Jets Roster Cuts Analysis | Breaking Down the Initial 53-Man Roster

Justin Fried and Mike Luciano discuss New York Jets roster cuts and break down the initial 53-man roster and 16-player practice squad! Subscribe to The Jet Press for Jets news, videos, interviews, reactions, and year-round coverage. TEXT GROUP LINK: https://joinsubtext.com/c/thejetpress Or text "JETS" to 631-818-2594!

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Video Transcript

Hello and welcome back to the Jet Press podcast.

My name is Justin Fried and I'm joined as always by my good friend Mike Luciano.

Mike , we're here on a Tuesday, partially because we want to get a, uh, not a head start, but we want to talk about waiver claims and roster cuts and all the roster gymnastics that have happened over the last weekend.

We want to talk about that a little earlier and also, I won't be around tomorrow, so that logistically wasn't gonna work.

But how are you doing, my friend?

We are less than 2 weeks away from week 1, which is crazy to say, and, uh, Yeah man, football is back, you know, a week from tomorrow.

It's wild, man.

How you doing?

Well, I, I did get some good chuckles because uh both Brady Cook and Mozzie Smith are employed by the same team again, namely the Miami Dolphins.

Unbelievable.

The fact they're even like, look man, I, I, I, I wish them all the best.

I hope they get more NFL opportunities, but like.

I, I'm, if you asked me a week ago if I can't say that about everybody, like there's a finite number of spots, man.

I don't know.

I wish everyone the best, but if you would ask me a week ago if those guys would be employed by NFL teams at this time, I would not have said they would be.

I, I'm Smith is, I guess, first round pick, so like he's got the C on the practice squad for the Jets.

I don't know.

Yeah, but like, dude, the fact that Brady Cook is on a 53 man roster right now.

In fact, another team said I want him is the yeah.

Unbelievable.

And we'll get into that when we're talking more about these, these position groups as Austrian jet fan wasting no time with 5 gifted memberships.

Thank you so much as always, we thank you, Connor Long, one of the gifted members.

Hey, and, and, uh, another guy who donates a lot of MFU, very much so.

So that's nice.

Uh, before we get into the show, we got a couple of, uh, quick notes to take care, or at least one quick note to take care of.

Uh, the subtext, yes, we always gotta keep promoting it.

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So in actual Puerto Rico there's gotta be one, so.

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Justin's been doing a lot of it.

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All you gotta do is text that to that number, and then you'll get signed up for free.

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It, we're really pushing the, not only the YouTube subscriptions, we want you to subscribe and like and all that cause it's good for promoting the show and getting subscribers.

We've really seen a good growth lately.

We wanna keep that up, but Also, if you have the ability, leave a review on Apple Podcast, 5-star review on Apple Podcast.

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We have a directive from on high to get some Apple Podcast reviews.

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We'll do the other 90%, but you can do that 10% of, of making us look good here.

Mr. Mull and Chat, same different day, same great podcast.

I hope so.

I hope.

I hope so.

I appreciate it.

We'll find out.

Appreciate everybody joining us on the, the abnormal Tuesday stream.

Uh, we will not be streaming tomorrow, of course, but, uh, yeah, I appreciate everybody joining us here.

Now.

Immediately what I'm gonna do is hijack the stream and go in a completely different order of what we originally said we were gonna do.

Oh, all right, fine.

We, we are gonna talk about the 53 man roster, but rather than just going maybe quarterback, running back, receiver in that order, I wanna go jump around a little bit and talk with some about some of the new additions of.

Some importance, uh, particularly I think at linebackers where the Jets made their two biggest additions, uh, the players who I think could actually end up playing a role a little bit this year on the roster outside of the kicker, we'll get to that whole mess later.

The biggest names, I think with the linebacker room.

Now, last week we did our projections and we said that we had these 4 making the roster, Davis, Sherwood, Maigo and McCrary Ball, and we were right on all 4 of them.

But we have two new additions including a 53 man roster edition.

That's right.

We have Trevon Wallace, a former 3rd round pick of the Carolina Panthers, started 12 games last year for a Panthers defense that was much improved and made it to the playoffs.

He was let go.

I don't wanna say surprisingly because it was Panthers fans.

Well, Panthers fans, if you look online, will say, uh, not exactly glowing reviews of Trevon Wallace, and I think that that's.

There's a reason for that.

I think he was overdrafted to begin with.

I think that there are some problems in the run game, but he is only 23 years old.

He has years of starting experience, and he's a guy who I think may, maybe just needs a fresh start, and I think the Jets can give him that fresh start .

And Troy Reader also coming to the linebacker room.

Now, in much the same way, I want to go and get some intel on Troy Reader.

I talked to a John Sabisa who runs Rambling Fan, our Los Angeles Rams site.

And he called him a public enemy number one among Rams fans.

Now, how could a backup in and out of the starting lineup, depth linebacker, be public enemy number one?

It seems to me that they just neglected the position for a very long time, he had to consistently get thrown into a role he wasn't really capable of fulfilling, but he certainly is a good veteran linebacker.

So if Mel Walker probably sidelined for the foreseeable future, the Jets not only keep the four linebackers that we thought they would, but they now have a nice, I would say developmental piece alongside Maigo and Trevon Wallace, a veteran reader who can at least hold down the fort if needed.

This is good linebacker depth.

We still have questions about Jamie Sherwood, but this is now good linebacker depth.

Yes, I feel a lot better about the Jets' linebacker room right now than I did a week ago, and we had both at that point, I believe, discussed that they probably should add a linebacker because I think we had on the original here, if we go back to that, we had 4 linebackers making the team.

We had Mike Walker on the short-term IR.

That's why I put him in yellow there because I figured he would be designated to return.

And in fact, he is not.

He is out for the season, which is a tough break for him because he's someone that I thought played relatively well down the stretch last year in a decrepit Jets defense.

So he was one of the few bright spots, if you want to call him that.

Uh, so they needed, they needed to, to find their Mike Kell Walker replacement.

They needed to address linebacker depth, and they did.

Uh, Troy Reader was the first one that was reported that they had signed to the practice squad.

I was like, OK, this is probably the Mike Walker replacement.

This is a guy who has started plenty of NFL games.

He's played in over 100 games over 7 years.

He started, I think, 38, uh, almost entirely with the Rams.

He had 1 year with the Chargers, and he's been a classic core special teamer in and out of the starting lineup, like fringe starting caliber linebacker who's.

If he's out there as your 3rd linebacker, you could survive it.

If he's anything more than that, you're probably not particularly happy.

Uh, you prefer him as like your 4th or 3rd special teams linebacker.

And I think that what is what he could end up being for the Jets.

I think this could be a similar thing with Michael Walker last year where they signed him to the practice squad, possibly end up elevating him at some point, and then promote him fully at at some point to the 53.

Now.

That could change a little, because the Trevon Wallace edition really bolsters this team's linebacker depth, which, you know, again, I, I was not particularly uh thrilled with the linebacker depth going into roster cut weekend.

They added two names who I think are NFL caliber players, which, you know, maybe it's a low bar, but Wallace is somebody who, like you mentioned, Mike, I think there's some untapped potential with Trevon Wallace.

I don't think this is a dude that they're just bringing in and they're like, yeah, man, this is, you know , this is a special teams guy who's probably never gonna play on defense for us, like, 23 years old, has already started 20.

Career NFL games was a top 75 pick.

What was a green dot wearer for the Panthers' defense last year.

Dude was 22 years old, his second year in the league, and he was trusted to, to be the, the, you know, guy who's relaying plays to the defense.

Like that's a responsibility that bad last year either.

Yeah.

And not only that, he was competing to start this summer.

Like, as of literally a week ago, you could find plenty of articles saying, man, did Trevon Wallace do enough to earn that that linebacker two job?

Then they go out and sign Bobby O'Karake.

And that kind of changed things.

I, I, it was, it was, uh, Wallace competing with, by the way, former Jet Claude and Cherili.

I don't think many people remember him on the Jets, but he was a guy that they had signed.

I forget what school, but I knew it was an HBCU as an undrafted guy a few years ago, and he's actually become a pretty solid player for the Panthers, and I think they claimed him off waivers from the Jets.

Uh, but he was competing with him for a linebacker too, and then they bring in Bobby O'Karay, and I think he's gonna start now opposite Devin Lloyd, and so that made Trevon Wallace a little expendable, but I, I think it was certainly, certainly still a surprise.

Like I was reading some article, I think it was a Sports Illustrated thing that called it quote an absolute shocker.

That Trevin Wallace was let go.

So I, I, I don't think Panthers fans were expecting this one even after the Bobby Bobby O'Carrike edition, uh, but I think there's a lot of untapped potential there.

He's like, boy his RAS is like a 9.9 or something like that.

Dude's a crazy athlete.

Same with Reader, they're both like RAS guys.

Yeah, yep, and Reader's older now.

He's like 31, but he's still a really good athlete.

Wallace, 23 years old, crazy.

athlete, 2020 NFL starts, not and, and, and like 20 NFL starts where he wasn't completely unplayable.

Like, it's not like the dude wasn't benched either of those years, he got hurt.

I believe he's had, uh, he had a shoulder injury that cut his first season short and then he reaggravated that shoulder injury last year.

So, that's something to keep an eye on.

I bet that was part of it.

I think he actually started the summer on the PUP.

So, he's been banged up a little bit too, which hasn't helped, but when you're that kind of an athlete, when you have that level of starting experience at just 23 years old, you've already been trusted as a green dot wearer, so you're clearly somebody that the coaching staff thinks is a high IQ player who they trust, and you, I , I don't, I think what, what kind of hurt him a little bit too is he doesn't have a ton of special teams experience.

So a guy like Charili is a is a core special teamer for Carolina, so I think that hurt him, but.

That's why I'm saying I think there's upside here, like, I, I , I think there's a world where the Jets are probably viewing Trevon Wallace as their third linebacker and somebody that.

They want to get playing time this year, or, you know, they're looking ahead to 2027 and they're like, man, maybe, you know, maybe we don't bring back Jamie Sherwood, maybe we let him go, and Wallace is somebody that in some reality, I'm not saying this is like the plan for them or the expectation, but in some reality does end up becoming a starting linebacker for this team, as opposed to a guy like Reader or, uh, you know, like a Jordan Meredith where it's like this guy is clearly a depth bench piece.

I think there's more upside with Trevon Wallace.

I think he could become something.

Counterpoint, does it not seem.

Like how concerned are you by the fact that, like, let's be honest, I think this is one of those, or this being the competition he was in in Carolina, was one of those like you're competing, but it's kind of yours.

Like if you don't win it, it's a problem kind of thing.

And not only did he not win it, I mean they signed Bobby Okarake and cut him.

That, that's a very alarming fall.

Well, I don't the guy they picked in the 3rd round 2 years ago and was a green dot wearer last year.

Was it this regime that drafted him?

Yeah, it was Dan Morgan drafted.

It was the first Dan Morgan a linebacker too.

You'd think, you know, I know my linebacker.

That was their first draft.

Well, I, am I correct in saying that 2024 was their first draft.

Well, that was the Xavier Leggettte draft, yeah, yeah.

Was that their first draft because Canallos, Canales's first year.

I don't know.

I don't know if Dan Morgan was there when they got Bryce Young, either the first or the second.

Yeah, yeah, either, either way, um, yeah, I mean, yeah, I guess you could look at it from that perspective too, but I, I look, I, I think the Jets are gonna view it as.

Maui Noah is kind of their backup Mike to, uh, to Mario Davis.

I think that's kind of how they view him, and I think they're gonna view Wallace as their backup will to Jamie and Sherwood, and McCrory Ball is a special teamer, which this is good too.

Green dot for Wallace might make him kind of a Davis because Davis can be the green dot wear here.

Maybe he's just a little small, like that's kind of the thought with him.

He's, he's, he's only like 230 or something like that.

