Black Friday Special

Edition #386

Good morning! ☀️

The Mets finally got an ace-like performance from one of their aces and the Knicks showed some fight to stave off elimination against the Heat, last night was a good night. I even managed to get a fair amount of sleep.

The NFL schedule is due to be released today, but we already know two things about the Jet’s season. First, they won’t be taking part in the International series this year, and two, they will be hosting the Miami Dolphins on Black Friday, the first-ever NFL Black Friday game. Kickoff for that game is 3 pm EST, which is ideal for me.

Today we’re going to look at the free safety position, as there seems to be a lot of interest in that roster spot among fans at the moment.

I also just wanted to thank you all again, first for the well-wishes to myself and the family after the birth of our second child this weekend. Both Mum (Katie) and Baby (Millie) are doing well. Secondly, for your continued support of TJW, we’ve now passed over 1,500 subscribers as you can see in the chart above. Onwards to 2,000.

👏 PFF had a list picking out one underrated player on each team. I expected to see D.J. Reed’s name there but they had JFM instead saying: “Franklin-Myers was one of 49 edge defenders to see at least 600 defensive snaps last season and among that group, he ranked 13th in terms of the overall grade and was one of just six edge defenders in that group to have at least a 75.0 grade in both run defense (76.8) and as a pass-rusher (76.0).”

📈 They also picked out the one player from each team's draft class that scored the highest PFF grade in their last college season. For the Jets, that man was RB Israel Abanikanda who received an 88.5-grade last year: “Abanikanda took the reins of the Pittsburgh backfield in 2022, turning 241 rushes into 1,426 yards, 644 of which came after contact. His 38 rushes of 10-plus yards tied for 13th in the FBS.”

🧀 Albert Breer had an interesting note on the Allen Lazard situation. According to Breer, Lazard got wind of Aaron Rodgers's decision to play for the Jets on March 13th, and he asked his agent to contact the Jets to let them know that he wanted to come and play for them. Rodgers is a draw, and if he decides to stay next year, I imagine he’ll be a big draw in free agency, let’s hope the Jets have some money to spend.

🤝 Aaron Rodgers reached out to Jordan Love, following the trade to the Jets. Love spoke about that conversation: “We talked after the trade, It was kind of just, ‘Wish you the best moving forward.’ He wished me the best and said he’d always be there if I needed anything or had any questions or anything. I’m always just grateful to be around him, for the time I had with him to be able to learn and be behind him,” Love said. “Just very grateful for it.”

😍 Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen was on with Kyle Brandt and he was asked about Aaron Rodgers and the Jets: “I will say this, I love Aaron..he’s one of my favorite quarterbacks of all time, I think he’s the most gifted thrower of all time, I try to emulate what he does, I’ve been such a big fan of his for so long…It’s always going to be a challenge in these division games when you add a superstar QB like him, it’s just going to make it that much tougher”

I’ll hold my hands up and say I got it wrong. Last off-season I said that Lamarcus Joyner was destined for a good season, that he was the answer at free safety (at least the short-term one), and now that he’d returned to that position after being moved to slot corner in Oakland/Las Vegas, he’d recapture his LA form.

That just didn’t happen.

I don’t know if it was down to his age considering he’s now 32, the system not suiting his skill set, or the fact he was returning from a serious injury that cost him his 2021 season, but the return wasn’t what we expected.

It wasn’t a complete disaster, on a team that struggled to create turnovers he did register 3. Unfortunately, he also allowed over 70% of passes into his coverage to be completed, along with 4 touchdowns. His missed tackle rate of 14.5% was the second-highest mark of his career, and teams worked out that putting a 6’5 TE against a 5’8 safety was probably going to result in good things happening.

Joyner is currently a free agent, and I don’t think I’ve seen him linked with a single team this off-season, which probably tells you all you need to know.

So with Joyner gone, who will be playing free safety for the Jets in 2023? That’s a good question with an unknown answer at this point. For the second year in a row, I thought the Jets would address the safety position in the draft, and they didn’t. They haven’t taken an out-and-out safety since Ashtyn Davis in 2020, and Davis at this point is a special teamer who in many ways is lucky to still own a roster spot.

What options do the Jets have?

Officially, the Jets have two free safeties listed on their roster, so let’s start with those: