that Ruckert will see fewer snaps.

It is worth noting that the Jets already used 11 personnel at a high rate in 2025, ranking third at 67.1%, and Ruckert still managed to play 47% of the snaps. He was out there for nearly all multi-TE packages and occasionally took snaps from TE1 Mason Taylor in 11 personnel, particularly if it was a running situation.

However, Reich’s 11 personnel usage reached exorbitant heights over his two most recent NFL seasons. The 2022 Colts used it 77% of the time, and the 2023 Panthers used it 87.4% of the time.

If Reich sticks with a number in the 77-87% range, it would represent a significant increase over the Jets’ 67.1% usage rate of 11 personnel under Tanner Engstrand, which was already top-three in the NFL. This type of increase would certainly cause Ruckert to play fewer snaps.

FB Andrew Beck

Sticking with the topic of Reich’s personnel tendencies, one thing that is clear from his head coaching career is that he does not care for fullbacks.

Across six seasons as a head coach, Reich never had a season in which he exceeded the league-average usage rate for either 21 personnel (2 RB/1 TE/2 WR) or 22 personnel (2 RB/2 TE/1 WR). These are the two most common packages where you would see a fullback on the field (the fullback is considered a running back for the sake of labeling personnel packages).

On average, Reich’s teams have used 21 personnel at a 3% rate, half of the 2025 league average (6%), while they’ve used 22 personnel just 0.5% of the time, well below the 2025 league average (3%).

Not only has Reich rarely run multi-back packages, but when he did, it was with two true running backs. His teams never even rostered a fullback across six seasons as a head coach.

This could mean Andrew Beck will no longer be a part of the offense.

Beck, a former tight end who converted to fullback, played 11% of the Jets’ offensive snaps in 17 games. He logged 110 total offensive snaps, an average of 6.5 per game. On top of providing solid blocking, Beck caught two touchdowns.

Barring a drastic change in Reich’s ways, Beck will not have a role on offense in 2026. In that case, the Jets must decide whether his special teams value is worth a roster spot.

Outside of the specialists (K/P/returners), Beck was arguably the most important member of the Jets’ elite special teams unit in 2025. He was a fantastic blocker for the return units and contributed eight tackles in coverage.

Beck is an impending free agent. If Reich does not plan on giving him any offensive snaps, the Jets will have a roster-management dilemma on their hands. Is a pure specialist with no offensive or defensive value worth keeping, even if his special teams play is excellent?