Like Reader is honestly more of a traditional Mike.

Reader is like 240 something.

Like he's kind of a big 45, yeah, he's a big dude, uh, so I don't know.

I, I think, I don't think Wallace.

was playing, maybe he was playing Mike last year with uh with Carolina.

It's actually possible.

I don't, I don't know, I don't even know particularly if he was, uh, but I, I like the additions to this linebacker room.

I feel a lot stronger and a lot better about their linebacker depth, which was certainly a position group that I was not particularly confident in going into the summer.

Uh, both the Wallace and Reader editions, I think, are, are quality additions, and I'm happy Jaden Keller is back on the practice squad too.

That was somebody that I wanted to see stick around and we predicted he'd make the practice squad, and he did.

So, I like the Jets linebacker room.

Even if there's some still some question marks about Sherwin, I think Wallace is a very quality upside swing and also a a quality depth player already, and then Reader is the veteran on the practice squad, which they needed that with Michael Walker out.

Let's go and talk kickers and uh look, I'm not gonna.

I'm not gonna give analysis in terms of being like, oh well, this kicker should just make more kicks.

I'm not gonna tell kickers, well, you're angling it this way, we can't provide that same level of analysis that we do with.

With other positions, just, it's just inherent in the nature of the job right here, but they get a new kicker in Blake Groupie, right after it looked like Jason Sanders kind of won the job, won in the biggest sarcasm quotes that your computer will allow here, won the job over Kade York.

They then said, oh no, no, no, uh, au contraire, Blake Groupie.

Is gonna be the kicker.

Sanders on the practice squad right now, so in case Groupie gets hurt or something like that, Sanders is probably going to be elevated.

For those of you that don't know at fan site, uh, Adam Froll, who's kind of the head honcho of the, uh, NFL division, has developed a proprietary stat called kicker Value Added KVA.

He has plotted every made and missed field goal in NFL history because He's Adam Cromwell and he does things like that which he's the, he's Adam Cromwell is the man, dude.

Like he puts out a, uh, if you are a kicking connoisseur, Adam Cromwell, put this is the guy for you.

He, he puts out a kicking, uh, what is it, what is it called a workbook or whatever, notebook, notebook every single week given all the latest of kicker news around the NFL.

This man should have called it extra points, but I don't know.

That is pretty good.

You could be the workshopping ideas, man.

Now, admittedly, uh, groupie in his NFL kicker rankings ranked 30th, and he ranked 38th in KVA last year.

Uh, basically, the, the scouting report for lack of a better word on groupie is he gives the team a good floor, pretty solid, accurate kicker from all in, but not a guy who's gonna be banging 60 yard kicks.

He did make a 60 yarder last year.

He did, but it's not a regular thing, and he missed a couple of them, and also he's kicked indoors his whole career.

He has never kicked a field goal when it has been 40 degrees or, well, in the end, he did kick at Notre Dame, so like he was doing also kicked to Kansas State for a while, so that's, you know, yeah, but he kicked you're, you're referencing the Cimini tweet.

I think that was a little like.

You know, I, I, I think that was kind of, I don't know grumpy rich, being a little grumpy, being a little, being a little negative, but it, it is totally fair to point out like, yeah, he's kicked indoors for most of his career, like that's a valid point to then be like, yeah, he's never, he's never kicked a field goal in sub 40 degree weather, like, I don't know about that, man, but the, the only problem I have with this is generally with special teams, because Chris Banjo was the only guy last year who looked like he really knew what he was doing in terms of the coaches or coordinators.

We've given great deference to him.

Because, well, he had this great unit last year, all these return touchdowns, he knows what he's doing.

Does he know what he's doing with kickers?

Well, this was one of the most chaotic, ridiculous, ineffective, nonsensical kicker searches I can remember because remember to start the offseason was it Lenny Craig and Lenny Krieg and Will Ferret, who didn't even last like a week and a half and Young Weiu and they brought in guys, yep.

They kept bringing the guys in and off the street, and none of them were good.

Like every week, like I'm not expecting guys here to be, you know, Justin Tucker, Adam Vinattieri, and drilling 60 yard kicks regularly, and they barely miss, even though the guy for the Giants, the undrafted kicker, seems to be doing just that, which they Jets could have had him.

Did we go an entire practice where somebody just hit all their kicks?

There were a couple of practices.

I mean, they were missing kicks in the 40s.

Joan Sanders was short in the 50s.

Which you can't be short in the 50s anymore, which with how specialized kicking is now, like in, in a day and age where Cam Little can hit from almost 70 yards, like you can't be short from the distance Jason Sanders was short from.

So now they get Groupie who's been a decent NFL kicker, like a passable one in New Orleans and Indianapolis before this.

So it's an upgrade over Sanders.

So it don't be too hard because they got the better player, it seems, but Again, like with the whole hiring process is they went through so much chaos to get to this point.

Yeah, they did.

Well, I'll, I'll say that.

I'll push back on a couple of things there.

The the kickers actually got off to a good start in camp.

Sanders and York were pretty solid at the start of camp, then it kind of tailspinned after that and it went downhill, but they, they were, there were a couple of like perfect days for both of them in camp early on.

So that was, that was, you know, it wasn't, they weren't a disaster throughout all of camp, but kind of just I mean, unfortunately, you'd wish that they were kind of bad to start and then got better as camp went on, it went the other way.

Uh, and I'll say this too about the kicker situation last year.

Again, they didn't find Nick Folk until late.

July, I think it was like July 29th or 30th, they brought him in.

The other guy 31st, the, the other guy, you sure, the other guy that they had in camp was Harrison Beavis, and he ended up being the kicker for the Rams last year, and he's the kicker for the Rams this year as well.

So they, they, the guys they brought in camp last year ended up working out, and I even think the other guy, Caden, Cayden Davis or something, he ended up signing with a practice squad too, so like he was, he wasn't just some unplayable dude who wasn't around the league, like, they clearly had an eye for talent last year.

Now, what happened this year?

Well, you just cycle through guys until you find one that works.

That's kind of how the kicker position works unless you have a guy and you just stick to it .

Like that's, you know, the unfortunate thing about folk is like, yeah, the Jets and this was with Zerlein too.

The Jets finally got good kicking seasons out of a couple of kickers, they just were old, like they weren't like, it wasn't like, uh, you know, you stumbled into a guy who's 24 years old, 25 years old, it's like oh we're set, this guy's our kicker for the next 89 years.

They, they were, uh, they were older guys, and unfortunately Zerlein lost it, obviously, folk.

The Jets are kind of banking on that.

I don't know if they're banking on that he's gonna lose a step, but they didn't want to give him the contract that Atlanta gave him.

I think folk probably wanted to kick indoors and, and, you know, live down south in Atlanta.

That was probably part of it as well.

And they were like, yeah, we'll find somebody else.

We'll see if that wager pays off.

Groupie is a better option right now than Jason Sanders.

Sanders just didn't kick in the NFL last year.

He was hurt with the hip injury, and just basically like Tommy John for a kicker if you hurt your hip.

Yeah, and then he was.

Awful in in the spring with the Giants and the Jets pick him up and he was better with the Jets than he was with the Giants, but still not great.

And, uh, you know, obviously the the death knell, I think was the the last preseason game where he missed an extra point and came up well short on a 54 yarder and you just can't be doing that.

So, I, I think Groupie, they're they're calling it a competition.

Sanders is still on the practice squad.

They're gonna be competing this week and I imagine it's next week.

I, I think Jets fans will riot if Jason Sanders is elevated for week one and ends up as the as the kicker, but they're gonna make Groupie earn it, like and I like that.

I know Pete some Jets fans don't, don't like that they're keeping Sanders around.

I, I like bringing in Groupie and saying, hey man.

This job isn't yours yet.

Like you gotta, you gotta win it, because otherwise, like, I feel like that puts added pressure.

If you bring in a kicker who, again, is kicked indoors for most of his career, this is a new team that he's coming to, and you're immediately like, yep, you're our guy, you're our kicker.

That's what they did with Kari Vedvik, if you remember that.

They, I believe they claimed Kari Vedwick off waivers and then immediately we're like, yep.

We don't even a competition, you are, you are the guy.

Uh, I think that puts a lot of a lot of pressure on you for week one, especially if the first time he's stepping on the field and kicking a field goal for you is like a pressure situation and it's like game on the line.

Man, I can only imagine.

So, I'm glad they're at least doing that with him.

Group is weird cause he's like.

He's so small, and I know 5'7, 152.

Aaron Glenn mentioned this too, like he is a very tiny man, uh, so you then again you see all these Messi is what, like the same size, 5'8, yeah, I think Messi is 5'7, 5'8.

Uh, it's just all biomechanics, man.

It is, it is, but I, you know, like Groupie got off to a good start in his career with the Saints.

He was able to beat out Will Watts for that kicker job as a rookie.

Uh, wasn't like anything amazing at Notre Dame, uh, Brian and Chad.

Same groupie might have only played one game in sub 40 degree weather.

He made all 8 kicks he attempted it against Boston College when he was in college, 8 kicks, I imagine that's some extra points in there too, which probably all extra points if it's Notre Dame versus Boston College football in sub 40 degree weather.

Uh, but yeah, look, I groupie got off to a good start with the Saints, then second year I think was his best year, 2024.

I think he made like 87% of his kicks, and then last year kind of fell apart in New Orleans.

Uh, again, kick the kicker position is so fickle in nature that.

It's mostly because the sample size is so small, like, you're, you, you miss, you miss kick the ball like slightly on a couple of kicks and it completely derails and changes your season, and then it's a mental thing you can get in your head, uh, but he, after he was like, oh it's Greg Zerle 2024, Greg Zerle got the yips, right?

But then after he leaves the Saints, they, they cut him and, and, uh, funnily enough, by the way, when they cut him, the guy that they signed to replace him was Kate York.

So, that's a little fun Jets full circle thing.

Now, York never played for them because he ended up getting beaten out in practice by Charlie Smith.

Uh, but a fun little Jets full circle moment there.

Northern Ireland, in fact.

Oh boy, did I just start like an IRA, uh, I have a problem now.

Oh boy, thankfully we don't have a Northern Ireland, we make no statements on the geography of the British Isles.

They're not the opinions of fan site, and we have a, we have an Austrian Jet fan in chat.

We don't have a Belfast Jets fan in chat, but, uh, uh, but then, then he goes to the Colts and kicks in, I believe, 5 games and does not miss a field goal, and it makes a career-long 60.

Yarder, like didn't miss an extra point.

He was literally perfect for the Colts.

And by all accounts, this summer, he was good.

Like, I think he actually, if I remember correctly, outperformed Spencer Schrader in training camp.

It's just when it came to the preseason, when the kicks actually mattered, he went 2 to 4.

So, one of them was like a miss from 50+, so take that for what it's worth, whatever, but, uh, either way, he's certainly got a better recent track record than Jason Sanders, who has spent the last 5 months just not being particularly good and obviously the injury concern there.

Happy they brought in another kicker.

I hope for the Jets' sake that groupie is the guy, even if he's not gonna be, you know, Nick Folk like last year, just want him to be passable.

You don't want to be losing a ton of games because Blake Groby is missing 35 yard field goals or he's shaking.

That's what's so frustrating with kicking too is like, you know, we talk about what pass rushers are they gonna add, who fits the scheme?

Can they do this?

Can they do that?

How many wide receivers think, Well, this guy's good vertically, this guy's like that for kickers, just like, I don't know, make kicks.

What do you want out of me?

Make it go in the thing.

I don't know.

Hook it more to the left.

Like, what?

Like what advice can you give if they're struggling, you know, it's, it's a make or miss league.

Just gotta make it.

It's as simple as just make it, yeah, yeah.

Let's go to quarterbacks about as Jordan McCaskey here says that we should look at Milton or Levis.

Let's go talk about quarterbacks.

Uh, number one, I'm gonna be honest to you, I am, people are again really upset that Bailey Zappy, uh, made the practice squad.

I've mentioned this before, it's gonna sound hacky, but like, look , if the 3rd string quarterbacks even play, like season's probably over anyway, so sure, they could put that could have been JJ McCarthy or Will Levis or Justin Fried, it wouldn't matter .

It's just, well, it brings back the Trevor Simian days where we're begging to sign a veteran of the practice squad, and then eventually he plays and he's awful, and there's a reason why he was unsigned for a very long time.

Now, there are 2 quarterbacks, I think that are exceptions to that rule.

Because it seemed a lot of the veterans we thought could be cut loose, they, a lot of them got retained like Andy Dalton.

Eagles kept 4 quarterbacks, so a lot of teams kept 4 quarterbacks this year.

I think, I think that's just the the flexibility of like, well now we know who we want elsewhere.

If we need to cut a guy, it'll be, it'll be one of them kind of thing.

Yeah, that's just my thought.

But the two guys exempt from that are the guys that Jordan McCaskey here mentioned, uh, Joe Milton and Will Levis.

Uh, I think if they signed either of them, they would have probably been the #2 quarterback eventually over Kate Klubnick.

The only reason I would have been behind either of them at this point.

It's because I'm gonna go and steal a phrase from our buddy Buffalo Jets fan here, cause I thought it was a really astute point that he made.

It gives you the ability to start Clubnick on your own terms, not because Geno Smith got hurt, not because he's 0 and 5, and you have to turn to him because you gotta make a change.

You now have the ability to say when we want Cade Klubnick to play, we can do that.

Until then, we have either a guy who was picked in the top 30, I'm sorry, 35, he's 34th overall pick, I believe, Will Levis.

Who still has a really good arm, who's still mobile, who I think got dealt a really bad hand in Tennessee, I still think has something left, and a guy in Milton who looked great in the preseason and can throw a ball through a barn door, probably the strongest storm in the league in terms of just velocity and how far can I throw a ball.

The thing that I, I think they kind of ruled that out though, because they had the ability to pretty much claim whoever they wanted, because, especially with Levis, because Jets were 2nd in the waiver order, meaning if they wanted a player and the Raiders didn't want him, they had him, and the Raiders had no interest in quarterbacks.

They have Fernando Mendoza, they kept 3, Aidan O'Connell still there, another possible Jet, Aidan O'Connell still there, so they had no interest in quarterbacks.

So if the Jets wanted Will Levis, they had no competition, and they still said no.

So I think that's a little bit telling about either how they view Levis, how they view Klubnick, or how they kind of view the quarterback room as a whole.

Would I like a veteran in there?

Probably, but I'm not really gonna rip my hair out over it, especially because when you trade up for Kate Klubnick, this was the expectation, because if you put him on ice for a year and then you draft a guy anyways, well, why do you even, why'd you even take him?

Cause he was never really even gonna play.

Now, that might be bad process.

Well, I mean, barring injury and stuff like that, well, they didn't draft him with the intent of him playing.

They drafted him with the intent of him being a backup.

Yeah, but if you're a third string backup, like at least if you're the nominal number 2, I think that's, you're in at least a position of some problem.

If you just put Klubnick on ice as a rookie and then draft a guy, I think there's no path to him ever playing with the Jets.

The issue that I take with it is it comes down to the fact that in April they decided that Kate Klubnick was QB2, and they pretended that it was a competition, and they pretended they're gonna make him earn the job.

And they continue to say that he earned the job.

That's not what happened.

They drafted him in April, and unless he looked complete dog shit, like unless he looked like Christian Hackenberg, who was not an NFL player, he was gonna be their QB too.

And to Kate's credit, he didn't look like complete dog shit.

The dude, the dude was OK. Like he, he looked like a 4th-round rookie quarterback, like a day 3 rookie.

That's what he looked like.

Now there's a reason.

That almost every time when you draft a quarterback on day 3, they're not QB2 to start to start their rookie seasons.

It happens sometimes and the Bucks are going with Jalen Daniels, who's an undrafted rookie, but he had a, he had a great summer.

Jalen Daniels looked he he usurped Jake Browning and got him cut, but it's rare to see that happen.

So when you have a young quarterback in camp, and it's like, all right, he looks like a day 3 rookie, usually that's not a guy that you want to be your QB2, and that's partially because you, you know, it's not good for the team, right?

You don't, you don't.

If Geno goes down early in the season, like say Geno sprains his ankle week 2, and he misses 3 weeks, 23 weeks.

One, do you feel confident that Cade Klubnick is starting those games, you're gonna be able to competently do that?

2, is it fair to Cade Klubnick to say, hey, yeah, go on the road in in Detroit and try to keep us afloat?

Go on the road against Chicago, in Chicago and try to try to play an NFL game now.

Like, it's not fair to his development.

Is Will Levis with two weeks of familiarity with the playbook, the issue comes back to not even just April, it's, it's, they could have added somebody before this, like, they could have gone into training camp and said, all right, Brady Cook and Bailey Zappy aren't actual competition for, for Brady for uh Kate Klubnick.

Let's get somebody in here, even a vet, like, even if it's not a guy that you're like.

Man, you know, I think Josh Johnson is gonna come out and he's gonna win us a game in Chicago.

Like, I don't think that's gonna happen.

I don't think Josh Johnson is probably a significantly better option than Kate Klubnik.

But on the Bengals, they brought him back to the practice squad though, right?

But, but I know if I throw him out there, I'm not like concerned about ruining him because he's a 38-year-old, like dude who's who's played more than his, his fair share of NFL games.

He's been around NFL teams for the last 15+ years.

Kate Klubnick, I don't think it's fair to him.

Throw him out there, right?

Now, he's gonna be QB too, and he better be ready, right?

If if he gets his number called.

Uh, but as far as like I, I kind of already understood that, like that's not, that's not a new development.

Like I knew Klubnick would be the the quarterback too, like, once we got that first preseason game where he started and played like two drives, that was it.

That once that happened, it's like, OK, I, I see, I see that this was not a competition, that the Jets aren't actually making him earn the QB2 job, they're just gonna hand it to him and that's how it is, and I, I came to terms with that weeks ago at this point.

I would like to, I would have liked to see them add somebody else to the practice squad that wasn't Baileysay.

I would have liked to see a veteran of some kind.

Now, of course, that comes with complications when you're talking about quarterback, and we talked about this last week where you're bringing in a quarterback.

It's, it's different than if you're bringing in a running back.

Well the Jets just signed a running back who wasn't with any NFL team throughout the entire summer, AlJ Henderson, who, who literally, this is the first time he signed an NFL contract.

They just signed him because he, he had a tryout with them at rookie minicamp and all their other practice squad running backs got hurt.

It's different when they're doing that.

Quarterbacks different because they gotta learn the playbook, they gotta learn the system, the scheme, they gotta learn the, the checks at the line of scrimmage.

Like there's so much chemistry with the receivers, there's so much that goes into it.

So I was fully understanding, like, all right, unless they trade an asset, which did not, again, they weren't gonna do this, they would have had to trade an asset for an Andy Dalton, and after the summer Dalton had honestly no reason to even do that, right?

They would have been a trade for like an Aidan O'Connell, which I would have been in favor of , but I get why they wouldn't do that.

I'd still rather have some veteran on the practice squad , because even if that guy is not playing, and even if Klubnick is still taking all of your scout team reps, it is valuable to have that extra veteran presence in the locker room, to have a a Josh Johnson and Nick Mullins or whoever, right?

Somebody like that.

As far as like the Joe Milton Will Levis conversation.

I mean, Joe Milton would definitively easily be the 2nd best quarterback on this roster right now.

I still think something's up with that because I thought it was gonna be like a handshake coming back was shocked he was after roster, you know, well, waivers, waivers ran, right?

Did he, did he not get, I guess they haven't been reported, but I don't think he, I literally, before this show, I was kind of on standby waiting on Joe Milton news, and I didn't see anything.

There's been nothing.

I don't think it's been reported yet what happened to him.

We'll probably find out very soon, but, uh, I, I'm a little, I'd be a little surprised if he wasn't claimed cause like.

I mean, I, I was shocked he wasn't QB2 in Dallas because he was Brady Cook got claimed and Joe Milton didn't get claimed.

So, something's up.

I, I'm doing the Brian Winhurst like what's going on here?

If, if Brady Cook's getting claimed, like if you're the Miami Dolphins, why would you not claim Joe Milton?

Like what, what Brady Cook stopping you?

What, what's going on, Mozzie Smith?

Yeah, if you're, if you're, you know, a lot of teams in the NFL, like there's guys on NFL rosters who are definitely not as intriguing or even like just like Joe Milton has developed in the NFL.

He came into the league like, like a Taylin Green where you're like, oh man, crazy freak athlete, all this physical upside, but boy is not even a great athlete.

And he just had the arm.

Sure, sure, but he's big.

He's a big dude, right?

66 , yeah, yeah.

So it's like the, the, the, the upside was there, but he's genuinely looked good when given the opportunity in the preseason and stuff.

Like, why would you not want to take a chance on that guy?

And if you're Dallas, I, I just don't know why they let him go.

But, uh, so, if the Jets had a chance to claim Joe Milton or Joe Milton, I'm all for that, all over that.

They're just not gonna do that because they want Klubnick to be QB2.

Levis, the only way they add anybody is to the practice squad.

Like I, I, I, I think they , they could still add somebody to take Zappy's spot, and I would, I think they expected Cook to not get claimed, and they just bring him back, and then he did, and they said, oh crap, and I don't even know that's true though, because Brady Cook, you know many, you know how many snaps combined Brady Cook played in the last two preseason games.

I think it was 17 combined.

He was, he wasn't even playing, like Zabi was getting all the run with the backups, which makes it even more shocking that you have, you are like scout team quarterback who's played 8 snaps in the last preseason game, and he gets claimed on waiver.

Like that's crazy to me.

What if you're Miami, what do you it's not even like that's why I thought the Jets could claim Levis was just gamesmanship of like, oh, give me your Titans playbook.

I thought it's not even that because they don't play Miami for a couple weeks or wild to me.

I , I, I don't know how he got claimed, but yeah, I, I would have preferred somebody better than Bailey Zappy on the practice squad after the summer Zay had.

If Zappy like looked competent , I'd get it cause that's your veteran, right, who's at least started NFL games, but he was outplayed by Brady Cook.

Like he looked terrible.

He didn't look like any, he, he, he looked overmatched against third stringers.

That's not somebody that I want to contract with the team, and I know he knows the system, but I, I would, I would have preferred they got someone better in there.

They, they still have time to do it before week one.

I don't think they're gonna do it.

So if this is the quarterback room going into week one, I don't feel particularly good about the quarterback options behind Geno.

That's, that's kind of where I stand.

Now, on the, uh, really quick before that, Brian Glick, I was gonna go transition and Brian Glick says if Miami wants to tank, the move makes sense.

I think they do want to tank.

Well, look at, look at the roster.

They're not going into the, like, no NFL team goes into the year saying we're gonna lose games this year.

I think the Dolphins are didn't the Dolphins do that the one year with Flores.

That was, that was, that was an ownership thing that was like a which I guess Stephen Ross is still the owner, but I, I do think that, you know, the, the new regime of, of John Eric Sullivan and, and, uh, Jeff Halfley Halfley, thank you, the Packers DC, uh, I think they're kind of going into the year being like, well, we're not gonna win a lot of games this year.

We wanna see Malik play well, we wanna see Malik Willis do well, but They're aware they're not winning games.

They're not adding Brady Cook and Mozzie Smith because they're trying to lose games.

That's not the, that's not the thought process, even if it's easy to draw that comparison, you know, they, they legitimately see something in those guys.

What?

I don't know.

Couldn't tell you, but they see something.

How much of this is just, hey, I, I know this agent, he's pretty cool with us.

We'll get one of his guys, maybe, probably that, or maybe, maybe that, you know, Brady Cook started a game against the Dolphins last year.

I think it was a 34 to 10 loss.

Maybe the Dolphins saw that and they were like, you know.

Something I remember talking to a guy in a front office and he goes, you have no idea how many high-level 1st, 2nd, 3rd round draft picks are not made because they're like, Man, this guy's agent's a dick.

There's so many things happen like Mozzie Smith's agent must be the Mozzie Smith's agent must be the nicest guy in the world then.

So let's go and talk about another uh acquisition they made.

This is before cutdown day, but they did make one, and it was uh Jordan Meredith on the offensive line.

Now, I don't wanna get too excited about this because that is now two members of the vaunted 2025 Raiders offensive line that are now on the Jets, which the whole reason the Jets have Geno Smith is, well, the, the offensive line killed him with the Raiders , and now they have two of these guys.

Yeah, but he's a backup.

It's different and it was, it was one of the, uh, problematic guys was Meredith, I think, at center.

Now, good news is offers guard center versatility.

Been around the league for a little bit, was a lot better at guard than center.

I think that's been proven, but now you at least have a guy.

While he's not a good center, he can handle himself for a game or two if you need him to, which with Xavier Newman's snapping problems and Cole Laval and Inez Cooper can only play right guard, and now he's hurt.

They needed somebody who could at least snap the ball.

That's the level we're talking here.

Can we get a guy who can Man the position of center, and they got a guy who could do that, and if you need to kick over to guard, he can kick over the guard, if you really need him to.

So, for the price of a a very late pick, it didn't seem like Meredith was going to be retained by the uh staff over there, cause another Pete Carroll holdover guy.

There's a lot worse you could have done here in terms of just offensive line depth.

Yeah, 100%.

Like again, a couple of the positions that we said that the Jets needed to address going into the roster cut weekend was kicker, they did that, backup linebacker, they definitely did that, and then backup center, and they did that as well.

So I'm happy with the additions that the Jets made.

Meredith is, you know, he's he's fine.

Like again, Raiders fans will say he's a terrorist and everything, but the dude is an NFL caliber backup lineman, and in 2024, actually.

He like graded out very well with PFF.

He had like an 80 PFF grade starting 8 games at guard for the Raiders, and then Brennan Carroll comes in and they shuffle around everybody and move Jackson Powers Johnson over and put Meredith at center and, like, I, I take anything that happened with the Raiders 2025 offensive line with a major grain of salt, cause like, the coaching was a disaster, the entire situation was toxic .

Guys were playing out of position, like.

Plays were being called that weren't in the playbook .

Yeah, like, yeah, Jordan Meredith played worse at center last year than he had played a guard the previous year, but how much stock can we actually put in that, like genuinely, uh, by the way, waiver claims today, not Joe Milton.

Joe Milton was not claimed off waivers, so that's very interesting.

That's very, very interesting to me.

It was a couple other players, but not, not Joe Milton, um.

But yeah, I think Meredith is is quality interior offensive line depth.

He's the only backup interior offensive lineman on the 53, so I would not be shocked if come week one we get an elevation there, probably either Xavier Newman or Marquis Hayes.

Newman makes the most sense since he, you know, he was probably one of the last guys that they cut.

Uh, I don't, you know, it sucks for Cole Laval is that he made the initial 53 and he's not even back on the practice squad.

That's, that's a tough one for him, uh.

I wonder how that conversation even goes where it's like, yeah, you're making our 53, but like we're not even bringing you back.

Like we have good news and bad news.

Like you made the team for for a day and we're at least they get a practice squad.

Nope, bye, have fun .

That's wild.

Uh, can you pay for my plane back?

No.

Get out of here.

You don't work here anymore, but Cooper's on short term IR, I think what our initial projection when we were talking about Brian Sternbeck, maybe he's checking to see if LSU will take him.

Can I talk about how much I hate those guys for Jack Pyburn and, uh, Dayquan Wright?

Right, Jack Pyburn made it, yeah, but he did make it, and, uh, Xavion Harris was the other one who went back, which it seems like only one school is doing this because.

Every player who wanted to go back said LSU so far.

Funnily enough, I'm gonna be in Baton Rouge tomorrow.

So should I, should I talk?

Should I visit the LSU campus and I'm gonna go and put a target on your back right here cause I don't know.

I don't like.

How, how do I phrase this?

Like, I don't wanna sound like, oh, these guys are getting an education, don't pay them.

It's like, obviously, you know, Xavion Harris didn't wanna study biology at LSU.

That wasn't his goal.

Like you're there for football.

I get all that.

That guy's gotta get paid, and I, but NIL just as it is now, it's not like giving guys royalties for, it's paying players with a payroll.

Monthly now it's the, it's the wild west.

College sports is the wild west right now.

It's, it's, and you look at what's happening in the NBA too in college basketball , dudes who played in the NBA are going back.

Like it's, it's insane.

I, I, it's, I, I can't imagine being close to making the NFL and asking to be cut to go back to college because that, that happened with Dayquan Wright.

But Pyburn was like, yep, if I'm not on a 53, I'm going back.

I'm going back, which I just come back to college.

Jokes on him, he got claimed.

Uh, Joe Milton officially, by the way, did not get claimed.

He is now a free agent.

Uh, wow, that is just, what does that tell you about the nobody wanted Brady Cook got claimed and Joe Milton didn't.

Somebody makes sense of that to me.

I think just guys want, hey, this guy knows the playbook.

I think really that's what is he?

He has no does Cook have any connection ?

Any who's the Dolphins?

It would actually, you know, it would have been funny if, if Hackett was still their QB coach, what he like he was supposed to be.

Oh, he's he hired in the way.

Yeah.

Could you imagine if they had paired Nathaniel Hackett with Brady?

Oh my God, who is their QB coach in Miami?

I think it's just some guy.

Well, I'm sure, yeah, but like I mean I'm sure it's, I'm sure it's former coach record might be like a no, it's, oh no, never mind, it's Bush Hamden.

Who the fuck that fake name, not real.

Bush Hamden.

Bush Hamden.

He was the offensive coordinator at Kentucky the last two years.

Sounds like, oh, he was the quarterback's coach.

Guess where, Mike, at Missouri in 2020, 2020 to 2022.

The plot thickens.

He was Brady Cook's quarterback.

There it is.

I didn't even real Brady Cook was there in 2022, surely, right?

At Missouri, that was his freshman year.

No, 000, 20, 2020, he was there all three years of Bush Hampden's tender.

There you go.

Bush Ham there is.

That's why it sounds like a guy like on like a, uh, like an old like eighties cop show.

It's like Detective Bush Hamden.

Yeah dude, California Highway Patrol, Bush Hamden.

Now it all makes sense.

I can't believe my first thought wasn't to check Miami staff and see if there's any connection.

That's had to like there had to be believable nepotism, dude.

Like that actually it actually makes me mad.

It, it actually makes me mad that Brady Cook is getting up like, again, I know I said at the beginning of the show, I want these guys to get all the opportunities you can get, whatever.

I'm not mad at Brady Cook, but mad if you are like you just said you were.

No, I'm not, I'm mad at Bush Hamden.

That's what I'm mad at because like, dude, you're telling me you're gonna be like, yeah, we were Brady Cook's on our 53 man fucking roster and not Joe Milton or anybody else you could get.

He may, I thought he was on the practice squad.

No, he got claimed off waivers, Mike.

He's on the 53.

Brady Cook is on a 53 man roster right now, which he was on a 53 man roster like what, 3 weeks last year, 4 weeks last year.

Oh, get out of here, mustard overlord.

Sounds pretty bush league to me.

No, I like that.

Get out of here.

Good work, mustard overlord.

That's good.

Don't actually get out of here.

It, it genuinely makes me upset, by the way, their tight ends coach is Ron Middleton.

That's fun, and their, and their passing game coordinator.

Kevin Petullo, ghost of Jets past.

Oh my God.

So a Kevin Petullo, Bush Hamden, Bobby Clowe had aerial attack.

No, you forget Bobby Slowe and Bobby.

Bobby Slowick actually, I, I like more than most, but jeez, yeah, but that, that actually makes me mad that the only reason Brady Cook's on a 53 man roster right now is because his former quarterbacks coach happens to be the quarterbacks coach of the Miami Dolphins.

That's dumb.

That actually upsets me , but whatever he wasn't even like particularly.

No, he sucks.

That Luther Burton should have been a top 20 pick, and he wasn't because of him.

Yeah, man.

That's crazy, and I didn't even realize that.

Ah, that makes me upset.

Bush Hamden.

Well, what a position we talked and he just has like a push brew mustache and like the gut going over the thing and one of those old timey sheriffs where he's just like sitting back and his hat's over his eyes and the keys are dangling from his Bush Hamden.

What does he look like?

Uh, Bush Hamden.

All right, he looks like a dude.

He's just a guy.

He actually doesn't like that's how most people look.

His hair is, he, he looks like he's got like a touch of uh just for Men touch of gray in his hair.

He's got a big Bush Hamden on top of Google.

No, no, don't say that.

Yeah , OK, I realize it.

Oh, he, he was actually a quarterback at Boise State.

He played, he played QB at Boise State.

Let's go and talk about the, I was gonna say really, really quick before we jump into other positions, right, where I think we reached the halfway point.

Let's, let's do a little bit of a, uh, of an ad read here, OK?

We, we, I don't wanna forget this because we'd forgotten this in the past.

Let's uh shout out to my bookie because we, uh, we talked about this last week.

My bookie is partnering with us and folks.

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Let's go to, uh, let's go.

Let's just go to positions we haven't talked about yet.

Let's do running back next.

Oh, you know what?

No, we got a question to chat.

Let's, let's jump down, yeah, yeah, because I don't really have a ton to say about the running backs.

Everybody who thought would have made it made it.

I agree.

We got a question here from Buster Overlord.

It said, speaking of illogical NFL things that piss us off, putting a pin in this when we come back to Nate Lynn discussion.

Well, let's have that Nate Lynn discussion right now.

Let's have it because I think.

People are freaking out for no reason.

Well, what's fun about this, Mike, is the, this is our, uh, our, our graphic last year or last week when we were making predictions, and look at our graphic from this week.

Oh, look at that.

9 for 9. and I remember you didn't want to put McGregor on a 53, and I was telling you, Mike, I was saying it.

I was like, I don't think I, I don't want this to happen, but I think it's gonna happen.

I think McGregor's under 53, and here we are September 1st.

Braid McGregor made the 53 man roster over Nate Lynn.

You have some thoughts on this though.

What are your thoughts?

Well, I just think people are like freaking out about this.

Now, I will say if Osa can't go week one, I think that's a different conversation.

I think that maybe influenced this decision a little bit because if Osa can't go week one.

Then you have to promote a guy like a McGregor or Lynn to get your 4th edge rusher in there.

I'll be honest, Mike, it doesn't sound like Joe Bosa is ready to go week one.

That's what it sounds probably gonna be, uh, David Bailey and Kingsley and Ibari are gonna be your starting edge rushers here because I think that's where Zach Rosenblatt is quote clearly ahead of Will McDonald.

So Will McDonald, we can get to the Will McDonald thing in a second.

I, I think, I think Ebari is ahead of Osa as well just because Osa missed all this time this summer, which I, I think so too.

It sucks.

The, the Jets didn't have any like major, major injuries to any key.

Players, they had a lot of really annoying nagging ones that are going to impact the team, especially early in the season, like Pons Pons, Osa, and Siddiq are the big three there, but like, you know, Isaiah Davis missed a lot of time, TaAndre Sweat missed time.

Like now it sounds like, oh, honestly, I don't know if Osa or Pons are active week one at this stage, but I, I, I don't think, I think Osa might be going on IR.

Like that's, I would not be shocked if that happened for short term IR, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, designated return, not out of the out for the year IR so.

