While most rookies across the league made their NFL debuts last weekend, second-round New York Jets cornerback D’Angelo Ponds will be taking the field for the first time on Sunday against the Green Bay Packers.

After a calf injury during one of the team’s first training camp practices wiped out the entirety of his summer and a week of the regular season, Ponds is geared up and ready to go.

While it’s good news for the team that one of their most valuable rookies is healthy, there are some questions regarding his immediate role, especially after the Week 1 success from New York’s CBs.

Where does Ponds fit in?

Missing the entire summer is always a tough blow for rookies. Not only do they miss the opportunity to make a statement in the preseason, but they also miss time to acclimate and learn the playbook.

Given that, it’s unrealistic to anticipate that Ponds is going to play a significant amount of snaps right away. More importantly, the Jets don’t have an obvious gaping hole at CB after a strong Week 1 showing against the Tennessee Titans.

In the slot, where Ponds was the team’s projected starter to begin the season, Jarvis Brownlee Jr. had an excellent season-opening performance. According to Pro Football Focus, Brownlee earned an 82.0 coverage grade, the best mark among New York’s CBs in Week 1. His overall grade of 82.4 also ranked fifth among all cornerbacks.

Brownlee allowed just two receptions for eight yards across four targets despite spending much of the game lined up against Wan’Dale Robinson, who led the NFL in slot receiving yards last season.

Boundary CB Brandon Stephens also played well, allowing just one reception for 12 yards on four targets. Tennessee finished the game without completing a single pass of 15+ yards, signaling a strong showing by the secondary.

All of that is to say that Ponds isn’t going to have a clear-cut path to a starting role right away based on last week’s performance.

However, the groin injury to Minkah Fitzpatrick could create some opportunities for the rookie in his debut.

Dane Belton, as expected, will take on Fitzpatrick’s workload at safety, but Glenn could find a way to use Ponds in certain sub-packages to add another DB on the field. Also, instead of having to use Belton as a Swiss-army knife, they can allow him to play safety and sprinkle some slot CB snaps over to the rookie.

Ponds’ usage could also depend on the flow of the game. The strength of the Packers’ receiving core is evident, and if they try to spread things out and challenge Gang Green’s secondary, he could find himself out there a fair amount.

At the end of the day, Ponds is going to be an important piece for the secondary throughout the season, and it’s good to see that he is healthy when he will most likely be needed most—the next few weeks without Fitzpatrick.

However, he doesn’t need to become an immediate starter to make his presence felt, especially against Green Bay. How Glenn deploys him will be very intriguing to monitor throughout the game.