The New York Jets' leadership is not wasting any time impressing their values on the 2025 roster. New York has plenty to be optimistic about amid their Week 1 performance, a 34-32 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. A loss is a loss, but the Jets showed plenty of punch in the trenches and nearly pulled off an upset victory.
But a special teams miscue weighed heavily in tipping the scales in favor of Pittsburgh. Returner Xavier Gipson fumbled a kickoff, giving the Steelers the ball back deep in Jets territory on a possession that quickly ended in an Aaron Rodgers touchdown pass. The Steelers logged two touchdowns in a minute of game clock and the game eventually slipped away.
The Jets are sending a message on the heels of that error. Gipson, per reports, is being released.
The Jets are planning on releasing Xavier Gipson today, per source. Gipson had the costly fumble on Sunday and now the team is moving on.
— Brian Costello (@BrianCoz) September 10, 2025
This is what accountability looks like. Lots of players and teams talk about accountability. They talk about the need for it and how important it is. But how many tries does it take some teams to actually execute it? You can't cut a player every time they make a mistake on the field, but Gipson's background did leave him more vulnerable to have this kind of outcome for a game-changing mistake.
An undrafted rookie in 2023, Gipson is in the third year of his initial rookie contract and was scheduled to play this season for $1.03 million in salary. None of that salary is guaranteed, meaning there's no cap or financial backlog that will come from moving on from him. And with no securities, that means less room for error. Gipson unfortunately found out the hard way after a tough mistake in Week 1.
You can be sure the rest of the roster is noticing, too. It's a great tone to set in New York. Accountability is not just a buzz word, it's an actionable piece of the puzzle under Aaron Glenn.
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