Outside Bet: Jaden Keller

Edition #1113: Taking a look at one player who could be an outside bet to make the roster.

Good Morning ☕

I’ve been combing through the Jets roster this week, searching for someone to highlight in my outside bet series that officially starts today.

It’s designed to highlight a player who’s not expected to make the roster, but who could surprise a few people.

I’ve said it multiple times here, I love an underdog. Wayne Chrebet is one of my favourite all-time Jets, mostly for the way he played, but also because of his climb up the depth chart through training camp.

We’re still over a month away from camp starting. Rookies will report starting on the 18th of July with veterans arriving from the 22nd. This is good for me because the World Cup which is occupying 99% of my time at the moment will be done and dusted on the 19th, meaning once training camp arrives I’ll be fully focused on the Jets as we head full throttle for the season.

To start my series today I want to talk about linebacker Jaden Keller.

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NEWS & NOTES 🗞️

• Former Jets safety Isaiah Oliver has signed a deal in Arizona. With the way free agency and the draft played out, Oliver was very unlikely to NY in 2026 especially as he played extremely poorly in his 322 defensive snaps last season, allowing 19 of 22 passes to be completed into his coverage, having a missed tackle rate of 16% and being a below average run defender too.

• Harrison Phillips has been speaking about David Bailey:

  • “He’s really twitchy and I want to claim him from Stanford more than Tech. I’ve really liked what he can do as an athlete on the field, not just with his hand down in the dirt, but the different varieties you can do with somebody who can also run and change direction at an elite level.”

• Demario Davis also had this to say about David Bailey:

  • “I think time will tell,” veteran LB Demario Davis said. “There’s a reason why you’re the No. 2 draft pick. He was the most dominant pass rusher in the draft and I think when you can get a guy like that and you’re sound in other areas, it takes a lot of weight off of him where he can do what he does best, which is be able to get after the pass rush. Playing for a defensive line coach like Karl Dunbar, he’s not going to accept you just being a one-way player.”

• Quentin Skinner reverted to injured reserve from waived-injured.

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Jaden Keller 🟢⚪🗽

Trying to pick an outside bet to make the roster is pretty difficult. 99/100 you’re going to back a losing horse because the nature of the NFL and roster construction makes it extremely difficult for a UDFA to stick on an active 53.

Most of the time the stars have to align. You need a team to be weak in a certain area, you need to perform out of your skin and you often need an unlucky injury to one or more veterans.

Jaden Keller is a UDFA who didn’t even get signed as a priority free agent. Instead he had to do the rounds on the tryout circuit and his name was one of 31 who were invited to attend rookie minicamp.