Like I just think people are, and look, we wanted Nate Lynn to make the roster, especially because we're big meritocracy people, we thought that would make a lot of sense, but if Osa is Osa is gonna play most of the year, we think.

With this injury, you hope, I, I have no idea.

It's a plantar fasciitis or whatever it is, which that's one of those things that kind of, and a lot of times you need surgery, I think.

I don't know.

I'm not a doctor.

These guys are also NFL athletes and they heal differently, so sure, because I've seen a lot of people I couldn't run for two months like, well, you're.

You're a regular dude who has an office job, not an NFL athlete.

So it really sucks that Osa missed like the whole damn summer, comes back, practices like 3 times, and they're like, let's just play him 2 drives.

Let's play him like 10 snaps in the preseason just to get him ready to go, and then he hurts his foot in in those 10 snaps.

Like that sucks, man.

I, I just think people are overdoing the impact of keeping McGregor over Lynn.

Is going to have like at the most, how much um, what percent of snaps is Brady McGregor playing week one even if O size hurt at the most he's not, he's gonna play 8 to 10 snaps right exactly.

Is is there gonna be enough of a difference between where 8 to 10 snaps of Nate Lynn or 8 to 10 snaps of Brady McGregor are really gonna have an impact on the Jets?

Now, if guys get hurt, different question, but also if guys get hurt, no matter who's on the back of this roster, that's concerning anyway.

So I just feel like I would have liked Nateland to make it 2, he had the odds stacked against him, but Here we are, I can't get too mad about it.

I think eventually if they add another guy, maybe they trade for another pass rusher, maybe they trade for somebody else.

I think McGregor is on very shaky ground anyway, and I think there's a very real situation where if they make a new 53 man roster edition, McGregor could be one of the guys who gets axed anyway.

Yeah, look, I, I, I tried to, to tell people the last week or week and a half that Nitland never had a chance to make the 53.

He, he didn't.

He could have come out in that last game and had 3 sacks, and he probably still wasn't there.

Or if he had 3 sacks, I think there maybe there's a. I don't know, man.

3 sacks against 3rd stringers.

5 sacks in 2 games.

I think you at least there's at least a decision.

You're like, OK, I mean, yeah, I would have made the decision harder.

I still don't know if he would have made it.

I think it just made Jets fans angrier when he didn't.

Like I, I, I really don't think he just got into camp too late.

Like he wasn't in any NFL camp for any team.

Uh, he got into camp 2 weeks before roster cutdown day.

It's just.

It's not gonna happen.

Uh, muster overlord here.

Let's see, let's see.

He's got a rant in the form of a question.

The whole, oh, of course, Nate Lynn didn't make it, he just came into camp too late.

Oh, is that what I was saying.

Doesn't that make it worse?

The fact that this guy can make it into camp that late and still flash that bright in preseason, doesn't it suggest that he has a shot of actually really popping when he learns the system.

It's a very valid point, and I will say this, while I'm sitting here and being like, yeah, he, he never had a shot, of course he didn't have a shot.

I'm not saying that that's right.

I'm not saying that Braid McGregor earned a spot on the 53 cause he didn't.

Nate Lynn outplayed him, and Nate.

Why do you think they signed all these debt Osa and Igbari, all these guys, because they didn't want to have to play Braden McGregor a ton of snaps.

We'll get to wide receiver, but Aaron Smith didn't earn a spot in the 53, and he's still there, right?

And so I think the frustration from Jets fans, and I was gonna transition to this, and it's a great, it's a great point, uh, Master Lord.

I think this frustration from Jets fans isn't.

So much like, cause again, I thought this was inevitable.

I thought Maitland wasn't, he just wasn't gonna make the team.

It comes from the fact of guys who were clearly better didn't make it over guys who are clearly worse.

And that is something that the staff kind of did to start last year.

Remember the Xavier Gibson debacle, and they kind of just stuck with the status quo and they gave him that week one role and they literally lost that game because of that.

Now, I don't know if.

They lose a game because Braden McGregor or Aaron Smith is still on the 53.

Aaron Smith's not gonna be active week one probably, so I don't think they're gonna lose the game because of that.

Uh, but it, it, it's, you know, it's, I don't think it sends a great message to certain guys and to, to the locker room if, you know, Braden McGregor is making it over Nate Lynn just because he was with the team longer and whatever.

Part of it is just that's how the NFL works.

Seniority does matter, connections do matter, and Braden McGregor's been around the team for the last 3 years now.

He's been around this staff for the last 2 years and.

They clearly like, I think McGregor is a perfect, like, like an obvious fringe NFL player.

Like I think he's, if you put him out there against 3rd stringers, he's gonna look pretty good.

But than Eric Watts, yeah, I think about that.

Braden better than Eric Watts McGregor, uh, but if you put him out there with the 2nd stringers, you know, he'll look OK, but he'll still kind of look outmatched.

You put him out there against the starters, he's gonna look like he doesn't belong on the field and.

I, I think that's where he lands right now.

He probably didn't deserve a spot in the 53.

Nate Lynn probably deserved a spot over him, but again, Nate Lynn was even better last summer and he didn't even get a practice squad spot.

So I'm just happy he's back on the practice squad, cause that, I didn't think that was a guarantee.

Lions fans last year thought Nate Lynn was a shoo-in to make the 53, and he, he needed to make the practice squad.

We got a couple good comments I wanna go to, uh, Mustard Overlord again.

Oops, that's the wrong one cause he just another one.

is Nate Lynn like different from a Jawan Briggs guy who never got a real chance and poop when given the chance.

The difference there is Jawan Briggs was acquired with an asset, so they purposely said we want Jawan Briggs on this team.

Now they acquired Nate Lynn, but I'm gonna be honest, there, there was not a ton of signs that went into the Nate Lynn acquisition.

It was, hey, we know this guy's agent.

This guy's on the wire.

They needed a body.

Glenn knew him from Detroit.

They need, it was just part of the.

And you know, do you know why now I don't wanna talk about him like that because he played so well, but that's what he was.

That's, that's what Jawan Briggs.

They said we specifically, we will give up a draft pick to acquire Jawan Briggs because we want him that badly.

Do you know why they signed Nate Lynn?

Do you, do you know why they signed Nate Lynn?

I'm pretty sure they signed Nate Lynn because Kingsley Jonathan went on IR.

That's why they signed Nate Lynn, because they needed another edge rusher.

They needed another body, and Aaron Glenn knew him from Detroit.

They didn't even bring him in with the thought he'd be on the practice squad.

So I'm I'm happy he's on the practice squad.

He played well.

He earned that spot.

Hell, man, again, you could argue he earned the 53 spot, but again, he was awesome with the Lions last year, and he wasn't signed by an NFL team in November until, until November.

And then guess what?

When he got caught in April, NFL teams weren't banging down doors to try and get him.

He didn't sign with an NFL team until 2 weeks before roster cuts.

He met Briggs for the Browns too.

Browns was a pick.

He did get let go quickly, but that's a Browns mistake, not a, they, they also, they had a loaded defensive tackle room.

Like that was, he was just buried on depth chart, Briggs.

It's not like, you know, McGregor Lynn is buried on a depth chart here.

Uh, I, I get what you're saying though, like I, I get that, I get that.

I just, I think.

For whatever reason, the NFL is clearly a lot lower on Nate Lynn than the Lions fans were than Jets, like the way Jets fans are right about this, this is x 5 for Lions fans.

Lions fans were furious that this guy didn't make the 53, and like we're ready to burn the building to the ground that he didn't make the practice squad.

Like they, they, and it was, I get it, cause he was awesome, he had like 10 pressures last last summer, like 5 sacks or 4 sacks, whatever it was in the preseason, like he was awesome, and he didn't make the practice squad.

So, I'm just happy he's here in the practice squad.

I think as far as, you know, this is a question about this, somebody asked, um, you know, will Nate Lynn get called up this season?

If injuries happen, yeah, uh.

You know, I think he's just gonna be a guy that's, that's stashed in the practice squad, and if injuries happen, he'll probably get a, he'll probably get an opportunity like Oa, maybe's a practice squad elevation in week one if they want 5 healthy edge rushers, who knows?

I don't think so.

I think it'll just be 4.

I think McGregor will be there, but if 1 more guy goes down, yeah, but unfortunately, like, look, I, I, Nateland's been awesome in the summer, and I want to see him get an NFL opportunity cause he's been awesome 3 summers in a row now, but.

Am I confident that if you throw him out there, he's gonna be a playable NFL edge rusher?

No, I'm not.

I just don't know if he is.

I know, I know Braid McGregor is not, and I think that's where the frustration lies.

Like, I know, I know McGregor is not gonna be, so I get it.

We got this, and then we're gonna get a good transition comment from Boss Girl 8 that we wanna get to here.

Uh, we got Mustard Overlord first.

It would bother me less if the coaching staff hadn't done such a performance.

stand against this sort of thing at the beginning of last season.

Coaches of all good, bad, all of them, of all stripes, they do this and they say this.

Good example.

I was just talking with, uh, Jerry Trotter about the Cowboys, and, uh, Drew Shelton, their 4th-round pick, has apparently been unplayable.

Holy shit, we gotta cut this guy level bad to a point where literally, even if he was probably a 5th-round pick, he'd be gone right now, but he was a 4th-round pick, so he makes the roster.

And they trade Nate Thomas, who he was competing with, and the Cowboys are generally, it's fun to laugh at them.

They're a much better team in terms of being well run than the Jets, and they're a better team right now than the Jets.

Every team, they're always gonna give deference to draft picks and guys they brought in the.

Undrafted guys for camp, while trying hard are always gonna be working uphill cause they need 3 or 4 things to go right in their favor to make the roster.

I'm not saying it's right, but in a perfect world, you would have cut guys in the 2nd or 3rd round right after you draft them, and that just doesn't happen.

Like this is the Panthers like this is how the world works and stuff like that.

I don't like the fact that it's like that either, but this is, these are the dynamics you gotta work with .

Yeah, it sucks, and that's why I, I never even considered putting Lynn on the 53 because I just, I just knew it wasn't gonna happen.

But I agree with you, Buster Overlord, like, and I, and, and I agree with Jets fans who are pissed about it.

Like it sucks.

I don't, I don't think Braden McGregor should be on the 53.

I don't think, I certainly don't think Aaron Smith should be on the 53, and this will be a, a good transition, but I, I'll really quick, keep it simple.

Because this will we'll transition into talking about Aaron Smith and wide receiver now.

Well, because my, my comment, I promised boss Girl 8 I was going to, uh, show this comment up here.

Do you think some of these bottom of the roster spots are for banjo , which is a good transition, and this, we'll read both of these comments and talk about both because they're both kind of saying the same thing.

Uh, keep it simple.

So since when does the, you know, wide receiver 5, wide receiver 6 make an impact on offense, these fanatics need to take a smoke break.

Aaron Smith makes the team because of special teams.

My issue with this is Aaron Smith was fucking brutal on special teams this summer.

He was awful.

He was unplayable on special teams.

He's not a good special teamer right now.

He's just not.

He's not one of their top gunners.

He's gonna be inactive on game day cause he's not one of their top gunners.

The, the dude made 2 plays on special teams all summer and they were both penalties.

He had 0 tackles.

He was getting outplayed by Malik McLean as a gunner.

He has no value on special teams right now.

Like, I think the Jets want him to.

Like, clearly the, the justification was going into this summer was, all right, well, we fucked up .

The guy's not a wide receiver.

He's not an NFL wide receiver.

We kind of know that.

They, they, they understood that.

But I don't think the Jets will, would say that if they do their line.

But late in the year last year, we saw a couple of flashes when he got a couple of opportunities as a gunner.

He made those like the one tackle I remember that sticks in my mind, and they're like, all right, maybe we could just transition this guy, maybe we can make him like a a a star gunner.

Maybe this dude's our our all pro gunner, he's our new Irv Charles, our new Justin Hardy, whatever, like that's the new role for him.

