2 baffling NY Jets roster moves rear ugly head in opener

After a poor first two seasons as an NFL punt returner, Gipson entered training camp with everything to prove. Save for a memorable punt return touchdown in his NFL debut, Gipson amassed a 34-game body of work in which he had nearly twice as many fumbles (9) as 20+ yard punt returns (5) despite getting 66 return tries. Five of his nine fumbles were muffed punts.

That seems like a considerable enough body of work to suggest that the player might not be very good – especially when he already had a UDFA pedigree coming out of school.

But due to the Jets’ thinness at wide receiver, they kept Gipson around and gave him a chance to compete for a roster spot, which is understandable.

However, Pritchett came in and ran laps around Gipson – at least in terms of what was visible to the public. Pritchett generated more headlines than Gipson for his playmaking in practice, and when the preseason rolled around, Pritchett consistently shined as both a returner and receiver. Meanwhile, Gipson missed time with an injury and did not do anything of note during his brief time on the field.

It seemed like Gipson’s days were numbered – until they weren’t. The Jets waived Pritchett and stashed him on their practice squad, while Gipson entered the season as the starting punt returner and No. 2 kick returner behind Kene Nwangwu.

When Nwangwu went down with an injury early in Sunday’s contest, Gipson became the primary kick returner, and the result was a full week of “Aaron Rodgers Sticks It To His Former Team!” headlines around the NFL.

It goes to show that NFL teams should not always be given the benefit of the doubt for their decisions. Oftentimes, when teams do something that is puzzling to the general public, we brush it off with an excuse along the lines of, “They’re a professional football team who studies each of these players intensely; they must know what they’re doing.”

Eh, not really. Sometimes, teams just do blatantly silly things that are easy for outsiders to point out. Why they do these things despite the vast sea of data and film at their disposal, we may never know, but it continues to happen. And when it does, outsiders have every right to call them out for it.

Explaining the decision to keep Gipson shortly after the 53-man roster was announced, Glenn tried to explain it away by citing Gipson’s sure-handedness in practice, citing a stat that Gipson had secured 145 punts in practice without muffing any.

That’s all well and good, and sometimes, strange roster decisions can come down to stuff like this: things that happen on the practice field or in the meeting rooms that fans and media members are unaware of.

In this case, though, it should not have overrode a two-season body of work in real games, especially when we’re talking about fielding punts – a mental skill that requires a much different level of focus and confidence when there are 80,000 fans in the stands and opposing gunners are trying to rip your head off. Catching punts in practice should mean nothing compared to 34 real games of film.

It would be different if Glenn were talking about something more physicality-based, like winning pass-rush reps against offensive linemen. That would translate more directly to a real game, but it is baffling that Glenn and the Jets used Gipson’s sure-handedness in practice as justification to override his nine fumbles in 34 regular season games.

Glenn seemed very frustrated with Gipson when speaking to the media after Sunday’s loss to Pittsburgh, saying, “You will not be on the field if you cause us to lose games.” Let’s see if he walks his talk and makes the obvious decision to demote Gipson in favor of Pritchett ahead of Week 2.

Brandon Stephens

The Jets took a shocking gamble when they signed Brandon Stephens to a three-year, $36 million contract in free agency, their longest-term contract of any free agent and their most lucrative defensive addition.

Stephens was coming off a season in which he allowed the second-most yards of any NFL cornerback and had Baltimore Ravens fans begging for him to be benched. Yet, the Jets paid him like a top-25 corner.

New York was gambling that it could turn Stephens into something he wasn’t yet. It was a somewhat understandable gamble, as Stephens does possess some intriguing tools. He’s long, smooth, and has proven he can stay tight in coverage; his 33.7% tight-window throw rate in 2024 ranked fifth-best among qualified corners, one spot behind Sauce Gardner.

Stephens’ problem has always been that he struggles at the catch point. He is often late to get his turned around, has a hard time locating the ball, and has a bad habit of getting too handsy. These issues have caused him to allow oodles of yardage despite how solid he is at sticking to his man before the throw. Teams attacked him in one-on-one situations with great success, yielding plenty of contested catches and penalties.

The Jets believed they could fix these issues. Hypothetically, it justified their investment in him, as if he could couple his tight coverage with improved ball skills, he could become a top-flight corner, making him a bargain at $12 million per year.

The flaw in their logic was that they may have grossly misconstrued how likely that scenario actually is. Stephens spent four years under a Ravens coaching staff that is among the best in the league at player development, especially in the secondary. If he could not figure out how to play the ball across four years in Baltimore, why would he figure it out now? Especially as a guy who will already be 28 years old this December?

With their team playing on Sunday Night Football, Ravens fans were surely tuned into Sunday’s Jets-Steelers game, and they must have been getting flashbacks watching Aaron Rodgers exploit Stephens time and time again in the second half of Pittsburgh’s comeback win.

Rodgers targeted Stephens with his back to the quarterback multiple times, and the same issues reared their ugly head (while Stephens did not rear his head). Stephens showed no semblance of progress in getting his head turned around and playing the football.

After already allowing multiple touchdowns and critical catches downfield, the cherry on top was a killer 19-yard pass interference penalty to help set up Pittsburgh’s eventual game-winning field goal.

On top of that, Stephens botched an easy interception opportunity that Rodgers softly lobbed right into his hands.

Stephens was a bad starter last year. The Jets paid him on the basis of their projection that he would develop into a good one – despite the fact that he is almost 28 years old and could not fix basic fundamentals of his position across four years with an elite coaching staff. So far, the results have been predictable.

It was only one game, but considering it went precisely how Stephens’ last 17 games went, it is hardly a fluke. The Jets can’t be expecting him to get better out of nowhere. At this point, it would be surprising if performances like this do not continue happening.

If Stephens does not turn things around soon, it may not be long until the Jets elect to turn to promising third-round rookie Azareye’h Thomas at cornerback.