And then he sucked at that too.

So that that's the issue with him making the 53 for me is like, he's not an offensive player, he's not contributing on specials.

As far as the banjo like question , I can't imagine Chris Banjo.

Chris Banjo was playing Malik McLean as the gunner on putt coverage in the summer over Arian Smith.

I can't imagine Chris Banjo wants to play Aaron Smith as his gunner in the regular season, if he wasn't even playing there in there in the preseason.

So I don't think this is a banjo decision.

I, I think this is straight up probably just a muji decision or whoever the hell decided to draft Aaron Smith, and I think part of it is also like, none of the guys behind him really put McLean had the best chance to push him, but.

McLean didn't flash enough in the regular season, and I, I think they were also like, no doubt.

I think they, they knew they can get McLean back in the practice squad, not that they, you know, Smith would get claimed, but like, I mean, Brady Cook's getting claimed, who the hell knows, maybe Smith and Joe Milton did not, so he's a free agent.

Maybe Smith's wide receiver coach from Georgia is employed by some NFL team and they're gonna pick him up, but, uh, I think they were like, well, he's the 4th rounders, that sort of give him the spot, but.

You know, it, it's, it's, it's unfortunate cause I, I certainly don't think he deserved that 53 spot.

I thought he was wholly outplayed, and I mean, he was running with the 3rd team offense in camp.

Malik McLean was running with the 2nd team offense.

Clearly, the offensive staff doesn't want to use him.

Clearly the special team staff doesn't want to use him.

He's gonna be a healthy scratch week one almost definitely.

If he's a Gunner, I'll have questions because I'll, I'll say why wasn't he even playing there that much in the preseason.

Right now, the Gunners are probably stickers and they use, they use Wang Wu there sometimes last year, so it might be those two, You think this might have been just Sean Jefferson too?

Like, I always wonder what stuff like, like, even with Braden McGregor, they go to Carl Dunbar and say, hey, of these three, who do you want?

It could be he picks Braden McGregor.

Sean Jefferson said, hey, I want Aaron Smith, and then you keep him.

Totally could be.

If Jefferson was one of the guys who was like a driving force behind drafting Aaron Smith, then I wouldn't doubt that at all.

Like whoever loved whoever loved Aaron Smith enough to take him in the 4th round, those guys are still in the building.

You know, they didn't really overhaul their their offensive staff that much .

Like, I, I don't think that was a Tanner Engstron call to draft Aaron Smith in the 4th round, and I don't think he would have had the, the pull at that time to even make that decision.

So whether that was Aaron Glenn, whether that was I find it funny, Jefferson, Tanner Engstro couldn't make a 4th round pick, but basically Frank Reich picked Kenyon Siddiq .

Yeah, well, listen, again, seniority matters.

Senior seniority matters there.

But whoever's decision it was to draft him in the 4th round in 2025, which is bad decision, that's probably who's making the call to keep him on the 53 right now.

I don't think he's earned that spot.

I, I don't think he's gonna have a role in offense or special teams.

Is it gonna matter?

Probably not, but it, it is.

I get fans.

I'm more frustrated in this one than McGregor, cause I thought, I thought McGregor was probably making the 53, and I, I thought, I, I knew there was no chance Lynn would make it.

I thought there was a decent chance they'd cut bait with Smith, and maybe I'd be, I'd be more mad if Arian Smith.

Had been here for a couple years or was a higher pick, honestly, because that would show just straight up like stubbornness.

So if he was a 3rd, you'd be more mad.

Honestly, honestly, yeah, because I feel like this is gonna get really galaxy brain here because I, I look at Carolina with Trevon Wallace here.

I feel like generally, if you pick a guy higher than most.

Very rarely do they transition to backup roles with the team who drafted him, like a lot like Trevon Wallace probably could have made Carolina, but they probably just said, let's just get a clean break, kind of thing.

Like I feel like, like Ariot Smith, I feel like when you're at the bottom of the roster, they at least have justified it in their head, like, oh, he's a bottom of the roster guy, kind of thing, like that's how they kind of view him in their head already kind of thing.

Whereas if they kept, if he was picked a little higher, I feel like they kept.

They would have had a little bit more of a plan for him and trying to shoe Horner more into the offense.

Like if he was a, if he was an early 3rd round pick, like, if they picked him or they picked Malachi Corley, which wow, would that have been, I don't know which picks worse.

At this point, but like, who's a better wide receiver, Aaron Smith or Malachi Coley?

That's the question.

Then there would have been, I think, probably some sort of movement to move him into the offense a little bit, which I think they've given up on.

I would have been very upset if they tried to do that.

I do.

I think right now they're just like, all right, he's for better or for worse, he's our gunner kind of thing.

I do think they drafted Smith with the goal of him having a role in offense though.

Well, they did, but then they admit, they realized like, oh well, that can't happen now.

So now they just transitioned him fully to.

End of the roster, special teams up and down practice squad kind of guy.

I think what the Jets saw in Aaron Smith when they drafted him was a guy who could be a situational deep threat, who can just be a run and get it, go route guy, right?

And, and that has a role in the NFL, right?

Like a, I don't know, a Dante Thornton type or something.

I don't know.

Sean Jackson had a very long career doing that.

Sure, I don't know.

Look, I don't know if they thought he'd be DeSean Jackson, but I think they wanted him to do that.

They wanted him to be a returner as well, which he didn't do that in college, but remember last year they, they were trying him as a returner a lot.

And he wasn't good at it, so they they they stopped doing that should be good at it, like, yeah, but they, they stopped , they stopped doing that.

Then they were like, all right, we could also play him as a gunner, we could also try him there, and he wasn't good at that either.

So now we're left with an NFL player who's not a good wide receiver, who's not a good gunner, who's not a good returner.

All he is is fast.

That's all he does.

100 m. Apparently that's enough to keep him on the NFL on the on the 53 man roster.

I. I don't know, man.

I don't know, and I don't think it's a banjo thing, cause I, I don't think Chris Banjo wants to play on special teams.

We'll see, maybe I'll, maybe I'll eat crow for that.

If, if him and Stingers are out there week one as your two gunners, then, all right, then maybe Banjo had some say here, and they just wanted to give McLean more run in the preseason and see if he could do that role that they already think Aaron Smith's good at.

Maybe he still can be a good gunner.

I don't know.

He's a little, somebody mentioned it in chat must overlord said he's a little scrawny, yeah, he's a little, he's a little skinny to be a gunner, but.

Isn't it crazy to be a guy who's like 6' 185, which is bigger than most people, and they're like, oh, that's scrawny rail.

Diggers isn't like built.iggers is a little skinny too, and he's a great gunner, but I know what you're, as we've said before, put Will McDonald at Gunner.

Dude, as we said before, like, actually, yes, well, I actually think they're gonna use McDonald in some fun ways this year.

Like, I, I, we didn't get to talk about this with the edge rusher room, but like I, I think McDonald is gonna play the 4th, well, O side, the O side injury changes things , right?

I think if everyone was healthy, I think McDonald would be definitively, very clearly edge 4 in this room behind the other 3, but I think they're gonna get a little creative with him.

We already saw a little bit in the preseason.

I think they're gonna be dropping back in coverage sometimes.

I think they're like gonna try to find ways to use his athleticism, but.

Just to have the Will McDonald come like, not even the whole conversation cause I know we're we're already over an hour in.

Uh, I was listening to Connor Hughes was talking about this earlier today.

He said that his exact words, I think were McDonald had a terrible summer.

Which that's concerning to me.

You don't hear that from Connor Hughes a lot, no.

And I'll say this too.

Will McDonald is somebody who should absolutely never be having a terrible summer.

Remember when he first came, especially since they're doing a lot more 3-4.

Like what we've said constantly about him was he's out of position as a 4-3 and as a 3-4 linebacker.

That makes a lot.

A lot more sense for him.

He should be having the best summer.

Remember when he came into the league and, and the first year, 1st 2 years in the summer, you know, the first two summers that he had, it's like, this dude is different.

He's freaky athlete, freak athlete.

He stands out in camp.

It's like, all right, we'll see if we can refine him a little bit, but athletically, like he's, he's making plays.

He's popping.

He, he, he just did not pop at all this summer at all, like, not, not at all.

When he was, he was playing with the second team defense for a lot of the summer, only got some with the first team defense when both Osai and Enigmari were out, and based on every report that I saw, I believe Rosenblatt was talking about this earlier too, he did not look like he belonged.

He did not look like a first team defense guy.

So I, which it scares me a little bit about Bailey because Bailey's been so great this year.

Now I think Bailey, Bailey, I mean, yeah, but Bailey, I hope you would hope Bailey was popping and also Bailey, you wanna talk about a perfect 3-4 linebacker build, outside linebacker build because David Baile's got a little more pop in him strength-wise than when we, everybody, every edge rusher in the league has more pop than Will McDonald, but I, I'll, I'll make a definitive statement now.

You could quote me on this whenever.

I would be very, very, very surprised if Malik, uh, if Malik, if Will McDonald was on the Jets' roster in April.

I'd , I'd be shocked if he was, I don't know if he's making, I don't know if he's gonna be there in , in November.

That's what I was gonna say.

Like I, I, he's the most obvious guy to get traded, if you have any value for him, and I imagine, like, he's a guy who had 10.5 sacks years ago.

My trade offer still stands.

I don't think they get Jesse Bates.

I don't, I don't.

I think they do Jesse Bates, but I think they trade him for something.

Like I, I think he ends up getting moved, even if they're competing.

Like they think, 00, the Osa injury is something to watch because if Osa is still banged up and now they gotta keep him, then you kind of have to keep him because then you are playing Brade McGregor or Nate Lynn a lot of snaps, and I don't think they want to be doing that as much as Jets fans probably want to see Nate Lynn, but.

I'd be shocked that that just reminds me to remember Jason Brownlee from a couple of years ago?

Yeah, Quentin Skinner from last year, Jason Brownlee, and then yeah, Quentin Skinner last year.

No, it was, uh, Brandon Smith last year was the, no, Quentin Skinner was the other guy too.

Quentin Skinner.

I'm sorry, I thought it was more Brandon Smith than Quentin Skinner.

Maybe Brandon Smith was my hype.

Smith Smith was my guy, but it was both of them.

They were, they were talking about both of them.

Boss girl 8 hoping Smith can be at least use a stretch the field occasionally even if only a red herring to open something up for other receivers can't teach speed.

The problem with Aaron Smith is the problem with Will McDonald where even in the, in, in college if you have one amazing trait.

You can work with that.

If you, if you're an actor, if you're a comedian, and you have like one killer bit, that can get you famous, but you eventually gotta develop a full hour-long set before you start really taking off.

You can be super fast in the NFL in college, and it'll work.

It can get you to the NFL.

You can be comparatively for an edge rusher very quick like Will McDonald, but eventually you gotta start developing other moves and you gotta get a little bigger.

You're a receiver, you gotta start being able to run routes that can only take you so far, cause Aaron Smith has great speed.

Pretty much every receiver in the NFL has great speed.

So like you're, you're going to like guys know how to handle speed at the NFL.

They've made plans for if they have a vertical guy, here's how to handle it.

If that's all you can do, then they're not gonna be afraid of it.

Adena Mitchell, as a lot of people have said in chat , Adelai Mitchell is big and can make plays after the catch, so you have to worry about him.

And Ary Smith, you don't, Aaron Smith can't catch or make plays.

He's not even great after the catch, and he, he is more at home running the 100 m than he is in the NFL.

Aaron Smith is not great after the catch, nor is he great at the catch point, or is he, nor is he really great before the catch point, because he's not a great separator despite his speed because he's not a great route runner.

He's just very fast.

Yeah, I totally, I totally get where you're coming from, boss girl.

I just, with all the playmakers that the Jets, I, I get it, with all the players they have in this skill group.

They can't be giving snaps to Aaron Smith unless they're like desperate to like injuries galore if that's and that that's also too like they have all these tight Jelani Woods made the 53 and my cat, my cat joins.

Jelani Woods is there, but also Siddiq and Garrett Wilson and Mitchell and Omar Cooper and Isaiah Williams actually looks like a receiver, not just a returner now.

Like Ariot Smith is probably what, 10th in the pecking order right now out of the, the combined tight ends and receivers.

Actually, if you count Andrew Beck 12, I wonder, I truly wonder if like they had like 3 injuries in their wide receiver room.

Would they elevate Malik Malik McCLein rather than playing Aaron Smith?

They might because, because Malik McLean was running ahead of Smith all summer.

So I, I don't think the offensive too.

Let's say, God forbid, what if something happened to Adani Mitchell?

You need a bigger guy on the outside , play Malik McLean, not Aaron.

That's the thing is, McLean's your field stretcher.

McLean's runs a 4.46 at 64.

He may be on the practice squad.

I think he's the backup X.

Well Mitchell, or Tim Patrick Tim Patrick, Tim Patrick, but yeah, if they need like another field stretcher, I think they might give him a shot before they give Aaron Smith.

Like Smith is so buried on the depth chart that they're just, again, it's it's like why is he taking up a spot in the 53, cause he's not gonna play, because part of you is like, well, why, why pick him of all the guys there, why pick him?

Is it because he's a 4th round pick, but also, yeah, it's cause he's a 4th round pick.

Cause honestly, if they, if it was a meritocracy, and they just cut everybody, there'll probably be, I don't know what, 40 draft picks that get cut before they're, they ever play a game, and guys just don't do that.

Good teams, bad teams , everybody in between, they hold on to their draft picks, cause sometimes they look awful as a rookie, and then they get better, it happens.

I don't think Ariot Smith will, but it happens.

Let's quickly run through the rest of the positions that we haven't talked about, just quickly, right?

Just comparing's not much to say comparing last year.

So this was the, uh, this was, or last week I should say.

This was our prediction on last week's show, uh, basically the same.

They just ended up adding LJ Henderson, a former Buffalo guy.

I remember him at Buffalo, by the way, like I, when, when they signed LJ Henderson, I was like, oh yeah.

I remember he was like a compactly built dude, like I, I watched more than my fair share of Mac football cause I'm like a very casual Kent State fan, and so I remember AlJ Henderson, uh , he played a lot of football the last couple of years at Buffalo, uh, funny, weird, weird pickup because he never, he was not on an NFL roster at all until they just signed him, like .

He was with the team at rookie minicamp, was a tryout player.

I think he had a rookie minicamp tryout somewhere else too, and that's it.

Like he, he was not with the team in camp at all.

And, you know, unfortunately, all three young running backs that the Jets brought into camp got hurt.

Sam Scott got hurt, Chip Trium got hurt, Dominic Richardson got hurt.

So they need another practice squad guy, they're bring in LJ Henderson.

Nothing really to note here, uh, you know, I, I think it sounds like Bree and Isaiah Davis should be back by week one.

I know Davis still wasn't practicing yesterday, uh, but I, I, it sounds like they're all gonna be ready for week one, so.

Tight ends, uh, only surprise was they kept Beck and Rucker.

I didn't think they keep 5, but they did.

Yeah, last week we had Beck on a practice squad.

They ended up keeping Beck that one, by the boss girl mentioned in chat.

That one is probably a Chris Banjo decision.

Like almost, almost they just don't think Ruckert is full on like a fullback convert yet.

Well, part of it also, Ruckert missed practice yesterday, so I don't know what's going on there.

He might just be hurt too.

It's possible Ruckert's also hurt and that contributed to this, but I do think that, that, uh, Banjo just loves Beck as a special teamer, which if that's the case.

And Ruckert's healthy.

Jelani Woods is probably a healthy scratch, which he was last year too, but if, you know, you're not gonna have all five of these guys probably as as active on your, you know, game day roster, that's a lot.

13 personnel base.

Yeah, so I, I think they'd have Taylor, Siddiq, and Ruckert with Beck as the as the guys, and then if, you know, Siddiq or any of the other tight ends are hurt, then, then Woods would be playing.

But Woods, you know, he's just not a special teams guy.

He's not really somebody that played a lot of special teams in his career, so I think they just want Beck for that role and.

While they like, obviously, while Reich likes Woods, if it comes down to who's gonna be on, who's gonna be active on game day, Beck or Woods, how many snaps is Woods even playing on offense, right?

It's probably not many.

So Beck would probably get the nod there.

Uh, we already talked to O-line.

Interior D line was, uh, cut and dry.

It was actually exactly how we predicted, Mike.

2 for 2.

We got another one.

We got the entire , the entire defensive line.

Plus edge rushers, we got, we nailed that, uh, Peyton Page and Jack Heflin back in the practice squad.

The other five are all, you know, we, we knew those guys were, were staying and Mozzie Smith on the Dolphins practice squad.

Why?

Couldn't tell you, but he is the Michigan defensive line coach there too, or that's a, I actually am very curious.

That's a great question.

Their D-line coach is Austin Clark.

Well, their DC is Sean Duggan.

No, but he, I think it was like one of Halfley's position coaches.

Yep, this guy doesn't, so Austin Clark doesn't have a Wikipedia page, but we're gonna, that's a good sign.

We're gonna see.

Then again, Brian Dugar didn't have a Wikipedia page when the Jets hired him.

He's been with the Dolphins since 2020.

This dude, who is the dude they interviewed for the DC from the Dolphins.

Uh, the Jets this year, Brian Duker, no, the other one they'd interviewed a DC from the Dolphins, yeah, not, but not Duker.

Oh, I don't know.

It was, it was a Hispanic sounding name.

Was it like, I don't know.

On the dolphin Araujo.

Oh, Brian Arroyo Araujo Arroyo.

You met Matt or Matthew, Matthew, Matthew, Matthew, Matthew, Matthew, and with it's like I I E U. I don't know why I thought Brian Matthew with an I E U, right?

That's how he spelled Matt, also known as also by his preferred name of Brian, isn't that also somebody.

I think he's with the Jack anyway, uh, but yeah, anyway, this guy I don't think was, uh, I don't think he was at Michigan.

I'll see they, they have an assistant D-line coach.

Was he at Michigan?

He also does not have a D-line of a of a Mozzie Smith's mom.

I don't know, Chua Ndulawe.

He's uh doesn't ring a bell.

No, he was not at Michigan, so they just like Mozzie Smith.

They just they're they're entranced by Mozzie Smith .

They just, they like, uh, they like Mozzie Smith.

Nope, uh, their linebackers coach was previously at Michigan, but not cross, did not cross over with Mozzie Smith, was also at Ohio State too, so I wouldn't read too much into that.

Oh, DeShaun sheds on their stuff.

OK, we're gonna.

OK, uh, Samuel Womack makes the practice squad, which was the only real, we, we basically nailed this.

The only difference is Trey Brown is hurt, so he goes on IR and Womack takes a spot.

Other than that, we nailed this to a T, and I'll give the Jets this.

I, we don't like the top end of their cornerback room.

That's a deep cornerback room , yeah.

Uh, Bamba, Clark, Womack, and Brown all had really good summers.

Sucks for Brown that he got hurt.

Womack was actually hurt, but we think he'll be good.

Brownlee's OK. Wright's OK. Thomas had a good summer.

Womack actually had the highest PFF coverage grade of any cornerback in the preseason.

He allowed two catches for 8 yards on, uh, or 2 catches for, I think 8 yards on like 6 targets, I think what it was, had a 2.8 passer rating when targeted because he also had that interception.

Uh, Womack crushed it this summer.

He's a veteran too, like, I don't think Jets fans realize Samuel Womack has played 50 NFL games.

He has started like a, a, more than like a dozen games.

He's, he started like half a year with the Colts, I think.

Like, he's not just a random career practice squatter, he's been in NFL locker rooms for a while now.

Uh, former 5th round pick too, so he's got some pedigree there, so happy he's back in the practice squad.

Bamba and Clark both had strong summers too.

And safeties uh VJ Payne going the NS Cooper route.

He's on IR right now.

Uh, all you Aaron Smith people out there, uh, do you have the same energy for Malachi Moore?

I'm much more disappointed in Malachi Moore and Aaron Smith.

Malachi Moore was a starter last year and he had a starting job.

I would say one step from gift wrapped and he blew it.

See, like what we were talking about earlier, Trevon Wallace, I feel like Malachi Moore and Trevon Wallace were in very similar situations, and Moore barely hold on to his spot, and Trevon Wallace blew it, and the Panthers said, all right, if he can't win that one, if he can't thoroughly beat out Claude and Cherili, we're done with him, and they got rid of him.

But they kept Malachi Moore.

And again I think they kept him because they just didn't really have anyone else that pushed him.

Like I, I think Malachi Moore, if VJ Payne was not hurt and healthy, you think Malachi Moore makes it?

If Payne was healthy and had a good summer and he performed kind of how we think he performed.

Um, well, how I think he performed 7th round 5 out of 10 , then I, then I think they both, I think that Moore stays.

If Payne was good this summer, like, because Payne's, look, he's a 7th round rookie, he's a very raw player too, great athlete, big dude at Kansas State, but like raw player, uh, so I, I, I think Moore probably still would have made it, but he just, as, as uh abuster Overlord said, he was a ghost, like he, he was acting legitimately a ghost, or I guess he's talking about, you know, he's, he's saying about Mali and Moore.

That surprised.

Like Aaron Smith barely did anything last year .

I'm not saying Malachi Moore was good last year, but you saw him do stuff.

Now the most concerning part, the Jets didn't know what to do with him because sometimes he'd be a deep safety, sometimes he'd be in the box, sometimes he'd be a nickel.

Like, I get that he's versatile, but they didn't really know where to play him here.

I get that that's not his fault , but I, I mean, he was a starter for most of the year, and they brought in Andre Cisco as a , a flyer, let's see if this guy got anything left, and Dane Belton is like a special teams guy, and they both, both Belton thoroughly outplayed him, it seems like Cisco kind of did .

Even though he was getting torched, they seem more inclined to play Andre Cisco.

Dame Belton thoroughly kicked his butt, I would say, in camp, very disappointing.

It wasn't even a competition.

By the time we got to the summer, Moore was playing exclusively with the 2nd and 3rd team defense.

Like it, it wasn't even, I don't, I don't think they really gave him much of a chance to win it, but the most concerning part about it is he just.

Like even with the 3rd stringers, he didn't pop.

Like he just, he didn't look, he, he like, he looked like he belonged out there with the 3rd stringers, which that's the most damning thing to say about an NFL player.

It's like, man, OK, you're in the final preseason game and you're playing deep into the 4th quarter and you kind of look the part of all the other guys out there with you, man.

That's tough.

Mustard overlord, how do you go from being a starter as a true freshman under Nick Saban to this?

It's a fantastic question.

I couldn't tell you.

True freshman starter, uh, lack lack of athleticism, and that's the, that's the big thing that's holding you back that and phys it's gonna sound physically peaking early.

Athletically, I see, I see what you're saying.

So when he's 1819, it's like, oh my God, this guy's really fast and everything like that.

He's gonna get faster and bigger, right?

Yeah, and then he doesn't.

Yeah, I, I, you're not wrong.

It's just, it's just so crazy to me that a guy like that can't get run in the NFL.

Like that's, that's wild to me.

I wouldn't be shocked if Moore goes to another team and ends up becoming like a backup safety and, and has a career.

I wonder if they also just don't really trust him on specials, because I don't recall him playing that a ton last year.

Obviously he was starting for a lot of years, so that was part of it.

So maybe it's a special teams make a Fitzpatrick, Malachi Moore.

Well, also, uh, this, this is a real Jets legend throwback, Shaheem Carter.

Yeah, Shai Carter that sort of thing, same position, I think that's who Moore replaced actually, and he never really stuck because he wasn't a great athlete, but he was, he was another like I don't, he wasn't like a true freshman starter.

I think he started as like a, no, he played a while and was a converted safety who kind of played.

They call it the star position.

It's like kind of Nicky Manmori big nickel thing, yeah.

Yeah, it's very, very just didn't have the athleticism to make it, which is surprising because I thought he would overcome that.

Uh, and then I, I would say mildly surprising that neither Dean Clark or Jerrius Monroe was brought back in the practice squad.

They currently don't have a safety on their practice squad cause they have EJ Payne who's on short term IR.

I, I thought it's a little, at least a little surprising that both of those guys didn't.

Clark played 12 games last year as an undrafted rookie, mostly as a special teamer, so I figured he'd have a spot and Kent State, Kent State before that, Golden flashes, um, but yeah, a little mildly surprising both of those guys aren't back in the practice squad.

They, you know, if one of the, if they have one safety injury, then.

They're probably gonna have to do something.

I don't know.

The, the kiwi guy 48 with damn, like that, people will do all these, you know, chapter and verse and chat about all their thoughts, and then sometimes just a simple damn what speaks louder than.

And so many words could say.

As I have an alarm going off.

You got somewhere to be, Justice.

That was, uh, that was my, my cue to clock out of work.

That was my cue, which means I guess we gotta wrap this up I guess you gotta wrap it up now, yeah, but I was gonna say shout out Ron Simmons for that damn.

Do you understand that reference, Mike?

Do you get that reference?

It's rare.

It's, it's rare on this show that I make a reference that you don't get.

That's a wrestling reference.

Well, if, if you don't, if it's mostly wrestling things like, well, OK, you make all these like old movie and pop culture and pop culture, that's where I, sure, you don't understand, you don't know, that's where I fall short.

Ah, we gotta do a thing one time where I like test your knowledge of current pop culture, and then you could test my knowledge of like.

70s TV shows cause I'm probably not gonna have that, you know, but you, you got why because I made a chips reference today.

Is that why?

or what's Chips?

It was an old TV show about the California.

It was about the California Highway Patrol.

I was saying that that's where, what was the guy's name, like Bush.

Oh, Bush Hamden.

Bush Hamden.

That's it, that's where Bush.

Yeah, see, Kiwi guy gets it.

Kiwi had 10 out of 10 reference.

There it is.

I can't, I'm not gonna try to replicate how Ron Simmons says damn, but look up Google, uh, is that just his thing?

He just says damn.

Yeah, kind of like there's more to it, but kind of that's kind of what you need to know.

There's a little more iconic catchphrases.

He has a very like booming voice too, so it's like it really like carries weight.

iconic catchphrases, damn and woo, those are the iconic catchphrases.

Who's woo, who's woo in wrestling?

Good que.

Oh, you're saying woo, like Ric Flair.

OK, OK, you didn't do it like Ric Flair.

I didn't know what you were, what you were doing with that.

I'm not doing going full Ric Flair.

Do you know who Stella Lefty is?

Mike is no Stella Lefty, zero chance, you know that.

I know Stella Artois.

See, that's who the still a lefty.

Who the fuck is that?

Who's that?

It's a beer.

Oh.

I don't, I don't, I don't, man, I don't drink beer.

What kind of Three Stooges shit is this?

I don't drink beer.

Stella left the currently, I don't either, but I know, I think she, I think she currently has the number 2 song, probably in the top Billboard because I think that Ella Langley song you're making that up.

No, that, that, I mean, look, I, when I first heard.

I, I don't really, I don't listen to Stella Lefty Earth, and does she have any other song other than other than Boston?

I don't know, uh, but people, people made that Boston is the name of the song, yeah, yeah, she's a, she's like apparently like a Nepo baby, like son of a daughter country pop and indie folk.

You could not pay me to listen to that.

Oh my god.

You're not a, you're not a uh Phoebe Bridgers fan or a um.

Who's uh what's, what's her name?

I forget.

I, I don't even like concerts, so no, no.

The last concert I went to, it was Soul Fly at when I was in college at the Mid-Hudson Civic Center, which is like heavy metal, and uh.

A guy, this is gonna be gross, but you know it's the end of the podcast, so I could say it.

Uh, I'm you know, they do mosh pits and guys and jump all around and get angry and break stuff.

This guy broke a bottle on his head, not, not bang over his own head.

He pushed it into his forehead so violently that it broke, and then, screw it.

He no, he goes for the tribe, cause that's like what they call their fan of the tribe.

And he took the end of the bottle and put it over his eye like a monocle, and he goes, yeah, I'm like, I gotta get out of here.

I don't.

I was reporting on it for the school paper because it was at the Mid-Hudson Civic Center, so it's right there.

That, but that's not your style of music, right?

No, it is.

Oh, that is your style.

Yeah, I just, I didn't expect that.

We have very different, uh, music tastes, my friend.

We have, we have.

Yeah, I saw that.

I'm like, yeah, you've been to mosh pits and stuff.

I'm like, I don't feel safe here.

I gotta get out of here.

I, I've never been in a mosh pit.

I'll say that.

I've been in like rowdy or like, you know, front sections of concert, but nothing that I would certainly call a mosh pit.

I think, yeah, that was, that was, uh, that was wild.

I don't, I don't, I don't go to, to metal.

I one of these days I gotta go to like a, like an actual like heavy metal show and just, just for the experience of doing it, even if it's not my music, it's not my style.

It's, it's OK.

I mean, like, there are better ones than what I, plus also I'm just not a concert guy anyway cause they never sound as good as, oh, I totally disagree.

Whoa, I don't know.

Whoa, this is so, that's, that's a crazy take, by the way.

They don't sound as good and there's people and it's loud and it's, you're listening to the wrong music then, man.

I, I concerts, no concerts sound better, like 100%, definitively better.

Like I think that's a crazy take, not, not even comparable, no, wow.

Uh, Boss Girl's been to over 300 concerts.

That's crazy actually.

I wish.

I love concerts.

I'm gonna be, yeah, you're not now, you know what, I'm gonna say a take right now.

You're not a music guy if you don't think concerts sound better.

That's my, I don't, I don't.

That's crazy.

Plus they're expensive.

You gotta park, you're up late, it's just not, I know I sound like I'm 80 right now, but like, where are you going to like.

The smaller venues are the best ones.

Well, that, and then a lot of times there's out in Holmdale, there's the, uh, PNC, whatever it's called, Performing Arts Center.

A lot of concerts over there, but other than that, it's like, you know, you go like for my bands that I like, it's like small clubs and venues and stuff.

It's yeah, those are the best.

Those are the best.

We have the acoustics aren't good because it's all small and tinny and like you're, you're.

The bands you like are playing these big shows of professional.

That's not true at all.

I love going to small venues.

That's my favorite one.

I mean, I'm going to a , I'm going to a show, Mike, in, in a month from now, less than a month, that has like 300 people, 250 people.

I, I went to a show that was in a pancake house.

There it is.

That said , then you're just seeing the wrong artist.

I, I agree with that sentiment.

I guess if it doesn't sound good live, you're seeing the then that that that says something about the artist .

I, I think we'll let me and Justin, uh, like kill each other off air and we're gonna go and call time, especially because Justin apparently has to go do some, uh, logistical stuff.

So apparently got a clock thanks for joining tuning into that.

Oh wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, before we sign off, I'll pro it one more time.

The subtext.

If you wanna hear us, if you wanna hear, dude, legitimately, you wanna hear my music takes?

I love talking music.

Ask me questions about music in the subtext.

I would love to answer that.

Uh, but yeah, we've been doing it for a few weeks now and it's been, it's been a ton of fun to, to interact with the, the Jet press community and the, the larger Jets community.

And now with the season starting, like in less than 2 weeks, I am pumped to be talking to people, like I wanna be talking to people during games and stuff.

If you don't have a community that you want, that you get to watch Jets games with, we are happy to be there.

Community for you.

Uh, so it's just, it's a, it's a very, very fun thing.

You can text Jets , and again, this is completely free.

Text Jets JETS to 631-818-2594.

Uh, you can also click the link.

It's in the description below on, on YouTube if you're watching there.

Uh, just a great way to, to, one, I guess, support the show because it does, it does make us look good to the, the higher powers, as I'll call them.

Uh, I don't call them that.

Do you call them that?

I, I said it earlier in the show.

You didn't hear me.

Uh, but it's, it's fun and it's again, it's a great way to, to interact with you guys, and you get to help like plan some of these shows if we don't know what we want to talk about, like, we get quite, I get questions in there all the time of people asking about the Jets or what we're talking about on the podcast, like, it's, it's super fun.

Um, so I, I've, I've had a ton, a ton of fun doing it, and I'll promote this again, we didn't, we didn't promote this at the top of the show, but.

Uh, you mentioned the Apple Podcast thing, Mike.

Once we hit 50 reviews on Apple Podcasts, so please, if you have not left this review on Apple Podcasts, it, it takes like legitimately 90 seconds to do.

Like it's, it's a very, very simple, easy thing to do, and it would really, really, really help us.

Once we get 50 reviews on Apple Podcasts, we are doing a giveaway of a Jets jersey to anybody that is subscribed to our free subtext .

Uh, and as I've said before, it's not like there's 1000 people in there.

So you probably got a pretty good chance of winning it.

You sign up, but we gotta get 50 reviews on Apple Podcasts.

So please, if you have not left this review there, uh, absolutely do that.

Uh, and yeah, I think that's, uh, that's it.

That's all the, the housekeeping.

Mike, you got any final thoughts before we sign off?

Concerts, boo.

That's a terrible take, dude.

That is not the hill you want to die on.

You weren't gonna make a lot of people.

I've died on so many hills that are not as big as now it all adds up.

Now it makes it because you also were anti-karaoke .

Now you just don't like music.

That's what it is.

You don't like live music.

That's, that's that's what I'm gathering about you.

This is, I, I will say too, I do sometimes get very bad secondhand embarrassment from people singing poorly, so I think that's also part of it.

Well, listen, maybe we'll say one day if we hit 100 views on Apple Podcast, I'll release the tapes of you, if you singing, uh, the Foo Fighters.

Oh, I crushed that shit and awesome, and you did, you did a really job and of me singing.

I sung two songs that night.

Which was, uh, Dancing Queen by ABBA, right?

And then unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield.

The song is subjective.

Hey, listen, I tore the house down.

That last one, Unwritten was the final song of the night.

So that, that went over very well.

We got the whole, the whole crew was there.

It was a great time.

So maybe, maybe we get 100 reviews on Apple Podcasts.

We'll release the, uh, we'll release the tapes.

One of these days, but anyway, uh, Boss Girl said they're too expensive.

Yeah, they are.

Like the bigger shows are too expensive.

There's like some artists who I like.

I wanted to see Olivia Dean in concert.

I've been listening to Olivia Dean for years who that is.

Of course you don't, but I've been listening to her for years now.

She like blew up this past year, and now I can't afford to see her, which makes me upset.

But anyway, uh, thank you all for listening to the to the show today.

You can follow Mike on Twitter at by Michael Chan.

Follow me on Twitter, Justin Cried.

Follow Jefferson Jeffre .

Download the Jeffers podcast.

Wherever you get your podcast, check us out on YouTube and TikTok.

Subscribe, like, hit the notification bell.

You guys know what to do.

Thank you again to Austrian Jet fan at the top of the show for donating the, uh, the 5 memberships.

Always much appreciated, my friend.

Uh, we stream live every Wednesday at 3 p.m. Eastern time.

Thank you all for listening to Jet Press podcast.

I've and Justin Fried.

That's Mike Luciano.

See you guys next time.

You can rewatch Jet Press episodes in the time that you have now saved by not going to concerts.

You can watch, like, you can watch 3 whole Jet Press episodes in that time.

You're embarrassing yourself.

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